Last season, ARROW ended with a bang. Adrian Chase offed himself and undoubtedly some of Team Arrow who were on Lian Yu at the time of its explosion.
As if Oliver (Stephen Amell) did not have enough guilt, odds are that son William’s (Jack Moore) mom, Samantha, probably did not make it. Poor kid. Not only does he have a hardly-stay-at-home dad, but he has nightmares, PTSD and may blame Ollie for his mom’s death.
The upside is that the change in Oliver’s home situation requires help, so returning to ARROW from Season 1 is Emmy nominee, Kathleen Gati. Gati, who played Ollie’s housekeeper, Raisa, in the pilot is back tonight after running GENERAL HOSPITAL as Liesl Obrecht for the past few years.
Maybe Gati will be playing the kindly housekeeper as a “good guy” or perhaps TPTB will unleash her GH treacherous tendencies as the season progresses.
Someone else who exudes the “good guy/bad guy” dichotomy is returning for Season 6…Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. The fabulous Manu Bennett is back and ready to unleash that incredible voice, along with lots of action packed into those sultry tones.
And speaking of tones, listen for not one, but two, canary criers tonight. Juliana Harkavy returns from Season 5 as the Dinah Drake version of Black Canary, and Katie Cassidy is back as a series regular as Earth-2’s evil Laurel Lance, aka Black Siren.
Twice the leather. Twice the sonic scream.
Kirk Acevedo joins the Arrowverse as Richard Dragon/Ricardo Diaz. In print, Dragon/Diaz is a thief with serious martial artist skills. Acevedo, who often is cast as a detective (LAW & ORDER: SVU, PRIME SUSPECT), could be trading his gun for some fancy moves.
Former stunt coordinator and martial artist, James “Bam Bam” Bamford directed tonight’s episode, “Fallout,” and may be able to help Acevedo transition from detective to Dragon.
More exciting news…Acevedo’s PERSON OF INTEREST colleague, Michael Emerson, joins ARROW this season. In a yet-unnamed role, Emerson is said to be bringing some skills from a previous role. Perhaps, like Harold Finch, Emerson will be playing a computer genius, which means that he could be the reclusive Cayden James, leader of the Helix hactivists, who recruited Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) last season.
Although producers Wendy Mericle and Mark Guggenheim, who co-wrote “Fallout,” have gone on the record saying that the 5-year arc of Lian Yu-style flashbacks concluded in Season 5, they have not ruled out other types of flashbacks this season.
With Colton Haynes (Roy Harper/Arsenal) reported to be back for at least one episode, and Willa Holland (Thea Queen) being with the cast at Comic-Con, the pair could pop up via flashback, even if Thea Thea bit the dust on Lian Yu.
That should be enough fuel that insidious Queen guilt.
So what does an ARROW do to cope with guilt? Retail therapy? Green Arrow IS getting new duds and a nifty new bow this season.
What better way to cope with the fallout of an exploding island than a trip to the mall.
ARROW premieres on its new night, tonight (October 12) at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
