Oliver Queen Accepts Prison Life On The Next Episode Of Arrow

 
Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) time in prison is about to get a lot more complicated. As seen in this preview of next week’s show, he is embracing the prison life as prescribed by Brick (Vinnie Jones) and Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White). While Ollie thinks it will lead him to Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo), it may just lead him into the heart of darkness.

Though, to be honest, the relative lack of prison scenes made this week’s episode far more entertaining than the premiere. Watching Ollie wrestle with his conscience is very old at this point. And after five years of flashbacks, it’s clear he can survive this. It would almost be more interesting to see Ollie, Brick and Bronze Tiger press-ganged into a new Suicide Squad ran by the real Amanda Waller. Or if those aspects of the IP are still the exclusive purview of Warner Bros. Pictures, refashion Checkmate in Task Force X’s image. Ollie keeping his humanity in inhuman circumstances is not interesting.
What is interesting is the relationship between Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) and Laurel (Katie Cassidy). As recapped this week, Dinah is still quite angry about Laurel killing Vince. Laurel, meanwhile, wants revenge on Diaz for Quentin Lance’s murder. Curiously, the way she feels about Quentin has made her empathetic toward Dinah. The two still have an antagonistic relationship, but if the show can convincingly make them friends after all that’s transpired, I’d be mighty impressed. Also, there’s something to be said for having the two Canaries team up as an unofficial Birds of Prey.
But back to not interesting things, Felicity’s (Emily Bett Rickards) departure from A.R.G.U.S., Curtis (Echo Kellum) and Diggle (John Ramsey) was a necessary step, but quite perfunctory. Also, it’s tiring to see the group split up after three years of this as a recurring theme. Then again, we now know Felicity never came back for William, so this must be the first step in whatever took her off the board for decades.
I guess that means the future Star City glimpsed on Legends of Tomorrow with Smoak Industries and Connor Hawke will never come to be.
Although, Roy’s (Colton Haynes) reference to “everything’s that happened” suggests the miserable future in which A.R.G.U.S. hunts metas may still be in play. It may be the very thing Felicity (who is apparently alive in the future) wants Roy and William (Ben Lewis) to deal with back in Star City. Not that Roy let us see what she wrote in the message hidden in Ollie’s bow.
Nonetheless, the future storyline continues to be the most intriguing element while some of the side stories develop interesting ideas. But for the moment, Ollie and Felicity are proving to be the least compelling things about the show.
Arrow airs Mondays on The CW.