The season 5 premiere of Arrow is right around the corner, and while details regarding the season’s new characters – mostly the villains – have been making the rounds, there’s still some question of how it’s all going to come together. That’s especially pressing considering where season 4 left things from a narrative standpoint. Following the fall of Damien Darhk, Team Arrow was in the wind, with both Thea and Diggle heading off in different directions and presumably leaving a life of vigilantism behind.
Such a change in the ranks of Star City’s premiere superhero organization isn’t likely to last for very long, but it does pose and interesting question of what everyone is up to when ‘Legacy’ premieres and how the episode plans on going about providing an answer. Luckily, the folks at The CW have seen fit to give fans an idea with a synopsis of the season 5 premiere, which, from the look of things, will get the ball rolling on Team Arrow 2.0 pretty quickly and also offer up a glimpse at Oliver Queen in the role of Mayor.
So far, most of the news about the new season has discussed the various villains that will be popping up throughout the season. It has been hinted that new villain Prometheus will be directly linked to Oliver’s shenanigans in season 1 – which Amell also discussed during an interview at Comic-con – while new villain Tobias Church (Chad L. Coleman) will emerge as the crime boss that will hopefully deliver the return to a gritty, street-level crime show Amell has been promising.
The full synopsis is below:
The synopsis puts a slightly different spin on where it looked as though Arrow was heading in season 5. While it has been pretty clear for a while now that vigilantes like Wild Dog and Artemis, and Team Arrow newcomer Curtis Holt, aka Mr. Terrific, will be joining Oliver down in the Arrow Bunker for some training, it seemed as though Tobias Church was being positioned as the season’s big bad. Although it’s not entirely certain if that’s still the case, the synopsis’ mentioning of him in the premiere suggests he may simply be around to get the ball rolling, while new baddie Prometheus will take center stage later on in season as the real threat. If that is how the narrative unfolds, it may end up working in Arrow’s favor, as last season introduced Damien Darhk early on, leaving far too much space between his first encounter with Oliver and the unveiling of his big plan. Letting the season evolve in stages of bad to worse (presumably) would make for potentially more exciting way of presenting the progression of the season.
“After Laurel’s (Katie Cassidy) death and the departures of both Diggle (David Ramsey) and Thea (Willa Holland) from Team Arrow, Oliver (Stephen Amell) takes to the streets solo to protect Star City’s citizens as the Green Arrow. With Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) guiding him from the bunker, Oliver is forced to deal with a city that has become overrun with both criminals and a slew of new (and painfully inexperienced) vigilantes. Watching Oliver try to balance his jobs as both the mayor and also the protector of Star City, Felicity suggests he form a new team, but Oliver resists. However, when a deadly new criminal, Tobias Church (guest star Chad L. Coleman), enters the picture, Oliver realizes the best thing for the city might be a new team of superheroes. Meanwhile, the flashbacks take us to Russia where Oliver faces off against the Bratva.
James Bamford directed the episode with story by Greg Berlanti and a teleplay by Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle.”
As far as the rest of the season goes, it sounds like the new Team Arrow is going to take some getting used to for more than just viewers. According to a recent interview with showrunner Wendy Mericle in TVLine, Diggle’s departure will be short-lived and upon his return he’ll be none too pleased to find a bunch of new vigilantes have filled the void left in his absence.
Season 5 seems ready to respond to some of the changes that occurred late last season. While it doesn’t look like Diggle and Thea will be out of the game entirely, they will have to contend with a shift in the status quo. With any luck the exploration of that shift will drive the series toward a strong fifth season.
“[Diggle’s] stationed in Chechnya. He’s still in the military, and he’s very much a man without a state. He’s away from his family, and he’s away from the team, so he’s away from that family. He’s trying to figure out how he can get that sense of himself back after killing his brother. He’s not going to love all these little upstarts, trying to take over his role, but he’ll adjust. He’s going to find some common ground with Wild Dog, and that will help take the sting out of it.”
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The Flash season 3 will premiere Tuesday October 4 at 8pm on The CW, Arrow season 5 will premiere in the same timeslot on Wednesday October 5, Supergirl season 2 on Monday October 10, and Legends of Tomorrow season 2 on Thursday October 13.
Source: The CW, TVLine
