Despite choosing to end the flashbacks into Oliver Queen‘s (Stephen Amell) lost years before his rescue and return home, the new season of Arrow can’t quite resist an entire new set of flashbacks to fill out the season premiere. Opening five months after the death of Prometheus and the explosions on Lian Yu, “Fallout” gradually fills in some of the gaps of what happened to various characters. Despite explosions on the entire island, the only casualty turned out to be William’s mother (Anna Hopkins) who appears in an awfully clunky death scene just long enough for Oliver to promise to take care of William (Jack Moore). Thea (Willa Holland) may be temporarily stuck in a coma, likely until sweeps, the rest of the team comes back in one piece (more or less).
While offering a chance for Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) to leave on his own terms, the season premiere also introduces Dominic Bogart as Faust who is working alongside Black Siren (Katie Cassidy) to cause trouble in the city by targeting the police station and the city’s vigilantes. As to just who is behind the odd pairing, and what exactly he/she wants is still unclear leaving the plot of the season premiere a bit messier than it needs to be. The return of Cassidy as a regular allows the show to play on Quentin Lance‘s (Paul Blackthorne) guilt where both versions of his daughter is concerned, while Diggle’s scars from the island foreshadow bigger issues for Ollie’s right-hand man.
As for the turmoil between Oliver and his son, I have some doubts that the show will spend enough time on such a subplot to do it justice (or that such an investment would make sense given the number of other plotlines the season appears to want to juggle). The big reveal at the end of the episode isn’t likely to make Oliver’s life any easier, although he’s dodged being linked to the vigilante enough times in the past that I doubt a single photograph could bring him down. The real question is what does Siren, and whoever she’s working for, have to gain by attacking Mayor Queen and the city?