Arrow season 7, episode 10 review: My Name is Emiko Queen

“What he did was unforgivable.” Mild spoilers for Arrow season 7, episode 10.

Oliver is back to work, but with the SCPD at his disposal. There’s only one case that matters to him though, who can this new Green Arrow be?

Meanwhile, Emiko Queen continues her work as the Green Arrow in a way reminiscent of Oliver’s early days as the Green Arrow.

The list returns

After what seemed like several seasons of pretty much no mention of the original conceit of the show, the list has made a return to Arrow, this time in the hands of Emiko Queen. This show has taken some drastic turns from what it originally began as, so it’s interesting to see the return of the list. It makes sense, given who this new Green Arrow is, and if it was anyone else in that suit, this wouldn’t feel right. It may not be the same list as the one Oliver has, but it’s a list none of the less and Emiko’s motivations feel very similar to Oliver’s in season 1.

Bringing Emiko in the fold is, on paper, one of the best decisions that Arrow could have made at this point of the show’s run. Who knows if it will pan out to be a good story moving forward, but so far it makes for an interesting development in the show. While Oliver is now working with law, his sister is taking up the mission that he began seven years ago. This episode does a good job establishing the story going forward while also bringing back classic Arrow themes to the forefront of the show.

Oliver Queen, SCPD deputy

With Oliver out of jail, there had to be a reason for him to return as the Green Arrow, so having him deputized by the SCPD probably makes the most sense to keep Oliver in the game. The conflict and treatment of Oliver by the cops, well one cop, would make sense if there hadn’t been ample time spent creating a good relationship between the SCPD and the Green Arrow. They were somewhere along the lines of Batman and the GCPD at this point in the show, strained, but present. So, this treatment just felt weird and forced.

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Being on the force though provides Oliver with the opportunity to discover who this new Green Arrow is extremely quick, which is a good thing. Arrowverse shows tend to drag out reveals like this, often to the detriment of the story being told, so it was a smart for this episode to already reveal to Oliver that Emiko is his sister.

As mentioned above, this brings the “sins of the father” theme present in the first season of Arrow back to the forefront. Combine the present and future story lines, Arrow is reverting back its previous seasons, as well as its tried and tested themes, much to the benefit of the show. Oliver nails this point home in an excellent monologue after discovering who Emiko is, with a fantastic performance from Stephen Amell. Arrow felt lost during season 6, as well as the episode after Oliver left prison, and now it feels to have a focus again.

Rene the mayor

After everything presented in the future storyline seemed so dire and every character seemingly fell to their lowest points, here comes Rene at his seemingly highest point. Now the mayor of The Glades, from Rene’s point of view, he’s done everything that Oliver has attempted to do, save his city. This obliviously isn’t the case given what we’ve already seen, but to see Rene, one of the most jaded characters on the show, seem optimistic after all the unknown that has happened in the future is an interesting development. He and Dinah have switched roles in the future and hopefully the reasons why hold true to those characters.

Arrow returns from its hiatus with a strong episode centered around Emiko Queen, while bringing it back into familiar territory.