Arrow season 7, episode 11 review: Past Sins

“People without the last name Queen are people too.” Mild spoilers for Arrow season 7, episode 11 follow.

After confronting Emiko and being rejected, Oliver’s sins come back into play, but this time at a larger scale threatening how Star City sees him as the Green Arrow.

Meanwhile, Diggle and Curtis being to assemble a new Suicide Squad, much to the chagrin and disappointment of Curtis.

Oliver attempts redemption again

Oliver has always carried the weight of the world on his shoulders so now with the knowledge of Emiko being brought into his life, that burden has been the greatest in a long time. The opening scene of the episode highlights this extremely well with the cutting back and forth between an interview that Oliver is having while he is talking with Emiko. It demonstrates the lie that he often leads in order to preserve those around him.

Now with an event from the pilot coming back around to haunt him is simply appropriate because Oliver’s life needs to be miserable. Oliver obviously feels guilty for Emiko not being a part of his life, despite not knowing about her, so forcing him to confront another person whose life has been directly affected by his father’s actions is perfect. It ties into the overall theme that is now being presented in the back half of the season.

Laurel’s past returns

Just like Oliver’s past coming back to haunt him, Laurel’s is too. Somehow another person from Earth-2 has arrived in Star City, just in time to disrupt her new life as the district attorney. This story is definitely not as compelling as Oliver’s though. Oliver has been faced to confront his own mistakes before, so confronting the mistakes that he had virtually no hand in is compelling, which isn’t the same with Laurel here.

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Earth-2 Laurel was first introduced as a villain, so the fact that her past is coming back to haunt her isn’t surprising in the slightest. Yes, it’s supposed to be parallel to Oliver’s story, but just because Laurel has turned over a new leaf it doesn’t make her past returning as compelling. That’s not to say that Laurel’s storyline is bad or anything, it’s just not as compelling as its attempting to be.

The Suicide Squad returns

Diggle and Curtis’ storyline throughout this season has been lackluster at best. It’s honestly felt like it’s been filler more than anything else. It’s barely tied into the main stories being told during the rest of the season and the antagonist of this storyline, Dante, is barely memorable. Nothing been all that interesting for them, at least until now with the Suicide Squad, now named the Ghost Initiative, being brought back into the picture.

While this episode doesn’t completely make the ARGUS storyline interesting as a whole, it begins to actually feel relevant in this episode. Bringing Diaz back in such a drastic way sets up so many ways that this new Suicide Squad will go awry. And there’s no way that Oliver is going to take this news well when he finds out about, which he is bound to eventually.

Arrow takes a detour from Emiko in this episode, but still succeeds with a strong emphasis on Oliver’s storyline.