Arrow Season 4: 6 Things The Candidate Got Right (And 4 It Didn't)

5. Didn't - Retreading Flashbacks

The flashbacks, yet again, are a big problem for the show. I was worried last week when we saw Oliver being sent back to the island that it would just tread over old ground, and that's largely what happens in this episode. Most of the scenes we get a pretty brief, involving him taking down one of the guards stationed there, but it doesn't give us much we haven't seen before. What's more, they're all quick snapshots of the island, but they don't marry up with the episode, and instead take us out of the main plot at some pivotal moments for Oliver. We do get the introduction of Baron Reiter, and hopefully he and the organisation Shadowspire can breathe new life into the flashbacks, but at the moment they feel too familiar and yet too disconnected. On the plus side, Ollie got a haircut, which means no more of that ridiculous wig.