Arrow Season 4: 6 Ups And 5 Downs From 'Genesis'

9. Oliver's Flashbacks

Arrow Genesis
The CW

It has to be said, the flashback moments of Season 4 have been pretty so-so at best. For whatever reason, the Lian Yu-set action just seems to be a little off this year. Still, that doesn’t mean that flashbacks in general cannot be used effectively when needed.

Whilst we didn’t get a standard flashback in Genesis, we did get to see a brilliant collection of flashbacks used to highlight the darkness within Oliver Queen. Seeing all of Ollie’s darkest moments brought together in a veritable highlight package of the torment and torture that the Master Bowman has been through since the show started certainly made for some great television.

As well as looking great and being used at the perfect time, this look at Oliver’s troubles really hit home just how damaged a soul Oliver Queen is and how he could quite easily have gone down the wrong path if he’d made some different decisions. In fact, so troubled was Ollie’s past, Esrin Fortuna decided that there was simply too much darkness within him for her to be able to help him take down Damien Darhk.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.