Arrow Season 4: 9 Ups And 6 Downs From 'Eleven-Fifty-Nine'

8. The Portrayal Of Thea Queen

Arrow Malcolm Merlyn Thea Queen
The CW

Throughout Arrow’s four-season run, two characters have largely been shown to be major asshats: Laurel Lance and Thea Queen.

Now poor Laurel has still been the victim of some horrendous writing, but the character of Thea has seen a major change this season. No longer a complete d*ck or written as a whiny brat, Thea Queen is, dare I say it, one of the absolute highlights of The CW’s Emerald Archer-centric show nowadays.

This was something that certainly continued here, with Eleven-Fifty-Nine showing Thea to be a total badass combatant. Upon the group’s initial confrontation with Malcolm and his followers, we see Speedy wipe the floor with her daddy dearest and actually best him in battle.

Sure, Malcolm would eventually get his own back later in the episode, but Thea Queen has come a long way at this point, and it was great to see the character’s momentum continue here, with her at times serving like the angsty, brutal Damian Wayne to Oliver’s Batman.

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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 day job, 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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.