Arrow Season 5: 10 Things You Need To Know
6. We're Finally Getting Those Russia Flashbacks (With An Intriguing Big Bad)
Although starting out as a way of filling in the gaps and showing the transformation of Oliver Queen, often offering a parallel between past and present, the flashbacks on Arrow have begun to wear very thin over the last couple of years. The trip to Hong Kong had enough material for about three episodes, stretches over that plus 20, and last year's return to Lian Yu offered up mysteries no one really cared about.
While many fans would rather see the flashbacks abandoned completely, there is one element of Oliver's past that should be interesting to explore, and that's what we're getting in Season 5: Russia.
Just how Oliver Queen became a captain in the Russian Mafia, and got that Bratva tattoo, has been an unanswered question since Season 2. Now the show is finally going to start putting the pieces together, as Ollie heads to Russia to fulfil his promise to Taiana.
There he'll be caught up in the world of the Bratva, which should bring some intensity to the flashbacks, and be confronted with another Big Bad, Kovlar. A government strongman who was also involved with Taiana's family, he'll provide a huge test for Oliver, and most excitingly is being played by Dolph Lundgren.