Arrow Season 5: 7 Ups And 4 Downs From 'New Recruits'

Ups...

7. Oliver’s Training Techniques

Arrow New Recruits
The CW

It likely doesn’t get any tougher than Russian Bratva training, and those are the harsh methods that Oliver is borrowing from in order to test out his new recruits.

The whole ‘ring the bell’ technique may have certainly been an interesting test, but the most enjoyable element of Ollie testing out his rookies was seeing him just completely take them to school. Even with the three of them against just Oliver, Wild Dog, Evelyn Sharp and Curtis Holt were all made to look like absolute fools as the Emerald Archer disposed of each of them with (often brutal) ease.

One of the main character traits of Oliver Queen is that he doesn’t really tend to enjoy working all that much with others. If he does so, it’s usually reluctantly, and he’s as far away from being a people person as you can get. Regardless of that though, it still makes for hugely entertaining TV to see Ollie attempting to take some rookies under his wing, no matter how much pain and abuse lies ahead under said wing for these new recruits.

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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.