Arrow Season 7: 3 Ups & 3 Downs From 'Brothers & Sisters'

1. Unexpected Twists

With the Arrowverse shows running all-year-round, it doesn't take long for us, as viewers, to settle into their pattern. The season usually starts off with an adventure that teases the introduction of a new villain before said villain takes precedence throughout the first half of the season, wanes a little mid-way through to allow for some fun fillers and finally ups the ante in their plot to destroy the hero before the finale. When you learn each respective show's format, even their twists become predictable (see Arrow's previous episode) - which is why it was genuinely impressive to see how much effort the writers went to shock us in this week's episode of Arrow.

The reveal that Emiko knows Dante was an intriguing one. Though her character could have been developed a little more leading up to this to give this twist a little more oomph, it was still a shocker that posed us with some important questions. How could Star City's last-remaining outlawed vigilante and Oliver Queen's long-lost sister know the man who had, hours beforehand, engaged in a battle with the Green Arrow and attempted to kill the director of A.R.G.U.S.? Furthermore, is she working with him to figure out what happened to her mother, or does she have evil intentions for the Emerald Archer?

The bigger shock came when Ricardo Diaz, who just avoided death at the hands of Dante and Felicity respectively, was burned alive in his own cell. Of course, this left us with a lot of unanswered questions, but none more important than these two: Is he actually dead and, if so, who dared to take out The Dragon?

Both of these cliffhangers were well-executed and they added an extra jolt to 'Brothers & Sisters' that made it a lot more integral to the story than it initially appeared to be.

Now, for the negative...