Arrow Season 7: 4 Ups & 1 Down From ‘My Name Is Emiko Queen’

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1. Not-So-Flash-Fowards

Let's just admit it already, the flash-forwards caught us all by surprise. Upon their introduction, we had no idea what to expect from them and, when we saw an adult William and an aged Roy reunite on Lian Yu before returning to a decimated Star City, we lost our freakin' minds. However, since the jaw-dropping reveal that, in 20 years time, Felicity Smoak is "dead", they have stalled dramatically. Unfortunately, that didn't change this week.

The sight of a healthy Glades thriving under the tutelage of an aged Rene Ramirez was undoubtedly a visually pleasing one, as was his altercation with Dinah in the rain, and it's truly nice to see both Rick Gonzalez and Juliana Harkavy shine with the powerful material that the present-day iterations of their characters aren't gifted with, but by the end of the episode it once again felt like we had made very little progress.

While we were teased with the possibility that Mayor Ramirez's mysterious business partner had something to do with Felicity's apparent death, that wasn't really that much of a shock given that we didn't trust anyone in this futuristic world. Moreover, while it's okay to tease us with what is yet to come every now and again, it's beginning to feel like the flash-forwards' sole purpose is to tease us instead of actually moving the story forward - and that is slowing down its overall progression.

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