Arrow Season 7: 4 Ups & 2 Downs From 'Emerald Archer'

Downs...

2. Discrepancies Surrounding William's Return

While it was admittedly nice to finally see young William back on the show, his return came with its own issues. The character's upset over the fact that Oliver and Felicity didn't bring him home over the holidays was rather understandable (totally with you on that one, kid). However, when all fell apart, he turned to his best friend to talk about it.

Who is his best friend, you ask? Why, Zoe of course. You know Zoe, right? The vigilante-championing daughter of Rene Ramirez? Yeah, well apparently they're best friends now because they started texting each other when William was away - which was an incredibly convenient way for the writers to tell us "oh these two are friends now, got it?". Rene's shock at their sudden friendship, and hilarious protective-dad jokes, added a little more believability to it, but it didn't exactly make viewers buy their friendship.

William's sudden expulsion also proved to be quite problematic because of the simple fact that Felicity was unaware of it. Surely the school would have called Oliver and/or Felicity to notify them that the child they were entrusted with had been expelled from that very boarding school?

Outside of the odd episode or two, Arrow often fails to give secondary characters the development they need, and William has unfortunately fallen victim to that in the past. Now that we know the character will play a major role in the future, it's imperative that the groundwork is laid properly. Thus, instead of being told about it, we must actually see his development.