Arrow Season 7: 5 Ups & 3 Downs From 'Star City Slayer'

2. William's Departure

In a rather predictable move, good things don't last on Arrow.

William's return last week brought with it opportunities for the show to correct some of the mistakes that they made with the character over the course of the past two seasons. Moreover, as we already looked at, it provided Jack Moore with the opportunity to deliver some darn fine performances now that he finally had some worthy material. Unfortunately, it was all short-lived as the character was once again written out of the show this week and, from the looks of things, it could be permanent this time.

Thanks in no small part to the flash-forwards, William has an even more integral role this season. However, instead of capitalising on that, the writers have inexplicably written him out of the season merely in an attempt to lay the groundwork for his already-flawed behaviour in the future.

In addition, as those flash-forwards confirmed that William is gay, the writers had a real chance here to provide us with a deep and meaningful storyline as the younger iteration of the character came to terms with his sexuality. They ever-so-briefly touched upon it last week during his conversation with Zoe but, now that his departure in the present seems to link to his attitude in the future, we may never get to see him talk about this with his father - and this, more than anything else, feels like a real missed opportunity.

Furthermore, it also feels like they're sidelining William just to make way for a less-important character...