Arrow Season 7: 7 Ways It Has Reinvigorated The Show

There is no denying that Arrow's flashback narrative helped set it apart from other superhero shows. Having Oliver Queen's time stranded on Lian Yu play out parallel to his heroic escapades in Starling City was a stroke of genius, and it complemented the show very well. Well, at least it did in the beginning.

After two incredible seasons in which the flashback narrative was just as engaging as the present-day arc, it didn't take long for these flashbacks to become dull and uninspired, and by the time they came to an end in Season 5, they had long since run their course. However, on the other hand, Season 6 almost felt incomplete without them.

Thus, the sudden inclusion of the flash-forward arc in Season 7 caught us completely off-guard and, in doing so, it added a refreshingly new dynamic to the show unlike anything it has tackled before. Furthermore, it allowed Lian Yu to make a brief return and, for the first time, has opened up the show's long-running parallel storyline device to the rest of the characters, allowing us to see what the likes of Roy, Dinah and William are getting up to twenty years in the future.

With a gripping mystery at its forefront, these flash-forwards have breathed new life into the show - allowing the present-day events to tease the future while keeping us on the edges of our seats as we eagerly wait to see what happens next.