Arrow Season 7 Premiere: 6 Ups & 2 Downs From ‘Inmate 4587’

5. Natural Conflict

It's safe to say that Arrow's previous issues with creating conflict are well-documented, with the infamous civil war between the original and new members of Team Arrow still burned into our memories. However, the Season 7 premiere offered up something that the show hasn't seen in quite some time: natural conflict.

When Oliver went to prison, his teammates promised him that they would keep the city safe in his absence. However, that left certain members of the team feeling a little lost. While Dinah was doing a swell job of keeping her promise as the SCPD's new Captain, Rene couldn't shake the feeling that they had let Oliver down by turning their backs on their vigilante identities.

Both of them had valid points and, as a result, they ended up disagreeing over the arrival of the new Emerald Archer. Rene's subsequent defying of Dinah's plans to take him down only furthered that conflict as she was left with no other option than to threaten him with an arrest if Wild Dog ever reappeared.

Nobody was trying to kill anyone, and nobody was hacking chips planted inside their friend's body. This was simply a disagreement over the same promise that they both made to someone else and it could end up causing more issues in the future. It's a natural progression of a completely normal conflict and thus, it shows a positive development when it comes to Arrow's ability to create said conflict.