Arrow Thursday. On Friday.

So I watched the Arrow Season Four premiere, “Green Arrow.”

Eh, could be worse.

That’s actually an improvement from “Oh, my god, this is awful” which is how I felt when I left the series.

SPOILERS BELOW:

THE GOOD STUFF:

• No drama in the Oliver/Felicity committed relationship. They’re in love, they’ve been together six months traveling the world, they’ve settled into a routine, Felicity’s stopped stammering, Oliver smiles, it’s not a subplot. HUGE improvement. I was going to quibble about Oliver being a superb cook because Oliver Does Everything Well, and then I remembered that Oliver was an obsessive detail freak with a tendency toward risk taking, so he probably would be a great cook. Plus I loved the “Felicity Smoak, you have failed this omelet” before he tipped her cooking into the trashcan: Honesty is good, as is self-parody. This is a couple I can watch.

• They move into Thea’s loft which is a huge relief because that McMansion was making me twitch. (Thea moved in with Laurel? WTF? Tell me they’re lovers and I’ll watch the whole damn season.) I know that three-bedroom-in-the-suburbs is shorthand for Normal Life, but neither one of them would have been caught dead in all that lovely mediocrity.

• The Arrow Cave is new and grittier; I think they’re hanging out in a basement somewhere. Much better atmosphere. And the team’s dynamic is the same except Oliver and Felicity are more relaxed–I like it that their interactions are so low key and natural–and Diggle is hostile, for very good reason. Also . . .

• Thea is nuts. I approve of this because she was a clueless victim for so damn long, so seeing her lose it and beat the crap out of a bad guy was very therapeutic for both of us. Plus there’s her family drama-trauma history (people keep killing them), her genetics, and the Lazarus Pit; she’s earned some batshit moments.

• Laurel is her old efficient self without the mopes, the hostility, the addiction, the sister issues (granted, those were warranted), and the family drama. She’s still my least favorite character, but I don’t dislike her anymore. And if she’s sleeping with Thea the Nutso, I will find her absolutely interesting. I know, what are the chances.

• Lance being blackmailed into teaming up with the Big Bad was going to go below in the “What’s Bad” list, but then I read the interview in Variety, and I like the idea that always-moral Captain Lance is about to find out there are gray areas in life. Plus, that was a genuine surprise which doesn’t happen often in the telegraph office that is the Arrow writing room.

• Oliver is pretty muted. He starts giving orders and then remembers his place. He’s understanding when Diggle all but spits on him. He tries his best to rein in Thea who, let’s face it, really is nuts, but he backs off when she points out she’s an adult. An insane adult, but who is Oliver to judge? He puts on a green hoodie and shoots people with arrows. The whole family is bananas. (I miss Moira.)

• The Big Bad, Damien Darhk, whose spelling we cannot blame on the Arrow writers because he’s from the comics, is played by Neil McDonough who instead of chewing the scenery just licks it with perverse delight. He’s going to be fun to watch, although I was terribly disappointed when he did a blood sacrifice to an ancient god and it wasn’t Cthulhu. I’ve been wanting a Cthulhu show for years, and there are so few shows with ancient gods that I feel like I might have missed a window here.

• Magic happens. This is a show that was never really committed to reality anyway, and there’s time travel over on The Flash which means its possible in Arrow, too, plus there was the whole Nanda Parbat fiasco and the Lazarus Pit, so a magician Big Bad is absolutely in line with this story universe. Also he stops Oliver’s arrows with a wave of his hand, which pretty much takes the bite out of the whole Master Archer thing. Oliver’s going to have to up his game here, maybe learn to hand wave, too. This is Popcorn Time at the very least.

THE BAD STUFF:

• Felicity lies to Oliver. I know she caught it from him, it’s like an STD, but she should be better than that.

• That stupid “Six Months Later” teaser stuff with Oliver devastated at somebody’s grave. The obvious conclusion: Felicity died. Runner up: Thea. My conclusion: It’s another damn gotcha from the Arrow team. Marc Guggenheim swore to Variety that the death is real without a Lazarus Pit sequel, but this is Arrow, the truth is a sometimes thing. But I will bet my nice new Blowfish flats that it’s not Felicity. As Felicity goes, so goes the audience.

• The flashbacks are back. Dear god. I have this theory that the costume department gets its wigs for Oliver at after-Halloween sales. Unwashed, uncombed, unreal. Oh, wait there was plot in there, too, something about Amanda Waller still being a duplicitous bitch and–kill me now–Oliver going back to that damn island. I’d laugh, but it’s too awful. He should have bought it and turned it into a theme park when he had the chance. That place is gonna haunt him forever, like a crazy ex-girlfriend who won’t let go or some bad take-out that repeats on you.

WHY I’LL BE BACK NEXT WEEK:

• First episodes are always reboots, setting up the new world, so they’re almost always slow and crammed full of setting-up details. The premiere of The Flash was slow, too. I like a lot of what they’re doing here (see above) so I’ll definitely give them four more episodes. Why four?

• I want to see what Jeri Ryan does with the mayor role. She’s gonna die, of course, Star(ling) City is 0 for 3 on natural deaths for mayors, but she’ll put some bite marks in the scenery before she goes. Hey, maybe that’s her grave. Bonus points if Oliver doesn’t sleep with her before she dies. Or after. (Hey, LAZARUS PIT. It’s possible.)

* Which reminds me, why is Oliver trying to give Felicity a ring when he’s still married to Nyssa? I’m definitely coming back for that reunion.

• Sara’s coming back from the dead. AGAIN. She’s not the Black Canary, she’s the Black Cat, but I still want to see Laurel’s face when she shows up. At this point, it’s “The Monkey’s Paw” singing “Sisters.”

• Constantine shows up in Episode Five.

See you next week.

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