Arrow New Episode Review: 'The Return' Treats Longtime Fans with Slade Wilson's Return

The CW's Arrow came back with a new episode tonight entitled "The Return." This was a loaded episode that treated longtime fans of the series and pushed the plot forward in some significant ways.

"The Return" was a title with many meanings, so let's hit them in order. First, we had the return of Oliver Queen to Lian Yu, the hellish island where he spent much of time away from Starling City. This time, the trip was planned, as Malcolm sent Oliver and Thea to the island to train to face Ra's al Ghul. Of course, Merlyn is a psychopath, so he released Slade Wilson and unleashed him on Oliver and Thea.

Slade's game of cat and mouse with the Queens quickly led to him locking them up in the ARGUS jail, which gave Oliver and Thea some time to talk. This was an extremely strong episode for Thea (and for Willa Holland, who crushed the speeches she was given), as she immediately called out Oliver for hiding the truth from her. Thea has grown so much as a character, and this episode really demonstrated that. She didn't know what Oliver was hiding, but she knew something was wrong.

Of course, Ollie dodged as he devised a way to escape the cell. That way involved dislocating his sister's arm to reach the release switch, which was so f'in metal. The two moved in on Slade and eventually subdued him, but not before Ollie confessed to Thea that she killed Sara.

The writers handled Thea extremely well here. For starters, she continued to press Oliver to tell her what was wrong and stop treating her like a fragile little child. And when Ollie did tell her, it affected her but didn't break her. She wailed, she cried, but she kept fighting. And when she had the choice to kill Slade or let him live, Oliver got through to her and prevented her from killing again.

Slade, because he believed it or because he wanted to continue to torment Oliver, told Ollie that Thea was lost. That issue is up for debate, and it's a point that Arrow will likely flesh out throughout the rest of this season.

But Thea wasn't done there, as she confronted Malcolm immediately upon their return to Starling City. Malcolm tried to deflect and justify his actions, but Thea wasn't having any of it. She cut the cord with Malcolm on a personal level but stayed committed to working with him to combat Ra's at Oliver's request. This was a fantastic episode for Thea, and I'm fascinated to see what the show does with her from here.

"The Return" also referred to Oliver's return to Starling City in the flashbacks. These flashbacks have been a slow burn for much of this season, but this was probably the strongest episode in this regard in Season 3. Amanda Waller brought Ollie back to his hometown to complete the mission and stop China White, but of course Oliver checked in on his family and friends.

He got to see Thea buying drugs and cursing his name. He got to see his best friend at his birthday party. He saw Felicity for the first time inside Queen Consolidated. He...broke a drug dealer's neck to prevent him from telling anyone he was still alive.

And just when Oliver decided to rejoin his family and take his chances against Waller, he found a video from his father explaining why he couldn't just return to his family. Only Ollie can save this city, and so he started on that path. This was a crucial, pivotal moment for Oliver Queen because he changed significantly from "Flashback Oliver" to the MurderBot we met at the beginning of the series.

"The Return" had lots of treats for the longtime fans of the series and marked another strong Season 3 installment. Here's looking forward to another great episode next Wednesday.

Notes:

- Malcolm's explanation for why he made Thea kill Sara: "[Oliver] shouldn't have told you that." Strong argument, Merlyn.

- Thea forced Oliver to stop chasing after Slade because he got punctured in the arm. Oliver survived a damn sword through the abdomen, followed by a fall off a mountain. He should have been able to brush that wound off like it never even happened.

- Oliver: "I pulled the hoodie down over my face!" Maseo: "That disguise wouldn't work even if you smeared grease paint over your face." You tell him, Maseo!

- Not gonna lie, I'm extremely disappointed we didn't get to see any interaction between Malcolm and Slade. GIVE THIS TO US, WRITERS!

- It's always good to see Colin Donnell back on the show. I wouldn't even be surprised if Tommy was alive at this point.

- Lance is close to hitting the bottle again because he's devastated that Laurel broke the trust between them and lied about Sara's death. This is going to get worse before it gets better.

What did you think of "The Return"? Let us know in the comments section.