Arrow- The Calm

This third season premiere shakes things up quite a bit. Most good, some unfortunate. The title card has been updated, showing a shinier more decorated arrowhead. Roy Harper is finally wearing his own costume and it looks good. Not sure yet if we're calling him Speedy, Arsenal, or still just Roy. Detective Lance, after his collapse at the end of last season, is fortunately still alive and promoted to Police Captain, and announces that his department is now going to work with the Arrow instead of trying to apprehend him. A very welcome change of pace are the flashbacks, which have moved off the island and into Hong Kong, where Amanda Waller was holding Oliver hostage and needed him to work for her, for reasons not yet determined.

For a while, it appears things might get serious between Oliver and personal favorite character Felicity Smoak. However, a rocked propelled grenade into the restaurant they were eating at puts a damper on that. In Ollie's attempt to get his family's company back, we're introduced to Ray Palmer, a handsome and tech savvy entrepreneur with a competitive bid, and a plan not only to save Queen Consolidated, but Star(ling) City as well. The experience at the restaurant, as well as a run-in with the new Count Vertigo, seems to convince Oliver to concede. And while Oliver decides against pursuing a relationship with Felicity, he at least lets her know he loves her.

Soldier turned bodyguard turned crime-fighting partner John Diggle becomes a father in this episode, and after what happened in the first two episodes of Bones, I'm relieved to see that this subplot went off without a hitch. Sure, Diggle objects at first to being taken out of the field, but concedes to it the moment he looks at his little girl. He seemed like the most obvious character death with that kind of set-up, and that was a relieving subversion.

Sarah Lance, the (Black) Canary came back in town for reasons not quite determined. She helps the Arrow and 'Speedy' stop a bomb from blowing up a wrestling match and dispatch the new Count, then has a candid discussion with Oliver that "we aren't our masks and we need people who don't wear them". Ollie doesn't quite let that sink in the way we thought. The episode ends in a startling way. After a quick talk with Laurel, Canary is shot multiple times in the chest with black arrows, and then falls dead into the alley right in front of her sister.

Barry Allen also gets a cameo, having woken up from his coma and wanting to talk, setting up for their shared scene in the Flash pilot, which re-aired after this episode.

The answer to who killed Sarah is most likely Malcolm Merlyn. However, it's unlikely that our heroes will reach this conclusion right away, considering his "death" in the first season finale, and the only people aware of his return are Moira Queen (deceased) and Thea Queen-Merlyn (who was not in this episode, but at least seems to still be in contact with Oliver and/or Roy). Does this mean that Dinah Laurel Lance will become Black Canary in future episodes? Since the killer used arrows, does she think that Oliver did it? I'm looking forward to finding the answers out as the story progresses.