5 Characters We Really, Really Want Back in Arrow Season 4
Note: before all the Colin Donnell fans start talking trash about me, I deliberately did not include Tommy Merlyn. He deserves his own post. Here's the rest of the Arrow fandom season 4 guest star wish list:
MAMA SMOAK
Undisputed number 1: the smoakin' hot, "I'm not dressed for a nightclub," "I knew it in five" mother of Felicity Smoak and unapologetic fangirl of Oliver Queen. The Arrow fandom went nuts when showrunners announced she'd be back in episode 6.
Probably to tell Oliver to put a ring on it.
There's been some fan fiction written about Mama Smoak meeting Moira Queen, the two blonde mothers who couldn't be more different. I'm not so sure about that.
Watch Moira's dying scene in season 2 "Seeing Red," when she told - not asked - Slade Wilson that both of her children would live. Then watch season 3 "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak," when Mama Smoak was kidnapped, threatening her captor with certain death if he hurt her daughter (all while tied to a chair).
We should call her Mama Bear.
Tell me this is not a family photo. Charlotte Ross even tweets birthday greetings "to my TV daughter" Emily Bett Rickards!
ANATOLY KNYAZEV
"There's no word for optimist in Russian," Anatoly said in season 2 "Keep Your Enemies Closer." But there are lots of words for despair. Fans both want and dread the Bratva flashbacks, which we think are in season 4 because Arrow writers have said it represents the darkest period in Oliver's life.
After Lian Yu and Hong Kong, that's saying something.
Oliver called in a Bratva favor early in season 1, then again in season 2 to save Lyla. We've gone a whole season without Anatoly. That is unacceptable.
Remember during the attempted Lian Yu escape in the submarine, Anatoly did the sign of the cross before firing the torpedo? He's a believer. Just a thought: it wouldn't be the first time members of the Russian mob took sanctuary in an Orthodox church!
NYSSA AL-GHUL
Last we saw Nyssa in the season 3 finale, she was simultaneously kneeling before Malcolm Merlin, the new Ra's, and promising to get justice for Sara. As daughter of the demon, I'm sure she's seen her share of creative and horrifying deaths.
Part of us inexplicably wants to tell Malcolm to watch his back; the he's-the-devil-incarnate part of us wants Nyssa to string him up over the fire pit and finish what her father started.
We saw a more human side of Nyssa as trainer and friend to Laurel. They bonded over their grief for Sara and black & white milkshakes - dipping your fries must be a Canadian thing - and watching Nyssa try to navigate the non-League world was fascinating.
What if she joined Team Arrow as an honorary member in season 4, to take down HIVE, Malcolm Merlin, or both? Oliver would then have his ex-wife, ex-girlfriend, current girlfriend, and sister all as colleagues. Takes a superhero to deal with a workplace dynamic like that.
Or, does she reunite with Sara/White Canary and become an adjunct Legend of Tomorrow? We'll take whatever we can get.
WALTER STEELE
The standup guy who fell in love with his best friend's widow and unknowingly got mixed up in her criminal activities, which almost got him killed.
He divorced her, but apparently forgave her. And continued warm relationships with her children. And attended her funeral, as a member of the Queen family.
Is Walter still single? Inquiring minds want his mobile phone number.
If I had a husband who lied to me since the beginning of our marriage and then had me kidnapped to cover up a conspiracy to destroy half my city, I'd do a lot more than divorce him. I certainly wouldn't endorse him as a mayoral candidate the following season!
Despite everything, Moira knew she could still count on Walter to look out for the best interests of the family business. When Oliver came to him for help at Moira's suggestion, Walter happily provided rescue financing for Queen Consolidated in the season 2 premiere "City of Heroes."
Once Felicity is CEO of the new Queen Consolidated, I really want to see her hire Walter away from Starling National Bank (Star City National Bank by then).
P. S. It bothers me that Malcolm Merlin calls Felicity "Miss Smoak." Only Walter gets to do that.
Deadshot/FLOYD LAWTON
I'm not saying put Floyd Lawton in the Lazarus Pit, but surely there's a way to bring the villain who died a hero back from the dead so Lyla can hire him when she becomes head of ARGUS.
Sounds like the perfect Arrow plot: remember that hit man who killed Diggle's brother Andy? Diggle's wife is his new boss and his assignment is to go after HIVE, who ordered the hit in the first place.
Once fans learned Lawton's real life story, they saw him as a good soldier, a loving family man, tormented by PTSD that pulled him into the darkness. That could've been Oliver, had he not come out the other side a hero, as Barry/The Flash reminded him.
(If that episode, season 3 "Suicidal Tendencies," accomplished nothing else, it shed light on the hidden war injuries many veterans face today.)
Lawton was fond of saying that you aren't dead because nobody's paid me to kill you yet. But his final actions showed a principled person, who despite his sarcasm acknowledged there was a debt to be paid, and a family to be saved.
He told Diggle in Russia, "That's the thing about honor, John. You can't turn it on and off." I think Lawton would want to be part of the HIVE takedown, on the side of the good guys.
