Arrow, Season 3, Episode 7, ‘Draw Back Your Bow’ Review

The following is a review of Arrow Season 3 Episode 7 ‘Draw Back Your Bow,’ and will contain mild spoilers

After the tease at the end of the last episode, it seemed like ‘Draw Back Your Bow” would be a rather formulaic episode about the new archer in town that has a rather intense crush on Arrow, but it turned out to be an exciting episode that also managed to take a step beck to work with some of the characters and relationships.

This episode roots itself in a flashback to Deathstoke’s assault on Starling City, where Arrow saves a woman from one of Slade Wilson’s mirakuru troops. It turns out, she has some issues, and quickly becomes a stage 5 clinger, stalking Arrow, and fantasizing about the life they could have together.

Donning the moniker “cupid,” she goes a little overboard (as stalkers are known to do), looking more to attract the attention of Arrow, then necessarily supporting his cause. The emphasis on romantic involvement also provides an opportunity to explore #Olicity again, as if that corpse needed any more kicking.

Fortunately, despite the tired romantic drama between them, it actually served as a suitable narrative to hopefully move forward from that place in the story.

Meanwhile, Felicity and Ray Palmer continue to get a lot of screen time together, which is fortunately where the show has really been excelling recently. Emily Bett Rickards and Brandon Routh are some of the more entertaining actors this season, so any opportunity to see them interact is always a bonus. Any additional bonus is also Brandon Routh doing the salmon ladder, if you’re into that sort of thing (as Felicity is).

We finally got some more Oliver backstory from Hong Kong, but that part of the story is unfortunately still lacking. It feels like they are stalling before some sort of reveal, so I’m staying patient with confidence that it will pay off eventually.

Ted Grant and Laurel were completely absent from this episode, but that didn’t really take anything away. Laurel’s development could definitely use some off screen time, so it was a welcome break from her (often heavy handed) transition into the Black Canary.

Although the rest of the episode has its hands full with story and character development, this episode also managed to drop a double bombshell for comics fans with what is basically a two part cliffhanger. I’ll leave those spoilers for you to see when you watch, but the season is definitely poised to go to some very exciting places.

Arrow will have a break for next week, but the first part of the epic Arrow/Flash crossover event will finally be happening on December 2nd with a special two-hour long episode of The Flash featuring Arrow, followed by another two-hour episode of Arrow, titled “The Brave and The Bold” on December 3rd. That makes 4 hours of DC TV crossovers!

If you haven’t been keeping up with The Flash, now is the time. Check out our reviews for The Flash so you don’t miss anything when the crossover comes to town.