
One of my deepest reservations during season one of Arrow was the mixed bag of non-canon supporting characters that surrounded our Emerald Archer. As the season went on it became apparent that the group fell into three groups. Team Arrow, consisting of Diggle and Felicity were quickly taken into viewers hearts as our hero’s trusted allies. However, both had their own unique and endearing personalities that made us root for them. Team Lance, consisting of our weary and long suffering detective who hated Oliver for killing his daughter and the Archer for being a vigilante was a strong and tragic character with realistic motivations while his daughter Laurel was a tough empowered lawyer working for the people and who sympathised with the vigilantes cause.

Finally, we have group number three. The Queen family, Moira and Thea. Whose purpose for a season and a half now has been to act oblivious to Oliver’s strange behaviour rather than consider that after five years he may have serious mental issues, ignore every time he disappears and generally act like over privileged rich people until the Malcolm Merlyn plot really took off. Even then Thea was a cliche party girl and Moira pouted for half a dozen episodes as she contemplated being an accessory to mass murder and being intimidated by Malcolm.



When the jury return their verdict though Moira Queen is found not guilty by a unanimous vote. A decision that seems very suspicious to well, just Oliver. But would you expect anything else? Of course the revelation comes later as on her way home Mrs. Queen’s driver drops her off at an abandoned building site to be met by a very alive Malcolm Merlyn. Did he fake his death somehow after his fight with Oliver? Did his friends in the league of assassins resurrect him? We are not told. What we are told though is that Moira and Malcolm DID have an affair. And the actual bombshell that Thea is actually his daughter and he has come back from the dead to take her back...