(Photo credit: Dean Buscher /The CW)
Season 4, Episode 1, “Green Arrow”, Aired Oct. 7, 2015
Here are a few things great shows have: great characters, great storylines, and great dialogue. And the Arrow writers never disappoint with the dialogue. Here are five of my favorite quotes from the season 4 premiere, “Green Arrow”:
1. Felicity to Oliver: “When you and Laura Hoffman started trading cooking tips, I secretly wanted to gouge out my eyes.”

Yep, we kinda wanted to gouge our eyes out, too, watching Oliver talking about the benefits of using a slow cooker with the yuppie neighbors.
I like this quote because it’s not what most people would have expected. Felicity is the one who missed the action, not Oliver. Of course, that could be because Oliver was a lot more entrenched in the fight or flight end of it than Felicity was, and he had been fighting off the bad guys for five years before she even appeared on the radar. But as Laurel and Amanda Waller both said, it’s hard to deny who, and what, you are in your bones. Oliver would have found his way back with or without the girls pushing him in that direction.
2. Damien Darhk to the Star City governing committee: “Cities are like puppies. When you see them writhing in the streets, you put them down. You don’t let them suffer.”

I knew from the start I was going to like Neal McDonough’s character. The guy knows how to play a badass with style. C’mon, give the guy some credit. He’s just trying to put Star City out of its misery. I am definitely interested in hearing more of the backstory about how Capt. Lance got tangled up with him. Mr. Vigilantes-are-bad-the-system-works shook hands with devil and didn’t even have the sense to realize it. Hmm. If you piss this guy off, he seems the type who might take out someone you love to prove a point.
3. Oliver to Felicity: “We’re playing the-reason-you-know-so-much-about-the-ghosts-is-because-you’ve-been-helping-the-team-behind-my-back game.”

For someone who used to specialize in covert operations, it sure took Ollie a long time to figure that one out. So, Ollie walks away from the team so that he and Felicity could share a real life together without the hinderance of being chased and shot at by evil dudes all the time. He did it so he could give 100 percent of his attention to her. And while he is enjoying the tranquility of the tropics, she is figuring out ways help the folks back home without him knowing. She shrugs it off with “I love every moment that I am with you, no matter where we are.” Yeah, Felicity, that’s a nice little tap dance around Ollie’s point. If the roles were reversed, would you be as forgiving as he is?
4. Lyla to Diggle: “I’m not saying he made the right choice … but if Oliver Queen always made the right choice, he wouldn’t need you.”

I love Lyla for saying this. Diggle needs to look very closely at the way things were going down with the whole Ra’s situation and cut Ollie some slack. What Oliver did in kidnapping Lyla was strictly for appearances. I refuse to believe that he would harm Diggle’s family in any way. The two have been through way too much together. And despite what everyone else is willing to believe at the moment, I do not buy into the whole Oliver’s-core-is-evil philosophy. Oliver is a survivor. He is fiercely protective of his family and friends. He does what he believes is right to keep them safe. These two need to kiss and make up.
5. Damien Darhk to the Star City governing committee: “None of you seem particularly likable. But if you do have any friends, or anyone who does love you, I suggest you say goodbye.”

This made me laugh out loud as I was watching it. Darhk is obviously a pretty good judge of character. I haven’t liked Capt. Lance for a couple of seasons now. He is obnoxious and driven by his own vengeance. I’m going to enjoy watching him play Darhk’s puppet.
So, those are some of my favorite lines from Arrow’s season premiere. Sound off in the comments below and tell me what yours were.
Until next time …
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7 on The CW.