Based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, the series follows the story of billionaire vigilante Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) who returns home after five years supposedly stranded on a Pacific island, featuring flashback sequences to his time away.

The episode marks the first time that the vigilante persona of Oliver Queen is referred to by his comic book alias of "Green Arrow".

When a new threat is revealed in the newly renamed Star City, in the form of season antagonist Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) Oliver returns to aid the team, taking up the mantle of "Green Arrow".

The episode marks the first appearance by McDonough as Darhk and stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen alongside Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak and Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance, with Grant Gustin guest starring as Barry Allen.

Five years later, Oliver and Felicity are shown to have been living a suburban life in Ivy Town for a time, until the arrival of Laurel Lance and Thea Queen asking for their help in combating an emerging threat in the newly named Star City.

The pair agree and once back in Star City aid the team in tracking the Ghosts, discovering that Darhk has apparent magical powers.

[2][3] The series is loosely based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, telling the story of Oliver Queen, a former-billionaire turned vigilante.

The show would go on to be the progenitor of a franchise of television series and other associated media based around adaptations of a variety of DC Comics characters, set within a shared universe, collectively known as the 'Arrowverse'.

[8][9] In July 2015, Guggenheim revealed that the fourth season premiere would be titled "Green Arrow" and that he would be writing the episode alongside co-showrunner Wendy Mericle.

The script was developed from a story written by Beth Schwartz and executive producer Greg Berlanti, with the episode directed by Thor Freudenthal.

The critics' consensus reads "Arrow returns with aplomb, promising that the series can deftly navigate a more aspirational tonal shift and the introduction of more fantastical elements.

Whilst he praised David Ramsey's performance in portraying the fractured nature of the relationship between John Diggle and Oliver, and the rapport between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards as Oliver and Felicity Smoak respectively, Scheeden felt that the characters of Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Thea Queen (Willa Holland) "failed to impress" in the season premiere.

[22] Kevin Yeoman, in his review for Screen Rant, praised not only Dahrk's introduction, but the manner in which he is introduced, highlighting how "allowing the opposing characters to interact propels the hour in a way that might have been lost had their threads not intertwined."

[24] Writing for TV Overmind, Andy Behbakht described the series as returning "with the type of great quality that fans originally fell in love".

However she expressed skepticism at the promised lighter tone of the season, particularly with the shadow of a character death, and of Oliver's declaration of deadly revenge, looming over it.

[27] Writing for Uproxx, Alan Sepinwall described attempts to introduce a lighter tone to the series as "superficial at best", and that the episode had a mix of both interesting and frustrating moments.