I will say I was a little disappointed at first to see nothing real come of Huntress coming at Oliver last time.  As time went on, I started wondering if the Arrow squad had actually escaped Blood.  After a mental romp through the people Oliver has “failed,” we were treated to seeing Werner Zytle in the comic.
In Suicide Squad news, Lyla goes on a recruiting mission at Guantanamo Bay.
Positives
For one thing, it was great seeing Zytle.  This gives us a bit better of an idea of where he came from on the road to the start of Arrow’s third season, but even more it makes this feel even more like a bridge season, the promise made with the comic’s original announcement.
The trip through Ollie’s failures was an interesting one, as we got to see some new angles, and examine some we hadn’t really seen, like Moira’s death.  The addition of Slade was a nice touch there as well.  All of these left me wanting to spend a little more time on them, cursing the limited page count.  The sequence with Tommy worked particularly well, as it touched on some new and interesting elements, like Ollie’s friendship with Diggle and the incident in Hong Kong (yet another season bridge moment), which also proved to solidify how much of the situation was happening in his head.
For a series whose art had been almost notorious for its depictions being so far off from the television show, the vertigo trip featured character designs that were very inline with the TV show, which was a great thing to see.
Negatives
What is that guy in the robe’s name?!?!  He’s dressed just like Blood’s assistant Abel, but then is called Caleb here by Zytle.  Caleb was the homeless man on the street.  It’s either an error or a complete lack of explaining Caleb’s random rise in the ranks.  I’m going to go with error.
As much as the chain of Arrow failures makes sense, I was a bit upset at seeing Tommy here.  “Three Ghosts” last year felt like a wonderful send-off and healing of the relationship between Oliver and Tommy.  This felt like a cheap shot.
The Verdict
Arrow Season 2.5 #7 is the best installment yet. Â Here we finally get a look at the failures of the Arrow that leave us wanting more.
