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'Arrow' Season 7, Episode 15 "Training Day": Ollie Can't Have It Both Ways, Needs Time Out [SPOILER REVIEW]

Welcome back to Bleeding Cool's continuing look at the seventh season of the CW's Arrow. It might be tempting to want to look ahead towards the end of the series after the announcements of the past week, but that's next year. We still have this season – one of the best in years – to get through before we start the Oliver Queen death watch.

So with that in mind and this week's episode "Training Day" watched, let's get to it… shall we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXSn9RLVdVM

Arrow s07e15 "Training Day": TEAM ARROW ATTEMPTS TO WORK WITH SCPD — Team Arrow attempts to work with the Star City Police Department but much to Oliver's (Stephen Amell) frustration, things don't go as planned. Meanwhile, Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) gets some life-changing news. Ruba Nadda directed the episode written by Emilio Ortega Aldrich & Rebecca Rosenberg.

If the partnership between Team Arrow and the SCPD is going to work, the vigilantes are going to have to learn to do things the right way. The SCPD way. The legal way. The way that'll hold up in court. That's what Oliver wanted, right? To do what he does in the light of day? Felt like everyone was on the same page.

'Arrow' Season 7, Episode 15 "Training Day": Ollie Can't Have It Both Ways, Needs Time Out [SPOILER REVIEW]
Arrow — "Training Day" — Image Number: AR715a_0055b — Pictured (L-R): Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog, David Ramsey as John Diggle/Spartan, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak and Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow — Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Then why is he such a damn baby the first time the team and the SCPD hit the streets together and he doesn't get to do things his own way? The way Oliver reacted when the operation got botched makes me think that he hasn't changed at all. He's still an ass who thinks that he knows better than everybody else and no one else can clean up the city like he can.

Jerk.

'Arrow' Season 7, Episode 15 "Training Day": Ollie Can't Have It Both Ways, Needs Time Out [SPOILER REVIEW]
Arrow — "Training Day" — Image Number: AR715a_0538b — Pictured: Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow — Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

After taking his ball and going home, Oliver decides to suit up and take down "Villain of the Week" James Midas on his own as a vigilante. You can't put it all on Oliver, though. Felicity was the one who suggested that if Oliver gets results, then the SCPD will see how effective he is and the department will change their procedures to be more like Oliver.

What?

Oliver goes out and forces a confession under duress from Midas, which gains him nothing more than a browbeating from the mayor and Dinah. Man, it's almost like police procedures aren't some arbitrary red tape designed for no other reason than to frustrate vigilantes. Who'd have thought? Maybe Quentin (may he rest in peace) wasn't just being hard on Oliver all those years for no reason after all.

'Arrow' Season 7, Episode 15 "Training Day": Ollie Can't Have It Both Ways, Needs Time Out [SPOILER REVIEW]
Arrow — "Training Day" — Image Number: AR715a_0439b — Pictured: Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/Black Canary — Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Nonetheless, Oliver gets his act together. He and the team use the SCPD's procedures and resources to legally take down Midas and his cache of chemically-enhanced bullets. The win in the field prompts the mayor to sanction a vigilante task force that operates out of the Arrow Cave… in their own suits… and using their own equipment in support of the SCPD. See? A happy ending for… everyone?

In other developments:

● Felicity tells Diggle that she is pregnant, even though she asked Oliver not to tell anyone.

● Dinah has lost the Canary Cry.

● Laurel is informed by Bronze Tiger that Emiko was the one who killed Diaz in Slabside.

Let's talk about that scene in Slabside. Turner wanted Laurel to arrange for his son to visit him in his cell in exchange for identifying the killer. His son's name? Conner… who Turner calls "my little hawk".

[Cue dramatic realization]

Conner Hawk!

All along, we've assumed that Conner Hawk in the 2040 storyline was Diggle's son. Why? Because that's how it was when Conner Hawk appeared in Legends of Tomorrow season one in the Star City of the future.

This season, Conner of the future told Mia that his father was a friend of Oliver's, knew that Mia was his daughter, and that Conner was tasked by his father with looking out for her. There was no reason to think that Conner was anyone's son besides Diggle's, though he never said that. After how we saw Oliver and Turner work together in Slabside in the first half of the season and Oliver promising to get Turner free, this was a fantastic dramatic twist!

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Arrow — "Training Day" — Image Number: AR715b_0338b — Pictured (L-R): Jack Moore as William Clayton and Katherine McNamara as Mia/Blackstar — Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Speaking of the future, Will and Mia acquire a mini cassette player and listen to Felicity's message to them. She tells them to give a set of coordinates in the Glades to the team, then to run far away and not come looking for her. Do they listen? Come on! These are Oliver and Felicity's kids we're talking about.

Of course not…

Arrow airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT on CW, and continues next week with "Star City 2040":

Arrow s07e16 "Star City 2040": FLASH FORWARD TO THE FUTURE — Mia Smoak (guest star Katherine McNamara) and William (guest star Ben Lewis) venture into the Glades on a dangerous mission. There they run into Dinah (Juliana Harkavy), Roy (Colton Haynes) and Zoe (guest star Andrea Sixtos) who deliver some devastating news. The flash forwards share highlights from Mia's childhood with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards). James Bamford directed the episode written by Beth Schwartz & Oscar Balderrama.

CW's Arrow stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, David Ramsey as John Diggle/Spartan, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific, Katie Cassidy as Laurel/Black Siren, Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog, Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/Black Canary, Colton Haynes as Roy Harper, and Kirk Acevedo as Ricardo Diaz. Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Beth Schwartz, and Sarah Schechter serve as executive producers.


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Joey MillsAbout Joey Mills

Host of Pop Goes the Culture podcast. Contributor to BleedingCool.com, ComingSoon.Net, GeekDad.com, and PopGoesTheCulture.com.
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