Spoilers if you haven't seen Arrow's "Seeing Red"!
This week's Arrow had a few game changing events. While one recurring character met their untimely end in "Seeing Red," the episode balanced out the loss by introducing another (possible) major presence during the flashbacks set seven years before the present events in Starling City. To those unfamiliar with the DC Comics source material, the subplot may have seemed like typical CW-style melodrama but the situation is based on a long-standing "Green Arrow" storyline.
That's right, Oliver Queen has been a dad longer than he's been the Arrow, he (we) just didn't know. Another one of Moira's secrets meant to protect her children. But the fact remains, there is a(n almost) 7-year-old boy running around Central City thanks to an early fling with a girl named 'Moonday.' Okay, her actual name is Sandra Hawke but the character was created two decades ago (by Kelley Puckett and Jim Aparo), putting their college days right in the middle of the 70s. It makes sense that she'd be a hippie. She was also an army brat with a G.I. father and Korean mother but all of this seems to have been changed for the TV series. Well, going on what very little we know of her character so far.
One significant change from the source material is having Moira and not Oliver be the one to pay her off. In the comics, Ollie is overwhelmed and denies that it's his but this all happens before he becomes Green Arrow. After his life changing experience on Starfish Island, he offers Sandra a lot of money to make sure his child wanted for nothing but he still wanted to stay out of the picture. The change for TV makes complete sense, letting Moira once again demonstrate how far she'll go to ensure the best for the Queen kids while also keeping Oliver from looking despicable.
If he had known this whole time, certainly reconnecting with his kid would be on the top of his redemption list. Playing it this way makes for a nice bit of dramatic irony as well, leaving us waiting for Oliver to find out. So, who is the kid and what role could he (and his mother) play on Arrow? Oliver's son is named Connor and, surprise, he turns out to be a superhero just like his dad. Seriously, he becomes Green Arrow. Connor Hawke grows up to be the second incarnation of the vigilante, taking over the mantle after his father, uh, dies.
As for how the characters will fit into the series, it seems likely that Sandra and Connor could wind up on the Flash spin-off since we know they are living in Central City, home of Barry Allen. Connor's formative years do offer a lot of drama, being mixed-race and raised by a single mom made him the target of bullying, however, the changes they've made don't seem to support that angle. He's just a rich white kid. And, who knows, Sandra could have found someone else. Or they could already back in Starling City and factor into this or next season's events. Or it could just be something that the writers want to have in their back-pocket. Lot of speculation at this point. Perhaps we'll learn a little more next week.
Arrow returns with Episode 21, “City of Blood,” Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. Created by Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti, the DC Comics inspired series stars Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Willa Holland, Colton Haynes, Manu Bennett, Paul Blackthorne and Susanna Thompson.
