This trailer for season three of The CW’s Arrow opens with a look back at the intense city-wide battle that ended season two. It shows the death of Oliver’s mother, Slade’s transformation into Deathstroke, and, finally, Oliver’s heroic victory. Rather than a simple recap, it seems positioned to introduce Team Arrow’s status at the beginning of its new season. In other words, things used to be pretty scary, but now they’re OK. Oliver is getting his family’s company back on track, he’s working with Laurel for some reason, and he even has time to stoke the flames of fan-service by going on a date with Felicity.
The superhero drama eventually creeps back in, though, and we get a glimpse of Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer, Peter Stormare’s new Count Vertigo, and a certain trained assassin/ex-girlfriend who “left forever” at the end of last season. Oh, and Felicity ends the trailer looking all gross and bloody, so that date probably doesn’t end well. Arrow will return to The CW this October.