‘Arrow’ EP Says Curtis is “Traumatized” by Last Season’s Events

Oliver Queen’s incarceration may be the most visible consequence of last season’s events on Arrow this season, but all of the former Team Arrow is dealing with the fallout — including Curtis.

Last season saw Curtis (Echo Kellum) deal not only with the same challenges of first Cayden James (Michael Emerson) and then Ricardo Diaz (Ricardo Diaz), but also some pretty heavy emotional situations as well. Not only was there the difficult breakup of Team Arrow, but his new boyfriend was shot, he himself was stabbed by Diaz, friend and teammate Rene/Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) nearly died, and Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) actually did die. Even with all of that, Curtis has appeared to remain pretty even-keeled, but according to showrunner Beth Schwartz, this week we will see that Curtis is struggling with things more than he shows.

“We are going to see that he was little more traumatized than we thought [about] how things went down last season — which is why he specifically chose this position in ARGUS,” Schwartz told TVLine.

As fans have seen with the show’s return, with Team Arrow disbanded and vigilantism actually illegal in Star City thanks to the anti-vigilante law that went into effect last season, Curtis, Rene, Dinah (Juliana Harkavy), and Diggle (David Ramsey) all have had to occupy themselves in ways that don’t require them to suit up. For Curtis, that means working with Diggle at ARGUS. It’s a role that allows him to continue to serve — and work to stop Diaz. In Mondays upcoming episode “Crossing Lines” that will include having to go undercover for ARGUS and while that will bring up some of his trauma issues, Schwartz said that Curtis will still be, well, Curtis.

“[Curtis is] still trying to do what he can to make sure he doesn’t blow the mission, but still being uniquely himself!” Schwartz said.

And Curtis wont’ be alone in doing what he can. Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) struck a deal with FBI agent Samanda Watson (Sydette Noel) last week and, based off of photos for the upcoming episode, that deal has paid off with Felicity teaming up with the agency to take down Diaz.

“When you have a multitude of people who are sort of distracting [you] and working as a team toward evil, you’re, for lack of a better word, screwed,” Rickards said in a recent interview. “The team doesn’t necessarily have a designated leader since they’ve been broken up. It goes back to, what is everybody’s cost? If you don’t have the same amount of cost, you’re going to face disagreement and trouble and possibly not having good teamwork against three people that are working together as a team with a dedicated message, which is probably, at the root of it, evil. They’re kind of outnumbered in terms of mental game, which transfers into the powers that they have.”

Arrow airs Monday nights at 8/7c on The CW. “Crossing Lines” will air on October 29th.