Colin Donnell’s Arrow return: Recap and reaction

Chicago Med’s Colin Donnell returned to Arrow on Thursday, and if you missed him as Tommy Merlyn, here’s our Arrow season 6, episode 21 recap.

We got an extra dose of Colin Donnell this week, when he guest-starred in Thursday’s episode of The CW‘s Arrow.

In “Docket No. 11-19-41-73,” Colin returned to the TV show where he’d been a series regular for the first season, but his not-so-surprise appearance in Arrow season 7 was very different.

The return, which had snuck out on social media last month, involved Colin’s character Tommy Merlyn literally crashing Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) trial—wearing Oliver’s own Green Arrow costume and claiming he was the titular superhero.

But since Tommy had died saving his ex-girlfriend at the end of Arrow season 1, there was clearly more to the story than that. It wasn’t really Tommy at all, but Christopher Chance (aka the Human Target) in the costume.

Chance, by the way, was played by another One Chicago album: Wil Traval, who portrayed Sean McGrady in the Chicago PD episode “Fallen.”

Though we didn’t see faux-Tommy again, Chance later swapped places with the trial judge off-screen, so that he could vacate Oliver’s conviction and have him set free. So while Colin’s return didn’t have a huge impact in the storyline, it definitely left a huge impact for the audience, and it was definitely amazingly cool.

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While it was great fun to watch Colin Donnell back on Arrow, and getting to wear the superhero outfit no less, it was also a bit of a letdown to see that it was not really Tommy Merlyn coming back. Yes, he was dead, but given how other characters on the show have come back from the dead it was still hard not to hope that Tommy would get a similar reprieve.

But at least we got to enjoy Colin arriving on the scene with the kind of hilarious snarky quips that would make Chicago Med fans proud. He gave a great performance for as brief as it was, and that is all we can ask for. Besides, given how many times he’s found ways to come back before, he may turn up again even if Tommy is still dead.

Now, who else wants to see Colin Donnell playing a superhero of his own? Because after that we definitely do.

Watch a behind the scenes clip previewing this episode of Arrow below, and if you missed it, you can catch the episode on The CW’s website or app now.

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What did you think of Colin Donnell’s return to Arrow? Leave your thoughts on Colin’s guest spot in the comments, then catch him in Tuesday’s Chicago Med!