‘Arrow’ Season 5 Takes On Gun Control in ‘Spectre of the Gun’

It is rare for a television series to tackle immediate real-world problems. But "Arrow" Season 5, one of The CW's four superhero shows, is unafraid to highlight the issue in their next episode. "Spectre of the Gun" will be an episode that looks closely at guns and gun violence. This is such a timely topic, now that the United States has a president that advocates private gun ownership. Furthermore, the country has also been beset with mass shootings in 2016.

The upcoming Wednesday episode of "Arrow" Season 5 will have Oliver Queen as Mayor of Star City deal with an attack at the City Hill. This incident will highly impact Team Arrow, especially Rene (Rick Gonzalez), as they debate about gun control. Rene is the one who will be most affected by the incident. One reason is that he is the only member of the team that uses guns on missions. The second reason fans of the show will see through heart wrenching flashbacks. This will also be a break from the Oliver-centric flashbacks that fans have gotten used to throughout the show's run, according to TV Guide.

"Arrow" Season 5 producers Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle talked to the press about "Spectre of the Gun". Guggenheim admitted that they have been wanting to highlight a pressing current issue. He explained that deciding upon gun violence was easy as the superhero show does use guns a lot.  "So gun violence really felt like the right thing to tackle," said Guggenheim. On top of undertaking the gun control debate, the series will also show the state of the conversation regarding the subject in real life.

Wendy Mericle also mentioned that an opportunity arose for them to write an "Arrow" Season 5 episode wherein Oliver Queen's vigilante counterpart does not save the day. As in the case of "Spectre of the Gun", he will have to deal with as Mayor. This is not something that the masked protector of the city should fix, EW.com wrote. The topic is very divisive and it is something that he must handle with care.