The hit TV show, Arrow, has returned to the CW in full force.  The new season has already surpassed the previous one in terms of storyline, continuity and character development.  It has not however, gone down the same campy path that last season took into the abyss.

With Oliver and Felicity making a go of it, Laurel assuming part of the mantle of leadership of the group, Diggle carrying a dark and brooding secret and Thea starting to lose her mind, I would say the season is set up for success.

If you are a fan of the show, you were absolutely disappointed in last season's shenanigans.  This year, we already have more of a direction than before, and there are good things coming on the horizon.  Unfortunately, this is still a show that follows a set formula more often than not.  So, here are a few predictions for what we can all expect in the next 18 episodes.

#5) Captain Lance Will Come Around

The relationship between Oliver and Captain Lance has been rocky from the start.  He didn't approve of his daughter Laurel dating Oliver when they were kids.  Then he lost his younger daughter, Sara when she ran off with Oliver on that fateful yachting voyage.  Now he knows Oliver was the vigilante and hates everything he stands for.

Unfortunately, Lance also loves his city. He knows that the villains have gotten stronger and more menacing than ever.  He knows that the regular police force is no match for the new breed of outlaw.  He knows he needs help, whether he likes it or not.

This season, Lance will come around.  He will embrace Oliver and the Green Arrow as heroes.  He will openly admit that he is proud to have served alongside them both. Unfortunately for him, I think he will be doing all of this from his deathbed because I also believe that Lance will not live through the season.

#4) Felicity and Oliver Will be Expecting"¦

In the season premiere, there was quite a lengthy exchange between Oliver, Felicity and the neighbors they were hosting for dinner out in the suburbs.  The conversation centered around kids, signing up for schools, getting on waiting lists, etc.   Knowing Greg Berlanti's fondness for foreshadowing, that had to be on purpose.

With the attempted escape to the land of subdivisions having failed in favor of returning to the city to fight crime and champion justice, these two are fated to have this type of a problem right from the get go. This is all going too well for them.  Something has to be coming.

The announcement of Felicity becoming pregnant with Oliver's baby would make pretty big news and set a bunch of storylines in motion.   She won't be able to tell Oliver because she won't want to distract him, her life will be threatened, he will find out in some sinister fashion, etc.  Can't you just see it now?

#3) Thea Will Go Over the Edge

Ever since she was brought back to life in season 3, Thea has been showing more signs of becoming violent.  She has an underlying anger that simmers under her surface.  The anger that she is feeling toward her biological father, Malcolm Merlin, may be at the center of this tempest.  That relationship will take some new twists this year as well.

Thea has something to prove. She trains and fights to prove that she can protect herself, to prove that she can stand on her own and to proclaim to the city that she has worth and value.  If she ever sits down with a psychiatrist, she may come completely unraveled.

Oliver has been trying to get through to her about her fall towards the dark side.  This season, Thea will snap.  She will take a life that she doesn't intend to take.  That will snap her back into a different reality and make her realize that she needs help.  The process should be fascinating to watch.

#2) Oliver Will Save Dig

This has gone on long enough.  The breakdown between Oliver and Dig happened with a bit of self-righteous theater on Dig's part during Season 3, when Oliver had to kidnap Dig's wife in order to get close to the most dangerous assassin in the world.  Oh yeah, the way Oliver worked the whole thing out, the baby was completely safe too.

Now Dig is burning with some secret about how Deadshot told him that HIVE ordered the hit on his little brother.  This seems to be Oliver's fault too somehow, given the attitude that Dig is carrying around. Eventually, John will realize that he is acting exactly the way Oliver acted when he chastised him for it.

The brotherhood between the two guys is one of the pillars that this show was built upon. The fact that it has been missing through the first several episodes is leaving a huge void for true fans of the show.  This needs to be rectified, in a hurry.

#1) Fans Will Be Disappointed

That's right, I said it.  This season will leave fans disappointed.  The plots may be perfectly written and the characters may develop exactly the way we want them to, but the fans will still be disappointed.  The bad guys could all lose in epic battles, but it won't matter.  We will all still leave the arena shaking our heads.

What is truly funny is that my prediction has nothing to do with what Berlanti and Company are planning to do with Team Arrow during Season 4.  I actually think they will rescue the series from the brink of disaster that was embodied by Season 3.   I am a fan.

But the end result will be something along the lines of this:  We will cheer for the newly anointed heroes and heroines as they rise to the top of the superhero landscape once again.  We will marvel at the way they recapture our attention and curiosity all over again like it was the first time we had ever met them all.  But none of that will matter"¦

Because a Justice League poster will come out after the Arrow season comes to an end and we will be reminded that DC doesn't understand that the TV and movie universes are not separate to us.  As we see some other guy wearing the Green Arrow garb, and some other goof posing as Flash besides Grant Gustin"¦we will be disappointed.  That simply isn't the way it works.  I hope that DC figures that all out before it's too late.