Hello, everyone! This is lilfresh back with another Arrow review. Let's do this.
THE RECAP:
After last week's outstanding episode, "The Man Under the Hood" was going to have to pull off something pretty special to top it. And it almost did. While I don't think it was quite as good as last week, it was still a great hour (well, 42 minutes anyway) of TV.
So we start off with a pretty exciting sequence with Team Arrow breaking into Queen Consolidated. It was a great way to open the episode, albeit with a TON of expository dialogue thrown in. Honestly, there was so much that it actually
distracted me from the plot (which was probably the writers' exact opposite intention). Rule #1 of writing dialogue: if a character knows a piece of information, don't have another character tell them what they already know for the sole purpose of informing the audience. I'm looking at you, Felicity. Also, why did she feel the need to mention that that's where they first met Barry? Seems like an odd thing to mention during a heist. You knew him for maybe a day. Move on. (Still love you though, Felicity.)
Then we find out that the Queens are going to lose most of their money because blah blah financial stuff, but they might be able to save most of it through a blah blah loophole. The only thing they need to do is have Thea sign some paper (more on that later). Oh, and Ollie found out that he slept with his dad's old mistress. LOL. The immediate look of
"ewwww" on Stephen Amell's face after he found out was priceless.
Next, Slade showed up in the Arrow Cave (or Quiver, as some people have taken to calling it, which is hilarious) out of nowhere just to be a troll and mess with Oliver. Well, he DID have a reason for breaking in, but still, I think it was really just to troll. And it turns out, Slade is an awesome troll (he's awesome at everything, so that's no surprise). Grabbing Sara's neck and throwing her across the room was one of the best moments of the season.
Now it's time for a quick rant that's totally inconsequential to the quality of the episode. Ready? Ok, there is no reason Laurel discovering Sara had extensive bruises on her should convince her that Sara is Black Canary. She knows that Sara survived on her own for several years, just like Ollie. Logic says that she probably accumulated some serious wounds in that time. Ollie's wounds didn't convince her that he was Green Arrow, so Sara's shouldn't convince her either. A better clue might be, I don't know, THE FACT THAT SARA AND BLACK CANARY LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT ONE WEARS A MASK!!! All right, end of rant.
Then we had a kind of weird sequence with some future Flash characters. I didn't know that's who they were when they first appeared, but I guess that's my fault more than the show's. But it's not like their inclusion got me extra excited or anything. The most important thing I took out of that whole scene was that the plant girl from Sky High is still getting work, so that's cool.
Skipping ahead a bit, we find out that Slade is using Roy to juice up those prisoners he picked up off the road. Ollie jumped in just in time and stopped him, which was a really awesome fight scene. I'm not gonna lie, I cheered silently when Ollie actually hurt Slade with his explosive arrow. I guess no matter how much I love Deathstroke, I'm still rooting for him to lose. Diggle also got to do something important and shoot Isabel, which was awesome.
On the island this week, we were treated to a pretty cool scene between Ollie, Sara, and Ivo. I'm not sure why specifically, but I just really liked the sequence of Oliver giving Ivo a quick death. Maybe it was the music combined with the camera work, I don't know. I liked it a lot, though.
THE GOOD:
+ Slade is still awesome.
+ Laurel not being stupid for once.
+ Diggle getting to do something Team Arrow-related besides driving!
+ Slade is the ultimate troll.
THE BAD:
- I understand Thea's position and everything, and I think she has a right to be upset. But seriously, just sign the dang paper. Then you can go whine.
- Expository dialogue to the max.
- I don't have a problem with the Thea and Merlyn or the Ollie and Isabel stuff per say, but more and more this show continues to stray from superhero show towards soap opera.
- Yes, Felicity. Barry moved on. Again, you knew him for a day.
THE UGLY:
Ok, I've received a few answers to this upcoming question, but I question their validity, so I will continue to say it: why is no one asking how Laurel just happened to know where Ollie and Sara would be driving their motorcycle during that raid on Star Labs?! Did I miss something, because there is no way on God's green earth that she could have possibly known where to look for them. Yes, she could have followed them from the club, but they were in their costumes, insinuating that they came from the "Quiver"? How would she know where they leave the Quiver? Where
do they leave the Quiver when they are in their costumes?? So many questions!
RANDOM MUSINGS:
- I wish Deathstroke's mask was as cool as the rest of his costume.
- How does Brother Blood fit into Slade's whole revenge scheme? We haven't seen much of him since he "died".
- Yes, Laurel, of course your sister and ex-boyfriend are superheroes. What, did you think you had a normal life or something?
Overall, I award this episode an
8.25 out of
10!
What did you think of the episode? Discuss in the comments below! As always, I'm lilfresh, and this is now my favorite article on CBM.com!