Hello, everyone! This is lilfresh back with another Arrow review. Let's go!
THE RECAP:
I'm going to skip around a little more than normal with this recap. That cool with all of you? It is? K cool.
So I was all ready to get on here and call this episode slightly above average. And then...that ending happened. Wow. I don't know if we've gotten as good of an ending to an episode since the finale of Season 1. The rest of the episode, however, was not quite as good. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, and it certainly had its moments. But c'mon, there's no topping that last scene.
We start the episode with Felicity and Diggle watching an unconscious Roy lying on a table, and they think to themselves, "Ya know, this is really boring just watching this annoying teenager sleep or whatever. Let's go grab some sushi! I mean, what's the worst that can happen by leaving a supercharged delinquent alone in our top secret cave?" But what do you know! Roy gets up from the table before Felicity can leave (using his new ninja powers, apparently, because Felicity didn't even hear him. Seriously, when did he learn to move like that? Or is it just one of those TV things were characters can do impossible things for the sake of really cool shots? Yep...yeah, it's just one of theose TV things...) and then goes out to wreak havoc.
Then most of the episode focused on the hunt for Roy, because he's craaaaazzzzzy. I'm not exactly sure why he's so angry at everyone, Thea in particular (yes, I know, the mirakuru. But why is he directing that anger at Thea? Wouldn't it be at Oliver, since pretty much everything going wrong in his life at the moment is related to him?) Anyway, Sara wants to kill him, Ollie doesn't. They end up not killing him. Roy ends up back where we left him. Ehh. Even though it took up most of the episode, this whole storyline was definitely the weakest part.
Side note: Roy killed a cop! How is he coming back from that? That's a difficult line to bring someone back from, both morally as it relates to the viewers as well as legally as it relates to the show. It's not like he wears a mask or anything.
Yeah, a hood just isn't a very good identity concealer.
Anyway, let's move on to more exciting stuff. The scene where Moira tells Ollie that "she knows" was one of the best scenes in the series between the two of them. It was also very interesting that she's known for so long that he's Green Arrow, and I was half expecting her to say something like, "Can we maybe talk about that time you interrogated me and aimed an arrow at my face?" I was also getting very intrigued at the possibility of his mom becoming his newest ally, but little did I know that only a few minutes later...
SHE WOULD GET TOTALLY STABBED IN THE FREAKIN' CHEST! That was such a great scene. Slade, as always, was so amazing, and I'm really glad they brought up his Shado illusions again. Every actor and actress involved did such a great job. Confession: I was really hoping Slade was going to kill Thea, too. Oh well.
Congratulations and good bye, Susanna Thompson. You did a great job portraying Moira Queen. To be honest, I'm not too sad that her character is gone now. It's not that I hated her, it's just that it seemed like the right way for her to go out. Also, it speaks to the quality of that last scene that even though I don't really care a ton for that character, I was actively rooting in my heart while I was watching for Slade to show mercy. But, of course, that's just not how Slade do.
On the island this week...oh wait, we weren't on the island this week. We watched an interesting storyline about how Ollie got some girl pregnant way back, and how Moira actively worked to fix the situation. It fit in the episode thematically and opened up the show to introduce Ollie's son from the comics at some point (which I personally doubt, seeing as the kid would only be like 9 years old by the time we would see him. The last thing we need on Arrow is a child actor), but it wasn't nearly as exciting as the island plot.
THE GOOD:
+ Diggle doing a Diggle talk to someone besides Ollie.
+ No Laurel.
+ Even though I didn't like the Roy stuff, there was still some awesome action thrown in there.
+ Moira had some great scenes all around.
+ That "Right" line by Diggle when Thea said he'd be unemployed soon.
+ Sara's voice modulation is still actually pretty cool.
+ "I looked in the eyes of the devil, and I gave him my soul." "Let me help you get it back." Good line.
+ "No one dies tonight." Lol.
"I'm sorry...what was that you were you saying, Mr. Queen?"
THE BAD:
- Roy stuff was boring.
- Ok, why would Thea guess that Ollie assigned Diggle to guard her because he knew about Roy? He told her it was because Slade Wilson recently KIDNAPPED her, and he's still walking around free, which makes perfect sense why Ollie would want a bodyguard for her. She has absolutely no reason to think otherwise or that it was somehow because he knows about Roy.
- Also, stop whining Thea. Ugh.
- Was I the only one who thought Slade's sword stab could have looked way cooler than it did? No? Just me?
THE UGLY:
- Colton Haynes cannot, at this moment in his acting career, pull off crazy and evil like Manu Bennett. Seriously. All he did was shake his head spastically.
RANDOM MUSINGS:
- Get Blood back in action.
- Ollie should at least know what trigonmetry IS.
- Merlyn come back.
- Felicity hasn't done anything but her usual hacking thang in a while.
- Is Slade a schemer, or does he just DO things?
Overall, I award this episode an
8.75 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!