Hello everyone at CBM! My name is lilfresh -- long-time reader, first-time writer. I'm going to be reviewing each new episode of
Arrow this season, so I hope you all enjoy reading my take on what has turned out to be an outstanding series of TV. Now, on to the review!
THE RECAP:
While
Arrow is still one of my favorite series at the moment, this episode, unfortunately, did not live up to expectations in my opinion. Although...perhaps it actually did, as the Huntress arc from last season contained some of the worst received episodes of the entire series. None the less, Jessica De Gouw failed to win me over as the famed heroine yet again, delivering a stale and somewhat hammy performance (except for her last scene, which was surprisingly good).
The episode started with the exciting capture of Frank Bertinelli, offering a lot of the fun action that
Arrow fans have come to expect. And, of course, if we see ol' Frank in an episode, the Huntress isn't too far behind. Team Arrow gets prepared by talking about her down in the cave...and then again upstairs in the club (seriously, why not just move back down to the cave for this conversation? At least TRY to hide the fact that you're all vigilantes. But I digress. The point is, they're ready to do their thing).
As this is all happening, Laurel is being offered her job back. You're thinking, "But wha...??? I thought she just got fired for substance abuse???" And you would be right. I was wondering the same thing until...
PLOT TWIST! It was all just a ruse by that one lawyer guy who apparently has a last name to...I guess draw the Huntress out of hiding? Honestly, I'm not sure. It seems like a stupid plan to me. Again...I digress.
But who am I to judge, because it worked (sorta). The Huntress is back, and she has a whole team of frat boys that will do anything for her, even kill innocent people for no reason at all. She finally has what she wants! Her father is right there,
unguarded!!! She can finally kill him once and for all and...........she just starts monologuing some more and doesn't shoot him. Ugh. Villains are so stupid.
Anyway, skipping forward a bit, Sara (as Black Canary) and Laurel are running away from the Huntress's goons. They slide behind a table to catch their breath, Laurel sees a bottle of alcohol, and she just NEEDS to drink it. RIGHT NOW!
Eventually, Ollie decides to trade ol' Frank to Helena in exchange for Laurel (who got caught and is now a hostage. Shocker). But, of course, the whole thing doesn't go down as planned. Laurel is safe (whoo hoo...I guess), but Frank gets killed. Thankfully, though, Helena is captured and delivers perhaps her best scene when she is in custody. Maybe she'll come back again, but I highly doubt it. Let's be honest, she's probably getting the death penalty.
On the island, Slade was awesome, Ollie got tortured, and Sara is about to totally sell out one of the ship prisoners in a desperate attempt to save him. That was pretty much it.
Oh...and Roy and Thea broke up. Kind of a big deal, but this
is the CW. They'll be back together soon enough.
THE GOOD:
As I said before, it was a below average episode, but not without merit.
+ That Diggle nod.
+ Roy getting shot and then throwing that guy out of the car was awesome.
+ Ollie getting a call from Lance while he's standing right next to him and then Felicity's line afterwards.
+ Roy talking about Ollie calling him Speedy.
+ I kind of liked Canary's voice modulation.
THE BAD:
- The Huntress still isn't that good of a character as far as the show goes.
- Roy freaking out and almost killing some guy who just barely bumped into him. I know he has some serious anger management issues now with the mirakuru, but that's pretty extreme.
- The Huntress should really shoot faster.
- I still can't get over the fact that Thea is barely out of high school yet she's managing a nightclub. I know it's minor and I should be over it by now, but...I'm not.
- Can Laurel really not tell that's her sister?
THE UGLY:
- Laurel. Just Laurel. The first thing she does IN A FREAKING HOSTAGE SITUATION when she has the opportunity is grab a drink??? Seriously? I thought she was quickly going to make a molotov cocktail or something cool like that, but nope. She wanted a drink. Again...
RANDOM RAMBLINGS:
- Please give Diggle something to do besides just sit around in the Arrow cave. I know, I know...I can almost hear you yelling at your monitors, "He got his own episode last week! What more do you want?!" I appreciate that he got his own episode, I do. But Diggle is ex-special forces. He might be the most qualified to be a hero on the show. He should be more involved in regular episodes than just giving Ollie some advice now and then.
- Laurel was getting better...and now she is annoying again.
- LOL at Thea telling Oliver she's happy he doesn't keep secrets from him. Again, LOL.
- Slade is awesome. Did I say that already?
- Can't wait for a full-on Deathstroke episode next week. Hopefully we'll see more about why exactly he's working with Brother Blood.
- Thea's going to get kidnapped AGAIN? Girl can't catch a break.
Overall, I award this episode a
7 out of
10.
What did you think of the episode? Discuss in the comments below! I'm lilfresh, and this is now my favorite article on CBM.com!