Arrow S01E08 – Review

By: Beth Schwartz & Andrew Kreisberg (story)

The Story: Every couple should find a hobby to do together—like ruthlessly taking down mafia.

The Review: Just like anything else, the introduction of a new character into a story must generally serve the story, either by advancing the plot or revealing some character.  If, by the end of a story, the character hasn’t made much of an impact, then probably the series would’ve been better off never running into that character.  The worst shows, as you might expect, are the ones where you have a whole episode of events and absolutely nothing changes.

Now that I’ve gotten us started on a low note, let’s get back to a high one, because Helena actually does serve a purpose for Arrow.  Her wild card personality gives the plot of Ollie’s latest target some greater stakes and a little more complication than his usual missions, although it doesn’t result in the big gangster war that the episode promised.  I suppose I was expecting something that would really infect the city, rather than a shootout on the Bertinelli estate.