Arrow S02E22 – Review

By: Jake Coburn & Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: It’s Opposite Day in Starling City as assassins go out of their way to save lives.

The Review: Late again! No big movie premiere got in the way this time, just studying for a big final. I always feel bad doing this to Arrow, especially since it’s been in its prime this season, but such is the way of this harsh, unforgiving world. I think the characters of Arrow would understand. Right now, they’re struggling to survive in a Starling City on the brink of oblivion, facing threats within and without, from above and below, despite the best of intentions.

It’s kind of amazing how many of the most twisted characters in the show are the ones most convinced that they’re doing the right thing. Slade, of course, has the excuse of being legitimately off his rocker, but Blood seems blind to his own crimes even as he acknowledges the mistake he made in partnering with Slade. With his entire office slain,* the city in near ruins, and even after Isabel gives him the run-through on the end of his mayorship, his last words are a clenched, defiant, “I loved this city.” It’s an interesting moment in that he expresses no regret for what he’s actually done, yet there’s still a note of triumph, even manic heroism in his voice.

Arrow S02E09 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: This will teach Oliver to distrust the life-saving powers of rat poison.

The Review: I still get a little mental jolt every time I encounter a decidedly non-comic-booky person who says he or she loves Arrow.  As delighted as I am, it’s all I can do to stop myself from asking suspiciously, “Why?”  The popularity of superhero movies, each one a massive dose of generally undemanding escapism, I can understand.  A TV show requires a certain amount of commitment, so how does Arrow earn it without playing on pure fanship?

For this episode, I tried looking at it through the lens of someone who had little to no connection with the DCU or its mythology at all, which was perhaps bad timing on my part.  Arrow has long outgrown throwing in the obligatory Easter Eggs; DC mainstays now make up a significant demographic of the show’s population, and it’s not just second or third-tier figures, either.  Here, the show is clearly confident enough to take on the big leagues, from the return of Deathstroke (with eye-patch, most importantly), the birth of Solomon Grundy, and Barry Allen’s transformation into the Flash—and you don’t get any bigger than that.

Arrow S02E06 – Review

By: Ben Sokolowski & Beth Schwartz (story)

The Story: To Russia with love.

The Review: Almost every TV series, even the best ones, goes through the same pattern of growth, particularly during the early seasons.  The first season is all about setting tone: the characters’ core personalities, the general dynamics among them, the style, pace, and purpose of the show.  It’s usually the second season where things get exciting; with the basics out of the way, the writers can focus on having fun and expanding the bounds of the world they’ve created.

Arrow’s second season easily falls into this model as it steadily incorporates more and more elements from the comic book mythos which inspired the show.  In addition to passing references to particle accelerators and WWII-era genetic experiments, the show has officially opened the revolving door of DC character appearances, this time allowing Amanda Waller to step through and be her usual coercive self.*

Arrow S02E02 – Review

By: Ben Sokolowski & Beth Schwartz (story)

The Story: For once, you can’t blame incompetence for FEMA’s problems.

The Review: Turning over a new leaf is never an easy process.  Aside from the difficulty of changing old habits, you’ve now got to learn how to apply your new ones to your life.  When Ollie indicated last week that he’s ready to take a different tack to his vigilantism, that murder is no longer his first option, you have to wonder if he took into account the changes in Starling City since his Return from the Island, Part II.

With the Glades in total disarray, the city now seems legitimately in desperate need of a hero.  The villains have only stepped up their game since season one, carrying out more dastardly crimes than ever.  As she preys upon the medication lifeline from FEMA that the Glades’ hospitals depend on to survive, China White proves that she’s only grown fiercer and less scrupulous since she was hired to take down Malcolm Merlyn—and now she’s bringing friends.  Taking on a no-kill rule under those circumstances seems to signal a lot of future uphill battles.

Arrow S01E20 – Review

By: Ben Sokolowski & Beth Schwartz (story)

The Story: I suppose we can’t flip a coin to decide which assassin to take down first.

The Review: A few years ago, I took a course on opinion writing for my journalism major.  As a beginner’s exercise, we all had to write a short piece expressing our point of view on pretty much anything that came to mind.  One of my classmates delivered an impassioned tirade about Twilight, mostly about how Edward Cullen “sparkled,” which drove her insane because “Vampires don’t SPARKLE.”  She had strong opinions about supernatural figures, you see.

I can’t say I have too many pet peeves when it comes to fiction—and none that gets me riled up like sparkling vampires did for my classmate.  But there are little things that pop up in stories that sometimes bother me.  The one that gets to me the most is when writers subjugate characters to their story, turning them into means to an end, rather than figures who have personalities and lives of their own, separate from whatever story the writer has in mind.  This episode reminds me how Arrow often reduces the characters to mere objects, all orbiting around the show’s star.

Arrow S01E12 – Review

By: Wendy Mericle & Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: No one tries to put Green Arrow’s little sister in the slammer—nobody!

The Review: Although it’s taken some creative fudging and narrative necessity, the show has finally established a somewhat enduring familial relationship between Ollie, Thea, and Moira.  Time will tell if the Queen family dynamics can carry the show over the long term.  For now, it’s enough that you get a sense of sincere affection among the trio, though tested by frequent, sudden switches in their personality or temperament.

Ollie’s vacillations between caring and coldness have become second-nature by now, but Thea’s unpredictable attitudes seem patented for the sake of injecting conflict and drama as needed.  She begins the episode pale and nervous about her court hearing, is visibly shaken when the judge rejects her plea agreement,* but all of sudden displays a rather condescending, jerky side to Dinah when the older gal offers her an alternative to prison time.  All this to get back at her mom, which only makes Thea seem a bit petty and lame.

Arrow S01E10 – Review

By: Moira Kirland & Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: If people are dying by fire, there’s only one thing to do—throw a party.

The Review: I give a lot of unsolicited advice in these posts—granted, one could argue that every single review we do is unsolicited, but let’s set that aside—and I think it comes from my conditioned instinct as an editor and also my innate desire to control things.  About 99 percent of the time, all suggestions go unheeded, probably because no one in any position of power actually reads or cares about them, but once in a blue moon, I get the thrill of being heard.

It’s all a delusion of grandeur in my mind, of course, since no one will change anything just because some upstart blogger suggests it.   More likely, it’s a matter of my just happening to tap into a problem so obvious that even the creators can’t really ignore it anymore.  I’m pretty sure that’s the case with my point back in the fifth episode, where I thought it was a waste the show didn’t capitalize on the legal/police drama it had going for it.

Arrow S01E05 – Review

By: Wendy Mericle & Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: If you’re facing prison time, there’s only one thing to do—party!

The Review: The maintenance of a secret identity has been the meat and potatoes of comic book drama for years and years now.  I really don’t know how readers in the fifties and sixties bore with Superman’s constant finger-biting all those years over Lois possibly finding him out.  Anyway, every hero still comes pre-packaged with that particular conflict, though it’s almost guaranteed everyone he tries to keep his secret from will find out eventually.

I don’t even begin to understand how someone so much in the public eye can possibly fool himself into thinking a secret identity can work.  When you’re being monitored that closely, even if no one catches you doing your caped-crusader thing, the pattern of disappearing at opportune times, only for some costumed vigilante to show up on a repeated basis, seems pretty obvious.  Ollie has it even worse; the timing of his return and the appearance of the Hood should be clear to anyone with a brain, and consider how often he’s showed off high-class fighting ability.