Arrow S02E23 – Review

By: Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg (story)

The Story: Mercenaries versus assassins versus special ops versus superheroes. Go!

The Review: So I just took my last law school final ever yesterday! Aren’t you all proud of me? No? Get on with the review, already? Okay. The last season has seen Arrow fully embracing its comic book origins with pride, drawing in established characters from the DC canon from all levels, the great and the obscure alike, all in an impressively organic way. The finale is thus a culmination of the work and spirit of the season as a whole, which is what a season finale should be.

Not only does every cast member get a big part in the proceedings (except, perhaps, for Dinah), nearly every major character introduced in the last two seasons shows up, with appearances from Malcolm Merlyn, Deadshot, Amanda Waller, Nyssa Al Ghul, and even Lyla, flying in on a helicopter and firing a rocket launcher to ward off some of Slade’s army. The conflicts range from the epic (a city-wide war between an army of superhuman convicts against Team Arrow and a battalion of assassins, all with the threat of an A.R.G.U.S. drone strike looming overhead) to the personal (Ollie’s fight to the death with Slade, twice over). That’s what I call a season finale worthy of superheroes.

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 S02E21 – Review

By: Holly Harold (story)

The Story: Beware the men in masks.

The Review: I actually watched this episode of Arrow the night it came out, and had an outline of a review ready to go yesterday, but due to circumstances beyond my control (i.e., desperately trying to finish a multitude of assignments at the last minute after putting them off for a week or two), I didn’t get around to writing the thing until evening. By then, it was time for my showing of Amazing Spider-Man 2 and of course, movies have priority over TV episodes. You know how it is.

Watching and reviewing ASM2 did have an interesting effect on my evaluation of “City of Blood,” though. Specifically, I suddenly became a lot more sensitive about the sketchier bits of plotting in this episode. Dinah’s illicit investigation into Blood’s records seems more questionable now than it did the first time around. I’m just saying it’s a good thing that tech specialist she and her dad persuade into assisting didn’t have too rigid a moral compass (at first hesitant about hacking the newly elected mayor, he gives in: “Hell, this is a dead end job, anyway.”). And thank goodness Blood for some reason keeps a timestamp at the bottom of his press release drafts, just so you know that he was forewarned of Moira’s death. Dinah and Quentin might have had to do some actual research, otherwise.

Arrow S02E20 – Review

By: Wendy Mericle & Beth Schwartz (story)

The Story: Long live the Queen.

The Review: I used to think of Arrow as having a very compact cast, but with all the new additions of this second season, the population is starting to get a little unwieldy. Despite efforts to give everyone his or her due in due measure, the show consistently struggles to find compelling things for certain characters to do. Two of them are featured in this episode, and by the end of it, the show chooses to continue investment in one and pull the plug on the other.

Had Arrow been an original series, I would’ve said the show had made a mistake in its choices. In any other circumstance, Roy would’ve been more suited for the chopping block, being the one-dimensional set of abs he is. Most episodes, he’s a foil for someone else rather than a distinctly motivated character, and here, he’s reduced to a plot device, a means to distract Team Arrow and the audience from the threat of Slade until the mercenary wrenches attention back on himself in the most shocking way.

Arrow S02E17 – Review

By: Mark Bemesderfer & A.C. Bradley (story)

The Story: Ollie encounters the wrath of girlfriends past.

The Review: While any intimate relationship between human beings leaves its mark even after it’s over, romances tend to have the most profound effects on people—not surprising, as you’re often baring more of yourself to your partner than anyone else, even your friends and family. Looking at a person’s ex, how they met, how they got along, and how they broke up, you get a fairly complete portrait of who that person is for however long the relationship lasts.

After last week’s episode put Diggle front and center, you’d think the focus would shift right back to Ollie this time around. Instead, the spotlight trains elsewhere, only partially illuminating Ollie on the fringes. Since all three of the main players—Helena, Sara, and Dinah—have been romantically entangled with Ollie at one point (some twice!), the episode isn’t entirely divorced from its star, but his role is felt rather than seen. He’s an influence, but not the focus.

Arrow S02E16 – Review

By: Keto Shimizu & Bryan Q. Miller (story)

The Story: Diggle doesn’t dig his ex-wife’s new pals too much.

The Review: I’ve been getting kind of worried about Diggle for a while, now.  Though in my mind, the core Arrow team will always be him, Felicity, and Ollie, the recent membership of Roy and Sara threatens to significantly erode his presence.  What need does Ollie have for an ex-soldier when he’s got a powerhouse and a trained assassin?  Felicity will always provide the techie know-how; Diggle’s value needs to be similarly set in stone.

Hence a Diggle-centric episode .  In a rather clever use of the show’s usual structure, the flashbacks switch from the tropical trials on the island to the desert cliffs of Afghanistan, where we see Diggle in full army gear protecting a fleeing caravan of villagers with future ex-wife (then fellow soldier) Lyla.  Over the course of the episode, as we see Diggle save a wanted criminal and mourn over the death of a boy who shot at him, his value to Team Arrow becomes a little clearer: his moral rigidity.

Arrow S02E15 – Review

By: Jake Coburn & Ben Sokolowski (story)

The Story: One should think twice before inviting a man with an eye-patch into one’s home.

The Review: I didn’t mention the cliffhanger appearance of Slade in the Queen family home last week because there really wasn’t much to talk about besides its dramatic power.  Now that we’re actually dealing with the fallout from his revealing himself to Ollie, we ought to talk about Arrow’s portrayal of Slade Wilson, who in many respects cuts a more impressive yet sympathetic figure on TV than he does in comics.

Compared to the amoral mercenary we almost always see (check out his guest part in Forever Evil for a typical example), television’s Slade has an emotional component driving his ruthless behavior, one that makes him difficult to hate even when he’s planning to destroy Ollie and everyone he loves.  A large part of this comes from the passion Manu Bennett brings to the role, selling Slade’s rage and despair with equal finesse, making you believe that there’s a core of pain in his deadened heart.

Arrow S02E14 – Review

By: Wendy Mericle & Beth Schwartz (story)

The Story: Nothing like a tirade against your long-lost sister to ruin a family dinner.

The Review: Apologies for the lateness, but midterm duties called and I had to answer.  You know how it is.  But let’s not waste any more time than we have already.  This week’s episode finally puts a pin in the most troubled part of the show this season: Dinah, burgeoning alcoholic, pill-popper, drama queen, and all-around mess.  It’s not hard to see her trajectory towards rock bottom, but the ETA has been repeatedly delayed by new personal crises.

But then, Arrow has always struggled to find a place for Dinah, established early on as one of its major figures, but quickly overshadowed by the rest of the cast, even, lately, Roy.  At this point, Dinah is in a very risky position for a character in a fictional series: she doesn’t have a clear or secure position in relation to Ollie except as a romantic interest, nor does she have a purpose of her own to pursue.  The closest she came to either of these things was her untimely investigation into Sebastian Blood, which only led her further along her downward spiral.  Frankly, this was all starting to seem dangerously Mandy-esque.*

Arrow S02E13 – Review

By: Jake Coburn (story)

The Story: It should be common sense that you should never cross an assassin in love.

The Review: Arrow constantly surprises me with its obviously deep, committed knowledge of DC continuity.  There have been a lot of times on this show when I thought it was introducing a completely original character or concept, only to discover, a quick Wiki later, that it had instead found some obscure part of the DCU to repurpose for its own uses.  More power to them, I say.  Why not make use of that colorful universe and simultaneously update it for a modern audience?

Interestingly enough, while most of the New 52 comics have been recycling familiar, bankable material, it’s Arrow that’s exposed me to the more obscure corners of DC continuity.  Case in point: I had no idea that Ra’s al Ghul ever had any other children than Talia. I was sure that Nyssa Raatko was just a stand-in for her more famous sister, probably because of highly complicated legal and proprietary reasons.  That she is a character in her own right, one in many ways more nuanced and intriguing than Talia, is the pleasantest of surprises.