Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 21 - Honor Thy Fathers

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here




Plot

With Adrian Chase revealed as Prometheus, nearly every case he prosecuted as Star City's District Attorney has been overturned. This leads to a wave of violent criminals being released onto the streets, including Derek Sampson - the drug kingpin who feels no pain. As an already taxed Team Arrow tries to keep the peace, Oliver Queen has another mystery to ponder - a corpse sealed in concrete delivered to The Mayor's Office!


Influences

Hamlet
(two sons come to blows trying to avenge their respective fathers)


Goofs

It beggars belief that Oliver Queen - who devoted his life to atoning for the sins of his father - never considered that those sins may have included his father having people killed until now.


Performances

The whole ensemble gels here but if I had to single out one performance, it would be Willa Holland's ability to convey emotion while staring at a computer screen without saying a word.


Artistry

The atmosphere of the Lian Yu sequences is good, with a slightly washed-out look to the color palette in the cinematography.


Trivia

The title of this episode is similar to that of the second episode of Season One - Honor Thy Father.


Technobabble

The concrete holding Henry Goodwin's corpse is a proprietary formula used by a specific construction company - Wellward Construction, which was a subsidiary of Queen Consolidated.

The DNA evidence under Henry Goodwin's fingernails indicate that his killer was Robert Queen.

The gas spectrometer in The Bunker detects soil with high levels of copper concentration on the concrete holding Henry Goodwin's body. Felicity compares this information to Queen Consolidated construction locations and soil samples from areas of the city rich in copper, leading her to a likely location for Henry Goodwin's entombment/murder.

The two chemicals Sampson steals - torinium and lydracide - are two of the three components needed to weaponize tuberculosis. The third chemical - Cyclotrizane - is highly unstable and banned from all domestic manufacturing.

Anatoly suggests that he and Oliver part ways by saying "ne dumay plokho obo mne". This is Russian for "do not think badly of me". Oliver suggests "Prochnost" (Strength) instead.

Curtis determines that the Cyclotrizane Sampson stole is more refined than the formula used by Justin Clayborne and could be used to create a biological agent 1000 times more powerful than the strain Justin Clayborne planned to use and it would not have a cure. To make matters worse, the formula is aerosolized, so it can be distributed however Chase wishes.

Cyclotrizane degrades pretty quickly, meaning it gives off traceable emissions.


Dialogue Triumphs

Quentin: The question is why would Chase send Oliver a fifteen-year-old body that neither of them are connected to?
Dinah: No idea. Then again, Chase -is- crazy.

Anatoly: Maybe drinking before flying not such good idea? Or not drink enough? I don't know.
Oliver: Weather's getting worse. Means we're close.
Anatoly: I'll pretend that is good thing.

(Anatoly and Oliver are struggling to carry a foot-locker on the rocky beach of Lian Yu.)
Anatoly: I cannot believe you convinced me to come back to this island.
Oliver: Yeah, well - fly home any time you want to, Anatoly.
Anatoly: Ha! So you have irony back in America, yes?

(John and Oliver are stuck in the deathtrap Prometheus set up in The Oliver Building)
John: Chase is going through a lot of trouble to prove a point. What's the hell is his point?!
Oliver: He framed my father for the same kind of murder.
John: It proves the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh? Well, you both might be killers, Oliver, but he's a psychopath. Don't lose sight of that.
Oliver: Well, you're assuming that we're getting out of this.
John: Yes I am!

Oliver: So we had to move off the Sampson stakeout?
Felicity: Yes, because John and you were reenacting the Paleo-version of my favorite scene from Witness.
(Oliver looks at Felicity confused.)
Curtis: Harrison Ford almost gets buried under the corn in the barn silo.
(Curtis and Felicity fist-bump.)
Dinah: Oh, right! And for those of us who haven't seen every movie ever, they mean it was a trap.
Curtis: Who hasn't seen Witness?

Oliver: The Hood, Anatoly, is an identity.
Anatoly: One you think channels monster inside you.
Oliver: And protects the people that are closest to me. I do it this way, my enemies will target The Hood - not the ones I care for.
Anatoly: You are many things, Oliver Queen. But until today I did not count naive as one of them. The people closest to you will always pay the most for your sins. You are paying for your father's. Who will pay for yours?

Oliver: Thea, I thought we agreed not to look at whatever's on that drive?!
Thea: Ollie, you have a habit of giving orders and just assuming that they are agreements.

(Oliver is rewatching the video his father left him, telling him to save their city.)
Felicity: Why are you re-watching it?
Oliver: I want to know how I missed it.
Felicity: Missed what?
Oliver: He's a murderer. I mean, he helped Merlyn start The Undertaking... I never deluded myself into thinking that he was a saint. But to take a man's life? Cover it up? It...it's like I didn't know him at all.
Felicity: Has it occurred to you that this is exactly what Chase wants?
Oliver: Mmm-hmm.
Felicity: Okay, the question was rhetorical. Of course it's occurred to you and of course this is what Chase wants.
Oliver: Chase wants to destroy the basis for everything we're doing here. And that crusade began with my father. Everything I've done - everything - has, in some way, been about honoring him.
Felicity: Your father inspired you to save this city. And you did. At this point, who cares why? You're not a killer. The people you care about are not suffering because of you. Their lives - my life, is better. Because you decided to become The Green Arrow. Well, whenever you decide to be The Green Arrow again.
Oliver: I know you're right I believe that you're right. But... every time I take a step forward, it feels like the past is pulling me back.
Felicity: Probably because you're letting it.
Oliver: ... yeah.
Felicity: Maybe it's time you stopped living for your father and start living for yourself? Just leave the past in the past.

Prometheus: How did you think you were going to beat me, Oliver? We were trained by the same teacher. Just one of the many things that we have in common. You know? Like our fathers being horrible men?
Green Arrow: I am not my father. I'm my own man!
Prometheus: Yeah. A man who's gonna die knowing that my father's legacy killed everyone in the city he loves so much!
Green Arrow: Your father's legacy. (scoffs) That's almost funny.
Prometheus: What are you talking about?
(Green Arrow smirks but says nothing,)
Prometheus (raising his sword): What are you talking about?! What's so funny about my father's legacy?!
Green Arrow: Goodwin's lawyer. He represented your father.
Prometheus: I knew that already!
Green Arrow: You don't know what your father asked him to do... Adrian... he was going to disown you. Not because you're illegitimate. Because you're insane. You're sick. And your father knew it. You spent all this time trying to honor the memory of a man who was ashamed of you. Now, my father wasn't perfect... but at least I know he never would have given up on me.
(Prometheus turns away, seemingly choking, holding back either tears or a scream. After a moment he falls silent, kneels down, and puts his sword on the ground before him as he lowers his head.)
Prometheus: Go ahead. Do it.
Green Arrow; No. I'm not going to kill you. But I am going to watch you face justice.
(Green Arrow launches one punch into the confused face of Adrian Chase, who is knocked out instantly.)


Continuity

36 violent felons are released on bail pending retrial, due to their cases being handled by Adrian Chase. One of these felons is Derek Sampson - the drug lord whose ability to feel pain was taken away after being exposed to too much of his own product in 503.

The corpse in the concrete is identified by his dental records as Henry Goodwin. He was a councilman for The Glades district of Starling City who disappeared in 2002.

Thea Queen returns to Star City. She denies having been with Roy Harper, saying she couldn't let him see her in her current "hot mess" state.

Oliver refers to Isabel Rochev - the treacherous executive who stole Queen Enterprises from him in Season 2.

Rene gets a court date to get expedited custody of his daughter, Zoe. He asks Quentin to come to hearing for moral support. Quentin agrees.

Felicity determines the most likely site of Henry Goodwin's death was Oliver Industries - a former holding company of Queen Consolidated. The company was named by Robert Queen in honor of his son. Oliver says his dad took him there when he was a kid. It had been abandoned for about one month, due to a gas leak.

Both Oliver and Diggle know Morse Code. So does either Dinah or Curtis.

The T-Sphers have lasers on them capable of cutting through a metal slab.

Two of the three chemicals stolen by Derek Sampson are used to weaponize tuberculosis. This was the heart of Justin Clayborne's plan, which Oliver Queen stopped as The Hood in the flashbacks of 509.

The last man to see Henry Goodwin alive was a lawyer named Darren Coffman. He was Goodwin's lawyer as well as the lawyer of Justin Clayborne.

Darren Coffman delivers a memory stick to Oliver Queen that was given to him by Adrian Chase. He knows about Simon Morrison's double life but refuses to speak about Justin Clayborne citing attorney/client privilege.

Fairbanks Chemicals are a military contractor in Star City who manufacture cyclotrizane.

The drive from Coffman contains the security footage from The Oliver Building on the night Henry Goodwin died. It shows Robert Queen struggling with Henry Goodwin (Goodwin pushes him first), before he falls off the catwalk and into a vat of wet concrete.

Felicity is able to trace the Cyclotrizane to The Robert Queen Applied Sciences Center.

Oliver dons The Green Arrow costume again as Team Arrow moves in on The Robert Queen Applied Sciences Center.

Oliver gives the video that Robert Queen made for Thea to her, leaving it up to her if she watches it or not. She ultimately does.

Rene misses his custody hearing.

Oliver Queen knows how to pilot a small plane.

Robert Queen loved vintage planes. He would take Oliver to ride in them all the time. Oliver numbers the last time they flew together among his last few happy memories before coming to Lian Yu.

When Anatoly and Oliver returned to Lian Yu, they found Slade Wilson'd Deathstroke mask washed up on the beach. Oliver used it and an arrow to make a totem of sorts on the beach.

The plan to fake Oliver being a castaway is for Anatoly to hire a fishing boat to sail near Lian Yu in two days time. Oliver will get their attention with a signal fire and then make his way back to Starling City.

Anatoly leaves Oliver a gift which he says he got from a friend who was in the KGB and a master of disguise. We don't see what it is, but it is apparently a wig and false beard that will make Oliver look like he really has been a castaway for five years, as Anatoly says nobody will believe there was a barber shop on the island.

The flashbacks end with Oliver being taken out with a tranquilizer dart, as he sees a still-alive Konstantin Kovar moving in on him.


The Bottom Line

A weakly written episode based around a terrible bit of logic that succeeds only because of how well the ensemble cast play off of one another.

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