Arrow Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 1 - Starling City

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




Plot

While trying to decipher the cryptic instructions given to him by The Monitor, Oliver finds himself back in Starling City on another Earth. Meanwhile, in the future of Star City 2040, Mia and William's team of vigilantes clash with an unexpected new foe.


Influences

Season 1 of Arrow and Crisis on Infinite Earths.


Goofs

Nothing is said about Robert Queen, who became The Hood of Earth-2 instead of Oliver Queen. Did Moira divorce him after his secret identity was exposed?  Was he sent to prison, like Roy Harper when he was fingered as The Hood in Arrow season 3? Was he killed and that revealed who he was? And why does everyone act like Adrian Chase's Hood is the first Hood on Earth 2? (Possibly Barry Allen's time-travel altered the timeline so both Robert and Oliver died on Earth 2 in the altered reality?)

Why does Earth-2 Simon Morrison use Adrian Chase as an alias when he's a good guy?

Where did Tommy Merlyn get trained to fight in Earth-2's reality?

Who was responsible for destroying the Queen's Gambit if Malcolm Merlyn honestly was a good guy on this Earth?

In a previous episode, Black Siren said that she knew Thea Queen quite well on her Earth and she was far less idealistic than the Thea Queen of Earth-1. Given the Earth-2 timeline, Thea would have been 12 when Black Siren moved to Central City to start a new life without her version of Oliver Queen. This makes it unlikely they would have kept in touch, particularly after Black Siren got her powers.

In this episode, Earth-2's Felicity Smoak is said to be running Smoak Technologies and is a huge success. Yet in an earlier episode, Black Siren said that Felicity Smoak of her Earth ran a criminal empire and was known for being ruthless. (The two aren't mutually exclusive, although now I really want to see Emily Bett Rickards as Earth 2's Wilson Fisk.)

How is Black Siren openly walking around when she was one of the most notorious criminals on Earth-2 five years ago and part of a regime that effectively ruled the world?

Why does Club Verdant - which Oliver started as a front to hide his first Arrowcave on Earth-1 - exist on Earth 2?


Performances

Stephen Amell does some great silent acting throughout the episode, reacting to various bits of bad news, nostalgia and looking at the picture of Felicity and Mia that is apparently the only possession he brought with him.

David Ramsey gets a bit of this too, during the scene where he is once again "The Black Driver."

Colin Donnel does a masterful job of playing a grief-stricken, driven to violence version of Tommy Merlyn.


Artistry

The direction and music do a great job of capturing the feeling of the first season of Arrow.


Trivia

At one point Adrian Chase calls Black Siren "Pretty Bird." This was Oliver Queen's pet name for Dinah Lance in the classic comics.

Reference is made to an incident in Pennytown. This is one of the districts of Star City in the DC Comics Universe.

Adrian Chase says that Bruce Wayne once told him that "if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This is a direct quote from Sherlock Holmes in The Sign Of the Four.


Technobabble

Adrian Chase analyzes the metallurgy of the Dark Archer's arrows and Oliver Queen's arrows to prove they aren't the same.

Queen-Merlyn recently upgraded their facilities with 500 miles worth of high-capacity fiber optics married to an underground server farm.

Queen-Merlyn is research the possibility of using dwarf star matter as an alternative energy source.

William uses satellite imaging to determine that the Deathstrokes have assumed control of the old Galaxy One headquarters


Dialogue Triumphs

The Monitor: (opening narration) Among the many misconceptions humanity holds dear is the fallacy that all beings are created equal. In truth, there are those who are greater. They are called heroes. But even among heroes, there are different echelons. The highest belong to those known as the paragons. And they are the only hope of all creation.

Moira: I know the changes must be overwhelming, and you must feel like you're on a different planet or something.
Oliver: You could say that.

(Oliver walks into Queen-Merlyn's IT Department. He sees a blonde woman with a pony-tail from behind and can just make out her chewing on a black pen.)
Oliver: It's supposed to be red.
(The woman spins around in her chair. It is clearly not Felicity Smoak. Just some other blonde woman in glasses.)
Woman: Excuse me?
Oliver: Nothing. Sorry. I'm looking for Felicity Smoak.
Woman: (laugh) Like Felicity Smoak would slum it in IT, instead of running Smoak Tech!
Oliver: Oh. Good for her.

(Oliver and Diggle are in a car. Oliver in the back. Diggle driving.)
Oliver: So what do I call you?
Diggle: Diggle. Digg if you want.
(Oliver smiles at the familiarity. This is just like when they first met. We cut to the front seat and Diggle smiles faintly too as we hear Oliver tugging on the door handle only to find the child safety locks have been engaged, so he can't tuck and roll out of the car as he did when he lost Diggle before. It is apparent now that this Diggle saw the trick coming because he is, in fact, Earth-1 Diggle.)
Diggle: Sorry, Oliver. Fool me once...

Diggle: Oliver, has it occurred to you that whatever happens in this crisis happens because you push the people closest to you away?
Oliver: So you're in a forward area. Somebody throws a grenade right into the middle of your platoon. What do you do?
Diggle: I jump on it. I contain the blast.
Oliver: That's what I'm doing. I can't prevent whatever it is that's going to happen to me, but I will be damned if I'm going to put other people at risk.
Diggle: And I will be damned if I just let you go gently into that good night.

Tommy: So I've been thinking it over. And you really were on Lian Yu. Because if you had been here, you would've been protecting our sister. So the question is... why are you running around in The Hood's hood?
Oliver: Doesn't matter.
Tommy: Yes, it does! The Hood is running around this city, thinking that he's saving it, and nothing can save it. You don't understand the cancer that has taken over this city.
Oliver: (shocked by the realization) Oh, my God! This is the Undertaking. You stole the dwarf star particles because you want to destroy The Glades and get vengeance for Thea.
Tommy: How could you know that? And what happened to you on that island?
Oliver: What happened to you while I was on the island?
Tommy: While you were gone, this city has been rotting. It can't be saved!
Oliver: That's not true, Tommy. I have seen Starling City come back from darker moments than this. It can be redeemed. You can be redeemed.
Tommy: You don't understand what I've seen. You don't know how I found our sister. Every time I close my eyes, I see her body lying there, cold, on a dirty floor. So I swore that I would get vengeance on The Glades for what it did to Thea, and I am not going to let her down. Not again!
Oliver: That's not gonna make you feel better, Tommy.
Tommy: I don't care about feeling better. I just want The Glades to suffer.
Oliver: You're a better man than this.
Tommy: That was a different me. Good-bye, Oliver.


Continuity

The Monitor deposits Oliver on Lian Yu on Earth-2 in the year 2019, though this is not immediately apparent.

Oliver is able to summon a boat using the same signal fire trick he used in the Arrow pilot.

On Earth-2's Lian Yu, the Deathstroke mask with an arrow through the eye is replaced with a Batman or Batwoman mask.

On Earth-2, Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn are married in the year 2019 and have merged their companies.

On Earth-2, after Robert Queen was declared dead, Walter Steele hold his shares in Queen Consolidated and went elsewhere. On Earth-1, he took charge of the company and eventually married Moira Queen.

Earth-2's Tommy Merlyn is still alive and living at Queen Manor. He says he has been married and divorced twice in the 12 years since he last saw Oliver.

Earth-2's Thea Queen died of a Vertigo overdose on her 18th birthday. This is a dark take on the events of 111 on Earth-1, where Thea Queen took Vertigo at her 18th birthday party but only crashed her brand new car.

Oliver breaks into Queen Consolidated looking for dwarf star particles. He finds the security team dead, shot by arrows, the particles stolen and is encountered by The Hood of this reality - Adrian Chase.

The fight between Oliver and Adrian is broken up by Black Siren, who asks what Oliver is doing on her Earth. This is the first indication in the episode that we are on Earth-2.

Black Siren has created her own version of The Bunker on Earth-2. It has the same design as the Earth-1 bunker, but with purple lighting instead of green.

Since returning to Earth-2, Black Siren has partnered with Adrian Chase (aka The Hood). They are not lovers, she is quick to note.

Oliver hides the fact that he is from another Earth from Adrian.

The Monitor reminds Oliver that his task is to retrieve the dwarf star particles for reasons he will not explain - not to confront Malcolm Merlyn over his crimes. Oliver defends his actions, saying that he needs to solve the mystery of the stolen particles in order to get them.

Oliver goes looking for Felicity Smoak in the IT Department of Queen Merlyn, learning that on this Earth she is a famous tech magnate.

The Earth-2 version of Curtis Holt is the head of Queen-Merlyn's IT Department.

The Earth-2 version of Rene Ramirez is employed as the Queen/Merlyn bodyguard.

The Earth-2 version of Dinah Drake is a Detective Sergeant in the SCPD.

As on Earth-1, Moira hires John Diggle to act as Oliver's personal bodyguard/babysitter. It is later revealed that this is Earth-1's John Diggle, come to help Oliver.

Felicity told Diggle about The Monitor taking Oliver away. Somehow, Diggle was able to track Oliver to Earth-2 and got there using a dimensional breach device borrowed from Cisco Ramon.

It is Earth-2's Tommy Merlyn who initiates The Undertaking in 2019 rather than Malcolm Merlyn in 2013. His plan involves attacking The Glades using a doomsday device powered by dwarf star particles rather than an earthquake generator. His motivation is avenging the death of Thea Queen, whom he apparently knew was his half-sister in this reality. On Earth-1, Malcolm Merlyn was avenging the death of his wife.

Tommy chains Oliver up in the same location Malcolm Merlyn did in 123.

Earth-2 Rene and Dinah are working for Tommy Merlyn to bring about the Undertaking.They are nowhere near as well-trained as their Earth-1 counterparts and Oliver defeats them easily on his own.

When Adrian Chase asks how Oliver knows so much about what the Dark Archer is planning, Oliver says he's ten steps ahead of him. This is a nod to what Prometheus continually told him during Season 5 of Arrow.

The location where Thea died is 4587 Burke. Apparently the building there is the home to Star City's worst drug dealers.

Tommy quotes something that Thea once told him to Oliver - "The dead don't want anything." Earth-1 Thea said the same thing to Oliver in 102.

Oliver is able to talk Tommy out of activating the device and turning himself in.

Adrian Chase is able to dismantle the Undertaking device and agrees to give Oliver the dwarf star particles.

Chase deduces that Oliver is the Hood from another Earth on his own.

Chase apparently knew Bruce Wayne and quotes a staying Wayne told him, which is cribbed from Sherlock Holmes. This, coupled with the Batman mask on Lian Yu, suggests that Bruce Wayne may have been the Slade Wilson of Earth 2.

Oliver suggests Chase change his name to Green Arrow.

Oliver visits Tommy in the police station after he turns himself in. He also gives his mother a final hug, after lying that he will see her at home.

Black Siren arrives at the SCPD HQ just as walls of antimatter began to destroy everything.

Moira and Tommy are killed by the antimatter.

Oliver, Diggle and Black Siren jump through a breach just as the walls close in on them.

In the future of 2040, William Clayton is now expanding his company into Star City, under his alias. His company is Harris Consolidated.

Crime has risen 300% in The Glades since the wall came down, but is down across the board in Star City in general.

Mr. Vasquez is a figure of importance in the move to reintegrate The Glades and Star City. He credits the vigilantes with reducing crime in Star City as a whole.

The Deathstroke Gang, which is led by John Diggle Jr., abduct Vasquez. They take him to the old Galaxy One building.

William talks Mia into going along with Connor's plan to rescue Vasquez.

Vasequez gives the Deathstrokes a series of codes.

Mia insists that from now on the team is going to do things her way.


Location

Starling City - Earth 2


Untelevised Adventures

The fate of Robert Queen on Earth 2.

Everything involving how Black Siren got herself established in Starling City and Adrian Chase's background on Earth-2.


The Bottom Line

As a walk down memory lane and a tribute to the first season of Arrow, it is wonderful. As a set-up for the season, it's competently executed apart from some major continuity issues - most likely brought on by the series' need to include Katie Cassidy as Black Siren rather than setting this on an entirely different Earth. That being said, the final sequence in which Earth-2 is destroyed is chillingly effective and set the tone for the future episodes of The Flash depicting the same destruction.  The Crisis is coming and nothing will ever be the same again.

Unfortunately, this does take the piss out of the flash-forward sequences, because we know that timeline is safe, even ignoring the reports that filming has already begun on a Green Arrow and the Canaries spin-off combining the planned Star City 2040 spin-off and Katie Cassidy's proposed Birds of Prey series. Is it too much hope that we can get Ashley Scott in there as well if the universes merge into one?

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 21 - Docket No. 11-19-41-73

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




Plot

The Trial of Oliver Queen begins, with Black Siren posing as Laurel Lance acting as the prosecution's star witness! An unexpected ally may help sway the jury, but with Diaz running the DA's office and the judge in his pocket, does Oliver have any chance of getting out of this one


Influences

The Fall of Green Arrow storyline (Oliver Queen exposed as Green Arrow, facing murder charges) and the Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick (Oliver Queen forced from office after being revealed to have sponsored vigilante activities, general theme of heroes fighting each other instead of villains who are portrayed as being far smarter and more competent to a comical degree.)


Goofs

Rene's justification for suddenly wanting to help Oliver after being ready to see him die last week don't make a lot of sense, as Dinah points out. It would be far more believable for Rene to see he feels guilty for having betrayed Oliver (which he sort of hints at) than the wishy-washy "I still hate him, but I don't want to see him in prison" speech he gives.

Quentin tries to goad Black Siren into standing up to Diaz by saying that his Laurel is like Black Siren in that neither of them would tolerate being ordered around. This flies in the face of every bit of characterization we've seen of Black Siren so far, despite it being totally illogical that she should let a powerless punk like Diaz boss her around. The hell of it is Black Siren also has a point about Laurel having been kind of an idiot who got in way over her head and died because of it.

Reference is made to John Diggle's child being abducted at some point in the last four years.. Oliver abducted Lyla and left Baby Sara Diggle alone back in Season 3, but there is no story where either John Diggle Jr. or Sara Diggle was abducted. (Perhaps this was a change caused by Flashpoint?)

Diaz gets upset about Black Siren not saying Oliver Queen is Green Arrow on TV, yet he's having her held in reserve as a witness at the trial, where her saying he's Green Arrow would actually do some good in his grand plan to send Oliver Queen to prison.

There's so much irony to Diaz criticizing Black Siren for being an unconvincing actress.

Again, there's no reason for Black Siren NOT to kill Diaz once she has her breath and some distance.

It's unbelievable that Dinah and John would take the chance of attacking Diaz in broad daylight on the courthouse steps while the trial is going on, given how many cops are around.  Nearly as unbelievable as the fact that there's no media around to notice this happen!

Granting that it's possible for Diaz to have connections that let him get a hold of CIA records, how on Earth will they explain Laurel Lance - captive Assistant DA for two years - having access to those kind of records legally?

Again, we have to wonder why ARGUS isn't brought in to testify that "Laurel Lance" is a wanted fugitive from a parallel Earth after there's a threat of CIA files being turned in. It's not like the trial could get any more convoluted or crazy with the prosecution claiming that a master of disguise is impersonating a dead man to protect a superhero mayor's secret identity.

Black Siren and Quentin talk about her plan to "bury Oliver" some 15-20 feet away from a horde of reporters who are taking pictures and filming their conversation.

It's also unbelievable that nobody, except Curtis, thinks that Diaz might also be threatening the jury after also taking control of the judge and the DA's office.

Technically. since Oliver is being tried in a criminal court, Jean Loring should be requesting a Judgement of Acquittal rather than a Judgement Notwithstanding Verdict. They amount to the same thing, but a Judgement Notwithstanding Verdict is used in civil court cases.

Why doesn't Diaz kill Black Siren for turning against him once he has her powers neutralized?


Performances

Brief though it is, it's nice to see Colin Donnell smiling his way through a performance as "Tommy".

Emily Bett Rickards hasn't been given that much to do this season, but she turns in a powerfully understated performance in this episode even though she has little to do but be the dotting wife. Still, she gets some very powerful speeches.


Artistry

The muted camera tint on the opening sequence of John Diggle in Kasnia is a nice touch, putting a grey aura over everything that suits the gloomy tone of the episode.


Trivia

The episode title - Docket 11-19-41-73 is a reference to the very first Green Arrow appearance in the comics. Oliver Queen's first appearance came on November 19th, 1941 in More Fun Comics #73.

The episode's opening scene is set in Kasnia - a fictional Eastern European country which was first introduced to the DC Comics Multiverse in Superman: The Animated Series.

Jean Loring - Oliver Queen's lawyer - is quite a different character in the original comics. She was the original love interest and eventual ex-wife of Ray "The Atom" Palmer. She later went insane and became a host for Eclipso.

The episode's opening title stinger once again only has the Arrowhead symbol rather than all the symbols for Team Arrow.

The special prosecutor brought in to try Oliver Queen is said to have taken down Intergang and Bruno Manheim. In the classic Superman comics, Bruno "Ugly" Manheim was a crime boss in Metropolis and the leader of Intergang - a criminal organization who acquired high-tech weaponry from Apokolips.

Ironically, the end result of this episode is the opposite of the trial in The Fall of Green Arrow. There, Oliver Queen is found innocent of murder charges despite the evidence against him and a full confession, because the jury felt he was saving their city in the wake of an attack by the villain Prometheus who killed thousands of people in their city. The judge in the case says that he cannot send Oliver Queen to prison with a verdict of Not Guilty, but he can exile him from Star City for the rest of his life. This is, to put it mildly, a major violation of basic legal rights under the United States Constitution.


Technobabble

A pixel-level analysis of a digitally altered photograph will show almost undetectable light shifts and resolution inconsistencies that would not be present in a natural photo.

Judgement Notwithstanding The Verdict is a type of legal judgement that is sometimes rendered by the judge at the end of a Federal Civil Jury Trial. This allows the judge to override a jury's verdict in the rare circumstances in which a jury's response seems unreasonable in the face of the evidence presented. While defense attorneys often request this, it is rarely done. A Judgement Notwithstanding The Verdict can only be used to overturn a guilty verdict. A judge has no power to declare a person guilty after they have been found innocent by a jury trial.

It is revealed that Diaz has some kind of device that can cancel out Black Siren's sonic scream.


Dialogue Triumphs

(John enters into a hovel. He sees a shirtless man, his face hidden in the shadows, tied to a chair.)
Mystery Man: John!
John: I'm getting you out of here.
(John moves forward and starts to cut at the man's bindings.)
Mystery Man: (laughing) What the hell are you doing here?
John: I need your help. In Star City.

(Rene, Curtis and Dinah walk into the courtroom.)
Curtis: This looks bigger than The OJ Trial.
Dinah: How would you know? You were in, like, fourth grade?
Curtis: Yeah, but I watch American Crime Story.

Alexa Van Owen: Oliver Queen is a hero. He is. He's saved this city more times than anyone can count. But he's done it all from behind a mask, so that he could take the law into his own hands. In fact, he's taken as many lives as he's saved. So yes, Oliver Queen is a hero. But that doesn't mean he's not also a criminal.

Jean Loring: Three weeks ago, Oliver Queen was mayor of this city. In that time he has gone from being under indictment, to impeachment to being on trial. How?! How could everything go wrong so quickly for him? I think intuitively you know the answer. Corruption. It runs through this city like a cancer, compromising some city officials while discrediting others. Like...  ike the defendant. Even the anti-vigilante law that he's being charged under is the work of the corrupt men and women who are holding our city in their grip. This may sound like a conspiracy theory, but at the conclusion of this trial I'm going to ask you what is most likely - that our city's government has been compromised or that we elected a superhero as our mayor?

Oliver Queen: I'd be putting a target on my back. I'd be putting a target on my wife and son's back. I've been The Green Arrow for six years. I didn't plan on doing it forever! I thought that one day my mission wound end and I would finally, after all this time, get a chance to actually live my life! (pauses) That will never happen if I tell the whole world that I'm The Green Arrow.

Oliver: I don't want you in a position where you perjure yourself because of me.
Felicity: (sarcastically) Oh well. Let me add it to the long list of felonies I've already committed for you.
Oliver: Look, John has something planned. You don't have to take the chance.
Felicity: I will take any chance if it keeps you from being taken away from me and William.

Alexa Van Owen: If you're The Green Arrow, how come Rene Ramirez testified under oath that Oliver Queen is?
Tommy: Well, I would suspect that he was being pressured to.
Alexa Van Owen: Are you saying he perjured himself?
Tommy: Well, I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I'm just The Green Arrow. And I am telling you I am the only man that has ever worn this hood.
Judge McGarvey: Mr. Merlyn, you are  under arrest on suspicion of murder, assault, and violation of the Anti-Vigilante Act of 2017. The bailiff will remand Mr. Merlyn into custody.
Alexa Van Owen: Objection, Your Honor! It is The People's contention that Mr. Merlyn here is not The Green Arrow.
Judge McGarvey: Be that as it may, I can't just let him walk out of my courtroom.
Tommy: (smiling) You know, if it's any consolation, my team is going to extract long before I ever get to prison. So...
Judge McGarvey: Get him out of here!
("Tommy" obligingly puts his wrists out for the bailiff.)

(Felicity says that she can take care of protecting herself and William so Oliver doesn't have to worry.)
Oliver: That's not how wedding vows work.
Felicity: Well, we didn't exchange vows. But if we did, exchange means "goes both ways." So we fight for each other, Oliver. We protect each other. We're gonna save each other.

John: Thanks again man. I owe you another one.
Christopher Chance: Yeah, well - after Kasnia, let's just call it even.
Oliver: Chris. Thank you.
Christopher Chance: Yeah. Always happy to help. Just try not to need me again... for at least... another year. Okay?


Dialogue Disasters

Diaz: (as he strangles Black Siren) When you take the stand, I want you to give the jury a much better performance than the one you've given me.


Continuity

The opening sequence sees John rescuing an unseen man who recognizes him from a hovel in Kasina. John says they need his help in Star City.

Jean Loring, Oliver's lawyer, was last seen in 615.

Alexa Van Owen is a special counsel brought in to try Oliver Queen's case on behalf of the Star City DA's office. She has prosecuted both CEOs and Serial Killers in her day and employs a team of CIA-caliber investigators that can find out anything about anyone. She has a 99% conviction rating. Loring does not believe her to be in Diaz's pocket.

Oliver is offered a plea bargain - a single count of manslaughter with a 15 year minimum sentence. Oliver refuses to take it.

Loring says that Judge McGarvey, who is trying the case, almost certainly is under Diaz' control.

Rene and Dinah have both been called to testify against Oliver in court. They agree to lie to protect Oliver, because as mad as they are at him, they don't want to see him go to prison. Rene also feels guilty about having betrayed Oliver earlier in the year when dealing with the FBI in 609.

Quentin gives a television interview where he says that Oliver is not Green Arrow, pointing out that he arrested Oliver on charges of being The Arrow six years earlier and that Oliver passed a polygraph saying he wasn't in 105.

The first witness for the prosecution is John Diggle. He is not present and a bench warrant is issued to have him brought to court.

The second witness for the prosecution is Dr. Eliza Schartz - the doctor who has secretly helped patch up various Team Arrow members. She last appeared in 615. She is an attending physician at Starling General Hospital. She refuses to testify regarding Oliver's medical history and any injuries he might have suffered, citing Doctor/Patient confidentiality.

Dr. Schwartz is asked about the events of 418 and an incident in which The Green Arrow brought The Black Canary to her for treatment. Schwartz says she was too focused on treating Laurel Lance to pay attention to who The Green Arrow was under his mask.

John arrives at the courthouse just before he is declared in contempt of court. He apologizes for being late, saying he was delayed by business out of town.

John testifies that Oliver Queen is not The Green Arrow, saying that as Oliver's bodyguard from 2012-2016, he'd know if he were running around with a bow and arrow at night.

The prosecution brings up John's abduction at the hands of Damien Darhk (409), the abduction of his child (a lost adventure caused by Flashpoint?)  and his hospitalization with nerve damage (601), saying he either runs in dangerous circles or has the worst luck ever.


Dinah is the third witness called by the prosecution. She claims to have had limited interaction with Oliver as Mayor, despite being head of his security detail at City Hall. She is later questioned about the death of Sean Sonus in 511 (over Jean Loring's objections of relevance) and pleads the 5th Amendment when asked if she murdered him.

Raisa - Oliver's housekeeper - knows that Oliver is The Green Arrow.

Rene says he will go to jail before screwing Oliver over again. He changes his mind after Diaz shows up in the court room escorting Zoe.

Rene apparently still has immunity from prosecution, but Curtis says that won't mean anything if he tries to plead the fifth or refuses to testify.

Rene winds up testifying that Oliver is Green Arrow, that he was part of his vigilante team and that he saw Oliver Queen kill and/or maim too many people to count.

Oliver tells Jean Loring that he is The Green Arrow. She suggests he confess to that and they restructure their case around proving that he doesn't deserve to go to prison and hope they can nullify the jury. Oliver refuses, saying that he'll never be able to live in peace if the world knows he is Green Arrow.

Felicity graduated Summa Cum Laude from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Masters Degrees in Cyber Security and Computer Sciences. She is accepted as an expert witness who testifies that the photo of Oliver as Green Arrow from 601 is a fake.

The prosecution challenges the relevance of a faked photograph showing Oliver Queen is Green Arrow. Felicity responds by pointing out that there's no reason for anyone to create a fake photograph of Oliver Queen as Green Arrow if he actually is Green Arrow.

Felicity is questioned about her wedding to Oliver being rushed, occurring as it did one week before his indictment. She is also questioned about her father, The Calculator, and denies having known he was a master hacker criminal until he reformed.  She also denies having committed any cyber crimes herself.

Oliver testifies that Roy Harper was not a vigilante. He says that Roy sacrificed his life to protect the identity of a man who was alternatively called The Hood or The Arrow at that time. He says that he has learned since then that The Hood/The Arrow has taken up the name The Green Arrow. Oliver says that he is not The Green Arrow. He says he does know who The Green Arrow is but that he has promised to keep that information secret.

Alexa Van Owen acquired a photograph from Susan Williams - the reporter Oliver dated briefly during Season 5 - which shows him in Russia during his fifth year in exile away from Starling City, when he claimed to be trapped on Lian Yu.

Oliver admits that he spent part of his five years missing in Hong Kong and Russia.

The trial is disrupted by the arrival of Tommy Merlyn, who claims to have faked his death during the events of 123 so as to better hide his identity as The Hood. He confirms Oliver's story that Roy Harper lied and died to protect him.

"Tommy Merlyn" is revealed to be Christopher Chance AKA The Human Target, who was last seen in 505.

Black Siren tells Quentin that she is being forced to testify, pretending to be Laurel, and that Diaz somehow got his hands on The Human Target's CIA file to bring into evidence regarding the stunt they just pulled.

Felicity refers to how the team broke John out of prison in 504.

Oliver asks John to take Felicity and William into ARGUS Protective Custody if Oliver goes to prison.

Black Siren testifies that Tommy Merlyn is The Green Arrow. She claims that Quentin inspired her to stand up to Diaz.

Oliver is found guilty of all 26 charges against him.

Jean Loring moves for a Judgement Notwithstanding The Verdict. Judge McGarvey grants it, freeing Oliver.

It is later revealed that Christopher Chance replaced Judge McGarvey. He and John Diggle agree to call it even on the owed favors, but he does ask that he not be asked for any favors for at least another year.

It is revealed that the plan to have Chance replace the judge was all Rene's doing.

Rene and Oliver make their peace over everything that happened between them.

Diaz kills Judge McCready.

Black Siren tries to make a move against Diaz. It turns out that he has some sort of device that cancels out her sonic powers.


Location

Kasnia - 2018.


Untelevised Adventures

Apparently John Jr. was kidnapped at some point in the past. (Perhaps, as a result of Flashpoint, Oliver kidnapped John Jr. instead of Lyla when he was with The League of Assassins?)


The Fridge Factor

Black Siren finally stands up to Diaz, only to have her powers negated and be totally useless after that.


The Winick Factor

Black Siren's not killing Diaz long ago is justified by his just happening to have a device to negate her powers when she finally does turn on him. Despite this, he does not kill her.


The Bottom Line

It says a lot about a show when the most stupid and unbelievable aspects of it do not involve a master of disguise pretending to be a man that's been dead for five years in order to protect a superhero mayor's secret identity.

The fact of the matter is that this episode's biggest accomplishment is making the second half of Season Six an even bigger waste of time by having Diaz abandon his grand scheme of putting Oliver Queen in jail (something he could still presumably accomplish by having the police raid his bunker, which he should - based on this episode - know the location of) in favor of just killing him and all the vigilantes whose identities he's known for at least a year.

The one bright side in all of this is that the show is finally taking steps to bring Team Arrow back together, albeit in an incredibly rushed and half-assed way. Still, I'm beyond caring. Just as I'm beyond caring that Black Siren finally chose a side only to be rendered completely useless because it's more important to sell that Diaz as a threat than to sell her competency.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 1, Episode 23 - Sacrifice

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

    Plot

The hoods are off and both Malcolm Merlyn and Oliver Queen know one another for who they are.  Not that it matters with Oliver chained up in one of Merlyn's buildings and  The Markov Device armed and ready to level The Glades.  Every member of Team Arrow as well as The Queen Family will be tested within the next 24 hours as truths are laid bare and masks thrown aside when Starling City faces its' darkest hour.

On the island, Oliver has a knife in his hand and mere seconds to stop a disaster that could wreck the world economy.  When push comes to shove, will the spoiled playboy transform into a killer? 


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the island sequences), Green Arrow: Quiver (Diggle's remark about not making fun of Ollie's preparedness), Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (the idea of Ollie choosing to be a killer in order to save a life), Green Arrow: City Walls (rioting in Green Arrow's city after a billionaire causes a disaster), Justice League: Cry For Justice (super-villain destroys a good portion of Green Arrow's city) the Black Canary mini-series by Tony Bedard (Ollie's speech about how Laurel saw the best in him mirrors a similar speech Dinah Lance makes about when she first noticed the man Oliver Queen really was) and the repeated theme of sacrifice, particularly parents giving up for their children. 


Goofs

It's night when Detective Lance picks Felicity up at Queen Consolidated. yet when he takes her into the interview room for questioning sunlight is clearly streaming through the windows.

Why is Detective Lance still at the police station during Moira Queen's press-conference if he's been suspended?  Even if the police got word that his tip on Malcolm Merlyn was on the up-and-up before then, that still doesn't change that he'd been working with The Hood.

How exactly does Shado know how to reprogram a missile targeting system?  She's a lawyer by trade and while it makes sense for her soldier father to teach her how to fight, it seems unlikely that his lessons to her would include the technical programming of military hardware.

While there's a rainstorm where Quentin Lance is driving into The Glades seeking an underground entrance. it isn't raining in Roy's neighborhood or on the rooftop at where Ollie and Merlyn are fighting.

Granting that a motorcycle gives him more mobility, Ollie seems to have a ridiculously easy time getting to the CNRI office considering the chaotic state of the roads following the quake.


Performances

Again, I can't single out just one performance this time.  Everyone in the cast does an excellent job in their roles and it's a shame that we'll be seeing some of these actors for the last time.  Probably.  (Hey, it IS a comic book show and Deadshot's already come back after a supposed death already!)  I will pick out one scene for each core character.

Oliver - Stephen Amell has done a masterful job of playing the many faces of Ollie all season and this episode showcases that talent.  But the moment in which Ollie makes the decision to kill Eddie Fyers to save Shado and sacrifice an offer of escape perfectly captures a similar moment in the classic Green Arrow story The Longbow Hunters, right down to the look in his eyes before and after the deed is done.

Laurel - Surprisingly absent for most of the episode, Katie Cassidy spends what scant screen time she has reacting to other actors during their big speeches.  Still, her reactions as she listens to her father speak to her over the phone for what may well be the last time are truly heartbreaking.

Tommy - Colin Donnell has a lot of fine moments throughout the episode, from his drunken confrontation of Ollie at Verdant to the final death scene where he proves he is not his father's son.  And yet, I think his strongest moment comes when Tommy - having heard his father confess to all the evil things he's been accused of and finding him to be utter remorseless - pulls a gun on his own father.  Even before one word is spoken, Donnell make's Tommy's resolve clear

Moira - Moira Queen was ready to sacrifice thousands of innocent lives to protect her family from Malcolm Merlyn, never thinking that her children would be horrified to discover the price others paid for them to live.  Moira then sacrifices her own freedom and safety in order to expose Malcolm's plan to the world.  The ultimate irony is that her actions may have had the opposite result of her goal, as Thea angrily storms off to find Roy, placing her right in the heart of Ground Zero.  The look of pain on Moira's face in that moment - as she realizes all she did for good or ill was for nothing and there's nothing she can do to save her daughter as the police take her away - is Susanna Thompson's finest moment all season. 

Thea - Like Katie Cassidy as Laurel, Willia Holland as Thea seemed woefully underutilized during the second half of Arrow's first season.  That didn't stop her from putting a lot of power into what few scenes she did have.  Ironically, her best moment in this episode is her understateded rescue of Roy Harper.

Roy - For the past few episodes, Roy Harper has been seeking The Hood as a means toward redemption for his criminal past .  Yet this quest has been driven just as much by Roy's hero worship as any desire to be a hero.  This episode finally gives Roy both the revelation that he already has the ability to help others and the opportunity to do so.  Colton Haynes nails the character of Roy Harper from the comics with his speech about how he has to help people independent of The Hood.  It's a nice way of giving Roy the drive to succeed apart from Ollie that was such a big part of the comic character while still staying true to the reality of the show. 

John - John Diggle is well familiar with the themes of sacrifice which dominate this episode.  A soldier sacrifices much to be part of an elite that is further expected to sacrifice their lives if needed - brothers in arms.  Without saying as much in words (he's not that sort of man), John Diggle reaffirms his commitment to Oliver and the mission he walked out on several episodes earlier. Why did he come back?  Because you don't walk out on your brother and in many ways Oliver Queen has become a proxy for the brother John Diggle lost to a sniper's bullet.  David Ramsey conveys all this and more as John offers Oliver his hand and informs him that he won't be facing Malcolm Merlyn alone a third time.

Felicity - My antipathy for Felicity Smoak is well-known at this point, yet her growth in the past few episodes has warmed me to the character I've largely dismissed as  plot device in glasses.  While I still wish there was more to the character and that we knew more about her than "good with computers" and "crushing on Oliver", this episode does show her steel.  There's no reason that Felicity can't do what she does from the relative safety of her office at Queen's Consolidate but her decision to work from under Ollie's club in The Glades is symbolic of her finally embracing her own role as part of Team Arrow.  Since discovering Ollie's secret, she's insisted she was only in the mission to help save Walter Steele... and yet she still hung around once that mission was accomplished.  Why?  Because as she told Quentin Lance, she'd come to see The Hood not as a dangerous killer but as a hero.  Emily Bett Rickards carries all these moments off with style but her greatest moment comes when the steel breaks and Felicity spends 10 seconds trying to compose herself while calling Oliver as she watches the destruction of the city unfold on the monitor.  The expression on her face tells us far more than millions of dollars in CGI and explosions could about just how badly the city is fairing.

Quentin - One of the core ideals at the heart of the Green Arrow mythos is that sometimes the law fails in its' basic intent and that in those times outlaws are needed to assure the common good.  One of the more brilliant conceits of the series was making Laurel's own father - a cop in the comics  - one of the series' primary antagonist while still allowing Paul Blackthorne to play the character sympathetically.  As the series progressed, Blackthorne played Quentin Lance as a man disillusioned in his family, his work and life in general.  All that comes to a head in a speech, where Quentin asks what the point of the law is if it isn't used to save lives.  At first I thought this speech seemed completely out of place here until I realized the speech is not Quentin trying to justify dealing with The Hood to his boss.  It's Quentin reminding himself why he became a cop in the first place.

Malcolm - John Barrowman dances over the line between melodramatic and over-the-top for much of the episode.  And how can you blame him when the episode opens with his character delivering a James Bond villain speech to the captive hero?  And yet, even when he does go over-the-top, Barrowman sells it.  When he shouts "They deserve to die!" regarding the people of The Glades, you believe he believes it.


Artistry

Kudos to the writing team, who make the entire episode fast-paced and still manage some honest surprises with every character feeling honestly imperiled along with the whole of The Glades.  Amazingly, they give every character a full arc and a moment of development, with the theme of sacrifice coming up repeatedly.  This episode captured the spirit of a good superhero comic while avoiding the cheesier elements.  True, there's a few points that don't make much sense logically but make perfect sense thematically.  For instance,

On a related note, I'm relieved that we've avoided the cliche of the villainous father dying and his son - already wronged by the hero on a more personal level - taking up his mantle.  It would have been all too easy to turn Tommy Merlyn into The Dark Archer II, seeking revenge for both his father's death and Ollie's stealing away the woman he loved.  This would have been predictable and resulted in much snark from fanboy and casual viewer alike about "Oh, they ripped this off of the Spider-Man movies".  So kudos once again to the writing team for doing the unexpected.

The choreography of the final fight between Oliver and Merlyn is perfect.



Trivia

For those who care to nit-pick these things, Det. Lance's phone call to Laurel and the time spent deactivating the bomb after do take up less than two minutes of time.  A much better question is just how Det. Lance gets such clear phone reception in an abandoned subway station underground.


Dialogue Triumphs

(As Ollie is woken up with a bucket of cold water, awakening hung up in chains and bleeding...)
Malcolm: I hope I didn't hurt you.

Malcolm: You can't beat me, Oliver.  Yes, you're younger.  And you're faster.  Yet you always seem to come up short against me.  Want to know why?  Because you don't know, in your heart, what you're fighting for.  What you're willing to sacrifice.  And I do!

(After shooting the henchman who had a gun pulled on a weaponless Oliver)
John: I take back every joke I made about you sticking a tracking device in your boot!

Quentin: Not exactly a hardened criminal, are you? 
Felicity: No, I'm not any kind of criminal.
Quentin: Then what do you call computer hacking?
Felicity: A hobby.
(Quentin gives her a disapproving look)
Felicity:... that I do not engage in!

Felicity: You know, I used to think The Vigilante was a criminal too but... you know, whoever he is, he's willing to sacrifice an awful lot to help the people of this city.  That makes him a hero, doesn't it?

Quentin: I swore to uphold The Law cause The Law is steady, The Law is unchanging, The Law needed to be protected..  But what are laws... rules... if they don't protect people?  Now listen, I know I'm throwing away my career by telling you this but I'm willing to sacrifice catching this guy if it means saving people's lives!

Oliver: Those five years didn't change me.  They just... they just ripped away...all the things I wasn't and revealed the person I always was, which was the person... That's who you always saw.  And I don't know how you saw it.  But you did.  Nobody in my life is who I thought they were.... except you.

(Regarding Ollie surviving a third fight with Merlyn and it being unlikely)
John: Ok.  Well, how about this time you bring along something you didn't have the last time you two fought.  Me.
Ollie: I can't let you..
John: And I can't let you do this by yourself, man. Oliver, you are not alone.  Not since you brought me into this...
(glances to Felicity)
John: ... US into this.  Besides, Army Regulations.  A soldier never lets a brother go into battle alone.
(John offers his hand.  Ollie shakes it.)

(To Ollie, regarding Fyers' destroyed camp)
Slade: I should've figured you couldn't save the day without making a mess.

(While holding Shado hostage, while Ollie has an arrow tracked on him)
Fyers: Tell me, Mr. Queen.  Are you prepared to sacrifice your freedom for her?
(Ollie puts an arrow through Fyers' throat)
Ollie: Guess so.

(After Thea saves him from a mugger with a gun)
Roy: Where did you learn how to do that?
Thea: I guess I have wicked aim!

(After Roy stops his car, spying a group of people trapped in a bus where the door was jammed shut by a crashed car)
Thea: Roy, stop!  The Device is about to go off any second!
Roy: I can't leave any of them behind!
Thea: Look, I know you think you have something to prove. But you're not The Vigilante!
Roy: Look, I can't do this unless I know you're safe.
Thea: Then you'd better haul ass out of here too.
(The two kiss before Thea heads back to her car, leaving Roy behind)

The entirety of Tommy Merlyn's death scene.  The dialogue alone doesn't do the performances of Stephen Amell and Colin Donnell justice, so I shan't transcribe it here.



Dialogue Diasasters

Ollie: Where is the transmitter?!
Malcolm: Somewhere I can easily get to it.
John: I doubt it.  You'll be too dead.

The oh-so-subtle "don't text and drive" message, as Roy and Thea escape The Glades.  Made all the more painful by Willa Holland's real public service announcement later on during the commercial break  I know there's a tradition of painfully inserted messages in Green Arrow stories but was this really necessary?


Continuity

We once again see the scene in Pilot where Robert Queen sacrifices his life to save his son's.  Oliver keeps a tracking device in his boot.  Quentin refers to Felicity's work computer showing signs that she hacked Blackhawk Security (11), researched arrows sent to the Sagittarius company (9), and analyzing a water sample that lead to a Vertigo lab (12).  Shado knows how to reprogram a missile targeting system.  Reference is made to Salvation and when Team Arrow first realized the symbol on The List was a map of the old Starling City subway system.  Oliver has a second bow - the same bow he used to kill Eddie Fyers.  Ollie shoots an exploding arrow at Merlyn, expecting him to catch it - a frequent tactic Ollie uses against enemies with super-speed in the comics. 


The Fridge Factor

A bit of a mixed bag for Laurel, who is sidelined for much of the episode and both Ollie and her father tell her to stay out of The Glades.  She ignores their warnings and goes into work anyway, which results in her being imperiled so Tommy can get his moment of heroism before his death.

The rest of the female cast fares better, with Felicity showing some steel both in standing up to Detective Lance, Moira standing up against Malcolm and Thea proving surprisingly capable of throwing a beer bottle at close-range to save her boyfriend.  Shame Thea didn't decide to stay behind in The Glades to help Roy with saving people, even if he insisted he needed to know she was safe in order to do it.  Better if she had said "Well, you can do a better job keeping me safe if I'm here with you."

Also, while somebody had to be the hostage for Ollie's final showdown with Eddie Fyers, it still rankles me a little bit that Shado - bad-ass ninja lawyer - was that somebody.  It could have just as easily been the wounded and limping Slade Wilson. 


The Bottom Line

The perfect capstone to the pyramid of Arrow's first season.  An effective action-movie in an hour, with some amazing performances and visuals.  There's a lot of plot threads that are still active to carry the show into Season Two.  It's going to be a long summer waiting... 

Arrow #32 (Web Comic) - A Review

From the Darkness promises us "the secret origin of The Dark Archer".  While we do get the details of how Malcolm Merlyn became trained as a world-class warrior after his wife's death, there's not much that is "secret" about it.  The only new piece of information is the revelation that Malcolm patrolled the streets as a vigilante hero during Tommy's formative years, in the same way Oliver Queen does today.



The script by Wendy Mericle and Ben Sokolwski proves engaging but it leaves us with more questions than answers.  One wonders why, if Malcolm Merlyn was striking down drug-dealers and pimps in The Glades on a regular basis several years ago, we've heard nothing about this on the show before.  You'd think Detective Lance would remember there being a similar vigilante sometime earlier unless gang-members turning up dead with arrows in their back is a common occurrence in Starling City.  Or did every single murder The Dark Archer committed in the name of cleaning up the city go unreported?  Granting that the criminal underclass of The Glades aren't exactly likely to call the cops, you'd think someone would have reported a dead body with an arrow in it at some point.


The artwork by Allan Jefferson is unbalanced.  Jefferson does a fair enough job of capturing John Barrowman and Colin Donnell's likenesses but - as in previous outings on this series - his mid-range and background characters lack definition.  Jonas Trindade's inking does help matters somewhat but there's only so much a good inker can do. 

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 1, Episode 22 - Darkness on the Edge of Town

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

    Plot

With The Undertaking about to begin, Malcolm Merlyn is covering his tracks and killing everyone involved in the creation of The Markov Device he needs to destroy The Glades.  Unaware of the enemy they are facing or the exact disaster they're trying to avert, Team Arrow turns their attentions on the one link they have - Oliver Queen's mother, Moira.  At the same time, Thea Queen and Roy Harper continue their own efforts to track down the Starling City Vigilante and Laurel confronts Oliver over their mutual feelings for one another.

In the flashback, Eddie Fyers plan is finally revealed - use the missiles he's acquired to down an American plane and trigger a chain of events that will destroy the Chinese economy.  With Shado, Slade and Ollie in custody, Fyers has everything he needs to force Yao Fei's cooperation with his plan and make the prisoner into a patsy for the plan.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the flashback sequences on the island), Mike Grell's Green Arrow (Fyers' plan is reminiscent of the sort of international intrigues Fyers was involved in and Ollie was trying to stop) Ocean's Eleven (Ollie and company breaking into Merlyn's building and the increasingly unlikely complications) and the Bruce Springsteen album/song Darkness on the Edge of Town.


Goofs

Cool as Team Arrow's infiltration of Merlyn's building is, if they were able to sneak Diggle into the building as a security guard and have him take over the security room, why couldn't they fabricate an easier way to get Felicity into the mainframe room disguised as an IT person?  Surely that wouldn't be any more difficult?



Performances

Honestly, the whole ensemble cast does great and I don't feel like discriminating so I'm going to name something I liked that each main actor did well.

Stephen Amell: It really is amazing how this man can play so many variants of Oliver Queen so well.  What Christopher Reeve did so well with just two identities, Amell manages with four - there's Pre-Island Douchebag Ollie, Ollie on the Island, Ollie as he pretends to be around his family and Laurel on his return and Serious Vigilante Ollie.

Katie Cassidy:  The way she portrays Laurel's disbelief as Ollie says, despite her protests the the contrary, that he hasn't changed in the past year without saying a single word. 

Willa Holland: Her perfectly, wordless expressions of sadness and annoyance throughout the episode.


Colton Haynes: His struggling to maintain his tough guy facade even in the wake of the revelation that he lost someone important and that is why he wants to find The Hood.

David Ramsey: Does a fine job of imitating Ollie as The Hood.  In fact, he's so good we don't know for sure it's him at first and wonder if maybe Malcolm Merlyn is portraying The Hood in order to test Moira's loyalty again.

Paul Blackthorne: How he can convey so many emotions at once with a single sigh.

Emily Brett Rickards: Felicity ranting about Merlyn's security network.  Specifically, the way her awkwardness goes away when her mind is focused on a problem.  It's a nice touch, reminding me of many other nerds I know who are socially awkward until their minds are distracted away from focusing on the situation onto something else.

Colin Salmon: Walter's cool, even rebuttal of every single thing Moira tries to say to convince hm to stay. 

Suzanne Thompson: Her tortured, wordless expression of pain as she loses another husband despite her best efforts, after Walter serves her with divorce papers.

Colin Donnell: The look on his face where he conveys how every last hope he had is dashed as he sees Ollie and Laurel together through her living room window.

Sebastian Dunn: He goes a little over the top, but he does seem to enjoy acting like a Bond villain.  Somehow, it works.

Manu Bennet: Does a wonderful job of acting conveying the pain of someone just shot in the leg.

Celina Jade: Plays the distraught daughter well as her father is imperiled.

Byron Mann: Dies in a most convincing manner.

John Barrowman: The look of shock and torment as he discovers that Ollie is The Hood is perfect, though we don't know precisely why he's so upset nor why he says "Oh no."




 
Artistry

The script does a fine job of balancing all the subplots and helping us keep track of who knows what secrets and why they're doing things the way they are in the modern day. 

The whole heist sequence with Team Arrow hacking the Merlyn mainframe is brilliantly paced.

In the flashback sequences, we finally have some honest drama to push the story.  Interesting as it is to see Ollie gradually become the bad ass we know he'll become, there's little sense of urgency since we know Ollie is going to survive his ordeals on the island.  With Fyers' plan explained in this episode, we now have a specific stake for Ollie to fight for and that makes the island scenes more compelling than they've been in a while.

The final fight scene between Ollie and Merlyn is well choreographed.
 

Trivia

The name of this episode comes from a Bruce Springsteen's fourth album and the final song on said album.  His first album after hitting it big with Born To Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town marked the first time Springsteen performed more serious songs about the realities of working-class life.  The song itself contains several lyrics that seem relevant to the stories of several characters, particularly Ollie (Everybody's got a secret, sonny, Something that they just can't face,) Malcolm (I lost my money and I lost my wife,
Them things don't seem to matter much to me now.) and Roy (Some folks are born into a good life, Other folks get it anyway, anyhow.)

The scientist responsible for building the Markov device is named Dr. Brion Markov.  In the comics, Brion Markov is the name of the earth-manipulating superhero Geo-Force.

The plane Fyers plans to bring down is Ferris Air Flight 637 out of Berlin.  In the comics, Ferris Air is one of the leading aerodynamic firms in the United States.  It's also the employer of Hal Jordan a.k.a. The Green Lantern, as those of you who saw the Green Lantern movie might remember. 





Dialogue Triumphs

Thea: Walter doesn't really seem like himself.
Oliver: He's gone through a lot.  It's just... going to take bit a little time.
Thea:(sighs)  I'm getting sick of us all having to go through a lot, you know?

Ollie: That's a commercial airline, Fyers.  It's not like it can land here!
Fyers: It won't be landing anywhere, Mr. Queen.  I'm going to destroy it! 
Quentin Lance: Arrows are black. Not green.  Copycat archer again.  Psychopaths are color-coding themselves, now.  That's helpful.

(As Roy is staking out the cops working the Vigilante case)
Thea: Where did you even get that camera?  Come to think of it, where did you get this car?
Roy: I borrowed it... illegally.
Thea:  You know, when I imagined being in a car with you, this isn't exactly what I had in mind. 

Moira: You know, I would never willingly be a part of anything like this.
Ollie: ... I don't know anything anymore.

Moira: You held him (Walter) for nearly six months!  Surely you had him questioned?
Malcolm: He was. 
Moira: And I assume, that if Walter knew something you'd rather he didn't, agreement be damned, I would be a widow again.  Am I wrong? 
Malcolm: Rarely.

Laurel: I know!  I know!  Say it!  You think I'm crazy!  I mean, Oliver... he cheated on me!  He broke my heart!  He lead Sara to her death! And you would probably rather drink acid than see me with him again!  Dad?  I'm sure you're disappointed in me.
Quentin Lance: (sighing) Since Queen's been back, he's... different.  (pause) I'll deny having ever said that.  Let's eat.

(To Tommy, regarding Laurel and both of them loving her)

Ollie: She's not anyone's property.  Laurel makes her own decisions.  And she chose you.  Until you couldn't handle it.  Lord knows I'm guilty of a lot of things between us, but not you and her.

(After Roy calls Oliver a wimp and Thea tells him not to say things like that.)

Thea: My brother survived five years, alone, on an island!  Five years I thought I had lost him!
Roy: Yeah?  Well,  I lost someone too!  And they aren't coming back.
Thea: Who?
Roy: It doesn't matter.  That is why I need to find him.  So he can teach me to be like him!  I'm not losing anyone else, ever again.
Thea: I can't do this, Roy.  If you don't give this up, you're going to lose me.
Roy: Better now than later.

Moira: (after being handed divorce papers) Walter... please... divorce is an extreme reaction
Walter: Well, considering the circumstances I thought it somewhat reserved.  Or do you think I believe that my abduction on the night you told me that I was getting too close to your conspiracy was a coincidence?

Ollie: Ever since I've been back, we've been doing this dance.  We come together and then I pull away.  Something pulls me away.  But I think.. finally... that something might be over.
Laurel: What are you trying to say?
Ollie: That... you know me better than anyone.  And that you... are more important to me than anyone.  I just hope I didn't wait too long to say it.
(Laurel kisses him)
Laurel: You're not too late.  You're right on time.

Malcolm: There is nothing you can do to stop what is about to happen.  And you shouldn't.  This city needs what is about to happen in order to survive  The people who are destroying it from the inside need to be erased from the map.
The Hood: Fine.  Let's start with you!
(Ollie shoots an arrow, which Malcolm catches)
Malcolm: Ironic, isn't it?  Last Christmas, I almost killed you.  Three months ago, you saved my life. And now you're here trying to kill me.  You should make up your mind!
The Hood: Done!


Continuity

A week has passed between this episode and The Undertaking (21).   Malcolm Merlyn kills six scientists and three guards at Unidac Industries as The Dark Archer.  Diggle impersonates The Hood so Ollie can be in two places at once, despite swearing that he'd never do so again in Damaged (5).  This is the first time Ollie and Roy meet face to face, officially.  Walter serves Moira with divorce papers and leaves her.  The SCPD know Feliciity by name and have evidence she hacked Merlyn's mainframe.  Malcolm refers to his fight with Ollie "at Christmas" (9) and how his life was saved by The Hood three months earlier (16).     


In the flashback, Ollie recognizes one of Fyers' men as Alan Durand - the man he met on the island who claimed to be a foreign exchange student, who Ollie suspected of being a spy (15).  It is unclear if he was a spy or if he was recruited by Fyers after Ollie refused to help him, though the former seems more likely given his stone-faced expression as Ollie charges him.  Yao Fei slips Ollie a knife.  Fyers' employer is either a business woman or a man who favors wearing short-skirts and high heels at the office.  By the end of the episode Yao Fei has been filmed making a statement claiming responsibility for the attack on the Ferris Air Flight 637 and shot dead.
 

The Bottom Line

An enjoyable episode despite being low on action and high on exposition.  While most of the story is devoted toward setting up next week's finale, enough long-running subplots are resolved to make this episode enjoyable on it's own merits.  It helps that most of the ensemble cast is given at least one moment to shine, even if their own storylines aren't being advanced this week.

Arrow Reviews: Season 1, Episode 20 - Home Invasion

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

 
     

Plot
 

Deadshot is on the prowl again in Starling City and John Diggle is ready to bring him to justice, despite a threat from his friend Lyla at ARGUS about staying far away from this case.  Thankfully, the Starling City Vigilante is on the case so Diggle can keep his distance.  Or is he?  Laurel's most recent case has seen her clients murdered by an assassin known as Mr. Blank and their seven-year-old son is the only witness.  When Laurel takes the boy into her own home, putting herself and Tommy in danger, Oliver will have to make a fateful choice about which assassin he will focus on - Deadshot or Mr. Blank?

In The Glades, Roy Harper is obsessed with tracking down The Hood, sensing a kinship with the vigilante who saved his life that he can't explain.  Will Roy's new relationship with Thea be imperiled when his search for answers puts him on the bad side of Detective Lance yet again?

On the island, Shado begins to teach Oliver the fine points of archery so that he can cover her and Slade as they raid Eddie Fyers' camp.  There is a brief hint of romance between the two, but Ollie - citing his love for Laurel - cuts things off after one brief kiss.

Influences
 

Green Arrow: Year One (the island sequences), Mike Grell's Green Arrow (the training scenes with Shado), Cyrano DeBergerac (love triangle where one man realizes the woman he is attached to would leave him in a heartbeat if she knew the truth about their friend's secret nobility), Witness (the hero protecting a young boy who is the sole witness to a murder), Serenity (With his professional manner and habit of talking to his targets, Mr. Blank could be an ancestor of The Operative), and various Errol Flynn swashbuckler movies (Ollie's fencing with a poker before a fireplace)

Goofs

Deadshot makes a big deal about not killing Diggle because nobody is paying him to do it.  While this does correspond to the code of ethics employed by Deadshot in the comics (he always made sure his contracts were fulfilled if he got paid and wouldn't complete any contract where the money didn't come through) it doesn't jibe with what we've seen of Deadshot elsewhere in the episode or in the show so far.  He was perfectly willing to gun down both The Hood and Diggle before (3) even though they weren't his targets and he was perfectly willing to gun down the ARGUS agents trying to ambush him.

How has Diggle not been arrested by ARGUS for interfering with an investigation by the episode's end?  Lyla warned him before about getting anywhere near Deadshot at the start of the episode and it's unlikely she'd let it go even if Diggle did save her life. 

Performances

Yay Laurel finally getting a storyline devoted to her work and doing something besides supporting her dad or her boyfriend! Laurel taking charge of protecting an endangered child is very true to Black Canary's character in the comics and it was nice seeing that reflected here.  Katie Cassidy plays the mama bear role to the hilt.

There's a magical little scene where Colin Donnell talks with the young witness about Tommy's mother's death and how he sees her every time he closes his eyes.  Should the unthinkable happen and an American version of Doctor Who ever get approved by the BBC, I'm going to immediately start a petition for Colin Donnell to play The Doctor based on this scene. 

For that matter, I want Paul Blackthorne to play Samuel Vimes in any upcoming films based on Terry Pratchett's Watch books after this episode.  His speech to Roy Harper about the problems with vigilantes - in terms of tone - totally a Vimes moment.

Honestly, there's so many little things in all the performances this time I could spend another five hours trying to write about them all and still not cover everything.  See the Dialogue Triumphs section for the many, many, many examples of what went right with this episode.

Artistry

The script, which gives a lot of good material to the entire ensemble cast.  Even Moira gets a few brief but nice moments.

The fight scene between Oliver and Mr. Blank is very well choreographed and artfully shot, with perfectly timed lightning strikes and effective noir-esque use of shadows.

Trivia

Felicity is not a natural blonde.

Oliver is a skilled enough shot that he can shoot two arrows at once through the windshield of a stopped mini-limo and pin the shoulders of a man sitting in the back of the limo without  hitting the driver.

Diggler's friend Lyla's call-sign is Harbringer.  Harbringer is also the name of a superheroine whose real name was Lyla Michaels.  A servant of the Monitor (the life-affirming cosmic being who sought to save all reality during Crisis On Infinite Earths), Harbringer had the power to create multiple reality-hopping duplicates of herself as well as flight, super-strength and also possessed an orb that told her the history of the multiverse.  It was she who traveled to the various Earths, gathering the heroes and villains needed to thwart the Anti-Monitor.
  

Detective Lance refers to Roy Harper and Thea Queen as "The Wonder Twins".  Best remembered from the Superfriends cartoon (despite repeated attempts to introduce them into the actual DC Comic books with no degree of success), The Wonder Twins were a pair of alien fraternal twins named Zan and Jayna.  Zan had the power to transform into various objects made of ice or water.  Jayna had the power to transform into any animal, including alien species unknown on Earth.  They were not criminals but most people found them as annoying as Detective Lance undoubtedly finds Roy and Thea.

Dialogue Triumphs

Diggle: So when did you become, ah.. "lunch dates" with Laurel? 

Ollie: Look... we're just.... *sighs* We're friends.

Felicity: Friends are good. 

Ollie: ... But?

Felicity: Couldn't you be friends with someone less complicated than your ex-girlfriend, who's you ex-best friend's current girlfriend?  

Ollie: I wear a hood and I put arrows into criminals.  So when it comes to complexity, I grade on a curve.

Quentin: Ok.  Look, I'm gonna park a patrol car outside your place.

Laurel: Fine.
Quentin: (To Tommy) And you.  You look after them, alright?
Tommy: I spend most nights at your daughter's anyways.
*long silence as everyone glances at one another*
Tommy: There was probably a better time to tell you that.

Quentin: Probably not.

(Talking to Taylor about his mom)

Tommy: Every time I close my eyes, I can see her.  Every time I go to bed, I see her in my dreams...Try it.  Close your eyes... Whenever you are sad or scared just remember that they will always be there. 

Mr. Blank: It was the badge that gave me away, right?
Laurel: You know, my father's a cop?

*Mr. Blank spins around to where he heard Laurel's voice and fires, looking surprised when Laurel returns fire with a shotgun*

Laurel: And that's not all he taught me!

Quentin: Hey!  I think you've got something that belongs to me.
Roy: You set this up just to get your radio back?
Quentin: Well, I DO love that radio.

Shado: You're thinking too much.

Ollie: Nobody ever accused me of that before.

Shado: I see my target in the distance.  I feel the variation in the wind.  I hear the bowstring tighten.  And I let go.  Give in to your senses.  Don't think.

*Ollie and Shado kiss a moment but Ollie pulls away*
Shado: You're right.  This is definitely not the time or place.

Ollie: No, it's.... no... There's someone... and it's a mile past complicated, but... I can't.

Shado: She knows how much you love her? 
Ollie: I suspect right now she doesn't.  But as soon as I'm home, she will.

(Looking at old pictures with Laurel)

Moira: I remember Oliver telling me once that he wished your father would let him come over to your house more often.  That being there made him feel less like Robert Queen's son and more like himself.  I liked who my son was when he was around you.

(As Detective Lance shows Roy Harper the body of a man killed by The Hood, trying to scare him straight)

Roy: Maybe this guy deserved it.

Quentin: Maybe he did.  But that's not how justice works.  You see, the vigilante?  He doesn't have to answer to anyone but himself.  That's a dangerous power for one man to have.

Roy: He saved my life!

Quentin: How do you know that tomorrow he won't just as easily take it?

Tommy: You still love her, don't you?

Ollie: It doesn't matter how I feel.  Because of what I do... I could never be with her.  So you don't have anything to be afraid of.  She is never, ever going to know my secret. 
Tommy: It doesn't matter if she knows.  I know.  And I don't know how to be with Laurel knowing the entire time... that if she ever found our who you really are... she would choose you.

(After Tommy dumps her)

Laurel: You can't be serious.
Tommy: This is me serious, Laurel,

Laurel: But... it doesn't make any sense.  I mean... Why now?  Why even at all?
Tommy: I thought I wanted this... you.  The other night made me realize I don't.
Laurel: .. you're lying.

Tommy: I am not a liar.

Laurel: If you've changed and I know that you've changed... then you... you would never do this!
Tommy: Then I guess I haven't changes as much as people thought, then.

(Roy and Thea discuss why Roy is trying to find The Hood)

Roy: I can't stop replaying that night in my head.  The night I got kidnapped by that psycho.  I just... I thought I was going to die.

Thea: But you didn't!

Roy: Yeah.  Because of him.
Thea: You don't owe him anything.

Roy: You're wrong.  I owe him everything!  I can't go back to the way things were, Thea.  I can't just go back to being nothing!  You're the one who keeps telling me that I can be better than who I am and... this... this is my chance to be.  I can't explain it.  It feels... like my life is connected with his.

Thea: So let's find him.

*Roy looks up, surprised*  

Thea: I can tell this means the world to you.  And you mean the world to me.  So let's find him.  You and me.

Oliver: I want us to get back on the same page.

Diggle: Oliver, we're not even in the same book, you and me.  Not anymore. 

Dialogue Disasters

Mr. Blank: The child got away. 
Rasmus: Got away? Did he see you?

Mr. Blank: No, Mr. Rasmus.  All he saw was the face of the man who will reunite him with his parents.

Thea: Do you have a police radio in your pocket?

Roy: No, I'm just happy to see you.

Mr. Blank: What happened to you on that island?
Ollie: You're about to find out!

Continuity 

Oliver refers back to his promise to help Diggle bring down Deadshot (19).  Diggle meets with Lyla from ARGUS, last seen in 19.  Starling City patrol officer's badge numbers begin with a 0.  Lieutenant badge numbers begin with a 1. Quentin says he thinks Laurel should consider moving, indirectly referring to the last few times her apartment was destroyed by criminals because of a case she was involved (2 and 13).  Roy Harper and Thea Queen are apparently officially a couple, after their falling-out in 18.  Deadshot has a rule against killing people unless he's being paid to do so but he has a space reserved for John Diggle's name next to his brother's on his body just in case.  The Hood's official murder tally with the SCPD is 26.  Yao Fei leads Fyers and his men to Slade's base.  

The Fridge Factor

Totally averted.  When Mr. Blank storms Laurel's apartment, it's Tommy who takes the traditionally female role of hiding with Taylor while Laurel takes the fight to the assassin.  Granted, this does make sense given that we know Laurel's taken gun use/self-defense classes but it's still nice to see the cliches being avoided.

The Bottom Line

Arrow needed to come back with full force after it's most recent break.  It did.  There's not a false note or a bad performance in the whole episode.  Even the Roy/Thea subplot - which feels somewhat tacked-on relative to the rest of the interwoven story-lines in this episode - pays off big in the end.  One of the best episodes of the series so far.

Arrow Reviews: Season 1, Episode 19 - Unfinished Business

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



Plot

When a refined version of the designer drug Vertigo hits the streets of Starling City, both Oliver Queen and Detective Quentin Lance have the same idea - question The Count, the drug dealer who created the drug in the first place.  They both find that The Count is still incurably insane after getting a taste of his own medicine at the hands of The Hood.  Or so it seems before The Count escapes from the psychiatric hospital where he was being kept under observation. 

As if Ollie didn't have reason enough to track down The Count already, the investigation into where the drugs are coming from points toward his own nightclub and his best friend, Tommy Merlyn.  Could Tommy have fallen back into his old habits of supplying "party favors" for his guests?  And can Ollie count on John Diggle - currently distracted by his own investigations into the whereabouts of the assassin Deadshot - to be there when Ollie needs his right-hand man?

On the island, Shado tries to teach Ollie something about fighting.  


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the island sequences), Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow (Oliver struggling to fight a drug-dealing villain after being poisoned) Mike Grell's Green Arrow run (Oliver and Shado training together) and the Batman: Arkham Asylum video game (the sequences of Oliver breaking into and sneaking around the asylum searching for The Count).


Goofs

How does Ollie get out of The Count's cell undetected?  For that matter, how did he get in there in the first place?



Performances

Celina Jade gives a most impressive performance in this, her first extensive appearance on the show.  An actress/martial artist/singer/songwriter/model, she certainly looked the part of the martial artist/assassin Shado from the comics.  Here, she shows the same grace and poise of that character, whether it is by doing some impressive yoga poses or by calmly teaching an impatient Oliver Queen a seemingly pointless training exercise to strengthen his hands. 

Colin Donnell runs the gamut of emotions in this episode and fully explores just how far the character of Tommy Merlyn has changed over the past six months.  The early scene reminds us of the comic figure from the early episodes - the man-child chuckling over the women's underwear left behind at their club.  But as the episode continues we see the steel that seems common to the Merlyn family - both in how he sticks up to a bullying Detective Lance and in how he confronts Oliver on his suspicious nature and inability to let others change.

Paul Blackthorne spends most of the episode in hardass cop mode but his final scene with Katie Cassidy takes the curse off of it.  In an entire episode devoted to the theme of change, it is Detective Lance who undergoes the most subtle changes, finally recognizing his own inability to give up on a good mystery.  Ironically, he finds the ability to give up the chase by simultaneously giving up his drinking.

David Ramsey gets a bit more time in-action in this episode rather than being the passive voice of reason.  It's a change to the regular script formula that works wonders, yet we still get some nice, subtle character moments like the brief scene of John Diggle interacting with his nephew.   


Artistry

The script by Smallville writer Bryan Q. Miller and writer Lindsey Allen is smart and well-balanced.  No surprise for those of us familiar with Miller's work on the Stephanie Brown Batgirl book and the current Smallville: Season Eleven comic

The cinematography on the final sequence, where the camera slow-pans past a wall at the end of one scene and then moves into the next scene, seemingly on the other side of the wall is interesting.  It feels a bit like one is watching a comic book, as the action moves from one panel to the next. 


Trivia

Tommy says at the beginning of the episode that they are "in the black and in the green".  While he is referring to the nightclub's finances (being in the black means they are making a profit, being in the green means they have lots of cash), it's also a bit of a joke as Green and Black are the main costume colors of Green Arrow and Merlyn respectively.



Technobabble


The overdose of Vertigo that The Count received at Oliver Queen's hands caused damage to his "Anterior Cingulate".  This is the portion of the brain that handles both automatic functions such as heart-rate regulation and blood-pressure as well as active cognitive responses such as base emotions, empathy, impulse control, decision making and reward anticipation.

Ollie makes use of an explosive arrow to take out the Vertigo dealer's car.  Later, he uses a hand-held trigger to remotely detonate one of the explosive arrows in his quiver to create a distraction after being captured by the Vertigo dealers.

The new Vertigo formula is mixed with Chlorpromazine.  It's described as an anti-psychotic medication.  While this is technically true, the drug - marketed as Thorazine in the United States - has fallen out of favor in recent years.


Dialogue Triumphs

Ollie: (examining the club's lost and found box) What sort of business has a 'Lost and Found' that's just filled with women's underwear?
Tommy: The best business ever!  (sighs happily) Having this much fun should be against the law.
Det. Lance: (entering the club) Oh, if wishing made it so...

(After being fed some technical jargon about why The Count isn't able to answer questions and walking in to find The Count repeatedly shouting "You have failed this city!")
Det. Lance: You could have just said he was nuts.

(In the midst of taking off his gang-banger costume after buying some Vertigo to analyze)
Diggle: Alright.  The person of color has successfully purchased our drugs.
Felicity: For the record, I offered.

(After it comes out that Tommy bribed a city health inspector but there's no evidence he's involved in trafficking Vertigo)
Tommy: Is there something you want to say to me?
Ollie: Thank you.
Tommy: No.  I meant the thing that you were thinking when Lance accused me of dealing out of the club.
Ollie: I don't understand why you wouldn't just tell me about the bribe.
Tommy: I run the club, Oliver!  I don't tell you a lot of things!  (hits the bar) So let me ask you a question, pal.  What have I done in the last six months since you've been home that would lead you to believe that I would sell drugs?
Ollie: In the last six months?  Nothing.  But before I left, you played hard.  You played with bad people who were into bad-
Tommy: And so did you, Oliver!  But I changed!  Just like you did!  Now you put arrows in people who do illegal things.  Last time I checked bribing a city inspector was not legal. 
Ollie: Do you actually think that I could hurt you? 
Tommy: Truthfully, I have no idea what the hell you would do.  You are a complete mystery to me.  I've got no idea how you find it so easy to kill people.  The next time that you decide to think the worst of me, imagine what I now think of you.


Dialogue Disasters

Ollie's table-flip at the end of the first sequence just looks silly.

Emily Bett Rickards' delivery during the bit where she questions Ollie as to why he's making an antidote for the Vertigo user taking hostages at the aquarium rather than just killing him is incredibly flat and passionless.  Kristen Stewart flat and passionless.

The whole sequence where Ollie is chasing after the Vertigo user who freaked out while at the aquarium seems somewhat laughable when you consider that Ollie is shouting "Stop!  I don't want to hurt you!", in his modulated Batman voice, to the man he knows is tripping balls on a powerful hallucinogen and, oh yes, WHOM OLLIE JUST SHOT THROUGH THE HAND WITH AN ARROW!


Continuity

The Count appears for the first time since Vertigo (112).  Deadshot has killed a Senator since the last time he was seen in the news (117).  Diggle's nephew appears for the first time and apparently he loves having his uncle read him stories at bedtime.  Felicity is still analyzing The Sign (here referred to as 'The Glyph) from 118.  Diggle meets once more with Lyla - the old army buddy now working with intelligence first seen in Arrow #25.  This time we find out what organization she is with - ARGUS.  Yao Fei was a general in the People's Liberation Army, who was framed for a massacre by the Chinese Military and sentenced to The Island for life.  Eddie Fyers's plans involve using Yao Fei as a scapegoat for whatever he and his men are doing.  Shado spent several years trying to find Yao Fei before being captured by Fyers' men.  Tommy quits his job as General Manger of Verdant and meets with his father to ask for a real job.  Oliver agrees to help Diggle with tracking down Deadshot.   


The Fridge Factor

Laurel doesn't really have any purpose in this story other than offering emotional support to her father and her boyfriend.  At least she's fierce in standing up to her father and defending her boyfriend but she really hasn't had a storyline focused on her in a while.


The Winick Factor

Ollie's standing around in an moderately well-lit alley with his hood down while waiting for Felicity to call him.


The Bottom Line

An enjoyable episode with a smart script that moves several on-going plots forward without feeling like it is tackling too much.