Arrow Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 11 - Blind Spot

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




Plot

After Maya Resik dies shortly after her visit to St. Walker Hospital, Laurel Lance becomes convinced that Sebastian Blood is not all he seems to be.  Naturally her boss at the District Attorney's office is reluctant to go after the beloved mayoral candidate, leaving Laurel without any options or allies... except, perhaps, for The Arrow.

At the same time, Roy Harper turns to Sin to help him in understanding the strange super-human abilities he seems to have developed since his abduction by Brother Blood.  The two decide to make a go of it as vigilantes without The Arrow's guidance but quickly find that there's a flip-side to Roy's new powers.

In the island flashbacks, Sara Lance considers Ivo's offer of rescue in exchange for the Mirakuru.  Never mind that Slade Wilson has disappeared into the jungle with the only sample and that Ollie is understandably reluctant to make a deal with Shado's murderer.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the island scenes), Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (refers to a serial killer called The Slasher who prays on prostitutes) and Judd Winick's Green Arrow/Black Canary (some resemblance between how Connor Hawke developed super-powers after being abductedby a super-villain mad-scientist and what is happening to Roy).


Goofs

The whole sequence at the Starling City Archives reeks of contrivance.  Why is it necessary to pull a heist in the middle of the night when surely, as an assistant DA Laurel, would have the ability to access to city legal records during the day?  Why do the police send a fully armored SWAT team out to respond to a routine burglary?  Could they have gotten a SWAT team out there that quickly?  Why would a public facility like the city archives have private security guards rather than police protection?  What are the odds that said security guards are good enough with computers to thwart a hacker of Felicity's skill?  And finally, if the Starling City Archives are as secure as we're told, why do the main archive rooms have have big plate-glass windows painted with the building's name on the upper floor of the building?


Performances

Every moment Manu Bennett is on-screen as Slade Wilson is heavenly.


Trivia

The Starling Slasher - the bad guy Sin picks to be Roy's first target - is likely a reference to The Seattle Slasher - a serial killer who was Oliver Queen's first target after moving to Seattle in the graphic novel Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters.  Ignoring the similar names, both killers targeted prostitutes and used knives.

There are some superficial similarities between Roy Harper's character arc here and that of Connor Hawke - the second Green Arrow - in Judd Winick's run on Green Arrow/Black Canary.  Both storylines saw a young hero being kidnapped by a super-villain who used them as a subject for medical experimentation that left them with enhanced strength and healing abilities. 

According to the police file on his murder, Sebastian Blood's father was named Sebastian Sangre.  Sangre is the Spanish word for blood.


Technobabble

Felicity has software on her rig that can act as a vocal polygraph but it requires a true statement to calibrate itself.

The prescription Laurel stole from her father is some kind of azepine-based drug - most likely a pain killer..


Dialogue Triumphs

The Arrow: What color are your shoes?!

(Regarding Sebastian Blood)
John: Felicity, he's dedicated his life - risked his life - to help the people of The Glades and in his spare time he's a murder trying to create an army of living weapons?
Felicity: You're a personal bodyguard who fights crime at night with his billionaire boss.   Not a lot of people show their real face in public.

Sara: Not everybody's what they seem.

Felicity: You certainly know how to talk yourself out of a victory.
Ollie: It's a gift.

Deathstroke: Your incompetence has now cost four lives, Alderman.  Fail me again and yours will be the fifth!

The Arrow: I can teach you.  To control your new ability.  And to control yourself.  Let me help you.
Roy: When do we start?


Dialogue Disasters

The entire sequence between Sebastian Blood and his mother at the start is incredibly hokey.

Laurel begging her father for help in the police interrogation room.  Katie Cassidy hams it up horribly and Paul Blackthorne looks less like he's putting up a tough front and more counting the seconds until he can get off camera.


Continuity

Adam Hunt refuses to investigate Blood, referring to his reputation already having been hurt thanks to his being exposed to Vertigo on live TV (207). 

Ollie thanks Roy for saving his mom, referring to the events of 210.

When accused of being late for their appointment, The Arrow tells Laurel he was checking around the building for a hidden SWAT team, referring to Laurel's ambush in 203.

Laurel makes reference to Cyrus Gold killing four cops (209).

Roy is now strong enough to break industrial building stones with one punch and to rip a car door off of its hinges.


The Fridge Factor

The whole subplot regarding Laurel's drug abuse comes to its inevitable conclusion only to be just as quickly swept under the rug.  And a good thing too as any viewer sympathy for Laurel as a character has likely disappeared along with her career prospects by the episode's end.  It's notable that the villains didn't have to do a thing to frame Laurel - just expose her very real crimes.  Hell, if it weren't for Slade's nebulous master plan to make Ollie's life hell, Blood wouldn't have had to have bothered with trying to kill Laurel and having Officer Daly take the fall for it.  She'd be completely discredited as a witness and disgraced in everyone's eyes... and rightly so! 


The Bottom Line

As in State vs. Queen earlier this season, the last ten minutes of this episode salvage an otherwise uninspired script.  The island sequences are a distraction and serve little purpose apart from giving Sara the thematic line of the episode.  The bits with Roy trying to use his powers to help people are interesting but all too brief.  Everything with Laurel is agonizing to watch since any sympathy the viewer might have for her is obliterated by the fact that she's actually guilty of the crimes she is accused of that force her out of her job.  And yet, to see Manu Bennett kicking ass and taking names in the Deathstroke armor and The Arrow officially taking Roy Harper on as his apprentice... it just manages to make up for everything that came before it.  Barely.   

Batgirl #27 - A Review And A Musing On Everything Wrong With DC Comics Today

Batgirl #27 veers away from the on-going saga of Barbara Gordon's personal problems and into the strange reality of Gothtopia.  Gothtopia, we are informed in an opening blurb, is a version of Gotham City which is the safest and happiest city in America.  A place where the sun is always shining, the air smells like warm root beer and the towels are oh-so fluffy! 

Yet even a place such as this needs vigilante superheroes... for some reason. So Barbara Gordon still fights crime in the world of Gothtopia but she does so under the name Bluebelle instead of Batgirl...despite her costume still having a bat on the chest and not a hint of blue.  Perhaps that's a nod to Mystery Men?


Gail Simone's script runs riot with the basic idea of a kinder, gentler Gotham.  Fans of the on-going series will be treated to a truly twisted version of Barbara Gordon's world, where her family life is happy, her boyfriend unhospitalized and her worst enemy is her best friend.  The villain - an ice cream company executive tormented by visions of the Gotham City we're more familiar with - is also an interesting exercise in building on the base concept of this world.

Robert Gill - best known for his work on various Grimm Fairy Tales comics - does a fair turn on the artwork.  Gill's style is light and sketchy, perfectly capturing the airy, bright attitude of Gothtopia.  His inks are limited to basic outlining, further adding to the cheery mystique.  Ironically, this appearance is completely at odds with the incredibly dark story which further enhances the emotional conflict between the Gotham we know and the Gotham before us. 


In the end, Batgirl #27 is an amusing diversion but it is still a diversion.  While I enjoyed this comic, it also serves to highlight my biggest problem with DC Comics today.  With some exceptions, it is all but impossible to enjoy just one title.  You have to read an entire line of comics to get the whole story - not just for special events but for basic month-to-month stories.  And the on-going stories of an individual title are too often subverted for the needs of a crossover. 

The drive to promote whole lines over individual books drove me off of Supergirl when it became more firmly tied to the Superman books and everything became about H'El on Earth rather than the story of a teenage girl coming to terms with life on a strange new world.  It drove me off of Constantine because I wanted to read about a magical con-man trying to bring down world-conquering threats with stealth and guile - not three months of tie-ins to Forever Evil and The Trinity War!  It drove me off of Green Lantern Corps when I could no longer read a simple ensemble space cop book without also being required to read Red Lanterns or New Guardians despite my having no interest in The Red Lanterns or Kyle Rayner: Great White Hope!  And it may yet drive me off of the Batman books I am still reading if the trend remains for Zero Year and Gothtopia and other diversionary storylines to dominate the entire Batman family of books.

In short: DC Comics - please let your writers write stories instead of storylines!

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 10 - Blast Radius

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



Plot

Five weeks have passed since The Arrow's altercation with a mysterious man in a skull mask and Roy Harper's exposure to Mirakuru.  As Oliver Queen scours the city looking for any clue to this mysterious new enemy and Roy copes with changes he can't begin to explain, a mad bomber begins to attack government offices around Starling City.

Sebastian Blood is determined to prove he is unafraid of any terrorist and plans to hold a unity rally, come Hell or High Water.  His courage has won him much public support - even the support of Oliver Queen and his family.  But there is one person who thinks Blood has something to hide... Laurel Lance!


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (The Island sequences), Green Arrow: The Wonder Year (Oliver Queen befriends a politician while working to protect him as Green Arrow) and the Marv Woflman/George Perez run of Teen Titans (details involving Brother Blood's past).


Artistry

The chase scene with Arrow perusing Shrapnel's van is one of the best bits of stunt work in the show's history.


Trivia

In the comics, Shrapnel was a super-villain made of living organic metal.  He could blow himself up and reconstitute himself at-will, essential being a living bomb.  Unlike the political zealot we see on Arrow, the comics version of Shrapnel was a mercenary/assassin motivated by money rather than any kind of political or philosophical ideals. 

Shrapnel is addressed as Mr. Scheffer by the woman who buys a train set from him.  This corresponds to Shrapnel's real name in the comics - Mark Scheffer.  

Shrapnel was the first super-villain Green Arrow fought in his own comic, following Mike Grell's departure from the series and DC Comics' decision to move Green Arrow back into the DC Universe at large after several years of basically existing apart from it.  I wrote a review of this story, which you can read here.

Sebastian Blood's aunt is being held at Saint Walker hospital.  In the DC Comics Universe, Saint Walker is the name adopted by Bro'Dee Walker - an alien who became the first Blue Lantern.

For the record, there is no Catholic saint named Walker.

The name given for Sebastian Blood's aunt is Maya Resik.  This is very close to Anna Resik - the first Mother Mayhem.  Mother Mayhem is a title given to the consort of Brother Blood, who is meant to give birth to the next Brother Blood, according to the traditions of The Church of Blood in the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans comics.

According to the bill Laurel finds on Sebastian's desk, one of the US ZIP Codes for Starling City is 98114.  In the real world, this ZIP Code is for Seattle, Washington - Green Arrow's home during the Mike Grell run on Green Arrow as well as his hometown in the New 52 DC Universe.

Shrapnel is identified as being a frequent poster on the web forums for an anti-government group called The Movement.  In the New 52 DC Universe, The Movement is a group of super-powered teenagers who use their abilities to fight corrupt government officials in the town of Coral City. 

One detail we learn of Sebastian Blood's background in this episode meshes fairly well with Brother Blood in the comics - he killed his own father.  In the comics, it was a tradition in the Church of Blood that their leader could only take command by an act of patricide. 


Technobabble

The Arrow uses both an explosive arrow and a bola arrow while chasing down an informant in the opening sequence.

The residue gathered by the police after Shrapnel's first bombing contains traces of nitroglycerin.  Quentin Lance says this indicates someone with some explosives training rather than an amateur.

Felicity says that Shrapnel's detonators operate on a cellular frequency past the 3800 MHz range approved for standard cellular transmissions.

Shrapnel makes use of grenades - both explosive and smoke - in his escape from the scene of the second bombing.  He is also capable of scrambling his cellular signals once he realizes how The Arrow is tracking him.   

Shrapnel claims to have planted fifty pounds of RDX explosives at the Unity Rally.  RDX is an abbreviation for Research Department Explosive, referring to an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications.  It is one of the most powerful military-grade explosives in existence. 


Dialogue Triumphs

Ollie: Speaking of which, how's Roy?
Thea: Handsome.  Brooding.  The usual.  Why is my boyfriend such a topic of interest?
Ollie: Well Thea, his idol put an arrow in him.  I just... wanted to make sure there weren't any lingering issues
Thea: Oh my God!  Now that I think about it, he did something completely out of character this morning...
Ollie: What?
Thea: ... he showed up to work on time!

(To Ollie)
Laurel: Sometimes I feel like I don't know the real Sebastian.  He reminds me a little of you that way.

Shrapnel: Freedom?  Liberty?  Justice?  Long have the people of this city suffered under the shackles of a corrupt government.  Slaves to self-interested politicians and their lobbyist puppeteers.  I declare war on them all.

(As Arrow corners him and draws an arrow)
Shrapnel: Drop the bow!  I've got charges planted all over Starling!  I drop this stick they all blow! 
(The Arrow doesn't move)
Shrapnel: Did you just hear what I said?
Arrow: Yep.
(Arrow jerks the bow a little to the right, shooting an arrow to cut the wire to Shrapnel's detonator.  Shrapnel glances down in disbelief and looks up just in time to get punched in the face.)


Continuity

A news report informs us that the explosion at STAR Labs in Central City did not cause any damage nor did it release any radiation (209).

Barry Allen was reportedly discovered in a coma.  Felicity went to be with him and has spent much of the past five weeks away from Starling City, much to Oliver's annoyance (209).

Laurel is still popping pills and has started stealing painkillers from her father to get her fix.

Laurel investigated Cyrus Gold and notes that he was determined to have killed at least four police officers.  She also notes Sebastian Blood's connection to the Langford Institute, which burned down under mysterious circumstances (209).

Over the past five weeks, Oliver has apparently befriended Sebastian Blood and he trusts the man enough to hold a fundraiser for him at Verdant.

Blood calls himself a child of Starling City and notes his background as an orphan.  When pressed on this by Laurel, he claims that he entered foster care after his drunken and abusive father was shot and killed by his mother, after a young Sebastian tried to stop him from hurting her.  He claims Cyrus Gold was a preacher at the orphanage he grew up in and that he was the first person who could get him to speak following his witnessing his mother killing his father.

Laurel discovers that Sebastian Blood is paying the medical bills for a woman named Maya Resik.  Quentin investigates this lead and determines that Resik is Blood's aunt and that she's been in psychiatric care for years - hence why Blood became a ward of the state despite having a living relative.

Diggle is capable of using Felicity's computers to hack into the police and fire radio bands for Starling City, but he's not comfortable with computers nor is he as fast at it as Felicity.

Shrapnel publishes a 300 page manifesto after his first bombing.  Diggle notes that nothing was stolen from the site of the bombing, suggesting Shrapnel to be an idealistic terrorist rather than a thief.

Roy says he hasn't been sleeping much since he was kidnapped by Brother Blood's men.  He exhibits signs of super-strength (catching a collapsing lighting-tower before it can hit Moira Queen) and healing a wound deep enough to require stitches in a matter of days with no visible scars.  Thea notices both of these events by the end of the episode.

Quentin Lance asks The Arrow for the phone records of every cop in his preceinct in exchange for giving the Arrow a sample of the residue found after the first Shrapnel bombing.  He believes "the man in the skull mask" has a plant inside the police and thinks the phone records are the best lead they have to finding him

Shrapnel works at a souvenir shop, which he has wired with RDX and laser trip-wires.

Oliver's skill as an archer is such that he can shoot a grenade in mid-flight and cut the wire on a detonator at point-blank range.

Diggle is shot in the shoulder while trying to stop Shrapnel but is on the road to recover by episode's end.

By the end of the episode, it is revealed that the "crazy aunt" Sebastian Blood has been paying to have treated is actually his mother and she claims that Sebastian killed his own father.  This fact is discovered by Laurel, who travels to the Saint Walker hospital to visit with Blood's aunt.

Slade gives Ollie Shado's hood after they bury her.

Sara notes that she read the report on the effects Mirakuru had on those who were injected with it, saying it warped either their bones or their minds, changing them into someone else.

Slade is now strong enough to pick up Oliver, by the neck, one-handed.

At the episode's end, Slade disappears with the Mirakuru supplies as Ivo threatens Sara and Ollie not with death but with life as his guinea pigs if they don't hand over the Mirakuru. 


The Fridge Factor

After half a season of Laurel being the damsel-in-distress and the bad example, it's nice to see her old spirit returned as she investigates Sebastian Blood.


The Bottom Line

In many ways, this episode is a step backwards, being reminiscent of other villain-of-the-week episodes that had little baring on the ultimate plot of the series during Season One.  In nearly every other respect, however, this episode is a giant step forward as virtually every subplot on the show gets some forward momentum, from Ollie's relationship with Felicity to Roy's suddenly developing superpowers.  Best of all, Laurel is acting like her old self once again and has her own storyline instead of being a supporting player to everyone else on the show.  And while Shrapnel is a cardboard cut-out villain, Sean Maher does a great job with what he has to work with.  It isn't a great episode but it is a good one.

 

Girl of Steel - A Fan Film Review

Recently, I had a chance to watch a short Man Of Steel inspired fan-film - Girl of Steel.

How was it?  To sum it up in three words, professional but disappointing.

The technical execution of this film is quite good.  Indeed, it is one of the better directed fan films I've seen and the editing used for the limited special effects during the action sequences is good.  The performances are also interesting, though the script thus far doesn't give us much in the way of characterization past Kara being reluctant to get involved with helping people on a grand scale.

The biggest problem with this movie is the concept itself.  The basic idea of Kara being a reluctant hero holds promise (Indeed, the current New 52 series started strongly with the same base concept) but we're given no reason for why she is reluctant to display her powers.  A greater problem is the fact that Kara's reluctance is immediately forgotten when she is introduced to Jay Garrick, who coolly tells her to just call him "Flash".  There may be some other reason for Kara's decision.  Yet as it is it presented here, it seems like Kara's entire thought process is "Oh, I get to hang out with this cute guy?  Sure, I'll join your team!"

You can view the film for yourselves here.

Green Arrow #27 - A Review

With Green Arrow #27, Jeff Lemire continues to expand the mythos of the New 52 in unexpected and enjoyable directions.  Perhaps the biggest surprise in this issue is a brief interlude where the mysterious Magus who has been manipulating things around Oliver Queen pays a visit to the hero Katana.  It spoils little to guess that she too has connections to Lemire's Outsiders - a mysterious cabal of warriors with connections to Oliver's family - but what this has to do with the ongoing story is still a mystery.


Fans of the show Arrow will find themselves on familiar territory, as this issue makes use of a number of flashbacks to depict Oliver's time shipwrecked on the island.  And yet things are completely different, for it seems that the accident that left Oliver Queen stranded in this reality was no accident.  Everyone - be they long-time Arrowhead or Green-horn - will be kept guessing by the issue's ending.


As uusal, Andrea Sorrentino's artwork astounds.  This issue features a number of two-page spreads reminiscent of Osamu Tesuka's early action manga in how the action is depicted through a number of framed close-ups.  The effect is rather like looking at still shots on a roll of movie film, yet much more dynamic.