I have to say, I am starting to like the episode titles with dual meanings. They never quite mean what we think they mean, and revelation doesn't come until the very end. Nice.
Weird. This is the first episode where Oliver and Tommy actually act like they are, or once were, best friends. It was nice. I guess the employer/employee dynamic suits them.
The plot of the week has armored truck robbers using tactics from the Afghan War. Turns out the guy behind it is not only Diggle's old mentor, but he's also on 'the list.' Diggle didn't know that last part. I was surprised. I thought Oliver trusted Diggle. It's been quite a while now - you mean in all that time Diggle's never seen 'the list'? I find that implausible.
Nice shout out for the Arrowcave, and also an interesting name for the baddies' security firm - Blackhawk. The Arrowcave is a call back to the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics where Green Arrow was simply a Robin Hood knock-off of Batman, essentially Batman with a bow. He was a millionaire with a ward sidekick, he had the Arrowplane (which doubled as the Arrowcar), and of course, his headquarters was the Arrowcave - honestly not much different from his current basement below the nightclub.
The Blackhawks were an international team of pilots during World War II who fought against the Axis under the command of the man called Blackhawk. Later they became soldiers of fortune, adventurers, superheroes, and mercenaries. I love the Blackhawks, you can read more about that, and them
here. However, on "Arrow," the Blackhawks are just armored truck robbers. Sigh. These are bad days for the name Blackhawk.
Speaking of DC Comics characters, it's always nice to see Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, and sad to see she's become a nerd girl with glasses and a crush on our hero. What a waste. So much potential, so little effort.
I'm starting to zone out on the soap opera aspects of the show. I don't care about Thea worrying Mom is having an affair, or if Tommy makes up with Daddy Merlyn. This kind of crap is why I stayed away from "Smallville" for so long. I don't know about you folks, but I watch superhero shows for the superheroes, not the soap.
The episode ends in disappointment, and a tempting cliffhanger. Where last time Oliver needed to do something and was robbed if his chance, this time it's Diggle's turn. Two weeks in a row of this and I'm about to throw in the towel. The cliffhanger keeps me though. Not only is Yao Fei not who we thought he was, but there's a drug in The Glades called Vertigo... could it be...? Finally Count Vertigo?
The episode ends in disappointment, and a tempting cliffhanger. Where last time Oliver needed to do something and was robbed if his chance, this time it's Diggle's turn. Two weeks in a row of this and I'm about to throw in the towel. The cliffhanger keeps me though. Not only is Yao Fei not who we thought he was, but there's a drug in The Glades called Vertigo... could it be...? Finally Count Vertigo?
Yes.
ReplyDeleteI also tire of the whiny and semi-forced little personal soap operas each episode seems to have. But I have to believe there is some data cruncher who tells the producer you need to have them in order to capture a certain audience (ratings demographic) which makes the sponsers (and the network) happy.
This is probably why I continue to watch. Each episode must contains just enough of the material that is needed to capture my demographic (desperate for any thing super-hero-ey or action-packed on free TV).
Man, I hate those data crunchers! ;-)
It's interesting that you say that, because oddly enough, the folks at "Arrow" have been sticking to their guns (or bows) on the kind of show they want to do, sans network interference.
ReplyDeleteAnd sadly, with both "Amazon" and "SHIELD" each more than another year away, this may be all we have as far as superhero TV content for a while.