Arrow S05 E15: Fighting Fire with Fire

First thoughts - the showrunners at "Arrow" simply have to stop trying to make me care about Bratva and all of its subplots and entanglements.  It's just not what Green Arrow is all about, not what I want to watch, and most of all - it's boring.  It was cool for two minutes in the first season when Oliver showed off his tattoo and got favors from the Russian mob, but now, zzzzzzzz...  Put it to bed, folks, it's old - five years old to be precise, move on. 

We open on the current scandal in the mayor's office about the cover-up that Green Arrow killed Billy Malone.  Don't get me wrong here, all this political crap is only slightly less boring than the Bratva.  More costumes and less mindless subplotting.  When they do talk about super-villains, it borders on extreme paranoia, that Prometheus is behind it all.

This all leads to impeachment hearings for the mayor with Adrian Chase defending Oliver.  When Vigilante attacks the mayoral motorcade, Dinah, Thea, and Ollie defend themselves a bit too well to prevent their secret identities, but Vigilante runs when the police arrive.  Chase arrives shortly after that.  In the comics Chase is Vigilante, but in the Arrowverse, I'm not so sure. 

As the political drama goes on and on, Diggle organizes Team Arrow to pursue Vigilante.  Ugh, this guy again, I thought we'd had a break from him like we'd had from Prometheus.  Speak of the devil the two run afoul of each other with Prometheus revealed as Adrian Chase!  Now this is an interesting turn of events.  Other folks have been Vigilante in comics, that's one thing, but Chase as Prometheus throws a monkey wrench into quite a lot here. 

So with Oliver throwing Green Arrow under the bus as a vigilante and cop killer, he doesn't get impeached.  Also everything got patched up with Susan Williams, thanks to reverse hacking on Felicity's part, but we once again lose Thea, who had turned her assassin training to politics.  Other than the bad guys, it's status quo again on a few fronts. 

There were highlights in the episode, like Curtis working to his technical strengths and revealing what are Mr. Terrific's cool T-Spheres from the comics. With Felicity moving more and more to the dark side with Helix and Pandora, they'll need all the tech help they can get.  We also get a return of Dr. Schwartz, who knows Oliver's other identity, she might be a nice addition to the regular cast. 

One of the end of episode stinger with Curtis thinking he's getting back together with Paul then backfires when Paul hands him divorce papers.  Hold that thought above the other bits of Felicity joining Helix and Chase threatening Susan - but it occurred to me, could Paul be Vigilante? 

Next: "Checkmate!"

For my other reviews of the entire "Arrow" series, click here. And if you'd like to discuss this episode, anything else in the Arrowverse, or anything in the Marvel or DC television or cinematic universes, please join the Marvel DC Movies TV group on Facebook.