Arrow S05 E17: Kapiushon

When we last left "Arrow," things were definitely moving in a different direction.  Adrian Chase had been revealed as Prometheus, and he had defeated (with Talia's help) Green Arrow and kidnapped him.  Now his prisoner, Oliver is at the villain's mercy.  We open shortly after we left last time with Chase spouting philosophical nonsense no one understands yet and putting Oliver through the gauntlet of how the Hood killed Chase's father. 

While Chase tortures Oliver, the showrunners torture us viewers with the neverending Bratva flashbacks.  I sincerely hope there's a point to them, and we get to it soon, because honestly I am sooo tempted to just start fast-forwarding through these things. And then, just as I was about to do that very thing, something grabs my attention. 

John Barrowman's Malcolm Merlyn meeting with Dolph Lundgren's Kovar, now that could be interesting, especially in flashback.  It's suggested that Merlyn has provided Kovar with a weapon to overthrow the Russian government.  With Anatoly, the KGBeast, moving up in Bratva, and the Hood (in Russian, the episode's title, Kapiushon) on his side, there's a good chance that won't happen. 

Meanwhile, Chase's sadistic torture of Oliver, to get him to reveal a mysterious secret to him, is very reminiscent of Oliver's own methods in the flashbacks as the early prototypical Hood.  It's a bit of a wake up call when Anatoly compares Oliver to Slade Wilson and Anthony Ivo.  How's that for a flashback? 

Speaking of flashbacks, in the present, before leaving... I guess for work... Chase gives Oliver a present.  It's Artemis, Evelyn, and she's been beaten, probably tortured - Chase calls it making her compliant, she's definitely broken.  When he returns, one of them had better be dead at the other's hands.  If it's Oliver, Evelyn gets to go free. 

Although we get a final battle between the Hood and Konstantin Kovar in the past, the memory prompts Oliver to confess the secret that Chase wants.  Oliver is a killer, a spree killer, a serial killer (as I noted early on in these reviews myself), not because of a list, or a mission, but because he liked it. 

As the ordeal(s) ends, we see the beginning and end of Oliver's Bratva tattoo, and a Green Arrow beaten and shutting it all down.  He's been defeated.  Meanwhile in the past, Kovar has been resurrected with Merlyn's help, so I'm sure he'll be back in the present (future?).  This is a by far darker cliffhanger than we got last time, can they beat it next time? 

Surprisingly the showrunners engaged me in the Bratva crap that I had long since gotten tired of.  They re-energized not one, not two, but three villains who had lost their edge for the most part.  All in all a good episode, can they do it again? 

Next: Disbanded!

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.