Arrow S03 E18: "Public Enemy"

As we saw in the last moments of the last episode, Starling City's mayor was shot in the chest by Maseo acting as the faux Arrow. And the next arrow is targeting Felicity. If that doesn't just scream cliffhanger, I don't know what does. Thankfully, because of my vacation, I only had to wait a few hours, unlike you fine folks sweating this one out for a week to find out what happened.

What happened is not good. The mayor is dead. Wow, mayor of Starling City is not a good job to have based on what we've seen the past few seasons. And Ray Palmer took an arrow to the chest to save Felicity, and is at the hospital in critical condition. In retaliation Lance issues a first-degree murder warrant on the Arrow, and reorganizes the anti-vigilante task force with shoot to kill orders if necessary. Bad times.

After extended chase scenes with the Arrow, Arsenal, and Black Canary on the run from the cops - fun but lengthy - R'as Al Ghul takes a hand in the fight. He first leads the police to them, and then does something even more sinister, something that leads Quentin Lance far closer to his doom. R'as reveals the Arrow's secret identity to him. Then, everything becomes clear to Lance.

When Laurel confronts her father, he turns the tables on her. He blames everything on Oliver and the Arrow, from Sara's death to the explosion of costumed maniacs and metahumans both in Starling and in Central City. He started it all, he's to blame. Lance goes on TV and tells what he knows. Police are everywhere, Oliver's identity, and the Arrowcave all compromised - this looks like the end.

Back in Flashback Hong Kong, as you might remember from a few episodes back, Oliver has run into Shado, or who has turned out to be her twin sister. The bad guys come after Oliver, Akio, and her, and they're saved by Maseo and Katana. Our Flashback lesson this episode is about the power of truth, as Oliver tells her that her sister and her father Yao Fei are gone. This is the lesson Oliver uses in the present day.

Oliver turns himself in to Captain Lance, along with a deal arranged by Laurel for immunity for the rest of Team Arrow. Let's not even discuss how unethical it is for Laurel to even be involved with this, but there it is. Lance is losing it, playing the blame game, and giving it to Oliver, when suddenly the Arrow gives himself up - and it's Roy.

Meanwhile Ray might have a blood clot in his brain. He's able to use, through some soap opera shenanigans with Felicity's mom, his own shrinking nanobots to cure himself. Wait, did I say shrinking? This is Ray Palmer after all! I guess the X-0 Manowar armor must have confused me. And then there's the old idea of Felicity having to make a choice between Oliver and Ray. Help, I'm drowning in soap, but at least Ray might be able to shrink away now.

"Arrow" has been suffering this season, perhaps suffering from what one might call SHIELD-itis. There's a lot of build up but very little pay off. I hope there's some coming soon. This is getting tiresome.

Next on "Arrow" in two weeks: "Broken Arrow!"

Arrow S03 E12: "Uprising"

Brick is now in control of The Glades, which is no longer under police surveillance. We open on Arsenal trying to rescue a diner from paying protection to the crime boss. We have two great references here as a baddie mistakes Roy for the red blur seen over in "The Flash," then we have the oh so rare use of the word 'superhero' in this series. The spandex set is catching on in the Arrowverse.

The baddies get the better of Arsenal and Laurel as the Black Canary/Canary comes to the rescue. She's fighting considerably better than she was in the last episode, and Ted Grant is even given props. It's nice to see Bex Taylor-Klaus as Sin again, but unbelievable that she mistakes Laurel for Sara. And Quentin knows Roy immediately but can't tell his daughters apart?? Seriously I know I ranted about this before, but this is getting ridiculous.

Sara and Laurel are two completely different body types, one short and curvy with believable blonde hair, and the other tall and lean with a bad wig. No one, unless at a major distance, would mistake one for the other, especially family and friends. If this situation of the two Canaries was always intended to happen, which it's been indicated it was, the two actresses cast in the sisters' roles should have resembled each other more. This confusion of the two is stretching my suspension of belief a bit. And yes, I see the irony. I'm okay with a man who can run at the speed of sound, but this is too much. Sue me.

I know that John Barrowman has signed on as a cast regular but more and more it feels like the writers are having a hard time finding things for him to do. Having Brick be the murderer of his wife seems like a stretch to have him team up with Team Arrow in Oliver's absence. And when is Felicity going to beef up security so Merlyn can't keep walking into the Arrowcave? Maybe she could find his bug as well. Too much Atom and not enough Arrow in her life I suspect.

In line with giving Barrowman more of a spotlight, we get the secret origin of Merlyn the Magician, Flashback Island style. I'm sorry, I love Captain Jack as much as the next fanboy, but I'm not sympathizing. Keep the villains villains, and Merlyn works much better as a super-villain adversary than a sympathetic anti-hero. I love him, but it might be time for my favorite Time Agent to take a powder.

The street fight revolution suggested by the episode's title is just absurd. Team Arrow rallies the citizens of The Glades, including Sin and Wildcat (!), to rise up and take back their neighborhood from Brick. First, why would Team Arrow do something as irresponsible as endanger the lives of innocents? And we see people on both sides of the fight with guns, so why is no one shooting? It's all brawling. I could swear some on Brick's side had machine guns - why aren't they mowing people down?

Things have been sloppy on this show for a while, and they don't seem to be getting better. The back and forth state of Ollicity is only a symptom of the real problem. The powers that be are being sloppy with the characters, the stories, and the details. I really hope it gets better before it gets worse.

Questions brought up by this episode - When is Thea going to just stop believing everyone at face value? Why don't both Roy and Thea question the knowledge that they know the other really shouldn't have? Wouldn't Felicity already have everything the police have on Brick, and more? And as much as I love Vinnie Jones, why wasn't an African-American actor chosen to play African-American super-villain Brick?

Next: Vertigo, and Canary vs. Canary.



And if you'd like to discuss this episode and anything else in the Arrowverse, please join the Arrow discussion group on Facebook.

Arrow S03 E11: "Midnight City"

With Oliver Queen once again thought dead, and new crime lord Brick having undone everything Team Arrow has worked for the last few months, things don't look good for Starling City. Its a good thing there's a new Canary on the streets - or is it?

With no Arrow and no original Canary, the vacuum is being taken advantage of by Brick. While Oliver recuperates in the Himalayas, Team Arrow confronts Laurel who is new to the mask business. She's not her sister, and she's going to get killed.

During a meeting to figure out what to do about Brick, the man himself shows up and kidnaps several aldermen. Laurel, Quentin, and Ray Palmer manage to take on a few of the gunmen and protect the mayor. Ray is not a good fighter, perhaps probing that the clothes do make the man as he quips to Felicity, "That's why I need a super-suit."

A later botched rescue attempt shows clearly how inept Laurel appears to be at this vigilante stuff, and Brick kills one of the aldermen as payment. This was the point where I started questioning the show. At first I thought did Ted Grant really do that bad a job training her? Then I wondered why Quentin couldn't tell that Canary was much taller than usual. Then I wondered why Brick would pull such a ham handed stunt when really, he already has control of The Glades?

Highlights included the gunfight in Flashback Hong Kong and a stronger Arsenal in Oliver's absence. I also liked Felicity growing a pair and getting her mojo back. Lowlights included the lack of fact checking. Pacemakers don't get recharged, they get replaced. Also the helicopter makes me roll my eyes. Why would Team Arrow leave the Arrowcave in The Glades to get a helicopter to fly back to Brick's hideout in The Glades?

The soap opera elements of the episode, just so we wouldn't forget we're watching the CW I suppose, revolved around the leaving/not leaving of Thea and Malcolm. It really feels like they don't know what to do with these characters and are struggling to keep them busy. At least the club kid Thea was playing kissy-face with months ago wasn't a fluke, he was a League of Assassins plant.

Notably many street names and city places are mentioned in this episode, none of them referencing creators from the comics. That's an easy homage that is missed. Oliver's magical length changing beard was also distracting. This was neither a strong episode nor a favorite one. Perhaps it's time for another Flash crossover to spark things up a bit.

Next: Uprising!

Arrow S03 E06: "Guilty"

At first glance there seems to be a bit of a bait and switch here with this episode titled "Guilty." Our cliffhanger last time had Roy remembering a very realistic dream in which he killed Sara by physically throwing arrows at her. It's either some mental and physical residue from the Mirakuru, or some sort of induced dream. Based on the 'previously on "Arrow"' opening, I'm going to guess the former, but still it seems like the title implies a completely different storyline.

At least Roy is aware that the Mirakuru might be back and behind this. At least he's getting smarter as time goes by, unlike certain archers we could mention. Roy and Felicity have some good moments this episode as He comes clean with her about his fears and his dreams, highlights for both actors. Emily Bett Rickards is always good, but this time Colton Haynes matches her. Calm shock follows when Roy tells the rest of Team Arrow he thinks he killed Sara.

In Flashback Hong Kong, the mystery origins of China White, and Katana for that matter, continue. I had to laugh out loud when Maseo tells Oliver he has to work on his patience, something he's obviously made zero progress on in the intervening seven years. Katana does not like Oliver one bit, but tries to help him with his patience and memory. I have to wonder if this animosity will continue when and if she encounters Arrow in the present.

I have always loved the character of Wildcat from my first exposure in the old JLA/JSA team-ups to his Brave and the Bold appearances to finally reading his Golden Age stories in Sensation Comics. Despite the younger age of our Wildcat here, I am digging J.R. Ramirez as Ted Grant. I like his performance, his almost sensei like down to earth advice and training, and just the idea of a young Ted Grant in the present day. Hey DC Comics, this is the kind of refreshing new spin you should be shooting for if you bring Wildcat into the New 52. I also loved to shout out early in the episode to Irwin Hasen, the creator of Wildcat.

Laurel is training with Ted, they go to dinner and when they return, there's a dead guy strung up in the gym just like the guys in Arrow's latest case. It doesn't look good, but Ted has Laurel as an alibi. Oliver is neither pleased with Laurel's involvement here nor her being trained by Grant. She's becoming Black Canary whether he wants her to or not - we've all seen the costume online with the bad wig and no fishnets. Why can't she just wear Sara's outfit?

Ted and Arrow's first combat is awesome, his revelation that he was once a vigilante is even cooler, but the unintended accidental invention of the boxing glove arrow is the best. The idea that Ted was a vigilante six years ago until an accident retired him is intriguing. Sara was only active a short time as well. Over in "The Flash," a possible future indicates a ten-year career. In the Arrowverse is the turnover in heroes that short? Is a decade maybe a long term career? This could be an interesting precedent, how long does Arrow have with his dangerous lifestyle?

Speaking of dangerous, the current case and main story of the episode brings home the theme of the subplot. It was Ted's vigilante sidekick who's framing him now, vultures coming home to roost. If Oliver cuts Roy loose for killing Sara, will it come back to haunt him years later like it did for Ted? That said, the sidekick vs. sidekick fight was pretty cool. And I liked that the Arsenal name is finally out on the table.

Rather than actually tying up the loose ends of this episode in a nice tidy bundle, it ties them up into a knot of confusion. Did Roy kill Sara, or was it just a flashback to the murder he actually did commit? My bet is the latter, but if so, why does it seem the arrows were thrown? And what does Cupid want with Ted's ex-sidekick? And did she kill him?

Next: Cupid!