Arrow S05 E20: Underneath

As seen last time, the Arrowcave, or the bunker as they call it on the show, has been bombed by Prometheus, and Oliver and Felicity are trapped inside.  An EMP was in play, so not only does none of the high-tech gadgetry work, neither does the spinal implant that allows Felicity to walk. 

As Olicity is resurrected inside the bunker, Team Arrow gathers to try to rescue them.  We find out some interesting things about our team, like Curtis named his T-Spheres after the ferrets in Beastmaster - Kodo and Podo.  We also learn that Marc Singer's Beastmaster had a profound effect on the sexual awakenings of both Curtis and Dinah.  I don't know if this is geeky fun or TMI, but I dug it.

Besides serving as a characterization exploration episode for the team, we also get a previously unseen flashback to sometime early in the third season fighting the Werner Zytle version of Count Vertigo when Curtis first joined the team.  There are lots of details filled in, and questions answered here, as well as characters and relationships fleshed out. 

This was like a team re-building exercise really.  Trust is rebuilt and reaffirmed on several levels.  One thing that is abundantly clear from the episode is that the rest of Team Arrow need Cisco's phone number, especially if they're going to let him design their headquarters.  And as far as Olicity goes, might we see them together proper soon? We certainly had the hottest scenes in quite some time between the two. 

The killer stinger has Chase meeting Oliver's William at the school bus.  Something tells me the worst is yet to come...

Next: "Honor Thy Fathers!"

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.

Arrow S03 E13: "Canaries"

The state of the Arrow when last we met was a bit mangled and different than usual. Oliver is back from the dead, and proposing that Merlyn train him to defeat R'as Al Ghul. Felicity is on the outs with Oliver and pretty much stands with everyone else regarding Merlyn. Laurel has joined Team Arrow as the new Canary, and her dimwitted dad doesn't seem to know she's not the late Sara. That's just the basics, got it? You can catch up on the rest of this season so far here, and the entire series here.

We open on, believe it or not, both Canaries engaged in combat with each other. Welcome back, Sara. Good to see that "The Sopranos" and "Breaking Bad" aren't the only shows where a character's death doesn't mean the actor us out of work. I still think Sara makes a better Black Canary, more believable, and closer to the comics. Canary is curvy, not Cassidy.

Werner Zytle, Vertigo, or the second Vertigo (although neither is even close to the comics version of the character) has escaped prison, so the cat is out of the bag as to why Laurel believes she's fighting her dead sister. But that's not the big deal that happened early in the episode. Oliver came clean with Thea, showed her the Arrowcave, and told her that he's the Arrow. Surprise, she's happy, with Oliver. Malcolm, not so much.

Speaking of the kinder gentler post-resurrection Arrow, he seems to be back to his old self inexplicably when it comes to Laurel. Weirdly he's more welcoming to Merlyn and Thea than he is to Laurel. One would think with R'as on his way to Starling, Oliver would want as much help as possible. And it's a shame that Oliver is more concerned with babysitting her than stopping Vertigo's pointless homicidal super-villainy, but then again in this episode, he's more plot device than plot, or even character.

Flashback Hong Kong has become something interesting, at least temporarily. At best the flashback sequences run hot and cold. Now it's not Oliver I'm thinking about in the recent ones, but Tatsu and Maseo. What is wrong with both of them? In the present they are under the thumb of the evil R'as and in the past, Amanda Waller. Why have they allowed themselves into these situations with such people?

I started this review talking about the status quo of Team Arrow. Now we are looking at a whole new dynamic - Laurel part of the team, Thea in on Team Arrow, and also Quentin finally aware of the doings of his daughters. I did however keep waiting for Thea to express surprise that everyone she knows is in on the secret but her.

Nice but obscure shout out with Daggett Pharmaceuticals - in "Batman The Animated Series," Roland Daggett and his chemical company Daggett Industries caused much chaos such as turning Catwoman into a real cat-woman, and creating the shape-shifting super-villain Clayface. Just like "The Flash" keeps referencing Firestorm, it seems "Arrow" just can't get enough Batman.

I'm glad the hipster deejay from the League of Assassins subplot is done with. It was getting old, but did move things forward to the next level. The training begins next time with Oliver and Thea on Flashback Island, and Flashback Oliver and Maseo in Starling City. That should be interesting.

Next: "The Return!"



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Arrow S03 E01: "The Calm"

Quite a few changes occurred in the season two finale of "Arrow." Roy got better and was promoted to masked vigilante, still no codename, but if I had to bet, it would be Arsenal not Speedy or Red Arrow. Speaking of Speedy, Mia is now with her birth father, Malcolm Merlin. Sara has returned to the League of Assassins, and Laurel was let in on the secret of Team Arrow. And oh yeah, our new flashback destination is Hong Kong with Oliver working for Amanda Waller.

We open on Team Arrow acting smooth unison taking down a character I swear was a baddie from "Wiseguy," but what do I know? The episode title adequately describes the team here, peaceful and happy. Diggle and Lyla having a baby, Oliver and Felicity pseudo-dating, all friends united for a common cause. Roy is a little rough, but then he's always been a little rough, probably just missing Mia.

We are five months later, Laurel is a little bit blonder (closer to becoming a Canary herself), her dad has a cane and an illness keeping him from fieldwork, and the anti-vigilante task force has been disbanded. Arrow is finally a hero, or at least not hunted by the police. With crime at an all time low, and the police cooperating with the Arrow, it's hard times for the underworld, don't worry, nature abhors a vacuum.

Someone has to step up to organize the baddies against Arrow. That someone has an accent and has modified the drug called Vertigo to show its user/victim their greatest fear. Well, it's a bit more Scarecrow than Count Vertigo, but this series has never shied away from the shadows of the Bat-universe. His name is Werner Zytle, in the comics, he is appropriately enough the second Count Vertigo. And I love his Prokofiev whistle.

Felicity has been working at a tech support job in the time since last season. It begs the question of who's paying for dinner on this big date between her and Oliver. Obviously, she is. One customer takes an interest in her, suspiciously looking like a deadbeat dad super-stalker. Yeah, it's Brandon Routh, only this time he's playing a superhero other than Superman. This time he's Ray Palmer, who is probably not yet the Atom.

Ray Palmer is sharp, quirky, and charismatic. If Routh had been this much fun as the man of steel, I might have liked Superman Returns more. He wants to take over Queen Consolidated, and turn the old brutalized Starling City into the new and improved (and closer to the comics version) Star City. Not only is Routh entertaining as heck, he also wants a piece of Felicity as well.

The date, the date many of us have been waiting for for years now, Felicity and Oliver. Having exhausted any topic that could have talked about on a first date, Oliver decides to conveniently tell Felicity about Hong Kong. And not for the first time nor for the last time, I need to mention that Felicity cleans up really nice. Emily Bett Rickards is super hot. Too bad our villain cuts in to the date with a rocket launcher. Soooo... why does Oliver take the bleeding unconscious Felicity to the Arrowcave instead of a hospital??

As happy as I was to see Canary come to the rescue when Arrow goes after the new Vertigo, I was once again disappointed in the recent trend in superhero stories - why can't the hero win on their own? I mean, isn't that why they are the hero? As for Sara Lance, our first Black Canary, I wish I could say we'd be seeing her again.

As we know who this season's big bad is - Ras Al Ghul - it's not hard to guess who took her out. If it's not him, he gave the order. The real question is... how long before Laurel puts on the leather looking for revenge?

Arrow S02 E07: "State v. Queen"

Might we have a misleading episode title here? I mean, what could be more exciting - a dry courtroom drama or the return of Count Vertigo? And don't forget Brother Blood and the League of Assassins are still lurking about. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what this one is about.

Six months ago, we witness The Undertaking from inside Iron Heights. We watch as The Count walks out, but first releasing the Dollmaker. I wonder how many other notable criminals got out the same way. We've seen what the Dollmaker was up to, now we find out what The Count has up his sleeve. Oh yeah, poisoning the city, and apparently Vertigo is the cure. And best of all for the comics folks out there, he has finally taken on the name, Count Vertigo. He also for the first time names our hero Arrow.

Actor Seth Gabel is taking the character further into Nicholson/Ledger Joker territory, he comes close to Mark Hamill's Trickster, but for the most part he is playing in bad over the top Black Scorpion super-villain mode. Yep, Overacting 101. However, The Count does indeed have an ace in the hole - he knows that Arrow no longer kills, and is using it against him.

There is a final duel between the two, with Felicity's life at stake (life or is it simply Vertigo addiction?). The Count has found out Oliver's secret identity, and admits to a higher up who set him up and sent him after Arrow to kill him. It works out the other way around, with The Count taking three arrows to the chest and falling several stories to his death. Looks like The Hood's killing career might not be over after all.

The trial of Moira Queen continues, with Jean Loring for the defense, and the Kate Spencer appointed Laurel for the prosecution. Yep, more comics references. As I've mentioned before, Jean is the mentally unbalanced love interest of the Atom, murderer of fellow Justice Leaguer the Elongated Man, and future host to god of chaos, Eclipso. Busy busy lady. Kate Spencer is of course the latest Manhunter.

I should also take back what I said about dry courtroom dramas in the opening of this review. Writer and showrunner Marc Guggenheim, besides being a comic book writer and lawyer, also worked on shows like "Law and Order," "Eli Stone," and "The Practice." This was anything but dry, especially when it leads to a not guilty verdict... the return of Malcolm Merlyn... and the revealation that Thea is his daughter!

Other goodies this week include Brother Blood being the guy who hired Count Vertigo, more hijinks with Ivo as they return to the island, the possibility of the wounded Slade getting some of that super-soldier formula, and Blood telling the survivor of an experiment that he's ready after he says he's stronger. His name is Cyrus. Hmmm... the only DC Comics character I know named Cyrus who's strong is... Solomon Grundy...

Our other comic book references this week would be the news on Channel 52 talking about the new particle accelerator in Central City. It's no coincidence that next week's episode is called "The Scientist," and introduces Barry Allen. And is that Deathstroke... in the present? I think Oliver's life is about to change... in a flash...

Arrow S02 E06: "Keep Your Enemies Closer"

At last, we're going to find out where Oliver got his Russian mob cred, and where he got that Bratva tattoo, as the crew takes a trip to Russia. Almost sounds like an "I Love Lucy" episode, doesn't it? Just not as funny.

In our opening sequence, after some Lucy style secret identity shenanigans with Summer Glau's Isabel Rochev, Arrow and his sidekick, um, snitch, um, sidekick, Roy Harper bust up some counterfeiters in short order. In the midst of it, and here's where it gets good, Diggle gets kidnapped.

Diggle gets kidnapped by dudes namedropping Task Force X, the Suicide Squad's official codename, and answering to Mockingbird, who gave orders to the Secret Six in the comics. When he comes to, he is confronted by, da da da dum, a very svelte looking Amanda Waller, played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who you might remember as Naevia from "Spartacus," which also starred our Deathstroke, Manu Bennett.

Waller, who Diggle identifies as being with ARGUS, tells him that Lyla has vanished after following up some leads in Russia. Specifically Lyla was tracking Deadshot for Diggle. Waller, who also knows what Diggle and Oliver Queen do with their nights, wants Lyla extracted. So much for sightseeing in Russia, it sounds like it's all business.

Back on flashback island, or more accurately, the Amazo boat, Professor Ivo interrogates Oliver with Sarah present. It seems that the island was where a Japanese World War II secret super soldier formula is, and Ivo's looking for it. The formula, that gifts super strength and enhanced regeneration, is called Mirakuru - miracle.

Or is that Miraclo? With the recent announcement of an Hourman series possibly in development, I can't help but wonder if The Flash isn't the only back door pilot being prepped here... For those who don't know your Golden Age comic lore, Miraclo is the drug that Hourman takes to gain super strength, super stamina, and yes, even regenerative abilities for one hour.

Dylan Neal's dad next door portrayal of Anthony Ivo is extremely creepy when you think about this guy was up to in the comics, and what he's probably up to here. There is just this very scary chord of quiet menace in his performance. Factoid: Neal played a character ironically linked to Amanda Waller back on the CW's "Smallville." And could the sadistic Captain of the Amazo… be the future Amazo??

Back in the present, Wendy and Marvin, ahem, I mean Isabel insists on tagging along to Russia with the Arrowcave trio. It's like a sitcom setup almost, and infuriating. They have to avoid Isabel while trying to find Lyla and Deadshot. Let me tell you, this does not make Summer Glau any more likable or tolerable. She is even less likable drunk, and downright hatable as a one night stand.

We do get the goods on how Oliver is a Bratva captain. Anatoli Knyazev, known as the KGBeast in the comics, was his prison mate on the Amazo boat. Oliver saved his life, and was rewarded with tattoo and rank. Anatoli helps them find Lyla and Deadshot, beginning Diggle's brief prison movie inside the show. In the end, everyone gets saved, but Diggle can't kill Deadshot.

However Diggle does learn who hired Deadshot to kill his brother. In a reveal that may bring some loose ends full circle to a knot, Deadshot says he was hired by H.I.V.E. Not in the comics, but in the "Teen Titans" cartoon, the H.I.V.E. was run by a guy called Brother Blood. Da da dum.

On the subplot track, Jean Loring makes her third appearance as Moira Queen's attorney. This is the first time however I was aware of her name. This is Jean Loring?? I was very surprised. Teryl Rothery is a beautiful but older woman, but based on the character's previous mention ('Ray and Jean'), I would have assumed she was younger, much younger, a contemporary, a peer, of Laurel and Oliver. Let's just hope she's not being paid in white dwarfs or black diamonds...

The Blood Rush mini-adventure starring Felicity and Roy, and sponsored by Bose, is dumb. There I said it. It's out of continuity, confusing, and dumb. Just give the actors more screen time in the real show and give the audience a real Bose commercial. Otherwise, this is a waste of time.

Speaking of dumb and waste of time, it seems that Felicity is being groomed for the role of Oliver's romantic interest, or worse than that, his fawning crush. She tells him he deserves better, regarding Isabel. I'd like to tell the producers that Felicity deserves better than this kind of crap. Come on. Make Felicity a strong female character on television, not another one of Oliver's failed attempts at a relationship.


Next week: The return of (The) Count (and) Vertigo!

Arrow S02 E02: "Identity"

The winds of change from the last episode sweep in in the first seconds of this one, as Oliver Queen's opening narrative has changed. No longer a killer, striving to be a hero, yet still unnamed, even without a name (Oliver swore off The Hood monicker last time), this is a change for the better.

Our secondary opening has Roy Harper, in his red hoodie, driving a red car (nice, but when's he going to get a red costume and red arrows?), trying to save a FEMA truck from China White. He's really not good at this vigilante stuff, Roy should get a... mentor, or something...

Laurel questions him once he gets hauled to the police station. She seems to have developed her father's fixation on capturing The Hood, at all costs. She also scoffs at Roy's mention of a certain Black Canary-like vigilante. If "Smallville" has taught us fanboys anything, it's that the rules change in the jump from comics to TV. While I doubt it, there is a chance that Laurel Lance is not the Black Canary.

Maybe he's not Brother Blood yet, as I posited last time, but Alderman Sebastian Blood, defender of The Glades, certainly is a thorn in Oliver's side. Perhaps this will lead to our hero running for mayor as he did in the comics?

Green arrows, red arrows, black canaries, and brothers blood, that's all good, but that's not the big comics surprise in this episode. That would be the Bronze Tiger, played by Michael Jai White ("Black Dynamite" and Spawn). Here, he's China White's new partner, but in the comics, he was a member of the League of Assassins, and served in the Suicide Squad, ironically alongside Deadshot and Count Vertigo. More Wolverine than Bronze Tiger, he's still bad ass.

There were many things I didn't like. Laurel is annoying in hunter mode. If she is the Black Canary, I hope she's not mining this personality. Thea is not making a believable grown-up, no matter how adult her dresses are. And I prefer Felicity as nerd girl rather than pretty whiner. Is she shopping at the same fashion designer as Thea?

There was a nice namedrop for writer Jeff Lemire this episode. I also loved the use of the first trick arrows - the electric arrow and the handcuff arrow. Can the Arrowcar and the boxing glove arrow be far behind? Next week, we get the resolution to our juicy cliffhanger, the Dollmaker, and the Canary uncaged...

Arrow: Unfinished Business

We begin with a girl dancing and dying in traffic, drugged up on a new version of Vertigo. This results in visits to see The Count in the asylum, by both The Hood and Detective Lance. For the second episode in a row, the Joker parallels are there. The Count is obsessed with Arrow, and more focused in his presence. While Starling City is under siege from this new Vertigo, yeah, you guessed it, The Count escapes.

While Arrow pursues The Count, Diggle is still looking for Deadshot, the villain who killed his brother way back when. He gives all info that Felicity found on him to an old friend named Lyla, who now runs with an outfit called Argus. Comic readers will recognize the name. A.R.G.U.S. is the organization that manages the Justice League, and does all their gruntwork, as well as their PR.

Tommy has problems of his own. Lance thinks there's a connection between Verdant and the dead girl who died from Vertigo, and starts to investigate the club. He finds a suspicious $10,000 missing in its records. At first I'm thinking, wait, the 'Arrowcave' only cost ten grand??

It turns out however that the cash was used to pay off a corrupt building inspector. Lance wants to see the sub-level to the club now, and has brought a search warrant. In what should have been some clever switch, we merely get some rearranged furniture and crates. It's still not clear who packed up the Arrowcave - Oliver, because he inexplicably knew Lance was coming, or Tommy because he was afraid of what Oliver might do. This best friends one minute, assailant/victim thing the next is getting old.

Speaking of supporting cast, Felicity is not as much fun now that she is in on the secret. Rather than an actual player in the show, she's become simply an errand girl. Find this, do this, she may as well have "Yes, sir, no, sir." as her only lines. I want the old Felicity back. And as long as we're talking about the women in Oliver's life, on the island, Shado starts training him finally.

In the end, the Vertigo is tracked back to the asylum. Another Joker reference emerges. How many years did the Joker operate out of Arkham, his own headquarters beneath the mental hospital itself? But it's not The Count doing the dirty work, but his doctor and intern. Once they have been dispatched, Oliver mercifully does not take out the apparently insane Count.

This is just like the Carl moment in this past week's season finale of "The Walking Dead." Carl kills a surrendering kid, not for what he had done, but for what he might do in the future. Will Oliver live to regret not killing The Count, or should he have Carl-ed him?

Arrow: Salvation

Oliver may need to step aside. It seems there a new vigilante in Starling City who calls himself The Savior, and he's got his own list he's checking names off of. In a present day twist on the Joker's old MO, he announces (and commits) his crimes via every cellphone (almost Sherlock-ian) in the city. Apparently, he's a department of transportation worker by day, but has some fighting and computer skills as a vigilante at night. I wonder what island he was stranded on?

The catch? Roy Harper is on the Savior's list, and he nabs him right in the middle of one of Roy and Thea's annoying anti-flirtations. From what we've seen of Roy so far, and what we know of his possible future, I can't imagine how the Savior got the drop on him. So of course we get to see Oliver in another race against time. Ho-hum.

Oliver does some crazy almost bionic style jumps in this episode, as well as some insane parkour. Man, Deathstroke must have taught him well. Stephen Amell's chest also makes a return as a cast member. The huge gay audience that I recently learned "Arrow" has will be pleased by that news.

The subplots roll on. Moira and Frank (Chen, not Bertinelli) continue to plot against Malcolm, with mixed results. Laurel and her folks continue to search for the thought dead Sarah, though also not with the results expected. On the island, Shado and Yao Fei join Oliver and Slade's resistance.

Alex Kingston as Dinah Lance has the best line of the episode, "Got to get going to airport, that red eye to Central City. I should be home in a flash." Love it! More, please.

Next episode, Count Verti-, ahem, I mean The Count returns. Same Arrow time, same Arrow channel...

Arrow: Vertigo

Back in the day, let's say the 1950s, back when Green Arrow was literally Batman with a bow, he had a serious rogues gallery. There were a multitude of bizarre criminals who menaced Star City on a regular basis. True, most of them spun on the unoriginal twist of using some sort of bow and arrow motif, but Green Arrow and Speedy had lots of enemies.

The 1970s came along, Speedy got hooked on heroin and left his mentor, Green Arrow, who had changed his costume and facial hair to a more modern look, and turned his aim on social issues rather than super-villains. By the end of the decade however, things had come full circle, and costumed criminals came back in vogue. The powers that be decided Green Arrow needed a rogues gallery, albeit a more believable one, without the mandatory bow and arrow.

Enter Count Vertigo. With a name like Werner Vertigo, what else could he become but a super-villain, right? The Count part comes from being the last member of the royal family of Vlatava, so he has the resources of a small eastern European nation behind him. Afflicted with a balance problem he had a device implanted in his head that prevented vertigo. After years of tinkering with it he found he could affect the balance of others, causing dizziness, and yes, I'll say it, vertigo. He can also fly. No idea how he does that though.

Merlyn the Magician may the king of super-villains who use bows and arrows, and Green Arrow's natural opposite number, but when most folks think of the emerald archer's archenemy on the scale of a Joker or a Luthor, they think Count Vertigo.

But that's the comics, on the "Arrow" TV series, things are a bit different. Vertigo is a new drug, one that got Oliver's little sister in a car accident, and arrested in but one of last week's cliffhangers. And the drug lord pushing vertigo onto the streets is called The Count.

The hot button comics reference this episode is Thea's middle name - Dearden. Not only is her nickname Speedy, but in the comics, Mia Dearden is the young girl who was the second person to take on the Speedy identity as Green Arrow's sidekick. Is this homage or foreshadowing?

The Count, as played by Seth Gabel of "Fringe," is very manic, theatrical, and dangerous in that mad villain unpredictable way. Brilliant casting, and great costuming, I kinda got a Captain John Hart vibe as well.

Nice to see the writers haven't forgotten Oliver's Russian Bratva connection, I just hope that they don't forget to explain it. It's also good to see The Count has not lost his Eastern European origins as well. I also like the explanation of his name. Nice touch. And the color of the drug itself? It's green, like Count Vertigo's color scheme in the comics.

Detective Quentin Lance's outrageous grudge against Oliver is getting old, and kind of silly too. I do however like the cast addition of Janina Gavankar from "True Blood" as Detective McKenna Hall. With Laurel tied up with Tommy, Oliver needs a good potential romantic interest. Please don't bring back the Huntress.

The Count is taken down, of course, but with the possibility of a return, and possibly more like the comics version next time. We'll see. He reminded me a bit of Mark Hamill's turn as the Trickster on the old "Flash" series on CBS. Maybe we will get powers and costumes next time.

In this week's island flashback, we learn more about Yao Fei, Ed Fyers, Deathstroke and the terrorists there. We also see a slick trick make folks look dead. Don't try this at home, kids. We also see, much too briefly, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak with some bad news for Oliver. But I'm sure we'll get more of that next week, and hopefully more Felicity as well.

Arrow: Trust But Verify

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?