Arrow S04 E18: Eleven-Fifty-Nine

So unfortunately we find out who's in the grave this episode and it's not pretty, and it's also not anyone I guessed. However, if one watches this episode carefully, it's pretty heavily telegraphed for good or ill. I hate losing this character, especially considering how long it took for me to warm to her...

Meanwhile, I have to apologize, folks, because I've been remiss in my reviews here. Apparently we have seen the idol beneath Flashback Island before. It's the same one that Damien Darhk has been drawing power from, the Khushu idol, as identified by Vixen. I loved, when Oliver went to tell the rest of the team about it - "there's something I haven't been honest with you about" - Thea answered, "Shocker!" Will Oliver ever learn?

And then there's the Diggle brothers comedy hour. Andy blabs the whole evil plan to John. I don't know whether he's the worst double agent in the world or the best. Either way he's either leading Team Arrow into a trap or being led into one himself. He most definitely was a diversion so Merlyn could steal the idol. Anyone else notice that Laurel and Thea seem to be sharing the sarcastic lines Felicity usually says? Our favorite blond hacker is missed.

So Oliver had a serious write-in vote even though he pulled out of the race? So does this mean if Ruve Adams comes to a tragic end, Oliver might still be installed as mayor? In the meantime, the mean lady wants Laurel to be her district attorney. An interesting offer accompanied by ominous almost Prokofievian Peter and the Wolf rift. Perhaps there's a reason Laurel is getting so much screen time lately?

When Merlyn brings the idol to Darhk in Iron Heights, the villain gives a bit of background on the relic, noting it/they were forged by the Homo Magi. They are a race of hidden magic using humans from which the powers of Zatara and Zatanna come. Does this Easter egg mean we might have a possible Zatanna appearance coming? I hope so, but the problem at hand is that the idol is useless with a missing piece, a piece Team Arrow is still holding.

Speaking of the Team, while Oliver tries his best to break them up, once again over trust with Diggle, there's something else going on here. Katie Cassidy's Laurel is getting a lot of attention. She's being offered a dream job, kicking ass with Thea, having heart to hearts with her father and with Oliver. This is more screen time than she's had all year. Something must be up.

This is unusual on "Arrow." There have been entire episodes where she's done or said very little, and a few where she was missing altogether. And considering that in the comics Black Canary is the most important character in the Green Arrow mythos next to Green Arrow, this just isn't right.

Maybe the showrunners just don't know what to do with Black Canary. As we learned from DC Comics themselves in their Crisis on Infinite Earths, what do you do with characters you don't know what to do with? Simple. You kill them. Yeah, just the opposite of what I have always believed - there are no bad characters, only bad writers.

Meanwhile at Iron Heights, Darhk, with a little help from his creepy colleague Murmur, is planning a coup, an uprising, a bloodbath born of chaos to power the idol. And it's into this inferno that Team Arrow goes, including the Black Canary. After a gauntlet of Murmur, Merlyn, dozens of escaped convicts, and yes, even Andy Diggle, Team Arrow fights its way to Darhk who now has the completed Khushu idol and his full power back again.

After tossing our heroes around for a bit, Darhk focuses on the Black Canary. He monologues about how he always keeps his word, and that he swore he would do something if Quentin Lance turned on him. He keeps his promise and plunges an arrow into the heroine. At first, later at the hospital, she seems to be fine, but after a suspicious moment alone with Oliver… she seizes and passes. I wonder though… what went on between Oliver and laurel in that last moment we weren't privy to? A drug to imitate death? A dark secret? Or just a red herring? I'm sure we will find out sooner or later…

Time of death: 11:59 PM.

Of course, it has to be considered that Laurel just isn't dead, or dead for good. This is comics after all, and worse (or better?) than that, it's "Arrow," and does anyone really stay dead on this show? There's always the Lazarus Pit, or maybe Team Arrow could rescue John Constantine from 'literal' Hell, and he could help. Or perhaps that Homo Magi name drop is yet another way back from the dead.

We do know that Katie Cassidy will be appearing as the Black Siren on an upcoming episode of "The Flash." One could assume this would be the Earth-Two (or Earth-Three, if you buy into my theory) version of Black Canary. Perhaps she'll move to this Earth. It's not like she would be the first Black Canary to switch Earths, or when you get right down to it, die...

Arrow S04 E17: Beacon of Hope

The Bug-Eyed Bandit is back, and if the news of the return of a lame villain revamped and made cool for television isn't enough to get you psyched about the episode, there's also Oliver reading Harry Potter and Donna misspelling 'break-up,' and that's just for starters. Get ready for Die Hard with bees.

There are a maddening amount of quick cuts in this episode, almost as if it was a Russell Mulcahy music video from the 1980s - frenetic, chaotic, and fast. Blink and you miss it. So the episode moves quicker than others but there's still a main thrust to the story. Brie Larvan AKA the Bug-Eyed Bandit hack-checked herself out of prison and wants one of those miracle do-hickeys that cured Felicity. The problem is that the only working one is at the bottom of her spine.

So Larvan has surrounded the PalmerTech building with robotic bees and is promising to pick off board members until she gets her way. Inside with Thea and her mom, Felicity tries to find a way out or to stop Larvan. How Donna hasn't caught on to what's really going on yet is beyond me.

Meanwhile as Oliver, Laurel, and what's his name, Diggle prepare to try to get in and help their friends. That's when Curtis decided to show how 'terrific' he is, and stumbles onto the Arrowcave. After some amazement that is usually saved for folks who just figured out the TARDIS is bigger on the inside on "Doctor Who," Curtis gets giddily right to work playing Felicity and helping the team get inside the building. It's about time we had some of that Flash joy on this show.

Just when the team gets close to getting into the building, the bees go all Voltron and turn into a 'bee man' who attacks Oliver. Luckily Curtis figures a way to use the Canary Cry to destroy the bees inside our hero. Dare I say it? Curtis is better at this than Felicity. But when he had to say aloud he spouts pop culture references when he's nervous, I had to frown at the bad writing. Show, don't tell.

Two 'beacon of hope' speeches, a confession of sympathy from Larvan, and a double cross later, the team tries to get inside again. Green Arrow and the bee man have an intense fight until Felicity, yeah, Felicity takes the bee man out. Back in the Arrowcave a bee has Quentin and Curtis on the run. Man, can Curtis jump. Are we ever going to see him suited up as Mr. Terrific?

In prison Darhk is making new friends, namely Murmur. At first he's a threat then Darhk gets leverage over Murmur and he becomes an ally. Bonus points if you recognized Monument Point as the Justice Society's most recent base of operations.

Back on Flashback Island, the idol's power is revealed. The more people Reiter kills, the more powerful he gets. Bulletproof is only the tip of the iceberg. If that's not bad enough, there's a traitor in the team's midst, and we're getting closer to finding out who's in that grave...

Arrow S03 E16: "The Offer"

Talk talk talk. That's the gist of the beginning of this episode of "Arrow." After making the offer referenced in the title, Oliver and R'as are just chillin' in Nanda Parbat. The villain has asked our hero to become the next R'as Al Ghul, implying that it's a title handed down like The Phantom as opposed to one immortal man, something I think the showrunners may have forgotten was already hinted at with this version of R'as. And Maseo is there, but where did Diggle go?

Back at the Arrowcave, Thea keeps taunting Nyssa to kill her, after all she killed Sara, not Oliver, and not Merlyn. Yawn. One would think that a princess of assassins would have a better sense of when someone is lying and telling the truth, but I guess that's why Nyssa is is the lesser known of the daughters of The Demon. Still, just to make sure we don't fall asleep, Roy and Laurel rush in and incapacitate her.

On the other side my questions about R'as' immortality are unsatisfactorily answered. It's not a Lazarus Pit, it's a fountain of youth, and it can only keep R'as young for so long. He says his time is almost up. He further explains that as R'as Al Ghul, Oliver can do whatever he wants. The League and its resources are his to command, they don't have to be assassins, and rather than one city, R'as offers Oliver an entire world to save.

Oliver declines, and R'as allows him to go home, with Diggle, and Merlyn, and with all debts and blood oaths waived. Wow. R'as must really want Oliver to sign on.

Back in Starling City, Nyssa is released and Team Arrow gets back into business. There's a new player in town and he looks familiar, not to Green Arrow fans, but more skewed to Flash readers. His name is Murmur. In the comics, Murmur, also known as Dr. Michael Amar, is one of the more chilling adversaries to ever face the scarlet speedster.

To quell the voices in his head, this respected doctor went nuts and started killing people. When caught and put in Iron Heights, he cut out his tongue and sewed his mouth shut. Later he became involved with alter version of the Rogues and experimented with biological warfare. Oh yeah, this is a nutjob more suitable for Batman, not Arrow, and especially not the Flash. In the show, Murmur seems more of a run of the mill gangster with sewn up mouth, more gimmick than anything, hell, he even has henchmen. But Murmur is nothing more than a distraction in this episode that serves as merely a moving of pieces around the board. So why even use such a character really?

While Murmur stalks the city, Oliver ponders R'as' deal, Thea mopes and thinks about killing Malcolm, and the big revelation is Quentin Lance's break up with Arrow. At least poor doomed Larry, ahem, I mean Quentin Lance is finally acting rather than reacting. As much as this complicates things, it's good to see him thinking for himself. I would really hate to see him learn the hard way to make up with his daughter and Team Arrow, after say, colliding with a cosmic star being called Aquarius. Or a bad guy's bullet. Or arrow.

In Flashback Hong Kong, Oliver is babysitting Akio, the son of Katana and Maseo. One can only assume this is just prep for when we find out about his son Connor over in Central City. Speak of the devil, Oliver and Akio run into a friendly and unexpected face while running from the bad guys… Shado!

That's not all that happened, or all of the cliffhangers. Ollicity has been rebuilt, and while it's nice to see Felicity smile, I don't care about the relationship any more. It's been messed with and teased too much - it's too much trouble at this point. It's Laurel's turn. And speaking of Laurel, she's chilling with Nyssa, because they have so much in common, and Thea is back with Roy. See what I mean about moving pieces around on the board?

And then there's R'as in the flesh, in the Arrow outfit, in Starling City. This is so out of character. It's not that the old ploy of taking on the hero's identity to frame him isn't a workable old cliché, it's that R'as would never do it. He gives orders, he doesn't take things into his own hands like this. Not happy with this episode.

Next: Diggle and Lyla get married, and the Suicide Squad returns, in "Suicidal Tendencies."