Arrow S03 E14: "The Return"

We have a very interesting switch in the storytelling dynamic in this episode. As Oliver and Thea go to Lian Yu, which I've called Flashback Island for the last three years of reviews, Oliver and Maseo from Flashback Hong Kong, along with Amanda Waller, pay a secret visit to Starling City during the time it is believed Oliver is dead. Like I said, interesting.

Oliver had asked Malcolm to train him so he could beat R'as al Ghul, and apparently the island is his idea of training. As if we didn't already know Malcolm was a bit twisted, right? I loved the camera pan approach to Flashback Island, with the shipwrecked Amazo near the shore, nice touch.

How crazy is Merlyn? Very. He released Deathstroke on the island so that Oliver can get his killing edge back. But wait, wasn't Captain Boomerang also imprisoned on the island? Where was he? It was a bit of a cop out to say he was elsewhere in the prison.

In the past, Oliver and Maseo are still tracking China White and her bio-weapon. Being in Starling past gives us a chance to not only see cast members in a variety of bad "Undercover Boss" hairstyles but also see dead folks like Colin Donnell returning as Tommy Merlin. We also see the past addictions of Thea, Quentin, and Laurel in more revealing light.

What's fun about the past is watching Oliver sneak around in disguise dodging anyone who might recognize him. It reminded me of Marty dodging his past self, mom and dad, and Biff, when he returned to the 1950s in Back to the Future Part II. Quentin's possibly drunken outburst at Tommy's party echoed what I was thinking earlier in the episode - Oliver had destroyed everyone's life.

I loved when Oliver, trying to say he was good at hiding from his family and friends, said he pulled his hoodie down to cover his face - and Maseo countered with "that disguise wouldn't work even if you smeared grease paint over your face." Beautiful. It is also a testament to Stephen Amell's acting skills that he can pull off both naive and spoiled, and then brave and resourceful - in the same character years apart and make it believable. He's damn good.

Past, present, Deathstroke, Merlyn, Waller... but none of it matters more than the real boogeyman in this episode. The truth. Oliver tells Thea the truth, the real truth, that she killed Sara. It nearly pushes her over the edge. That said, watching Oliver and Thea, Green Arrow and Speedy, fight Slade, Deathstroke, could only have been better with costumes.

And then there's Deathstroke's line to Oliver about Thea, how she's been touched by darkness and that Merlyn must be an interesting man to do that to his own daughter. Although we've seen a character in the show called Ravager, in the comics Slade did do something very similar to his own daughter who then called herself Ravager. And let's not even discuss her brother, his son, who was the original Ravager.

There are other connections and separations made in this episode. Thea will cooperate but no longer have family ties with Malcolm. Quentin and Laurel are at odds, but for the first time the name 'Black Canary' is uttered. Again I worry for Quentin as this would be tragic if he was to die now, and because he's the TV version of Larry Lance, we know he's doomed sooner or later.

Colin Donnell isn't the only actor to return from the dead this time out. There's also Jamey Sheridan as Robert Queen as seen in a recording for Oliver, solving another minor mystery of the series. This is neat tie-up of a small but missing piece of Arrow's origins.

The final closer however is the appearance of General Matthew Shrieve as played by a rather worn and aged looking Marc Singer. This is a surprising addition to a TV series based on Green Arrow. In the comics, Shrieve is the human leader of Project M, better known as the Creature Commandos, sort of a war/horror hybrid comic. They are a squad of soldiers made up of classic monsters - a werewolf, a vampire, a gorgon, and Frankenstein monster-like creature. Who knows where this plot point will go...

Next: "Nanda Parbat!"



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Arrow S02 E22: "Streets of Fire"

Now the first thing I think of when I hear the words "Streets of Fire," the title of this week's episode of "Arrow," I think of that less than satisfactory musical by Walter Hill from the early 1980s. Hopefully this will wipe that image from my mind.

When last we left Team Arrow, Brother Blood's Mirakuru army was on the rampage in Starling City. Diggle was about to get his ass handed to him by Isabel/Ravager, Arrow and Laurel were trapped underground, Thea was in danger, Quentin was in danger, and Felicity was taking a call... but I'm sure in danger as well. We pick up moments after we left off.

The cliffhangers are handled better than they have been recently. It's good to see the good guys on top of their game for once. I like seeing resourceful heroes. There is a great moment when Kate Spencer confronts Sebastian Blood about the chaos in the city, and the fanboy in me just wanted her to take matters into her own hands and change into Manhunter. But that ain't gonna happen. Apparently there is a limit to heroes in Starling City, and it's not cool, not cool at all.

And then there's the return of John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn, coming to Thea's rescue in full Dark Archer regalia. He claims he heard about Moira's death and returned to make sure his daughter was all right. Canary is also back, seemingly for the same reasons, but no, it's more like she needed to confess to her sister.

Felicity's phone call panned out however. Vibe and Killer Frost, ahem, I mean Cisco and Caitlin over at S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City have come up with a cure for Mirakuru. It just has to be retrieved, unfortunately Slade knows all about it. The team is intercepted en route with Slade's forces closing in. The episode is actually very much like the end of the first season, with the city in ruins and the cast dispersed.

We also see pieces of the puzzle finally coming together in this episode. We see the beginning of a trust between the Arrow and the police. Quentin's words about masks tearing up the city, and needing a mask to put a stop to it ring in a new era. On Flashback Island, we see the bond of trust made between Oliver and Anatoly, who in the comics becomes the KGBeast, cementing his connection to the Russian mob.

And now for the bad stuff. Sebastian Blood, becoming more and more dissatisfied with Slade's plans, devastation of the city, and obsession with the Arrow, betrays his superior. The cure goes from Slade's hands to Blood's to the Arrow's, thanks to Blood, and for that, the Ravager kills him. I'm not a fan of villains killing villains. It takes it out of the hero's hands, making the heroism a little less satisfying. We want to see the hero beat the villain, so let us.

And don't let the hero's kid sister kill the villain either. But we'll see how that works out next week as well. Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S. has blocked all roads and bridges out of Starling City in an effort to keep Slade's army from getting out. She'll level the city at dawn if the Arrow hasn't stopped them. That's the cliffhanger for the season finale, with a nice shout out to the JSA's Monument Point thrown in just for good measure. See you next week.

Arrow S02 E21: "City of Blood"

We open on tragedy - the funeral of Moira Queen and the swearing in of Sebastian Blood as mayor of Starling City. And Oliver is missing.

The feeling at the wake is pretty much as expected. Thea hates Oliver, is feeling guilty over her Mom's death, and in general tired of secrets. And really who can blame her? Felicity and Diggle are surprised by the appearance of Isabel who has ominous words for them, threats really. Isn't she supposed to be dead? I kept waiting for one of them to verbalized it but it never came. At least not right away.

Oliver is not the only one in the wind. Sara has also drifted off the radar, and of course being the target of a manhunt, Slade Wilson is similarly missing. He does call Blood to congratulate him on becoming mayor however.

Speaking of Blood, Laurel and her dad plant a bug in his office and find he wrote a condolence press release the day before Moira was killed. All well and good, but isn't a red flashing bug the wrong thing to use on a stealth mission? There are also blinking explosive charges later. Why does it have to blink? Are we that dumb we won't know it's working unless it blinks?

After the weekly reminder that the Flash is coming, Diggle takes Felicity to see Amanda Waller in hopes she'll help them find Oliver. She does. He's in his lair. His other lair. Yep, there's a backup Arrowcave. There they find Oliver, depressed and obsessed. He has decided to surrender to Slade and let him kill him. I guess someone has hit rock bottom.

And of course, Team Arrow is going to need a second Arrowcave because Isabel is evicting Thea from Verdant, as the club is owned by Queen Consolidated. And as we know, Verdant is on top of the not-so-secret Arrowcave. This may be permanent as the producers have promised a few changes of venue for the third season.

When Laurel joins Team Arrow, all the pieces come together. She connects the dots for Oliver regarding Blood and Wilson. It re-energizes Oliver and he goes to meet with Sebastian Blood in a public restaurant. The subtle menace between these two actors, Stephen Amell and Kevin Alejandro, is power and heat - great scene with all the cards on the table.

As the episode closes, Blood's army is on the loose, and things look very dark for Team Arrow and Starling City. With only two episodes left in the season, next time we have Diggle vs. Ravager, the return of Malcolm Merlyn, Arrow and Laurel buried alive, Quentin and Thea under attack by Blood's Mirakuru minions, and Felicity gets a call from Vibe. All this and more, next week.

Arrow S02 E20: "Seeing Red"

One week later from the events of our last episode, Roy has lain comatose in the Arrowcave as Felicity's friends at S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City try to recreate a cure for Mirakuru. Felicity turns her head for a second in the opening, and Roy is up and around, and on the rampage.

This is one of these episodes where the main thrust of the plot is really merely a distraction. Yeah, everything revolves around Roy's rampage, but what it really is is an excuse for little vignettes with other characters. Diggle and Felicity, Diggle and Thea, Thea and her mom, Thea and Sin, Oliver and Sara, it goes on, ultimately ending with Mom telling Oliver she knows he's the Arrow, and has known for a while.

In his rage, Roy takes down Arrow and Canary, just like Deathstroke would have, sans the training - or are the fighting skills inherent to the Mirakuru? And speaking of Slade, where is he? Taking a break while the Roy subplot plays out? In the fight, Arrow's leg takes a beating, making him pretty useless the rest of the episode. It's okay because Roy's rampage was for the most part useless too, he was back in the Arrowcave status quo by the end anyway.

And as long as we're talking about subplots, Flashback Island goes out the window this week in favor of a flashback of a different kind. This one goes back seven years, to the midst of Oliver and Laurel's relationship, when Ollie's extracurricular activities resulted in another girl getting pregnant. Could this be Connor Hawke's mother?

I asked earlier where Slade was. We find out in the final moments of the episode. As Mom, Thea, and Oliver leave a mayoral rally, the car crashes and our hero wakes to find them all tied up, with Slade stalking over them with a gun. He offers Oliver the same choice Ivo offered him on the island - choose who dies. Mom makes the decision for him.

"Seeing Red" was a mediocre episode with excellent character development, and a beautiful terrible pay off. This just goes to show you it is always a bad idea to know a super hero's secret identity, and as far as Roy goes, based on this episode, it doesn't look good for him either.

What was Mom about to tell her children when Slade interrupted them? What friend was Sara going to see? What about Oliver's child who would be about six now? And who was the other person Slade needed to kill? The season is rushing to a close, see you next week.



…and was that Ravager?