Glenn Walker is a writer who knows pop culture. He loves, hates, and lives pop culture. He knows too freaking much about pop culture, and here's where he talks about it all: movies, music, comics, television, and the rest... Welcome to Hell.
And just one more thing. R'as Al Ghul, in this incarnation at least, seems to be one of those guys who never finishes ordering in a restaurant. He keeps adding on to the deal made with Oliver. First Oliver has to take over as the Demon's Head, then he has to train, then he has to kill his friends, then he has marry Nyssa, then he has to destroy his city. It never ends.
At least in the opening scene this episode, yet another titled from a Bruce Springsteen song, Oliver briefly expressed surprise that it was Maseo who brought the Alpha Omega virus to R'as. It wasn't that I thought Oliver's training was slipping, it was the first time it occurred to me he might be playing along and have a plan after all. Was this all a ruse to trick R'as?
As far as the Alpha Omega virus goes, perhaps I was wrong with my Superboy paradox theory. It sure looks like Flashback Hong Kong is getting hosed. Has the show ever mentioned New York or Los Angeles in three seasons? For all we know, they might be gone as well. At least Team Arrow didn't believe it happened either.
Team Arrow is getting along as well as they can. I loved Diggle's plan with the gang and letting Black Canary clean them up with her scream. I'm still iffy on the sound the Canary Cry makes. I have always thought it like a very loud musical note or an ultrasonic tone. This sounds sorta like someone's killing a cat. Still it was sweet seeing Canary fight four guys at once. Diggle on the other hand is still freaked by Oliver's transformation and losing control a bit. If Oliver has a plan, I guess he's kept it to himself.
How the hell does Malcolm Merlyn get from Starling City saying goodbye to Thea in one scene to Nanda Parbat in Tibet in the next?? Did the Flash help him? Either way, I called it, moments before it was revealed, that Oliver was playing opossum. I just can't get it through my head why Oliver would cooperate with Malcolm over Team Arrow.
So Malcolm speeds mysteriously back to Starling to try to convince Team Arrow that Oliver is faking being R'as' heir and has a plan. Naturally they won't believe a liar, sociopath, and super-villain they know - so he brings in a future super-heroine they don't know - Katana. Somehow, her, they believe. How I'm supposed to believe Ferris Air offers such frequent flights to Tibet however...
The mid-episode fight between Team Arrow and the League of Assassins was pretty awesome. I would have liked more of Katana, the Atom, and the Black Canary in a mask, but I got was good. And John Barrowman was in exceptional fighting prime as well as the Magician. Katana's costume, even though it's roughly the New 52 version, looks great. I hope she stays around for a while now that she is finally here.
Meanwhile Thea goes to be with Roy, living undercover as Jason in an auto shop in Monument Point. Is Roy really gone, and will Thea finally become Speedy now? Comics readers might remember Monument Point is a city of secrets that once headquartered the Justice Society of America for a time in their last days. This isn't the only comics reference in this episode. Other than Ferris which has become a mainstay of the Arrowverse, there's also I believe the first mention of Nyssa's last name, Raatko, and dressing her in one of Neal Adams' Talia outfits.
This is quite a cliffhanger ending, both nail-biting and completely diffused as well. I mean, come on, they're not going to kill off 90% of the cast. I suspect Katana inoculated everyone before they got to Nanda Parbat. The real cliffhanger, is how is Team Arrow going to get away from R'as and the League of Assassins?
Next: "My Name Is Oliver Queen!"
For my other reviews of the entire "Arrow" series, click here. And if you'd like to discuss this episode and anything else in the Arrowverse, please join the Arrow Discussion Group on Facebook.
We get cool freshness in the opening seconds, a new spin on Stephen Amell's usual voiceover narrative, that indicates Oliver has entered a phase of his life, that of becoming the new R'as Al Ghul. In exchange for Thea's life, he has given himself over to Demon's training. Shortly after finally consummating Olicity, our hero is getting a buzzcut and a branding, as well as a new name, Al Sah-Him, which is, ironically enough, Arabic for 'The Arrow.' All this happened last episode.
What is most intriguing about the opening scenes of this episode is the discussion of a character called Damien Darhk during a heart to heart chat between R'as and Oliver. Darhk considered himself R'as' rival and equal, and his hesitation to kill him years ago has made a thorn in R'as' side ever since. This Darhk has not only his own hive of operatives, and some water from the Lazerus Pit, but has been involved in Oliver's affairs as well.
Notably, according to R'as of course, Darhk has tried to purchase Malcolm Merlyn's earthquake generator, has had dealings with Markovia, and was involved with that incident with Mark Shaw. R'as makes it clear - Damien Darhk is not just his enemy but Oliver's as well. This enemy must be eliminated.
Now there is not just one comics precedent to this character, but two, and they both fit. There was a Doctor Ebeneezer Daark who R'as put in charge of the League of Assassins, but eventually turned against the Demon. And then there's the closer name approximation, Damien Darhk, who was one of the leaders of the criminal organization called the H.I.V.E., who menaced the Teen Titans for years. Rumors say the H.I.V.E. will be baddies next season, and it wouldn't be the first time Arrow fought Titans villains... so perhaps this Darhk is a mix of the two.
As many of you may or may not know, I maintain a blog about French fries, so when we dropped in on Laurel and Nyssa discussing, eating, and dipping French fries into milkshakes - yeah, I was loving it. I have never really been a fan of Katie Cassidy, up until her recent appearance on "The Flash," and here bonding with Nyssa. Or maybe I just like her in this scene because fries are involved. Anyone who dips their fries in their shake is okay in my book.
Darhk and fries aside, the main plot of this episode revolves around Oliver returning to Starling City to kill Nyssa and basically erase all vestiges of his former life. This drags on seemingly forever. I liked the bits with Team Arrow re-shifting to adjust the absences of Oliver and Roy, and I dug the dinner at Dig and Lyla's. I hated that Oliver kidnapped Lyla. The only real good part is the debut, finally, of the second Speedy, even if it's Thea instead of Mia.
In Flashback Hong Kong, that we know is going to be all right because of 'the Superboy paradox' that I touched on here and explained here on The GAR! Podcast, but we see that characters can be markedly different on TV than they are in the comics. Case in point - General Shrieve, who is sooo not a villain. All I'm watching the flashbacks (or is it coming in the present day?) for is to finally see Katana in costume. At least now we know where this storyline is going.
Okay, show of hands, who else is done with this whole R'as Al Ghul storyline?
Next: The Bride of the Demon
For my other reviews of the entire "Arrow" series, click here. And if you'd like to discuss this episode and anything else in the Arrowverse, please join the Arrow Discussion Group on Facebook.
The big cliffhanger last time on "Arrow" was the seeming death of Thea at the hands of R'as Al Ghul. This was obvious the Demon's endgame in getting Oliver to do what he wants. And what does R'as want? He wants a heir, similar to his motives as a Batman foe, but some things have been unclear.
R'as indicates he's been the Demon's Head for hundreds of years, but never comes right out and says he's immortal. If he's immortal why does he need an heir, and why imply this transition has occurred before? The "Arrow" showrunners have been very careful not to use the proper term from the comics of R'as' resurrections - the Lazarus Pit. Instead, they have implied he has access to waters that heal, a fountain of youth if you will. They break that rule this episode.
We open on Oliver finding Thea, rushing her to the hospital, where they can only stabilize her to a vegetative state, comatose, dying slowly. When he sees Maseo signaling a meeting, Oliver is told that R'as will revive Thea, if Oliver takes his place as heir to the Demon.
When he discusses the choice with Team Arrow, Malcolm explains about, and uses the term, the Lazarus Pit, for the first time. It can rejuvenate, and restore the dead to life, but he warns that the one who is lost is not the one who comes back. They are changed, in their soul. Whether it works or not, Team Arrow is going to Nanda Parbat.
After a teary breakup and goodbye between Ray and Felicity, and terse words between Oliver and Malcolm, Team Arrow is off, assumedly with the Atom watching over Starling just in case the super-villain of the week is on schedule. It's notable I think that after she breaks up with Ray, Felicity boards the plane with her hair down, as she previously had for Barry and Ray, as opposed to up, as she usually does with Oliver.
The brief encounter between Diggle and Maseo is intense and telling, especially between two fathers and friends of Oliver. It is character moments like this, that stand above the soap stuff, and elevate "Arrow," and there have been damn few this season.
My first encounter with R'as Al Ghul in the comics, from Batman #244, which I've talked about before, also featured an emergence of R'as from the Lazarus Pit. The Demon was enraged, mad, violent, and possessed of superhuman strength. I was impressed to see that version of the Pit's effects carried over to the TV version. If only momentarily, Thea is a crazed animal, followed by confusion.
And then... "so that happened." After confronting and threatening R'as, the Demon tells Felicity she needs to tell Oliver how she feels before it's too late. She does, and what we've been waiting for for so long happens. Ollicity consummated. I'm glad it happened finally, and was done so well and tastefully for TV, but one thing really irks me. It happened because R'as pushed Felicity. There's just something both wrong and icky about that.
As if making love to Oliver wasn't insane enough, what Felicity does next is totally cray-cray. She drugs him into unconsciousness and tries, with the help of Team Arrow, and Maseo, whose chat with Diggle weighed on his soul, to smuggle him out of Nanda Parbat. Oliver wakes up however and puts a stop to it. And same old one-night-stand stubborn Ollie sends them on their way, while he stays, ready to be transformed into Al Sah-Him, heir to the Demon.
The parallel storyline in Flashback Hong Kong involves Oliver, Maseo, and Katana trying to stop General Shrieve from attacking China with a deadly bio-weapon. Like a Superboy story from the 1950s, this is a flashback that doesn't hold much bite. Just as we know Superboy grows up to be Superman, we know China isn't hit with a bio-weapon. I was also amused by all the gunplay in the one chase scene - no one involved appeared to be able hit anything, it was like everyone was a Stormtrooper. No real cliffhanger there.
Next: "Al Sah-Him!"
For my other reviews of the entire "Arrow" series, click here. And if you'd like to discuss this episode and anything else in the Arrowverse, please join the Arrow Discussion Group on Facebook.
Lou Scheimer, the father of Filmation, and the king of American television animation for many of our childhoods, has passed away at the age of 84.
Filmation was a small animation studio, one of the few still doing animation in the United States, rather than shipping it overseas. Founded by Scheimer, Hal Sutherland, and Norm Prescott in 1962, they did some little known cartoons like "Rod Rocket." They really caught fire when they licensed the DC Comics characters in 1966.
Beginning with "The New Adventures of Superman," they began to expand to shorts that featured other characters like Superboy, Aquaman, Batman and Robin, and later the Justice League of America and the Teen Titans, as well as those groups' individual members. These cartoons were, along with the 1966 "Batman" TV series on ABC, my gateway drug into comic books. My love of Aquaman, Superboy, and others sprang from early viewings.
The DC deal brought another comics company to Filmation's offices, and Archie came to Saturday morning animation for years under their guidance. Later in the 1970s, Filmation became a major player in the animation game, producing cartoons of "The Brady Kids," "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," and "Star Trek: The Animated Series" among many others.
Filmation delved into live-action with shows like "Isis," "Space Academy" and Shazam." While the studio began to get a reputation for repeating backgrounds, limited animation, recycling designs, rapid jump cuts, and using the same music over again, they had also produced some real quality programming as well.
In the 1980s Filmation produced some of its most well known shows like "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe," which featured, like many of the previous shows, a lesson at the end of every episode. Before closing up shop in 1989, Filmation also produced over the years some very cool versions of Flash Gordon, Tarzan, and the Lone Ranger, using then fairly new rotoscoping techniques.
With the loss of Lou Scheimer on Friday, we have lost one the legends of animation, and for me, a big chunk of my childhood. He'll be missed.
I've never been big on secret origins, except when they are shorter than a sentence or two or a minute or two. Just tell us what we need to know about the character or the situation and start the story. As a matter of fact, one writer rule states that you should always start in the middle of the story - beginnings are for suckers. Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho is a near perfect classic of the horror thriller genre, did we really need an ongoing prequel TV series? Why do we need A&E's "Bates Motel"?
While it might not be the first to do such, I do blame "Smallville." It's the story of Superman, before he was Superman. If you're a comics person, your first instinct is probably Superboy, and that's really the problem with "Smallville." All of the names are the same, but nothing else is. "Smallville" bears very little resemblance to Superboy. In the series, there is no Superboy, we see the looong journey of Clark Kent growing to manhood, and in the last moments of the last episode of the series, he finally becomes Superman. Over a decade later. Yeah, that long. And the whole time, all you really want from this show is to see him as Superman.
And that is why I hate secret origins, especially when they disguise themselves as ongoing TV series. I have to wonder, is that what "Bates Motel" will be like? Will we be waiting forever for our young protagonist Norman Bates to begin showing signs of the sociopath he is by the time the events of Psycho roll around? Will it take a decade?
The other obstacle (or perhaps it's a good thing, for the new show at least) is the many folks who are watching who have no point of reference for Norman Bates. I know it's hard to believe, but it's a factor. After all, believe it or not, there were teenagers watching "Smallville" who didn't get the Superman (or Superboy) references and thought it was just a cross between "The X-Files" and "Beverly Hills 90210." Certainly that worked. Half the audience was there for the soap opera, and half for the pseudo-superhero stuff. Perhaps "Bates Motel" might just work as a show about a gawky kid with a overbearing mother who run a creepy motel, period.
"Bates Motel" is set present day, we begin with Norman's dad dead, and Mom rushing them away to start over again, a habit she seems to have. The two are a little bit too close, and Vera Farmiga is just as overbearing as Norma Bates, as Freddie Highmore is creepy as young Norman. She's a bit too pretty for my tastes, even as a young Norma Bates, but her paranoid craziness fills out the rest of her character well.
On their latest 'start over,' they buy an old motel foreclosed on by the bank. When a even creepier neighbor starts to harass them because the motel and property had been in his family for decades, well, things escalate. He breaks in, rapes Norma, and Norman saves her, after which Mom finishes the job, killing the attacker. Don't call the police, we'll cover this up ourselves is Norma's battle cry. We kinda start to get the vibe maybe Dad's death wasn't quite what it seemed.
As creepy as the killer and the collaborator are, Nestor Carbonell is even scarier as Sheriff Alex Romero. If you locked me in a room with the three of them, he's the one I'd be most scared of. There are some genuinely chilling moments here, as well as some "90120" caliber teenage soap moments. There's also a cliffhanger that is very tempting to keep me watching, but I have to wonder, will this drag on forever and take a decade to get to the point, or will it surprise me. We'll just have to wait and see.
