This week on Arrow: Ollie tells the justice system to kiss his butt as he goes about collecting evidence in the worst way possible. Spoilers ahead!
Before I start recapping and reviewing, I’d like to apologize for the lateness of this review. My power went out due to Hurricane Sandy and was just restored this weekend. Thank you for your patience.
Continuing straight from last week’s ending with Ollie treating Diggle’s poison bullet wound, Queen greets Dig with his typical morning-after “Hey.” Diggle is offered a chance to partner up with Ollie but storms out after failing to punch Queen upon the realization that he is Green Arrow. Ollie then heads back to the mansion to check on his little sister who is watching archive footage from 2008 of a man sentenced to death for murdering his wife on TV. You know, because MTV doesn’t have real music anymore. Ollie declares that the man, Steve Declan MUST be innocent since his wife’s boss is on the list. Realizing that his hunch based on a list of the rich people who he believes crashed his yacht that he got from a mysterious island may not hold up in court, Ollie teams up with Laurel, who is convinced to serve as Declan’s attorney literally 48 hours before his execution since Declan had so much to do in his four years in prison before he could get around to getting an attorney. Ollie discovers that Declan’s wife was going to blow the whistle on her boss, Jason Brodeur, and his illegal chemical dumping, but he had her murdered by some Russian Guy. Ollie goes around collecting evidence in the worst way possible, until he learns that Brodeur has sent the Russian Guy to kill Declan at the prison before he can be acquitted with the new evidence. Ollie shoots some arrows, saves Declan, gets Brodeur arrested, and everyone goes out for ice cream. However, Detective Lance, the only detective in Starling City, notices security footage from the prison of Ollie changing into his disguise and arrests him for being Arrow in front of the rest of the Queen family who are completely flustered.
1.) This week’s conspiracy made no sense.
This week, Evil Businessman 4123 AKA Jason Brodeur framed his employee’s husband for murder since she was going to testify against him for illegal chemical dumping. It’d be one thing if the husband didn’t know what was going on and couldn’t say anything to the police about the chemical dumping, except he tells Laurel his wife told him about the chemical dumping. Several times. So either he never told the police, or they were too busy since they only have one detective and Young Jack Nicholson was too busy dealing with a parking offense that day. Why would he even keep the husband alive? His own Russian hitman says that to him and Brodeur responds “DECLAN WAS WORTH MORE ALIVE!” Except Declan really isn’t. I’m no expert on criminal justice, but if a guy says he was framed by his wife’s employer because she was about to expose the wrongdoings of a major corporation, I think the police are kind of obligated to at least make a phone call. Later, Brodeur tries to have Declan murdered by Russian Guy, except now Declan is in a prison surrounded by guards and the only reason to have him killed now instead of earlier is plot convenience.
2.) No one working on this show has ever heard of due process.
Arrow is a vigilante and so far that’s worked pretty well for him. He hasn’t tried to arrest those who wronged his father as much as he’s used them for target practice. However, in this episode he tries to use the legal system to clear the name of AN INNOCENT MAN (a phrase said by every character in this episode a good dozen times each). Ollie goes to the supervisor of the victim and ties him to a train track to get a file and then shoots Brodeur in the hand to get a confession. I’ve only played half of a Phoenix Wright demo but even I know that’s not going to help Declan’s court case at all. Even when Laurel goes to the judge to ask for a stay of execution for Declan, the judge says no on the grounds that the new evidence was grabbed from the hands of a shrieking man tied to a train track.
Continued below3.) Diggle is still the greatest character on this show.
After waking up from being shot by poison bullets (I still squeak in joy whenever I write those words), Diggle’s first response upon being propositioned by Queen to be his partner is punching. Diggle storms out after his attempt at punching to go to his sister in law’s restaurant where he spends the rest of the episode moping and eating hot wings. Meanwhile, Ollie’s new bodyguard, Rob Scott, a man who has a name that reminds me of Steve Holt and looks like he always needs to poop.
Rob Scott leaves after Ollie runs away on his motorcycle for the third time. After talking with his sister-in-law about making a difference in the city,Diggle returns to Ollie and agrees to be his partner in punching the rich. Diggle’s actually having some great character development as a guy who actually wants to change the city for the better and isn’t a goddamn maniac like Ollie is.
4.) The island flashbacks are still going strong.
This week’s island flashback consisted of Younger Ollie refusing to kill a chicken for dinner since he has never killed anything before. Arrow Classic tells him that in order to survive, he must be willing to kill and must let go of Laurel. As seemingly mundane as this c-plot sounds, I was genuinely interested in seeing how Ollie went from “I can’t kill this bird!” to “Yeah, tying this guy to the train tracks is going to be SO RAD!”
5). Step-Dad with soul patch is finally getting stuff to do.
Step-Dad With Soul Patch, aka Walter, spent this episode looking into some 2.6 million dollars that Moira had paid into a failed investment. With the help of Blonde Zooey Deschanel, Walt finds a warehouse for a super secret project codenamed “Tempest”. Inside the warehosue? The yacht that Ollie crashed in. Meanwhile, Moira meets with one her fellow conspirators…
Jack Freaking Harkness.
5 1/2.) Best Moment
When Ollie rescues Declan from Russian Guy’s assassination attempt, this is the costume he wears that no one in the prison calls him out on.
This show is incredible.
Review Score: 8/10 – This show isn’t what I’d call “objectively good” but it is so fun.
I would also like to point out that Arrow’s creator is the writer of the new Vibe title coming from DC. DC is truly entering a new golden age.
