1.) This episode was a bit of a letdown after Firefly.
Following last week’s fantastic “Burned”, “Trust But Verify” really didn’t live up to the hype the previous episode gave us. “Trust” ended up focusing more on the supporting cast than Ollie and Diggle which, while important in setting up further plots, didn’t feel very exciting. Plus, this week’s episode ended up being a security firm that stole from armored trucks. As interesting as that could have been, it didn’t live up to Firefly’s deranged Fireman. True, the Blackhawk tried to send a message about how hard it is for war veterans who find trouble in getting employed, but instead of helping them or something Ollie just shows up and shoots them with arrows. Arrow needs to shift the fine line between goofy and serious that it did last week if it wants to be nearly as good as “Firefly”.
2.) John Barrowman you scamp.
A good percentage of the conflict came from Ollie and Thea suspecting their mom of sleeping with John Barrowman. Maybe it’s because I can only really see him as Jack Harkness, but seeing Barrowman have fun by messing with Thea and groping her mom was a funny moment, even if it did lead to some serious consequences.
3.) Crack is whack. Vertigo is… a go go?
At her 18th birthday party, Thea was offered a new drug called Vertigo. While initially reluctant, she went ahead and took it after seeing John Barrowman reach for her mom’s bottom. After taking the drug, she crashed her new convertible into a tree and was arrested for driving under the influence. At least she avoided the other side effect of Vertigo: Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. This whole situation was really a neat set-up for next episode’s debut of Count Vertigo. I haven’t seen any pictures of what The Count looks like but I really hope Karen Berger’s recent departure from Vertigo was done to play the character.
4.) Ollie has more mysteries!
When confronted by Dig about how he trusts an arbitrary book over his friend who knows the target (a valid point), Ollie says that he was given a message by his father a few years ago that told him he had to take out every name in the book. Diggle responds by saying that Ollie was on the island for the past five years. Then, Ollie finishes with “I didn’t say I found it on the island.” Even though it was a little suspected, I’m glad the show basically confirmed that the flashbacks won’t be confined to just the island.
5.) The Island is the best part again.
After last week’s Island interlude consisting of Ollie punching a guy and taking his clothes, we finally get some more progress with Ollie’s adventures to save Arrow Classic on Purgatory. After disguising himself, Queen blends in with the sneaky black ops group until they find out it’s him because he’s been at this hero thing for a half hour and he’s pretty bad at it. Things take twist, however, when Arrow Classic turns out to be seemingly working for the black ops! Twists! Betrayl! Action! Not a 15 minute subplot about a rich guy complaining to his dad, John Barrowman! This is what Arrow needs!
Review Score: 6/10 – Some sequences were neat, but overall it was a kind of boring episode.