1.) Quentin Lance, The Hero Starling City Needs…
and the only one it has. Quentin continued being literally the only cop this week, investigating the death of a young girl who got hit by a car while on Vertigo. It’s a real shame, similar thing happened to my best friend when he was walking home while reading Fables. Either way, Lance continues to be one of the more fun-to-watch characters on the show. His response when given the full medical terms from the Autopsy, “Do I look like I went to med school?” is great. Only problem that seems to come up with him is how he seems to be breaking protocol every time he takes a case featuring someone he knows because real police are supposed to never do that. But I’m not complaining; Quentin’s voice and roughness may be one of my favorite parts of the show.
2.) What a Strange villain.
So the reemergence of Venom is revealed not to come from The Count, who was thrown into Not Arkham Asylum for being really Eastern European or something, but his doctor. The doctor who exploits his patients for his own gains and learns of the hero’s secret identity while psychologically torturing them. We had one bodyguard who died within ten seconds of his introduction named Drakon in the first episode, but no one at Arrow wanted to live a little and name this guy Hugo Strange. At least Not Strange gets the best death ever when Ollie is drugged with Vertigo and Not Strange says Queen could never hit him with an arrow. So Ollie fires three arrows simultaneously. This show is honestly incredible sometimes.
3.) Tommy Meryln: Character Arc-er
Tommy was featured heavily this week as Quentin investigated him under allegations of selling Vertigo to the girl who got hit by a truck. When Quentin asked to investigate the sub-basement, where Ollie keeps all his Arrow stuff, Tommy did a sweet bro move and moved all the equipment to… somewhere? Unfortunately Tommy remained resentful of Ollie who believed Tommy would have sold the Vertigo. So Tommy goes to meet a mysterious benefactor asking for a job, only for the man to be revealed as John Barrowman. This is now roughly the fourth time a dramatic character reveal has turned out to lead to Jack Harkness. Either way, Tommy’s descent into becoming Mini Merlyn, or at least any type of villain, will surely be interesting to see. Also, John Barrowman’s face does not change at all during this scene.
4.) The Island
This week on the Island, Slade and Yao Fei’s daughter did some awesome sparring while Ollie complained. Then they made Ollie slap a bowl of water for days on end while he complained. Then they watched him pull back an arrow which he couldn’t do before because he never slapped water(?)
I really enjoy The Island sequences
5.) Ready, Aim…
Diggle also had a great subplot this week as he started to hunt down Deadshot in retribution for his brother Andy Diggle’s murder. Deadshot apparently capped him for leaving Action Comics in Tony Daniel’s hands. Anyway, Diggle meets up with his friend from ARGUS(?!) who John offers to kill Deadshot for. When John gets home, he expects Ollie, whose past two episodes have been all about how killing is wrong, only to find that Ollie is SO UP for killing some Floyd Lawton. I don’t think this show really follows its own logic, but Arrow is at its best when it doesn’t.
Review Score: 7/10 – Some entertaining moments with a promise of good things to come.
