Be warned, major spoilers follow!
1. Finally, a Good Role for Roy
Roy has been a character that has always been much better in theory than in practice on this show, as evidenced by Colton Haynes, at times, taking lessons from the Keanu Reeves school of acting. This season added a few new (quite subtle and, sometimes, totally ignored) layers to his character, but tonight is by far the best acting we’ve seen from Haynes.
Of course, that happens as the show sends him away – although, to be fair, characters tend to “leave Starling City for good” only to be back a week or two later all the time, so who knows when we’ll actually see him again – but we will.
2. Ollie’s Best One-Liner Ever
“There’s a good chance that you and Roy are related.”
BOOM, Queen!
3. Ray as Hero
A lot of people have been comparing Arrow Ray Palmer to MCU Iron Man and, up until this episode, that is a totally valid criticism – there has been nothing all that unique about the character and, until the nanobytes from a few weeks ago let him be a human shrinky dink, he really is just the suit.
And Oliver makes that point tonight in a way that feels brutally honest but also kinder than he needs to be. Ray’s brain has carried him through life – to be fair, the dude can rock a double salmon ladder as well, but his workout regimen seems to be something his body does to let his brain have some tech-free time – and Ray realizes that, perhaps, that isn’t enough.
Ray needs to be trained, and needs to allow the suit to help him, not define him. This is something that Iron Man covered in the first film, but has been obscured by just how good Tony’s tech. It makes Ray far more interesting to have him be flawed at hand to hand combat. Hell, maybe he’ll follow Roy to Blüdhaven, or whatever DCU city he winds up in, and get trained by Roy, who is basically Ollie-level good, but without the love triangle business (plus added parkour!).
4. Thea
If you had asked me what would be Thea’s downfall would be this season, I’d have bet dollars to donuts that it would be something similar to the DJ Dip Shit situation: her father’s League connections, now that she’s embraced him, would cause her to get into trouble/die. Well, it was the League that did her in, but not because of her father, but because of her brother.
The trailer for next week’s episode sheds a little light on what exactly happens to Thea, but I know some fans don’t look at the preview, so I’ll save that discussion for next week. But I will say this: Thea, rocking a red wine buzz, can at least stop Ra’s al Ghul from killing her for a good six seconds. Be proud of that, kid!
5. Busted Wide Open
This week completely expanded the Arrow universe in a number of interesting ways. First of all, it sent Roy off to a new city that, eventually can be explored, while also namedropping Opal City into the show. It also introduced the idea, for the first time, that metahumans could exist/be created beyond just the particle accelerator. The preview for next week shows another longstanding DC concept, teased for a bit, finally coming into the show which, again, has a ton of potential for big changes to the show.
But the biggest change for the show is the revelation that it seems quite unlikely that Oliver Queen can ever really don the Arrow gear again as a vigilante in Starling City. He’s known and wanted by the police, the citizens have turned on him, and Captain Lance isn’t going to back down anytime soon. Oliver Queen is at war with Ra’s al Ghul; the Arrow is at war with Starling City, the very place that caused the Arrow’s creation.
Continued belowBecause of that, the show is setting up the end of season three to completely change the dynamic of the city’s relationship with Oliver Queen. Will he eventually be deputized? Will Queen be out in favor of a captain with more sympathies? Will Lance ever see the error of his ways?
It is due to questions like this that Arrow, for the first time since Sara’s death, really feels exciting and fresh again, even when placed next to The Flash.
Agree or disagree, let me know in the comments!
