1. Speedy’s in the Fold
Well, after three seasons of a major plot point being “if Thea finds out, she’ll hate me,” the show completely flipped the script and made her totally OK with her brother being a vigilante right under her nose. Is there some internal logic to her reaction? Sure, there is, but this still feels like a cop-out after literally dozens of hours of evidence to the contrary.
I had said in yesterday’s Flash review that I didn’t care if some of the stuff on the show was originally Wally stuff, or even Bart stuff, as long as it presented the best possible Flash. I’m of the same opinion for Arrow, although this feels far more like the show course-correcting as it goes along, and leaving some messy continuity in its wake, versus actively embracing various bits of the character’s history.
2. Dead Sara > Living Laurel
Seeing the two Canaries in the same frame tonight was pretty telling in one very clear way: boy, oh boy, do we miss Sara. And, here’s the thing: I’m pretty sure that was all intentional.
The show is trying to make us understand that Laurel isn’t quite there yet: Sara, in costume, screamed both sexy and dangerous – Laurel, in costume, looks awkward and confused. While I do think that the show will, eventually, make us believe that she is, in fact, a capable vigilante, that day is not here yet. That is fine, as long as the show has a plan to bring her along, because showing Sara in flashbacks just makes the awkwardness of Laurel sting a little bit more.
3. RIP DJ Dip Shit
We hardly knew this lame needle dropper, but we did get to see him bone down with Thea, take an arrow in the back, and drink some poison, Romeo style, right in front of both the girl he just banged, her ex, and her dad. That’s a pretty busy evening.
4. The (Not So) Lonely Island
Seeing Thea and Ollie return to the infamous island signals two things: 1) the show still puts a lot of importance on Ollie’s time there, even as the flashbacks continue to pull him further away from there, thus limiting the time he actually spent there, and 2) there is value, to them, in separating Ollie from Team Arrow for a bit.
The second part is weird, because just last week he rejoined them, a fact that they remind him of when he announces his departure. That is some Superman II/Superman Returns bullshit (to refresh your memory: at the end of Superman II, Supes tells the president that he won’t be leaving again – Returns takes place after II, and Supes has been gone for 5 years). Part of the show’s charm is the way that Team Arrow works together, and by further separating Ollie from that, we get some duller stories.
5. It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Smallville
Look, I still really enjoy thsi show, but with all the backpedaling of origins and the sheer number of people who know Ollie’s secret (it must be in nearing two-three dozen living people), this is starting to feel like the latter seasons of the O.G. CW superhero show, Smallville. Now, before y’all jump down my ass for this, I admit that Arrow is 10x the show Smallville was – but hear me out.
On that show, everything, and I mean everything happened before Clark became Superman. Doomsday, the JSA, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, fuckin’ Supergirl, everything. By the end of the show, it was an entire small village of heroes on Clark’s side, and while that was fun, the show stopped being about Clark and was more about Lois and the gang of merry metahumans, while brooding Clark wore a leather jacket and sort of never helped anyone.
The show is in danger of doing that to Ollie. I don’t want to lose this team/cast – keep ’em as they are, but remember that Ollie is the lynchpin here. Let him lead the team and be the focus – not the sole focus, as his island time will certainly provide – and the show will benefit.
