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Five Thoughts on Arrow‘s “The Thanatos Guild”

By | March 30th, 2018
Posted in Television | % Comments

Arrow returns with a blast from the past as the legacy of Malcolm Merlyn looms over Star City with the Thanatos Guild out the blood of the Thea Queen. “The Thanatos Guild” was directed by Joel Novoa and written by Beth Schwartz & Ben Sokolowski.

1. The League and Season 6 Remix
As someone who overall enjoys the intent of Arrow season 3, even if its episode by episode execution stumbled a bit, “The Thanatos Guild” had me interested from the start. Given the remix quality of this season, it gave the series another chance to do something interesting with the League after disbanding it midway through season 4. Overall I’d say they succeeded by turning this new version of it, the titular Thanatos Guild, into a metaphor to continue the discussions of this seasons overarching motif of fatherhood. The League generally acted as a place for identity reconstruction, taking that and giving it a haunted spin with Malcom Merlyn ghostly legacy lets this episode fit right in with the seasons overall motif even as it stands alone.

There is a fatalism to how the legacy/sins of the father play out on the children in Arrow. Ollie is bound by the promise he made to his father, and as penance, to trying to save Star City … even if him being an agent of systemic change is questionable. Nyssa, despite physically melting the symbol of her father’s legacy, is similarly trapped in clean up duty. The Thanatos Guild is another reminder that their material legacy may be destroyed, the weight of history isn’t something they can easily get out from under.

While this episode is fairly standalone, I’m curious to see if this adventure causes any sort of self-recriminations on the part of Oliver. He’s got yet another reminder of the unintended effects fathers can have on their children, what’s to say he hasn’t already fated his William for something.

2. Best Selves
One of the things that makes that history so hard to escape or defeat, is how it gives these characters a chance to find their “best selves” as Thea put it. Often, this self-actualization involves enacting similarly violent and destructive and perpetuating the cycles of violence they’ve sworn to stop. Ollie dealing with the fact he’s killed at least a hundred people is always going to be a muddled subject for many reasons. But it is interesting to note how the Thanatos Guild gives Ollie a chance to more explicitly get some murder on in dispatching the hench people. It, understandably, isn’t emphasized but he guts a couple of people. That mixed with this being the episode where Ollie fully realizes that he cannot give up the hood and pass it on to Diggle. It shows how locked and trapped by legacy he is, when given the chance to break the cycle he cannot take it. Without the hood, there is not an outlet to combat and perpetuate the legacy he wants to eliminate. It’s not like he’s the mayor of a city and could use that position to correct the corporate abuses his families business was built on or anything.

3. The Return of Katrina Law
By the transitive property of being a Spartacus alum, Katrina Law as Nyssa Al Ghul is among one of the best things in the DCWverse. Her posh domineering screen presence is just a couple of pitches above everyone else and is endlessly watchable. That was one of the main reasons I vainly hoped she’d be joining the Legends crew, imagine her bouncing off that group of oddballs.

4. The Exit of Willa Holland
With Willa Holland asking for a lighter schedule, the writing was on the wall she wasn’t going to be a regular presence much longer. This was the right kind of sendoff, it certainly beats being stuck in another coma. With the CW programing Sundays next fall, and trying to program more during the summer, these three new Lazarus Pitts have all the makings of a fun miniseries. Katrina Law’s presence alone would make it worth it.

This is how characters should be written off. It takes the actors off the board, but keeps them open for a mixture of brief cameos and guest spots when the time allows. Even discounting the function of it all, Thea and Roy being allowed to go off and be happy together is a nice romantic gesture. It echoes the finale of season 3 but actually manages to play in a believable way. The chemistry between Holland and Haynes wasn’t that great but the show can trade on their character histories together to get things over the top. Maybe they’ll find the secret to breaking the cycle and escaping paternal legacies off screen.

5. The Curtis and Dinah Adventures
C-plots can be cumbersome and annoying. Curtis and Dinah are kept separated from everyone in order for them to investigate the SCPD and be the serializing element. I wouldn’t say anything in this thread was particularly revelatory. Curtis stalling for Dinah was lacking any sort of tension. However, if Curtis and his new date Nick become a recurring element in the show, maybe they will get to have a little fun. With everyone knowing how everyone spends their nights, there hasn’t been much playful any secret identity tension or double entendre. Curtis and Nick might just be an antidote to this dry spell.


//TAGS | Arrow

Michael Mazzacane

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