Jessie Robertson reviews the sixth episode of Arrow season 5…
Apparently, douche is a universal word in all languages….
Arrow straightens on it’s path to re-branding itself this season and it looks like the projectile is going to hit the mark. Season 4 began so promising, the rise of a new super-villain, a true, powerful mystic named Damien Dahrk with a sharp wit and snarky demeanor who could back it up with serious fighting skills. But, as the season progressed and the flashbacks got more dull and out of step, and the evil twisted plot of Dahrk took strange turn after strange turn, of course, then they blew up a whole town with a nuke, it seemed redemption was a far off sight. It felt a strange far-cry from the show that kicked off this superhero craze on the small screen when Arrow was simply about a man who killed every corrupt gangster and bad guy he could find as his life on a tyrannical island kept the mystery alive of what exactly did he go through those five years? Over the summer, I read so many complaints about Arrow (and Ollicity) and how most people simply seemed to write the show off and it felt like none of them had watched it. Well, if you ever liked Arrow, now is the time to jump back in…..I think (we’ll get to it).
First let’s highlight the positives, of which there are many: Oliver has brought together a whole new group of vigilantes and they are all interesting, whether it’s Wild Dog, who’s Oliver’s younger self practically, Curtis, a downright one-man comedic troupe, or Evelyn, hard-nosed refugee who could have easily became Oliver season one. She got some good time tonight, one to fight the main bad guy, Prometheus, on her own, which this season has done of a lot more of, to it’s praise. It also highlighted how she first came around; to kill Ruve Dahrk and she was doing so in methods not so un-similar to Oliver’s as the Hood. She’s also a kid, she’s only 17, so I loved the idea that she took Oliver’s deceptions more to heart when really she seemed more closely drawn to the idea of the List and why he was using it because that sort of logic made sense to her just a year ago.
Diggle’s back. Felicity’s back. The versions we loved. Quentin and Thea are dynamite together as these two broken souls who have no family left so they cling to each other for support. And the villains feel so much more Arrow-Esque than they have in years. Tobias Church was really dynamic, and could have done a lot more in my opinion. As the mystery of Prometheus opens more windows, we find out he’s killing people in code; anagrams to reveal the names of Oliver’s victims as the Hood; being labeled “The Throwing Star killer” which is a lot of syllables but has a cool ring to it, as he fashions his weapon of choice from the very arrows Oliver used to kill those corrupt souls torturing Starling City circa five years back. I loved hearing about the List. It was such a direct story thread; the term “serial killer” was used a lot tonight, which is not a term anyone uses lightly, and even though Oliver has his mental issues, serial killers seem to kill and maim and torture, mostly innocent people, and never stop; Oliver is clearly not that character. But it was still a jarring term to hear.
So It Begins- tonight’s title; there is a lot of meaning wrapped up in that. Not just Prometheus fully making himself known but another villain we’ve only heard of so far finally shows up: Konstantine Kovar…played by Dolph freakin Lundgren! I did not see that coming. And there’s the revelation that Prometheus has to have access to SCPD evidence; we flash to a scene of Quentin waking up from another bender, with a cut on his arm and a throwing star on his coffee table….WHAT?????? If we go with this, what a shocking twist. If we stop and think, does this hold water? I don’t even know but I’m going with it for now because Arrow can get real out there with some of it’s plot twists; but this time, I give them car blanche to take us on this ride.
8.5/10- seriously devilish Prometheus action tonight and more Team Arrow character enriching stuff- keep it coming
Other Notes:
– Does anyone else think Stephen Amell’s voice over intro to Arrow now is about the most emotionless reading you’ve ever heard?
– Spartan got a new helmet
– Did he just use a Parachute Arrow? DID HE JUST USE A PARACHUTE ARROW???
Jessie Robertson
Originally published November 10, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
