Jessie Robertson reviews the fourth episode of Arrow season 5…
There may be no more on the nose episode title than this one all year….
This week’s ‘Penance’ is covering an oft-repeated topic here on Arrow, you guessed it, penance. John, as we last saw him, was perfectly fine with staying in prison because of the guilt he felt for killing Andy of his own free will which trusting his brother may have lead to Laurel’s death. As Oliver breaks him out, he agrees Diggle should pay penance for that, but as Spartan; ironically, Diggle was faced with an impossible choice; Andy threatened his wife and daughter’s lives; what other course of action could he take? He knows even if Andy was jailed, the HIVE resources behind him could have broken him out; Oliver, in Felicity’s case, gives her a pass to Rory, who lost his whole family, and as ridiculous of a scenario that was to put any character into, if it was all leading up to saudering an uneasy truce between her and Rory for team’s sake, that was a pretty far out idea. Anyways, there’s always checks and balances on this show and if you look too closely, the apples and oranges don’t add up equally at all.
Is anyone thinking rationally this week? Lyla understandably wants her husband and the father of her children out of prison; but with this plan, he’ll only be a fugitive for the rest of his life (unless he’s exonerated). It’s a ludicrous plan and one that would surely spell the end of her career if ever found out; John, on the other hand, only gets a 30 second speech from Oliver, and he’s completely changed his mind on if he should stay or not. I can’t figure this one out at all. And where’s John Jr. during all this? Felicity’s idea to have the still-in-training team stop Oliver was even more boneheaded; he regularly beats them up when trying to teach them; what would make her think this would go any better? And is Curtis ever going to go full-on Terrific and just use tech to get the job done? Fighting is not his strong suit at all.
I apologize; it seems I’ve been standing on a soap box this week but when this show starts building positive momentum, you have episodes where logic seems to fly out the window. There were some positives though; seeing Ragman in full team action was cool and gives that ragtag group some power behind it. Wild Dog continues to be a bright spot on the show and the writers seem to recognize that. Tobias Church is sort of fun to watch but he doesn’t have any kind of hook that would make you think he’s any more capable of taking over Star City than Malcolm Merlyn, a trained assassin with a large business and influence for years in Star City, and yet he still failed. I don’t think Oliver’s taken apt time to devote to taking Church down once and for all. Oliver’s flashback was pretty efficient in showing that “Bratva” darkness Oliver still possesses; I mean threatening dude’s family? Then just neck snapping him like Van Damme would? Pretty balls to the wall. And finally, the really strong connection Thea and Quentin are building up; it’s kind of beautiful to watch and you wish we’d get more scenes to show that off.
8/10- some dull logic and place holder story this week drags the momentum Arrow was building down a bit but there are still enough pieces in play for them to get back on track before multi-part team-up begins
Other Notes:
– So Artemis! How did I not see that coming; so much Young Justice love
– Haven’t heard of Kord Industries in quite a while? I remember predicting we’d see old Ted himself in Season 3: boy was I off the mark.
– Twice we heard the line ” You think you scare me more than he does?” I’m not seeing that connection
– Loved Rory’s line about Oliver waiting for an entrance line!
Jessie Robertson
Originally published October 27, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
