Jessie Robertson reviews the nineteenth episode of Arrow season 2….
Oliver and the gang are now neck deep in Slade territory following a string of several episodes fully devoted to this war brewing with Slade throwing the last grenade using Thea to put Oliver right where he wanted him. The gang find themselves in black masks and dark clothing breaking into Queen’s own Applied Science Division. Ollie remarks this was Felicity’s plan, which shows how much her character’s grown since she was working in the basement of Queen Consolidated hacking employee files in Season One.
We’ve had two really good insulated episodes recently (“The Promise” & “Deathstroke”) fully devoted to building the tower of hate that lies between Slade and Ollie. Oliver made a stand last week by saying they fight back and that leads to somehow stopping the flow of Mirakuru through Slade’s tricky fingers. They do have to be careful with this element of the show because it could get out of hand fast if too many people are injected with it; there’s no obvious way for Ollie and crew to deal with that many super-powerful creeps at one time.
This episode has a few things I really like, one which is a lot of different elements from the season come back into play; them still having hold of Tockman’s Skeleton key and Slade coming after it, meeting people from STAR labs where Barry Allen is still comatose and Thea quickly recapping the catastrophic events at the end of Season One, which is important to remind the audience that those events were huge and very important. Thea has a tendency to overplay her scenes but I thought she pulled this quiet seething off pretty well without going over the top.
Slade’s backup plan is to hijack a device called the Bio-Transfuser , which is a device that will allow someone to transfer blood to multiple people at one time (which, what would be the practical application for that device?) The plan is to find Slade weakened from donating his Mirakuru-tainted blood to his new Iron Heights army and finish the job; but surprise, surprise, Slade is still one step ahead and its Roy strapped to the machine. The action wraps up rather quickly at the end, again, showing how much Oliver has grown and not just fighting for the kill, but prioritizing and making a decision to actually save Roy instead of turning it into a full blown battle royale.
My favorite scene of this week (with the quick battle against fully costumed Deathstroke in Arrow- Headquarters being a close second) is Detective Lance’s speech to Laurel, who is hot on the trail of gathering evidence to show Oliver is in fact the Arrow, which with all the evidence she gathers on her Homeland-esque posterboard, it all seems quite obvious. He tells her he doesn’t want to know because then he’ll see the Arrow as just a man, instead of the symbol he and the city need him to be to help make a difference. It’s a good scene and it gives Laurel so many options for her next scene, in particular her next scene with Ollie, which pays off in a brief but nice moment.
This season continues to outdo Season One in every way, from character introductions, to cameos, to intense action and continued interplay from all the principal characters. This show throws everything at the wall at once and while it would seem that would upset the balance, it just works every single week and this episode is a good example of why.
Other Quick Notes:
– Subplot of Isabel being Lovers with Queen Senior- and Ollie does get his “Ew” moment realizing he and Dad shared something that he probably would have rather not.
– Ivo meets his demise here and it feels like some of his story was left unfinished and his death is not seen as an important moment at all.
– DC Comic reference of the week: Arthur Light, who is noted as being “psycho;” if they only knew
– And is anyone else noticing the random meetings of the Arrow gang on the upper floor of Verdant? They’re becoming more and more happenstance . You’d think at least Thea would wonder why her brother, his secretary, his bodyguard and her boyfriend are always chatting quietly in the corner of a nightclub?
Jessie Robertson
Originally published April 17, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
