Jessie Robertson reviews the eighteenth episode of Arrow season five…
“We need a little more green in there, hoss” Rene continues to be a bright spot on this show
So, the team has been disbanded. Well, sort of. John isn’t giving up, and neither is everyone else, even if Oliver has. They relocate at Felicity’s apartment, since she isn’t using it since she’s up Helix’s butt and plan their next move. Diggle has a pivotal role here; he steps in as leader when Oliver is out. He may not give the same hard nosed speeches but his tone is more…hopeful that Oliver’s for sure. Oliver’s new plan is to do something Chase doesn’t see coming, as he’s seen everything coming: that is the Bratva, Oliver’s violent Russian ace in the hole.
When Anatoly shows up, he needs something in return: drugs used for Alzheimer’s that he can mix with another compound and sell on the street. Oliver is so blind in his own defeat he agrees. The team catches onto a robbery and finds the Bratva and a whole new issue is started. These scenes are played against Oliver’s last 48 hours in Russia after Anatoly becomes Pahkan; he recruits Oliver for a similar heist to get medicine for sick kids that he thinks will convince Oliver to stay permanently and help the Bratva turn over a new leaf. Anatoly tells him to stay and help me not become something I’m not.
Tonight’s episode is a very different one as Oliver is more broken than he has ever been. He goes into “Vigilante” mode with John, it’s his way or well, his way as he even strikes John for not listening to him as the team is constantly interfering with the Bratva’s death march on Chase. It’s then that John gets through; Oliver doesn’t know who he is, or where he stands. Yes, he is a killer. He’s murdered dozens, maybe hundreds of men at this point. He tells John, the foundation of our whole crusade is a lie; it was built upon my bloodlust. But, that statement is muddy waters; too much has went down in the last 5 years for a blanket comment like that to be true. HE stayed his hand on Slade Wilson when he didn’t have to; hell, he retired to suburbia for a whole summer with Felicity. True killers, their appetites are never satisfied; they find victims when they need to. That’s not Oliver. John also tells him, I’ve been with you for 5 years. I don’t just give this up because you say so. And even if they kill Chase, or jail him, Star City doesn’t just become a “nice” city. It never has been and maybe never will be. Last week was a great ending to the episode and even a few scenes with Chase baiting Oliver to make a move early in this one, but that status for Oliver could never hold for long.
So, now the question is where do they go from here? The team has been busy; Felicity has gone through hell trying to break the encryption on a photo of Chase as Prometheus, Curtis stole data from Felicity and took a quick ass whopping from Chase to steal data from him as well. So, we see Chase discovered at the end of tonight’s episode and just like always, he’s one step ahead. He gets a sense something isn’t right, hiding in protective custody in some backwoods hotel and as the two cops assigned to him are about to arrest him, he kills one of them with a ballpoint pen. He chokes the other one and then proceeds to stab the first guy repeatedly with said pen. Then drives away with “Beautiful Morning” playing on the radio, back towards Star City, with his face covered in blood. This was like a scene out of a serial murderer movie. Very, very dark stuff. Oliver sets the Arrow cave back up but isn’t quite ready to return to the mask that Anatoly once told him isn’t a mask at all. IT’s his true self.
8.5/10- a grim, quiet Oliver, lost and afraid of who he is, travels wearily through this week’s episode as the team rallies him back
Other Notes:
– Oliver breaks it off with Susan Williams- can I get a Hallelujah?
– There was an interesting shot where Oliver started packing away the Team Arrow costumes in moving boxes
– “If Diggle is Oliver, who’s the new Diggle?”
– Love the T-spheres, so glad they are here
– “These hackers are mean.”
– Chase asking Curtis about his ex-husband as he’s punching him is a little detail of the sickness of that man and the manipulation he is so good at
– It’s over with the Bratva. Anatoly became the man they took out of power from the Bratva. Sad sort of ending to that character and Oliver can’t use that card anymore.
Originally published March 30, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
