Jessie Robertson reviews the twelfth episode of Arrow season 4…
You don’t have to be the Demon’s Head to know stuff – just put your ear to the door!
Wow, what a wild episode; so much happening here, let’s begin with everyone’s favorite CEO, Felicity Smoak. After last week’s impassioned speech she fights prejudice in the workplace….and she’s the CEO of the company. Felicity also had to duel wits with Calculator (the villains really shouldn’t name themselves) who is a very famous villain in DC comics who’s like the hiring agency for villains looking for work. Here he’s played by the psychologist from Parenthood (Damn, I miss that show.) Calculator is hellbent on destroying a whole city, or at least throwing it into chaos so he plugs contact lenses into former heroes and hires mercenaries to do his bidding; none of which really pan out and the whole thing’s a bust. It was hard to not remember him playing such a soft, compassionate character on a previous show and I didn’t buy his menace one bit. Also, they make it clear the chip he plants in Roy can see everything but was it explained how it made Roy do whatever he wanted? So, I’m not buying his debut.
Clap away because…….BE-CAUSE…..our episode ends with Felicity recognizing the Calculator who’s at her speech at Palmer Tech and it’s dear old Dad! Mic-freaking-drop. This is going to be good.
Yeah and Thea’s dying…and Roy’s back…..but he’s gone again. The show does it’s best to explain these wacky circumstances that they put themselves in last year from curveball after curveball but their tender parting embrace makes up for it. Roy was the one mind controlled by Calculator so he’s back in Star City and eager to help exact revenge. He even gets a (dare I say it) Batman-esque escape from the explosion from Calculator’s bomb. It was nice to see Roy but did remind us that the Arrow-Cave had run out of room. Thea, meanwhile, lay seemingly dying from her unrequited blood lust and I may point out, Daddy Dearest, Merlyn, is the only one to stay by her side the entire time; we understand Oliver’s aversion to convalescing the sick, he’d rather be pounding faces for answers, but why did Roy abandon Thea so quickly after being reunited with her and seeing a large scar form across her chest? I thought that was poor planning; Merlyn is always nice for cheesy expressions and spewing forth exposition so he’s a welcome face.
Sub-plot city also looms its head as Nyssa (remember her?) is helped escape from the dungeons of Nanda Parbat and lead her own crusade to gain back her foothold in her father’s kingdom. To do that, she first has to fight Tatsu (now in full Katana gear full-time) in a far too short sword fight that had my nerd blood boiling with excitement. At the denouement, she shows up beside as Thea lay comatose, ready to strike a bargain with Oliver for a cure to Thea’s curse if only he give her what she wants: Merlyn’s head on a platter. That’s good drama.
Score: 9/10- Action, fun dialogue, interesting plot development and sappy moments only the CW can deliver (even on a super hero show) keep this season as the best stuff since Season 2.
Other Notes:
– Oliver has an opponent- Ruve Adams, otherwise known as Mrs. Dahrk. Another nice layer to the story.
– “Guilt Arrow” is apparently John’s pet name for Oliver.
– I always appreciate Curtis’ business casual look.
– Okay, hold the presses, Am I just noticing one of the writers and exec-producers of this show is named Speed Weed?
– One of the parts stolen by Roy is from Cadmus Labs- same place that created a clone of Superman (in the comics) known as Connor Kent, Superboy.
– I forgot to mention Oliver’s battle with his “dark side” or Shado’s representation in his flashbacks; it’s all part of the trippy way this show has decided to tackle personal conflicts with their characters this season: Felicity saw her goth self last week now this: I understand (we all understand) the guilt Oliver lays on his own self comes from him wrestling with this issue from his past, but what a weird nonsensical way to go about it.
– I think a lot of the Internet was thinking Roy was dying tonight, he’s showing up for one episode, we don’t know whose grave that is, but it would be too unthematic to die this way and Oliver and Felicity swearing revenge as they did in the limo; it has to be at the hands of Dahrk, it could be Thea’s time.
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Originally published February 4, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
