Jessie Robertson reviews the third episode of Arrow season 5…
“Green Arrow Brooding” is so last season; “Mayor Brooding” is now trending…..
Trust is a tricky thing; it’s something Oliver doesn’t give or take lightly; he can’t; live through what he has and you would be the same way. We’re getting a sense of that in the Bratva flashbacks. What desperate soul seeks this group out when they aren’t fulfilling a promise to kill a tyrant? Yikes. But, like Oliver, there are 2 sides to every story; one of the men the Bratva murdered last week was a child killer himself. And Anatoly says if they had killed Oliver in that man’s place, they would still be killing a bad man. I thought that was a particularly chilling line and sort of reaffirms that Oliver is, not necessarily a bad man, but a man who has done many bad things. It’s been so long since a flashback felt parallel to the storyline at hand; like a cool glass of lemonade on a brisk Star City night.
Speaking of trust, there’s this guy above: Wild Dog is definitely in the mix to give Oliver a taste of his own rebellious nature; he’s hard-headed and while I think Felicity is over-shooting it saying he’s more stubborn than Oliver, he’s cut from that same type of cloth. Only 5 years of crime-fighting has taught Oliver not to run in shooting blind, that’s how people get killed. Unfortunately for them, when Wild Dog and Evelyn go in shooting, they end up doing the killing; so they think. They create a new meta-human (of sorts) who feels no pain (guest star Cody Rhodes, professional wrestler who actually did a wrestling match with Stephen Amell just last year) His name is Derek Sampson (think it’s an original character?) who’s running a Stardust lab (supposedly a stronger PCP) and Oliver isn’t going to have it. This feels a lot like the Vertigo storylines a few years ago but it’s just a diversion to get to the villain as we don’t actually see anyone using Stardust this time. I love that Oliver has someone who acts on gut instinct and doesn’t want to take his crap when he feels he’s in the right; it makes a great dynamic and I think will give these two something to perhaps, one day, form a tight bond over. It’s sort of a fledgling Oliver-Diggle dynamic, as you remember, those two did not always see eye to eye.
While Sampson certainly is an imposing figure, you think for a moment maybe he could stick around but we hear that name Tobias Church again, and it looks as if he’s sticking around as a big bad , at least for now. We get more political asides as well when Thea gets one-upped in the press when it gets out they are hiring Quentin for Deputy Mayor. She quickly realizes she’s in over her head in this political arena and decides to resign; but being trust is the theme tonight, Oliver can’t use anyone else at his side; it has to be Speedy, she’s the only one he can trust to help him in this endeavor; and well because he’s Oliver, when he calls a press conference to take responsibility for the drunkard former police chief joining his cabinet, he does it with such authority like he runs Team Arrow, you tend to just go along with it.
We also get a bit of Diggle’s continuing story which has some more thought out wrinkles that I had concluded last week; it’s a strange personal journey for Diggle as once he’s put in prison on those ridiculous trumped up charges, he feels good about being there. So good in fact, apparently he sees Floyd Lawton, as a sort of ghostly vision to straighten out his moral compass. I have to admit, I loved the idea of Lawton being alive again, since Barry changed the timeline; so when it showed Diggle was seeing someone not really there, it felt even more odd and false. Keeping my eye on that one….
9.5/10- A wholly realized good episode; no major events went down to make this all time to remember but solid storytelling and continuation of what the show was building upon since the season started
Other Notes:
– We meet new District Attorney Adrian Chase, who seems way too shady to be believed; his DC Comics counterpart is the Vigilante, who is exactly that; sounds like a good fit; perhaps he’s Prometheus?
– Rory being on the team was going to be a good Havenrock reminder for Felicity 0 but instead of building that tension up, she straight up admitted what happened- I had to admire the writing team for tackling that seriously over-blown blunder of a plot line last season by acknowledging what would be a world-wide catastrophe in real life but is just a footnote to this show’s litany of insane acts.
– Is Curtis crushing on Rory?
– “Suit up!” I laughed out loud at this line! Curtis continues to entertain me- and yes, we are finally seeing pieces of Mr. Terrific show up- he had the “Fair Play” jacket, and the mask on tonight as part of his evolution into that character.
– Is Evelyn the new Black Canary? Oliver did say that tradition would continue but don’t think it’s official
– Anyone else get the inside joke that Oliver thinks wearing a hockey mask is cool?
Well, Hello, Handsome!
Jessie Robertson
Originally published October 20, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
