Jessie Robertson reviews the fifth episode of Arrow season 5…
If Team Arrow is the Backstreet Boys, then Wild Dog is definitely Howie B…..
Team Arrow’s Back….Alright! Ok, enough boy band humor, Arrow this week is titled “Human Target” which I sort of just assumed was about Mayor Queen being shot and killed, quite brutally, I may add; (sidenote: couple that with the damn realistic makeup job on Rene pre & post torture and this was quite the graphic episode), but no, they literally meant DC Comic’s Human Target, a guy who makes a career out of taking the bullet, so to speak, for others. He is now part of the Arrow-verse, played by Wil Traval fresh from his turn in Jessica Jones; he now travels between worlds of Marvel and DC – bonus! I have to say, if any of these DC shows were going to incorporate him into their weekly program, it would be Arrow, who literally has a playbook on how to fake a character’s death. He was effective in his part this week but just like on Jessica Jones, I find the acting to be subdued and without emotion. And season 5 flashbacks continue to impress as a throwaway scene where Oliver is saved by Target when his new Bratva brothers try to have him killed, turns into one hell of an intriguing storyline (or could be) coming up in the weeks to come…more on that later.
Well, put a nail (or more accurately, a throwing star) in Tobias Church; he’s done. He lasted longer than most, I’ll give you that. I think he was effectual, for his part, but outside of Malcolm Merlyn, it’s hard for Arrow to keep momentum on a straight human villain for long. I enjoyed his fight with Wild Dog and his beatdown at Oliver’s hands though. I think played out over some time, his big plan to consolidate all the drug gangs within 5 cities was a hell of a big storyline and it ultimately feels swept under the rug to bring in another anti-vigilante bad guy with a cool look and a penchant for killing. I wasn’t Church’s biggest fan but this feels like an opportunity wasted, especially given Oliver’s increased role as Mayor, he could have fought this war on 2 fronts and really built to something; could Church be a casualty of needing things tidied up before the big crossover around episode 8 every season?
Diggle’s back! John’s speeches and planting flags on beachheads have been a source of frustration at points over Arrow’s tenure but he was sorely missed and I love how the new team looks up to him; it’s hard to stand in Ollie’s shadow and not be overwhelmed but I agree with Artemis: John was a badass standing up on that truck and taking aim at the drug kingpins of Star City. His rifing with Rene was a good scene too; not the part where he somehow “tough-talks” him into remembering a small detail that undoes Church; no, that was contrived as hell. Everything before it, where they compare notes on the similarities in their crime-fighting careers and the lessons they learned; good team building stuff and Rene just continues to build momentum as an important character. He’s becoming a great Roy-replacement and he punctuates his dialogue really well.
The Mayor got some play time too this week (and a hottie’s phone #) and I love Thea in everything she does and her as Ollie’s assistant is great, even when things don’t go their way (she resorts to just asking Oliver to put an arrow in them!)
8.5/10 – a fast-forward crash to Church’s upcoming empire makes room for Prometheus to emerge from the shadows as Diggle readjusts and the rest of the team continues to learn
Other Notes:
– There was a really cool close up of a criminal’s face early on when Artemis was cable pulling him up by his legs that I loved, reminded me of Keaton Batman for some reason
– Ha! Even the new guy thought it was weird that “people just walk into your secret base of operations”; This show loves winking at the fans
– I tried looking up “kypot” but couldn’t find anything; I thought it as Oliver’s new Bratva name and it would have some cool meaning- if anyone finds anything, post it in the comments
– How many people’s ears perked up when Diggle said he had a friend with a “very specific skillset” and though Liam Neeson was making a cameo?
– Whoa, did Felicity just have a Quickie?
– Who the hell was this guy supposed to be?
– So, back to the storyline Susan Williams dug up on Arrow; she has pics of him in Russia 5 years ago as part of the Bratva- are we getting a present day Anatoly cameo? I like where this is headed….
Jessie Robertson
Originally published November 3, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
