Wherein Slade proves he knows how to utterly destroy a man by going through each and every one of those he’s close to.
What They Say:
Deathstroke – The repercussions are massive when Slade makes a move against Oliver; a key player in Oliver’s team starts to question his decisions.
Content:
Arrow had a strong episode previously with what it did in bringing Helena back to the show and the kinds of bits that can come up when you put Sara with her as well. We got some good background stuff and a bit more on the island as well of course, but it was fun watching how the core group was dealing with events since Slade is in the background after his reveal and the way that so many other balls are in the air. And, of course, you also had the Roy storyline that got thrust into the spotlight with how Oliver wanted him to break up with Thea in order to keep him safe. Having Slade show up at the right time of course made for some great tension at the cliffhanger since he’s about to put his plan into motion a bit by toying with Oliver in a great way. One that brings Brother Blood back into the picture, creepy mask and all as she’s now in Slades clutches.
Roy’s struggling with what he’s done with Thea and it’s certainly impacting his training, especially since Oliver is trying to teach him some focus by using the boy. The slow but steady progress towards the Speedy or Red Arrow we all know is there to be sure, but it’s going in a pretty fun direction that’s staking out its own territory. Oliver’s doing his best to get him on the right track and to get him to understand this is the best for Thea, but Oliver’s struggling with his own issues as well since Moira is still ensuring he’s following through on his promise of support. The tension between the two is getting a whole lot more visible for others, but they definitely find a way to keep a bit of space between them and others. Of course, it doesn’t help that Oliver also has to deal with Isabel, who has surfaced once again after being off screen for awhile as she attempts to find some way to run this company while Oliver is otherwise occupied.
Sadly, the politics side of the series takes the stage for a bit as Blood and Moira are in their first televised debate and it’s all just buzzwords and simplicity. But while it kind of leaves you rolling your eyes, it also takes a fun turn since that’s when Slade pushes his way into the conversation with a video feed of Thea being bound and held against her will with the flash of text asking how much her life is worth. Slade’s public call out of Oliver in this way is definitely fun since it hits so many buttons for so many people and puts a whole different kind of wrinkle into the politics of the situation as well. The strangest one is that Oliver, being completely distracted by it while clues are being sought out, has to push aside some corporate politics and that means he transfers authority of the company to Isabel for the time being. She hedges on it, not wanting it, but it’s something that you can’t help but to feel is going to be a very bad thing.
Oliver’s confrontation with Slade is definitely interesting since he tries to use the police to get the answers he needs since Slade won’t tell him directly. When things finally put the two of them together privately in their street clothes version, there’s a lot to like with the verbal sparring between the two as we get a touch of what happened to Slade with the ship and how he survived and that Slade has not forgiven a single thing when it came to what happened to Shado. It’s completely humbled Oliver in a way, put him in the subservient position, one that has him willing to do just about anything in order to get her back safely. It’s not a position we usually see him in and watching the way he plays both sides of the coin here when it comes to Thea and poking Oliver is comical but done in a great serious kind of way.
For Slade, while he’s gone about this in a very big way to mess with Oliver, it’s all part of his larger plan. Not one that he’ll just go big with at first. He’s going to savor it, torment him and break him in a big way. But not all at once, which will make it hurt all the more. So when Slade evades all the tracking on him and returns to Thea, he tantalizes her with a piece of the truth that she’s desperate for since she knows Oliver has been hiding something from her with the way he’s fallen out with their mother. And you have to love that he knows she’s tempted by it since he’s all about breaking him through all of those around him. And while not directly because of Slade, the group that Oliver has formed of confidants has started to break as well, mostly because Roy is just feeling pretty intense about all of this with the way things are shaking down and he’s beyond words about how Oliver has put Thea in such a position.
To make matters even worse, Oliver’s temporary deal with Isabel has gone completely south as he realizes that not only has she taken control of Queen Consolidated because of it, but she’s done it partially because she’s working with Slade. She has her own issues with Oliver, but it quickly turns from a boardroom brawl to an actual brawl, one where Isabel reveals she has some physical skills as well to hold her own with him Adding another piece of the puzzle to how Slade intends to destroy every foundation that exists in Oliver’s life. What’s really neat though is that as Sara realizes what’s going on and she tries to get him to tone it down a bit since it’s walking into a trap, it’s Felicity that makes it clear that he has to go all out and to do it.
Which, naturally, gives us the big action sequence of the episode with Slade donning the gear and mask of Deathstroke proper for Oliver to deal with after he makes his way through the thugs that are there to slow him down a bit first. But Slade has his own plans in motion and damn if he doesn’t cut a fine figure in that outfit. And he proves how deadly he is right off the bat as he now expands his plans with a whole lot of criminals that he’s now given freedom to, in exchange for a little deal. The layering of Slade’s goals is definitely fun to watch since it totally takes the wind out of Oliver’s sails, keeping him from truly achieving his goal of saving Thea since she was able to just walk out herself. But walk out with a whole lot of world changing knowledge in her head about her father…
The island arc is continuing to deal with the problems that Slade has since he has a ship but it doesn’t work while Sara and the others have Hendriks who can fix it. There’s some interesting black and white moral issues being bandied about but it’s also potentially filled with a lot of opportunity, at least with how Sara sees it. Sara’s certainly taking on a more direct approach in doing what needs to be done and that’s part of her evolution in the series, which is nice to see how it’s evolving in the same way so many other characters are as the hard choices are put before them. Watching as her plan starts to unfold works is certainly amusing since it takes Slade little time to figure out what’s going on since the Mirakuru has heightened his sense in a big way. Progress is minimal with his arc but it nudges things ahead in some decent ways.
In Summary:
With Slade having come out into the open recently, his plan is now being fully realized as he attempts to change the world in his image to gain vengeance and wreck havoc upon everything that has wronged him. By working through Oliver and destroying every foundation of his life for the most part, it’s crushing him in the way that he feels his life was crushed by the loss of Shado. There’s a lot of things going on here and a well layered and beautifully interconnected storyline that reveals itself in a fast paced way here, knocking each support beam out from under Oliver one by one. And it does it while revealing a lot of other things about a lot of characters while never feeling like it’s really being rushed or trying to just do something for the sake of it. And considering what we’ve seen Oliver go through over the course of the two seasons so far, it’s no surprise that he’ll fight back. But we get so many game changers here for several characters that you know it won’t go back to the way it was. It’s going to move forward in some really interesting ways.
Grade: A-
