What They Say:
Guilty – Ted Grant becomes the primary suspect when a body is found in the Wildcat gym; Roy divulges a secret to Felicity.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Giving us an all Felicity designed episode the last time around was definitely a lot of fun, particularly since it really reinforces my enjoyment of the character, but it ended on the surprise note with Roy having the vision of him shooting Sarah with the arrows that killed her. That’s been haunting him for some time now as it’s been rolling around in his head and it’s causing him to not be at his best while out on patrol with Oliver and Diggle. Enough so that Oliver calls him out on it and his need to get his head in the game. Things are not right with Roy and it’s starting to really have him question everything that he knows about himself since he doesn’t remember actually doing the act, but it’s definitely there in his memory.
With what looks like a gang war brewing that’s being played out by someone at a higher level manipulating it, there’s a couple of different things going on within this episode. One that’s proving to move too fast is seeing Laurel’s attempts at getting fit and dangerous at the Wildcat Gym. She’s picking up a few skills to be sure, it’s just forced in its speed compared to what we’ve seen with others. Ted’s helping her to be sure and providing the right lessons, both in the ring and out with how to take care of herself with what she eats, but in general it’s good to see her establishing a different relationship outside of the core crowd. Naturally, that can’t last forever and we get Oliver tracking down one of the gang leaders that might have a clue as to who’s running everything and he finds himself inside the gym after hours and runs directly into Ted. Who is, to say the least, quite surprised to have the Arrow there pointing his weapon of choice at him.
While Ted gets cleared of things, Oliver doesn’t trust him in the slightest, especially since he told Laurel he wasn’t going to train her and she’s gone to Ted for help. Oliver’s further investigation leads him to a place that turns out to be Ted’s, which has him talking about how he’s being set up. As it turns out, Ted claims to have been a vigilante himself from six years ago, something that he put behind him after a death occurred with what he did. While Ted’s certainly not the same as the comics for obvious reasons, he’s well portrayed here in giving him a bit of a vigilante and mild costume background that helps to show that other things were going on over the years, others that were trying to protect the city and the people that needed it.
Ted’s past is a bit more complicated of course as it turns out that he had a partner he worked with back then, Isaac Stanzler, who is now setting him up for things in the present. Ted’s taking it as atonement for what happened, which was Stanzler killing a crack dealer that they had run across which Ted was taken in for. Stanzler’s all about revenge at this point after what he’s been through and he’s looking to make him pay big. Naturally, Laurel gets caught up in it as well when Stanzler grabs them after Ted gets released from the police. All of it comes barreling together pretty quickly – including the Arrow-cycle – and it gives Roy a chance to participate in the action as well, letting him show off some fun moves. It all wraps up quickly, but it wasn’t the real point anyway. It was about expanding Ted’s character and tying what happened to him in the past into what’s happening to Roy.
Roy’s arc in this is decent as it puts him with Felicity more than usual. Roy’s not one that’s really felt like he’s been a part of the group in a way so it’s definitely useful. After getting his blood tested to make sure he’s clean of mirakuru, he reveals the dreams he’s been having to her as it’s really eating at him and he’s convinced that no matter how real it feels, it’s not something that he did. Felicity, naturally, has to start questioning internally about it. And when she works things out a bit, she comes up with a lightly plausible reason for how it might have happened. Which is really grasping in a way, but Roy is just crushed by it and can’t help but to tell everyone else and apologize in a simple way. It’s an event that’s likely true, but it just feels like a forced piece. There’s definitely a lot of circumstantial evidence being bandied about here, but it’s something that Roy should have kept to himself until they were sure. But where’s the drama in that? It plays out fairly well overall though since Roy does try to do the right thing and you get to see Oliver going through the conflict himself about what to do with him if he is indeed the one that killed Sarah.
On the flashback side, we continue to see Oliver on the mission that he’s got that revolves around China White, which we saw a bit of in the first season and a touch of in the second season. Oliver’s learning the trade well enough here, but also finding that he stands out even more there, which leads to their first target to get more on China White striking back nicely before he ends up getting into an accidental death situation. The time in the past also gives us a little time with Maseo’s wife Tatsu, who doesn’t like Oliver being there but understands that his remembering things will help in finding China White and that in turn will help Maseo clear his debt with Waller that will get him home. Tatsu’s definitely a favorite of mine from the books and this is going to be an interesting adaptation of her into live action form. The time with Tatsu is pretty nicely done since we see what goes on there ties into the present here as well, with Oliver taking that lesson to try and help Roy with his problem. Everything is connected in this series and sometimes it’s stronger in some episodes than others. This one works it very well.
In Summary:
Arrow has a pretty decent episode here when you get down to the idea that it’s about expanding the character of Ted, which in turn is going to serve Laurel well in her quest to become more than she is, to find justice outside the courtroom. Ted definitely comes off well here overall, though the material with Stanzler felt very superficial and secondary at best. Roy’s story is one that works out pretty well too when you get down to what it is they’re trying to do, and how it comes back to the flashback side that finally gives us some minor quality time with Tatsu. Though there aren’t any major moments here, it’s the kind of episode that’s adding more to the overall narrative and nudging several character arcs forward. Which is good as it’s not trying to do huge moments each time.
Grade: B+
