The mid season finale hits with a Christmas theme and a few little twists.
What They Say:
Year’s End – When Oliver learns his mother and sister stopped celebrating Christmas after his disappearance, he decides to throw a Christmas Party. Tommy asks Laurel to spend Christmas with him.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first nine episodes of Arrow have really surprised me with what they did. Superhero/vigilante series tend to be pretty restrained in a lot of ways as they go for the formulaic approach. There was certainly a lot of fear that we’d have a somewhat more mature angled Smallville in a way, but instead we got a series that built on past episodes in a strong way week after week, hit up the guest stars and good takes on various well known to comic book fan characters. And with some of the original characters, I’ve definitely enjoyed this particular expansion on the lore, such as his mother, his sister and Diggle himself. The only one leaving me a bit cool is Laurel, but that’s not a surprise since she’s working mostly subplots here.
With this episode, we get a holiday themed piece in a way as Christmas is here, but it’s not going to eject the overall storyline in favor of something filler oriented. Flashbacks are brought into play after having a weaker role in the last couple of episodes and we get the tease right from the start about someone else done up as the vigilante that’s hitting up an execution or two himself. Which comes at a very curious time for Oliver as his work in going through the list has netted him somewhat easier results in a way as some of those on the list are just giving themselves up when he shows up. As Diggle says, his reputation is preceding him in a big way and that’s making the job easier at times. But it also just signifies that some of those he has yet to face will go much harder and there are more things in general to be dealt with.
Thankfully, while we’ve had some stupid police moments (or more specifically, stupid Detective Lance moments), they’re rather quick to figure out that the deaths that are happening are copycat deaths and not the same vigilante. The methods used are different and having the same vigilante go after the same person again doesn’t fit in with what’s gone on so far. Similar to other “smart” moves earlier in the series so far, this is the kind of moment that really makes me like it all the more because it doesn’t play things in such an awful and predictable way.
While the show explores some decent material in the present with the Christmas theme, and the lack of it at the Queen household because of Oliver and his fathers disappearance five years ago, it also gives us some time spent in the past. Going back to the island, it delves into a little reveal at least about the island as Oliver’s savior brings him one of the men from the camp where he was taken before, the one that presided over his interrogation. And that brings us some information about the island, discovering that eight years prior to then that it was a Chinese military prison. And Yao-Fei is being heavily hunted by people there because of the number of military men that have set up residence there that he’s killed. It was essentially a given, but it’s good to see it made clear and expands on the overall narrative.
With Oliver uncertain about why the copycat is out there, either to take over what he’s doing or to get his attention, he uses the supporting cast to get the information he needs to track him down rather than do it all himself. His intent to get to the bottom of it does have him a little brazen, but that’s also part of his approach overall. Stealth is common and useful, but there are times to just roll right in as you want to spring the trap, which he does to good effect here even if it nearly takes him out along the way. It provides a small bit of action, though it feels like there’s far more threat at the Christmas party itself.
When it comes to dealing with the copycat, he goes big in an effort to draw Oliver in while making his reputation worse, though in the end it will only help him come across better simply because it’ll show him as someone who go the lengths in order to save innocent people. It’s a decent fight as it progresses, both sides taking some good wounds, while also making sure the archery side of it figures into it as well. It doesn’t answer a lot of questions in the end, though Oliver uses it to salve some family issues, but there’s enough potential as to who it is that the copycat is. Surprisingly, they do make the reveal as to the copycat but they also hit a few other reveals and shifts the narrative to something larger, changing the concept behind the list that Oliver is using and the goal of his mission..
In Summary:
Having really enjoyed the previous two episodes with Helena, the mid season finale wasn’t something that was going to hit me in the same way. And it’s an episode that definitely takes a bit of time to build towards what it is it wants to do. But it does it in a very good way, touching on most of the characters in small ways, making aspects of the time on the island clearer and even giving Moira and Walter some brief but very tangible time together. This episode left me wanting more action, but that hasn’t been the huge focus of the series to begin with. What we do get fits into the show well and shifts things just enough at the end to make the down time work within the story as well. Arrow has really made me happy during its first nine episodes. It may not be premium channel series happy, but it’s far exceeded my expectations for a CW series based on a comic book character based on past experience. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings into play.
Grade: B+
