With Deadshot back in town, the bodies are about to fall, especially with China White involved.
What They Say:
Dead to Rights – Oliver and Diggle learn that Deadshot is alive and targeting Malcolm. Tommy refuses to attend a benefit honoring Malcom and Oliver tries to balance his relationship with McKenna and his duties as Arrow.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Sometimes I’m hard pressed to really call Arrow a series that’s complex or complicated, but it is one that has a whole lot of things going on and plenty of balls in the air. A good part of the odd feeling of it is that so many series tend to not have a lot going on and almost don’t feel challenging in a way because it’s playing it safe and spreading out what it wants to do across the whole season. With Arrow knowing that it can do a heck of a lot of things across several seasons if it gets there because of the variety of characters and the mix of personal and vigilante aspects, it just runs with it and really is fun because of it.
With this episode, things start off fast as Oliver takes down an assassin that’s come to town that’s actually on his list as well. He’s making good use of Felicity since he can just directly give her the phone he swiped from the guys corpse and let her run with it to figure out what he was really up to. It’s amusing to see Felicity becoming a part of the group in such a smooth and easy way since you know there will be road bumps along the way. Even better is that she is taking it seriously though since you have Diggle training her a bit on some basic self defense since their work is never easy. This kind of training is given a parallel with some time spent showing Oliver back on the island training with Slade for the fight that’s going to come. Slade really gets to show off his physique here, which is pretty impressive considering the actor’s age and that he’s held up pretty well with what his regime was over on Spartacus.
Seeing the two of them sort of working together in this regard is amusing, especially as Oliver gets focused for days on trying to fix the radio in the damaged plane they’re hiding out in. Slade’s obviously not going to believe he can do it and is working hard at keeping fit and getting them something to eat where they can. It’s a slow slog to be sure but it has some really nice aspects to it as we see the banter and tension that does exist between the two. Which as a counterpoint we see how Oliver and Tommy are getting along better and better, something that’s welcome to see as the two have a long and complicated history. Their talk about their dads definitely reveals some good things about each of them and shows them opening up in ways that you may not always get between men in series such as this,.
Of course, there’s tension in the present storyline as well as the new assassin that’s being brought in, by Moira of all people to kill Tommy’s father, is Deadshot. He’s given a new lease on life with some gear that helps his ocular issues and he has the chance to actually be a whole lot deadlier now that China White has done her job. With what he was dealt with by Oliver, getting back in the game rather than just slowly killing himself with booze and smokes gives him that kind of craving that he had forgotten. And he gets to do it in a very public way as Malcolm Merlyn is getting the humanitarian of the year award, plotted upon by Moira as well, so it’ll be something that will garner a whole lot of notice. And with China White’s people within the help for the event, it has a great little conspiracy feeling that hits just right.
The event doesn’t go quite as planned, which leaves you feeling a bit off about it since there were obviously some prime moments where it could have been done, but it leads to some bigger fight scenes. Including a pretty decent hand to hand sequence between Oliver and China as she’s obviously got a bit of a grudge against him. The cast that’s drawn in to events here is pretty good, but I particularly liked the way things started to flow for Tommy and his father as he almost revealed his alternate identity in order to protect his son. But the reveal that does come is surprising as events get a hell of a lot tenser due to what happens to Malcom. It’s almost a bit disconcerting as to how many people Oliver is revealing himself to, but there is that core group he trusts and has to place his faith in, something that too many series avoid doing and end up in some overly convoluted storylines in order to protect a secret. While I’m not sure how well this will unfold now that Tommy knows, it’s certainly going to complicate things in any number of interesting ways.
In Summary:
Once again, Arrow throws a few different things at the viewer here at once and with multiple storylines running that are connected in different ways, it keeps itself pretty engaging. But it manages to do it while not feeling like they’re overwhelming each other to the point of crushing some of them. With some good hints at what’s to come in the flashbacks, a growing relationship with McKenna and some intriguing time with Felicity involved in the group. But the heavy focus on Tommy and Malcolm here really changes the status quo in so many ways and then it offers up fantastic little nod towards the end about Nanda Parabat that leaves the comics fans grinning and wondering where they’re going to go with it. As the series adapts certain aspects and plays with others, it can do so much to honor what has come before but also forge its own path that the uncertainty keeps it hugely engaging. Each new week just brings more moments where I can’t help but to grin and crave more of this right away. The show isn’t a guilty pleasure by any stretch but it has me giddy about it in that way.
Grade: B+
That�s awesome Deadshot�s back in the series with China, because I was disappointed with his demise after the first few episodes. Arrow is a great show, and because I work at DISH I�ve stayed informed on all the products and services we offer, that�s why I purchased my Hopper DVR. I like how my Hopper DVR can record up to six shows at the same time. With so many of my favorite shows on all at once during primetime hours, I use this technology to help minimize DVR conflicts, so that I won�t miss episodes of Arrow.