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Arrow: Tribute

“If I was running around the city during the day and managing it as Mayor while running around at night frightening criminals as a vigilante, that would really make me a superhero.”

This is an episode that I’m not sure that I really like. Parts of it are good, but that ending didn’t make me feel hopeful about the rest of the season.

It’s always nice to receive a visit from Oliver’s frenemy – Anatoly. The guy is struggling now, apparently, because the Bratva no longer trust him. He’s looking to take the twenty million dollars away from Oliver that he’s getting to fix up the damaged police station. Anatoly goes away empty-handed, but not before justifying his schemes of evil. He wants Oliver to know that he’s still an honorable man, one that kills a hostage, but not one that goes after Oliver’s family. In a twisted way, I can see his point. Oliver’s had enough villains attack his family, he doesn’t want that to happen again. Oliver’s going to take an extreme step to protect his son – more on that, later.

The team tries to figure out who leaked the picture of Oliver, but so far, they’re unsuccessful. Anatoly didn’t do it, so that one stays a mystery for now. They did get the news lady to run a story about how the picture was digitally altered, so they have some breathing room, though. I would think that it’s in the best interest for these superheroes to retain their anonymity, but not all do that. Danny Rand tells everyone he meets (most don’t care) that he’s “The Immortal Iron Fist” and Jessica Jones doesn’t mask her identity, either. I’m not an expert in this matter (or why Oliver suddenly mentions Bruce Wayne), but that might be an interesting subject for the comment section.

Anyway, this episode spends a lot of time with William. He’s being bullied at school and Oliver tells him to punch the biggest guy in the nose to stop him. Would that work if William is way shorter and not very coordinated? What if he misses? I’m not an expert in schoolyard fights, either, so I don’t know how easy it is to punch someone’s nose. Is a straight-on or sideways punch best? I guess the real question is if William is working as a character on this show. So far, I vote no. This isn’t Parenthood. Too much family drama, especially centered around a boy who’s not very interesting, isn’t what most people are looking for – in a show like this one. Especially since the kid was just dropped into the show a la Dawn on Buffy, or Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch. It doesn’t work out very well, usually. Such characters just seem like interruptions to the story. Personally, I liked Dawn. She wasn’t always played consistently and could be a major whiner, but her storyline as a mystical object was fascinating and she brought that great villain, Glory, along for the ride.

Back to Arrow – Oliver decides that to keep his kid happy, he’s going to have to pass on the costume to Diggle. Okay, what? Besides the fact that Diggle also has a wife and child, who might want him to survive – he has a slight problem with some pesky nerve damage. He can’t fire a gun, but he’s going to shoot arrows? I would think that would be more strenuous than firing a gun. I don’t like this decision by Oliver, not at all. He’s the Mayor, but watching him doing Mayor-type things hasn’t been that great, so far. I guess he’s going to hang around the bat-cave with Felicity in his spare time and then be with William when he’s not in school. Ooh, that’ll be compelling television.

Bits:

Special Agent Samantha Watson has started an investigation into the Mayor and she’s really serious about it. We’ll see if this can bring some much-needed drama into this season – drama that doesn’t center around William would be nice.

Felicity and Curtis are going into the computer business, together. There’s some talk about how these folks pay the bills. I thought that Oliver was still rich and was paying them, but I’m not sure of Oliver’s financial situation, anymore.

The best part of this whole episode is Rene and Quentin in Watson’s office. I love the long shots of them against the wall, sitting side by side. Quentin’s reactions to Rene’s bon mots are very funny.


I was intrigued/distracted by Felicity’s outfits. She wore a short black dress that was banded in florescent yellow for most of the episode and I kept thinking that the dress was cute on her, but all she’d need for Halloween would be antennae to stick on her head. She then wore a blouse, later on, that had one long, ruffled sleeve and then a whole bunch of bare shoulder on the other side. Such things always bother me. I just think of how cold she must be on one side, or hot on the other side – plus the OCD part of me just wanted to grab her and sew on another sleeve.


Since William’s so afraid of becoming an orphan, I would think that Oliver would concentrate on finding him a support system, not just becoming his only guardian. He could set up custody arrangements with William's grandparents (if they exist) or Diggle’s family, Felicity or Curtis. I just don’t think that stopping the vigilantism is going to solve anything. Old enemies can always pop back up, you know.

Quotes:

Oliver: “Has Bruce Wayne left Gotham to hang out in Star City, recently?”

Rene: “I mean, of course a woman can do anything a man can.”
Watson: “And why couldn’t they?”
Rene: “Exactly, I mean… they can. I’m a feminist like that.”

Diggle: “I’m a soldier, Dinah, soldiers push through.”

Felicity: “I know Python.”
Curtis: “The supervillain?”
Felicity: “No, no, no – the programming language.”

Anatoly: “I do not think you understand how this whole rescue thing works.”

Not a stellar episode and one that brings doubt into the future of this series. There’s some good banter and I like the scenes of Anatoly’s goons shooting up the place in the beginning, but too many scenes of Oliver talking earnestly with his son are not very compelling.

Two and a half broken noses out of five.

Mallena’s not the perfect choice to review Arrow, but she’s doing her best.

3 comments:

  1. Wasn’t there an episode which took place in the future and showed Diggle’s son in the suit? I wonder if this is how it starts.

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  2. This whole storyline is pretty eh for me. Here's to hoping it's part of setting up for something really good. Anybody know if the writing team, etc. for Arrow changed at all this season?

    On a comic book note: I think this is the first time they've mentioned Bruce Wayne on the show and the way he says it, is it now common knowledge that Bruce Wayne is Batman?
    In general, superheroes with anyone they love and/or anything to lose, always come up with a secret identity in order to protect those loved ones from their enemies and from those enemies using them as leverage against the superhero. This goes all the way back to the very first superhero, Superman/Clark Kent.
    I think the storyline with Adrian Chase exemplifies the need for a secret identity and Iron Fist and Jessica Jones are definitely the exception to the rule.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That future episode was in Legends of Tommorow, but You are right that's probably how it starts. :)

    It's always nice to see Anatoly, but I'm a bit dissapointed that he;s not the big bad. Or maybe he is but is playing a long con.

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