I cannot express how happy I was to see ‘Arrow’ Season 5 get back on track this week after the nonsense that was their gun control episode last week. And to see them tackling the dangling plot threats of Billy’s death, Prometheus’s mother, and Susan Williams made me very happy indeed, as the episode felt like more than just filler, it felt like the season was finally moving forward.
The episode started with a visit to the aforementioned mother of Prometheus, who wanted nothing to do with helping our heroes take down her son, claiming that the man’s freedom is more important than all of the lives he has been taking (meaning she is just about as crazy and callous toward human life as her son). Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Star City, a prison bus carrying Cupid, China White and Liza Warner is overtaken by the trio of lady Villains, who take the bus back to Star City in a plan that we eventually learn involves them going after a hidden cash of Tobias Church’s money from a deal he made at the beginning of the season.
While the Quiver Crew is busy tracking down the Lady Villains, who are busy interrogating any criminal in town who might have a clue as to where that hidden stash might be (though if someone knew where that stash is, you would think they would have spent it themselves already, right?), Oliver has problems on his own, firstly because the ACU has been given a report from a source (who Oliver believes is Prometheus) with damning evidence against the Green Arrow in the death of Billy Malone. So now the ACU is after the Green Arrow, which isn’t even the worst of Oliver’s problems because Susan also asks him point blank if he is the Green Arrow, which he “handles” but tells Thea about, who immediately sees it as a problem.
So to deal with Susan, Thea goes to Felicity, who hacks Susan’s laptop, where they discover all of her evidence against Oliver. So Thea has Felicity plant evidence on the laptop and calls in a tip to Susan’s office claiming the woman has plagiarized her work for years, and when they investigate her laptop they find the evidence Felicity planted, and Susan gets fired, her career and reputation ruined. Pissed off, she tells Oliver about what happened and accuses him of doing something since it only happened after she asked about him being the Green Arrow, and he immediately recognizes Felicity’s hand, and Felicity says she did not know what Thea had in mind. So Oliver yells at Thea and accuses her of acting like their mother, which he says worries him. Which is DUMB because in the end she protected Oliver’s identity, and stopped Susan Williams, an untrustworthy character who has been screwing with everyone all season, I don’t care how close she and Oliver have become.
As for the ACU situation, Oliver is back to blaming himself for the Billy Malone death, and while he, Chase, and Lance try to convince Police Chief Pike that the Green Arrow was not involved in Billy’s death, Pike does not believe them (rightfully so), and continues to hunt the Green Arrow, which hampers Team Arrow’s ability to find the villains, which is ok because they were a little lackluster anyway. The only motivation they really had was Warner’s anger at Lance, as she was on the road to bettering herself when she learned he was working with Damien Darhk last season, and realized that if the man who convinced her to turn herself in could be selfish enough to work for a villain, than she could stay a criminal as well. Eventually Oliver speaks to Pike and explains the whole Billy situation, and Pike eventually comes around, which is not confirmed until the final showdown with the lady villain trio.
Eventually, the ladies find the stash at a cemetery and the full Team Arrow tracks them there (including Lance and a newly masked Dinah, who cannot go out without a disguise since she is a full officer now), and as must happen on ‘Arrow,’ a battle ensues, but while it was fun to see everyone in costume on screen, there was nothing especially cool to see. Eventually the ladies call in th r new Bertinelli gang cronies (apparently recruited on the promise of money from the stash) but Team Arrow is backed up by the newly arrived ACU who decide to go after the real villains instead of the Green Arrow, even though the Green Arrow really did kill Officer Malone and vigilante activity really does make everyone in that cemetery a criminal (lots of shades of grey on ‘Arrow’).
In tonight’s flashback, Oliver and Anatoli are interrupted from planning Gregor’s downfall from Anatoli’s hospital bed by the arrival of Gregor himself and his men to kill Oliver, and they escape to the basement below, where they are trapped. Gregor claims that if Oliver gives himself up he will let Anatoli live, and while Anatoli refuses to let Oliver sacrifice himself, especially after the beating Gregor gave him that landed him in the hospital in the first place, Oliver steps forward, seemingly agreeing to the deal anyway. However, he instead grabs a gun and one of Gregor’s men as a shield and takes down everyone but Gregor, who somehow slips away and appears behind Anatoli, and the flashback ends with him holding a gun to Anatoli’s head, about to shoot him. Since we know Anatoli lives, it’ll be interesting to see how they write the ending to that scenario next week.
The episode ends with Susan not answering Oliver’s calls, and Liza trying to guilt Quentin by saying she fell back into crime because of him, which he does not accept (good for him, leave the brooding to Oliver) right before he runs into Dinah, whom he speaks with about her becoming the Black Canary, and gives his blessing to, claiming that Laurel was not looking for someone to replace her, but rather for someone to basically carry on her legacy. Lastly Oliver learns, by way of Chase coming into his office with bad news, that somehow news has leaked that the mayor’s office was trying to cover up details about Billy Malone’s death, with the news stating that this might be cause for the impeachment of the mayor, and Oliver claiming this could be the end of his administration.
BOW-STRING THEORIES:
Was Thea showing off her Merlyn side as well in how she dealt with Susan Williams? Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like Susan, but Oliver might have a point about how ruthless the whole thing was- The Black Canary finally got her mask! One step at a time folks, unless you also count it as a step that she was also sworn in officially this week as a SCPD officer.
- Can I just say how much I love it when Oliver uses trick arrows like the exploding bomb arrows? I do wonder how he gets his hands on that kind of ordinance though, especially on the meager salary of a mayor…
- Did Quentin Lance arrest Liza Warner at the end? He’s not a cop anymore? Is he even allowed to carry a gun as a disgraced former cop?
- So they’ve been using the Bertinelli gang name all season, and I suspect it is to set up the return of a fan favorite character with a last name of Bertinelli who has not been seen on the show in some time. Could we see Huntress return to ‘Arrow’ in the final 8 episodes of Season 5?
- So even with a suit upgrade Mr. Terrific still got his ass kicked this episode, as the big fight had him on the ground with Cupid and Warner kicking him. When will Curtis get it together? I hate how the writers are treating his character, maybe they think its funny, but I think its just terrible.
So not the best episode of the season, but a step in the right direction for the show, and a marked improvement over last week’s very special episode with a message, which I clearly did not appreciate all that much. It would be nice to see Prometheus or Evelyn in person again (she was supposed to be a big character this season and we haven’t seen her in ages) to remind us all what Oliver and company are fighting against, but I suspect they are saving those character’s reveals for some bigger episodes closer to the end. See you back here next week!
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
