Copycats are not a new concept when it comes to television plots. While ‘Arrow’ has already done a version of this when it introduced the Dark Archer, this week the theme takes a new turn. What if the person who is copycatting you does so because he is inspired by your cause and actions? Oliver finds out that there’s a thin line between vigilante and murderer.
Oh to be Felicity! What girl wouldn’t want to sit in front of a computer while a shirtless 6 pack vigilante is busy doing pull ups above her. And if you notice, she didn’t want to look away either – or she was just intently listening to Oliver as he describes the next person to be crossed off his list: a slum lord named Nickel.
Unfortunately, someone gets to the guy before Arrow does and that doesn’t sit well with the hooded archer. Back at the lair, Oliver instructs Diggle and Felicity to figure out who kidnapped the guy which Felicity finds ironic. First he wants to “arrow” the guy, now he wants to save him? According to Oliver, it’s more that he wants to find the guy who’s stepping on his turf. Diggle suggests he take the night off and offers to buy him dinner which is basically code for “we need to talk about your behavior.”
Diggle takes the opportunity to tell Oliver, once again, that he is spending too much time under the hood. If anyone doubted Diggle’s role in the whole Arrow gang, it’s most apparent here. He is Oliver’s conscious – which is fine but I still think it’s a waste of a good actor and character. Anyway he notices that Oliver has retreated back behind his wall and is concerned.
Their conversation is interrupted by Felicity who sends them a link of a new vigilante who is live streaming the execution of Nickel. Once the deed is done, the vigilante informs those who are watching that he has plenty more people who need to answer to their crimes against the Glades. Who’s next? Well, since the series is named Arrow, looks like Oliver has found the next person to (as Felicity so well put it) “arrow”.
To say that Oliver is angry that there is a copycat in Starling City is putting it mildly. Back at the lair, the three try to locate where the streaming is coming from. Diggle finds out that the guy who owns the website is a cyber crusader/hacker who goes under the name The Savior. While they try to determine some intel on the guy, The Savior comes online again with another victim. His new target is ADA Carnahan and he apparently has a connection to guy as he was the DA in charge of the case of his murdered wife. From this, Felicity was able to ID the voice: Joseph Falk. Unfortunately not even the genius mind of Felicity was able to save Carnahan as she couldn’t get a proper fix on the signal and ending up sending Oliver on a wild goose chase.
Felicity is devastated and Oliver does his best to try to make her feel better by telling her that not everyone they try to rescue is saved (“sometimes we lose”). While it may seem callus, we need to remember that Oliver did just get off an island that he was stranded on for 5 years. He’s still a bit stale in the whole comforting business.
Anyway, things are getting personal as Falk has decided that Roy should be his next target. Felicity and Diggle finally figured how she was screwing up the locations of the signal as Falk has been transmitting from a moving subway.
Just like with his other victims, Falk allows Roy 10 minutes to plead why he should live, but in a surprising turn, Roy tells him he doesn’t and that he should be shot. The Savior is shocked but before he could pull the trigger, he hears a banging on the outside of the subway train.
Arrow comes in and confronts Falk who tells him that they are the same. The Hood tells him that they aren’t and the difference is that he doesn’t kill in cold blood. Joseph is full of vengeance because of his wife’s death and tells the Hood how lonely he is without her and blames people like the gangbangers who killed her and the DA who couldn’t get a conviction. As he turns to shoot Roy, Arrow tells him not to before killing Falk with an arrow.
The kill obviously hit closer to home than the others as Oliver realizes that he and Joseph aren’t that much different after all. He decides that keeping himself isolated may not be a good thing and reaches out to both Laurel and Felicity.
Back at the lair, Oliver finally realizes another clue to the mystery behind his father’s book and its symbol. Whatever is going down has to do with the Glades and the underground subway tunnel.
Meanwhile, the storyline involving Moira and Malcolm has just gotten juicer. Moira meets with Chen and tells him that Malcolm doesn’t suspect them in the attempted killing but that was before she got a phone call from Malcolm telling her that a high ranking Triad official just got arrested and made a bargain to find out who tried to kill him. The noose just got a little tighter around her neck.
So to save her skin, Moira drops a dime on Frank and as she tells him that the money to pay off the Triad has led to him, the Dark Archer strikes him dead. As Moira heads back to her car, she sees Frank’s blood on her hands and begins to wipe it off as she cries with the guilt of what she has done. The metaphor of the blood on her hands depicting her guilt as well as he Lady Macbeth imagery was not lost.
While last week’s episode felt like a filler, this week brought back ‘Arrow’s’ stride. The episode moved the story along in all fronts. Oliver once again is faced with a “what if” scenario and what he could have turned out to be had it not been for Diggle and Slade in his life. Moira is now seen as someone who has no problems crossing the line if need be to protect her family. She’ll even resort to having someone killed to save her skin.
The progression of Rory is coming along well and it is nice to see it unfolding knowing that he will eventually become the Hood’s sidekick.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the addition of Felicity to Team Arrow has really brought some life in the series and she is proving to be a valuable asset and friend. If a cross over ever occurred, I would love to see Chloe from Smallville and Felicity go head to head. Wouldn’t you?
What did you think of this week’s ‘Arrow’? Chime in and tell me your thoughts in the comments below.
