After some epic build up over the course of the last few episodes, the second season of ‘Arrow’ is now over. Things kicked off with a partially disappointing first act of this essentially three-part event, but then picked up quite a bit in the last episode that found each member of Team Arrow backed into a corner. After mourning the death of Moira Queen, everyone jumped into action as Ollie and Laurel are buried under the rubble of the collapsed tunnel that took out a squad of soldiers, Diggle is facing off against Ravager, and Detective Lance and the others at SCPD have Mirakuru henchmen knocking down their front door and just about everything else in the city.
Now this week brings us the exciting conclusion to this war between Deathstroke and the Arrow. With the Mirakuru cure now in their possession thanks to the sacrifice of Sebastian Blood, Oliver rallies the troops to deal with the citywide threat before ARGUS pulls the trigger on the drones that are set to blow Starling City to kingdom come. But the regulars like Diggle, Roy, and Felicity aren’t the only reinforcements called in. Sara returns to fight by Oliver’s side and to save her family, but she calls in Nyssa Raatko and members of the League of Shadows as back up. On top of that, Lyla Michaels returns as well and brings the Suicide Squad into play to keep Amanda Waller from launching the drones. All in all, tensions are high leading into the final battle and the journey to get there is an exciting one.
I have to start by saying that this might be one of the best episodes of the season. Each beat was an emotional blow after emotional blow. Roy finally gets his mask, Thea leaves with Malcolm Merlyn, Detective Lance’s injury, and Oliver declaring his love for Felicity were just a few of the insane moments that left me yelling at my TV. That last one was especially funny because as it was happening, I was overcome with emotions. But then the real plan which included Felicity injecting Slade with the cure after she had been taken captive thanks to the cameras in the Queen mansion came to fruition and I released a big sigh and an even bigger “DUH!” Basically, the writers gave a big fuck you to all the fans out there that ship Felicity and Oliver together. There were two moments where it could have happened and they dangled the carrot only to pull it away at the last minute, chomp it down, and throw it back at the hungry, begging faces. I definitely laughed those moments off then realized that certain corners of the internet would be exploding multiple times over those moments.
While Olicity shippers may have had their moment taken away from them, I was ecstatic to see Roy finally don a mask and utilize a bow and arrow in the field. I loved that sequence in the tunnel where Team Arrow and the League of Assassins just cleaned house of Slade’s forces. I can’t wait until next season to see more of Roy and Oliver teaming up.
Speaking of team ups, I imagine that Laurel is going to team up with the Arrow at some point in the future. Now that Sara returned to the League of Shadows with Nyssa, the Black Canary jacket was passed on to Laurel. Could the wig and the weapons accompany the jacket, which would lead to the comic book couple of Oliver Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance? I hope so! We’ll just have to keep watching to find out.
But before we get to more season three talk, I have to say that ‘Unthinkable’ tied everything in this season up very nicely and the final showdown lived up to the hype. It was cool how they intercut Slade and Ollie’s fight on the Amazo together with their fight in Starling City. It’s almost like no matter how the Arrow deals with Deathstroke, they’ll always be locked in battle. Well, since our hero decided against the temptation that he faced all season to return to his murderous ways, we just may see that rematch in the future when the villain inevitably breaks out of that ARGUS facility.
With the war won, the last thing that ‘Arrow’ left us with until the fall was a ton of teases. I mentioned most of them earlier in this review, but one big game changing teaser was the final one where Oliver finally gets off the island. But of course, he can’t go right back to Starling City because then that would take away the flashback aspect of the show. No, he surfaces in Hong Kong with Amanda Waller of ARGUS! Being unfamiliar with Green Arrow’s whole mythology, I’m not too sure what to expect from this new development, but chances are that whatever comes of it will be very entertaining.
Overall, this was an incredibly solid episode and an equally solid and consistently entertaining season. It wasn’t without it’s ups and downs, but it’s consistently been one of the best shows that I’ve been tuning into. While DC may not be excelling on the big screen, it sure has the small screen on lock at the moment. We’ll see if that changes or not when ‘The Flash’ and ‘Gotham’ premiere next season, but until then, I look forward to the second season of ‘Arrow’ hitting Netflix so that I can binge watch the whole thing before it returns in the fall.
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‘Arrow’ starring Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Katie Cassidy, and Manu Bennett airs every Wednesday at 8:00pm on The CW.
