Arrow (season 2) (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Solid episode. I almost thought for a minute that Laurel saw it was Oliver under the hood, but I guess not. She was just shocked he helped her after she was so awful to him.

Interesting island events, too.

 

[mattCR]

Yep. This show builds a good simmer and the key elements all work together in a way that seems to build a very long plot.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Given the scene between Moira and her lawyer at the end, I'm wondering if she knows about Oliver's night life. Susanna Thompson is terrific in her prison scenes.

Glad to see the rather contrived "Laurel hates the Arrow" storyline has wrapped up.

 

[Ockeghem]

That was an excellent episode tonight. I love how Arrow and Canary are interacting. My son yelled for joy when he heard the name of the character who is associated with Ra's Al Ghul(?) mentioned. I didn't expect Felicity to be the bait at one point in the episode. And I thought Thea (rather than Laurel) was going to be caught near the conclusion of the episode.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Anyone think somehow this Canary was trained by Shado on the island (presuming that it's the sister)?

 

[Ockeghem]

Anyone think somehow this Canary was trained by Shado on the island (presuming that it's the sister)?

I like it! Incidentally, my son loves the character of Slade Wilson.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Anyone think somehow this Canary was trained by Shado on the island (presuming that it's the sister)?

Pretty damn close. Good call pegging this Canary as Laurel's sister.

This episode really highlighted just how much we don't know about Oliver's time on the island.

 

[Matt Hough]

Is Sarah/Canary going to become a regular now? And Laurel's descent into pills and liquor is SO not a storyline I'm interested in. Hopefully, Sarah's "rebirth" can curtail it.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I forgot to mention in my last post: I noticed for the first time with tonight's episode that they use carefully cropped aerial photography of Boston for establishing shots of Starling City.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Is Sarah/Canary going to become a regular now? And Laurel's descent into pills and liquor is SO not a storyline I'm interested in. Hopefully, Sarah's "rebirth" can curtail it.

I tend to think Sarah will not survive by the end of this season, opening the door for Laurel to step into her sister's shoes, but we'll have them string along this long-awaited reunion between the Lance's, and Laurel will somehow get training from someone, be it Slade, Sarah, Oliver, or someone else tied more to comic book lore by the introduction of another character with plenty of martial arts mojo.

 

[Walter Kittel]

There was a brief mention of a particle accelerator (??) playing on the news in the background. Fore-shadowing of the anticipated appearance of Flash?

I can't say that I was overly fond of the reveal that Sarah is Black Canary. It kind of makes the world of Arrow feel a little small, but it doesn't overly detract and is probably essential to the Lance storylines. I did like the teamwork during the takedown of 'the Mayor' - especially the weapons swap. A nice touch that just adds a little bit to an action scene.

- Walter.

 

[Ockeghem]

Walter,I too thought of Flash when I heard mention of the particle accelerator. The reveal that Sarah is Black Canary was expected, so I wasn't surprised or against it. My son told me this would happen while we were watching last week's episode. He also said that since Flash will be having his own series as a spin-off, we probably won't see his powers during Arrow. But he's just speculating on that at this point.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Scott,

I googled articles about The Flash appearing on Arrow after my previous post and at least one article said the character would appear in three episodes and that his powers might be displayed in his final appearance this season on Arrow. We'll see (or not.)
- Walter.

 

[NeilO]

I guess tonight's was the last for a while with Black Canary in the current timeline, though we'll see more of Sarah in Oliver's flashback timeline.

It was interesting that Malcolm Merlyn was trained by a member of the League. Now, does this mean that he found a way to get out of the League or has he been funneling money to them all this time?

 

[mattCR]

I guess tonight's was the last for a while with Black Canary in the current timeline, though we'll see more of Sarah in Oliver's flashback timeline.

It was interesting that Malcolm Merlyn was trained by a member of the League. Now, does this mean that he found a way to get out of the League or has he been funneling money to them all this time?

That last bit is an interesting question that I'm also wondering..

 

[Matt Hough]

I found it odd that they didn't also bring Diggle along with them to face their foes. I don't think they're making smart use of him at all.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The interesting thing about the dual narrative tracks of the show is that a character can be written off or even killed off in the contemporary narrative track and then appear a scene or two later in the island narrative track. It looks like we're far from done with the character of Sarah even though she fled from the city. I'm curious how much time transpired between when Sarah was picked up by the ship and when Oliver was dumped at her feet after getting captured.I really like how the prison scenes provide an organic way to keep putting all of the Queens in the same room together. The three of them have a really good family chemistry together, and they've each got their own interesting baggage.

 

[todd s]

I'll tell you. The ratings this week shot up in all demographics. If it keeps going that way... I wonder if they would consider using this version of Arrow in a Justice League movie.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Good episode tonight. We got a more in-depth (and, more importantly, well-executed) look into Diggle's life than we have in the entire series up until tonight combined.I always like it when someone from Oliver Queen's world gets a glimpse into his Arrow skill set. Isabel Rochev catching him speaking fluent Russian was one of those great little moments. And while I get the Oliver/Felicity shippers, two hollow people trying to drown out the emptiness for a little while makes a lot more sense to me.I like how coolly pragmatic all of the Queens can be. Robert Queen's sitting in a lifeboat and coolly determines that the odds aren't good for any of them to survive, but the only plausible way anybody survives is if the rations are conserved for one person. And then he coolly shoots the other survivors in the head and then himself in the head because he rationally decided that was what gave his son the best chance to survive. Moira Queen made a decision that her children come first, and she did everything up to and including collude in mass murder to protect them. Oliver ironically was probably the least pragmatic at the start, but when push came to shove he became ice-cold and calculating. And ever since they wrapped up her ridiculous addiction storyline, Thea's been portrayed the same way. She liked Roy, but she heard what the lawyer was saying and decided that she needed to give her mother the best possible chance of exoneration. And once she decided her relationship wasn't worth her mother's life, she did what needed to be done. No hand wringing, no crying. Just got it done. I really like how unlike all of the other CW teen characters she is. There's something interesting in their performances where Stephen Amell, Susanna Thompson and Willa Holland all go to that same place: when they're forced to make a no-win decision, they get really still, this intense look comes into their eyes, and then they calmly speak their mind. It's a subtle bit of acting, but it's really effective at selling them as a family.I was also happy to see Sara sell Oliver out back on the freighter. The flashbacks represent a survival story, and neither of them survived this long on sentimentality. She knew she was alive because of Dr. Ivo's protection. Betraying him would be suicide. She made the play that kept her alive. It's not likable, but I wouldn't have believed anything else under the circumstances.

 

[Ockeghem]

Adam,

I really enjoyed tonight's episode. The only low point for me was observing Felicity's reaction when she saw Oliver and his companion coming out of the room. I felt really badly for Felicity, regardless of how Oliver feels about her. To my eyes at least it's purely a platonic relationship from his perspective at this point.

Speaking of Thea, I was wondering why she wasn't just straight with Roy after she learned of the ultimatum. Conversely, couldn't she and Roy have just pretended not to be together for a while until things (hopefully) settled down with her mother after a time? I realize it's in the script, of course.