Arrow (Season 5) (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

I enjoyed it more than episode 1 this season. I'm curious who Prometheus is (don't know the character). I like that Oliver is mayor and trying to balance life as the Arrow too.

 

[ponset]

Cool that RAGMAN made his 1st Live-Action appearance on YOM KIPPUR.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Another week, another episode where Felicity finds a way to blame Oliver for the failings of others. It gets very old.

I can't believe that the only acknowledgement that John's daughter Sara was unceremoniously replaced with a son John, Jr. as a result of The Flash's meddling with the timeline is a clip in the "previously on" from the episode of "The Flash" where the change was addressed. It makes me even more pissed at that creative decision.

I like that Oliver is mayor and trying to balance life as the Arrow too.

I actually do too. The fundamentals of this season are good: Oliver putting together a new team while trying to balance the responsibilities of his office gives the show a narrative drive that it had been sorely lacking in recent years. And the flashbacks to his time in Russia are starting to fill in arguably the most interesting chapter of the five years that the public believes he spent stranded on that island.

But the execution is falling short. Other than Ragman, the show hasn't given us a reason to invest in the new recruits of Team Arrow. Curtis is basically doing it because he's an adrenaline junkie, which isn't a very good reason to lie to your spouse. All that Mad Dog's contributed so far is to cause problems that Oliver has to clean up. And the show's made very little attempt to develop Evelyn Sharp at all. After a promising start with her vengeful one-off last season, she's basically just there to be the generic female recruit now.

I do like how the mayoral storyline is being used to develop another, more interesting side of Thea's character. But it's allotted so little screen time that it's hard for them to engage with what the job entails in any depth. There's no sense that Oliver's mayoralty is about anything, or has any guiding principles or goals. It's hard to root for him to succeed, when the show hasn't really explored what he's trying to achieve.

TVLine has an interesting interview with co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim, in which he confirms that they now need specific permission to use any of the Suicide Squad characters. It does sound like the show will address the Sara/John Jr. swap in a more substantial way at some point down the line.

 

[Sam Favate]

Was Deadshot just in Diggle's mind? I missed a few seconds of the show and got the sense he was.

It was a good episode, although it seemed to still be setting things up for later in the season. That's the problem with these season-long arcs - individual episodes can often feel like just a piece to a puzzle, instead of telling a compelling story on its own.

 

[NeilO]

Was Deadshot just in Diggle's mind? I missed a few seconds of the show and got the sense he was.

Yes, Deadshot was just in his mind. I guess most of us thought his being alive was the result of the timeline change, but unfortunately that was not the case. It was just Diggle's profound guilt expressing itself.

Now as far as the idea of breaking Diggle out - that really seems like a bad idea and I don't like it that the writers have put that forward.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The new recruits storyline is still irritating me -- yet again, Oliver lays out a well-thought-out plan of attack, and yet again Wild Dog has to go renegade and screw things up -- but the episode generally marked an improvement.

After episode three episodes of Oliver taking it in the teeth, it was nice to see his decision-making validated this episode, successfully bringing Diggle back around. And the prison break was one of the best action setpieces that the show has done in a long time. The show's gotten so bogged down talking about everybody's feelings lately, that it was nice to see Oliver be a stone-cold badass again.

Ragman continues to be my favorite recruit. That he understood the impossible decision Felicity had to make and didn't blame her for it was a refreshing change of pace.

And then, at the end, it was nice to see Green Arrow as respected team leader again.

My only issue with the episode: If it was really all hands on deck -- to the point where the man whose family was obliterated by an atomic blast had to work with the woman who directed the nuke his way -- there should have at least been discussion of Thea suiting up as Speedy for a one-time special. She's got better training than any of the recruits, and her presence would have potentially kept Wild Dog from being captured.

The flashbacks are better than last season, but still feel just kind of there. As essential as they were in the early seasons, I won't miss them when they end after this season.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

After the FOX series's reconceptualizing of the character, it was fun to see a straight take on Human Target, even if the masks stretched credibility as much as the ones in the Mission: Impossible movies do. I was bummed that Oliver's victories as mayor this episode were really Chance in disguise, though.

It was really good to have Diggle back in the fray.

The new recruits continue to be dead weight in my book.

The Russian flashbacks need to kick into high gear.

It was a doozy of an ending, though, with Prometheus taking out the entire police escort just to kill Tobias Church. I liked that Church was looking out for the cop in the armored transport with him, since he had nothing to gain by the officer's death.

 

[NeilO]

At last, Arrow finished up a major threat inside the first half of the season. I had feared that Tobias Church was going to linger on much longer, but he was defeated in good fashion and then Prometheus took care of him.

Now, Prometheus will probably last the rest of the season, but he has been a slow buildup. I presume that Prometheus is going to have a direct link to the Russian flashbacks. From the tag, those flashbacks are about to take their first bite into Oliver Queen in current times.

 

[NeilO]

No! That final scene in tonight's episode has to be a mental fake-out. I cannot see any way that

Spoiler

Quentin Lance

has the skills to be Prometheus. No way, no how.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I had the same reaction, Neil. On one hand, I never suspected that the person in question could be Prometheus. On the other hand, I don't see any way the person could be Prometheus.

This episode started out pretty lackluster, with more whining from the new recruits. I did appreciate that Wild Dog gave zero fucks about Oliver being a killer, though.

Fortunately, things picked up from there. Evelyn had a nice arc over the course of the episode, with her blaming him as much I think for not being a killer when her parents' lives were at stake as for being a killer before then. It also lead to one of Oliver's most bad ass manuevers in quite some time. And I was glad to see her grateful for his intervention. It's nice that he's really starting to win the recruits over.

I'm really happy that Diggle is back in the fold.

If the show wants me to be interested in the Russia flashbacks, casting Dolph Lundgren as the Big Bad is a good start. And after seeing him play big lunks for so long, it's interesting to see him play a character with some intellectual heft.

 

[Sam Favate]

Well, if the person mentioned is not Prometheus, the show is sure trying to make us think he is. At the end of this episode, when Oliver and Thea are talking about who Prometheus could be, they cut to him.

FWIW, I think he'd be a bad person to be the big bad. I also doubt they'd spoil it so early in the season.

 

[NeilO]

I'm glad they quickly cleared up that Quentin is not Prometheus.

As far as Vigilante - it looked like they were definitely leaving clues that he is the DA.

The big stunner was at the end that Artemis was working with Prometheus - this not far off what was going on in other DC universe adaptations. No clues yet as to whether they are going in a similar direction.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Best episode of the season so far for me.

I'm glad they quickly cleared up that Quentin is not Prometheus.

Me too!

As far as Vigilante - it looked like they were definitely leaving clues that he is the DA.

For those viewers who weren't tipped off by the name Adrian Chase.

The big stunner was at the end that Artemis was working with Prometheus - this not far off what was going on in other DC universe adaptations. No clues yet as to whether they are going in a similar direction.

I liked that twist. Gave an underutilized character more to do.

 

[ponset]

Evelyn Sharpe was smokin' HOT in that Red Dress.
Really enjoyed her story arc in this episode.
Sort of reminds of the Deathstroke-Terra story from the NEW TEEN TITANS "The Judas Contract".

Here is some info about that story, SPOILERS!

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/judas-contract/4045-40760/


Also Vigilante was handle well.
Season 5 has been 100 times better Season 4.

 

[NeilO]

Season 5 has been 100 times better Season 4.

And I thought that Season 4 was much better than Season 3, which is my least favorite season of the show so far.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It should be noted that that is not my statement, despite the attribution! I've had serious problems with this season so far.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Trailer for the four-series crossover event that starts in the final act of Monday's new episode of "Supergirl":


...and the "Arrow" poster for the crossover event:

 

[Sam Favate]

The show was terrific fun tonight. I liked that they focused on the non-powered characters and told a story about the lives they could have had. Stephen Amell continues to be the strongest lead any of the shows has, and that's saying a lot.

 

[NeilO]

Yes, the Arrow Invasion! was a lot of fun, though it just nudged the plot along. It was nice to see all the former cast members of the show. I'm looking forward to the finale on Legends.

I really hate it when the camera swirls around characters - that scene with Oliver and Diggle was painful to watch. I've seen this technique a few times this year and can't stand it.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The show was terrific fun tonight. I liked that they focused on the non-powered characters and told a story about the lives they could have had. Stephen Amell continues to be the strongest lead any of the shows has, and that's saying a lot.

The timing of this crossover event was kind of awkward, because this was the 100th episode of "Arrow". So on one hand, the episode had to work as the middle chapter of a three-episode story. On the other hand, the episode had to work as the culmination of five seasons of "Arrow". "The Flash" chapter could be a straight team-up story, because it didn't have to service any other functions.

As a fan of the "Arrow", I loved it. Seeing all of the familiar faces return -- and forcing Oliver, Thea and Sara to confront the tragedies that the show has dished out to them -- was affecting and emotionally satisfying. As you say, Stephen Amell did great work tonight (as did Willa Holland) and I'm glad they made the 100th episode something special. I was glad they found a way to sneak Tommy in, even though Colin Donnell's "Chicago Med" commitments prevented him from appearing in person.

At the same time, I could see how this episode would feel like it was bogged down almost exclusively with characters that someone who is just a viewer of "The Flash" wouldn't have any investment in. Of the five abductees, three were "Arrow" cast members and two were "Legends of Tomorrow" cast members. But all five had extensive histories on "Arrow", and even Sara and Ray's stories dealt more with their "Arrow" stuff than their "Legends" stuff.

Rene Ramirez continues to be terrible and wrong all of the time. No acknowledgement of or explanation for Evelyn Sharp's absence, other than that they presumably couldn't fit her in and/or didn't want to pay Madison McLaughlin when the episode was already stuffed with guest actors.

As much as I like "Arrow" best when it's gritty and grounded, there's something unbelievably cool about seeing our gang escape an alien spaceship and escape in a pod as fight jets follow in hot pursuit.

I did love bitter Cisco in the Arrowcave, At some point, there really needs to be a crossover episode where Felicity, Ray, Cisco and Winn are all working together on the same science project.