TV Retrospective: Arrow Season 1 episodes 4-6

Time once again to look 3 episodes of Arrow, as the curtain begins to fall unveiling shady operations from all parties. Secrets and lies take their toll, and this is the synopsis of both seasons isn't it. Ah well, it's still a great show.

An Innocent Man

Wow, they’re going with some big revelations early, aren’t they?

Well, it’s a good angle to look at a man falsely imprisoned for crimes he did not commit; it brought out the best in pretty much everyone. From Moira’s dismissal of the problem, to Oliver’s belief that he’s innocent based solely on the fact there’s a name on his list with a connection to the case. From Laurel’s belief that they guy’s innocent after talking to him, to her father’s dismissal of such a notion, to Laurel’s fading belief in the law.

All that leading up to a decent action scene in the prison, where Laurel is faced with the fact that the vigilante she was working with is a killer (even if it was a beating given because the guy tried to hurt Laurel) and it’s really well choreographed.

On the island, we see Oliver, a very different person, not willing to take the life of a helpless animal but being forced to in order to survive. It’s a good character study into how he started down this path.

We get a bit of comedy with throw-away body guard, and the growing bond between Ollie and Diggle, and the discovery that Deadshot killed his brother, leading to his agreement of partnership to Ollie

But the story finishes a tad early, we still have about 10 minutes left, and it’s filled with revelations, from the revelation of Malcolm Merlin, to the discovery of the Queen’s gambit in a warehouse owned by Moira, and of course, the arrest of Oliver

It all adds to quite a dramatic episode, even if the bad guy is pretty one note. (You can say that for the majority of business villains in this)

Rating: 8.5/10

Damaged

Well, this was a risky plan for Ollie to put into action, but it’s a plan that was necessary in order for the police not to find out his secret. The focus of this episode is really not on Oliver, despite the story revolving around him. This is really Laurel’s story, as she defends Oliver, trying to make it through to her father, discovers more about what happened to Oliver on the island, and begins to make amends in their relationship, something we may become problematic later on

Ollie’s plan is sound, but it does rely on Diggle not only accepting his offer, but accepting it before the case made it to trial. Fortunately, Diggle had agreed to help in the previous episode, just a bit of suspicious timing

We also get a little more into Quintin Lance, as we find out his wife left him after Sarah died, because he threw himself into his work, it’s appropriately tragic for Quintin, and it does help our understanding of the character’s motivations. Although the evidence he has on Ollie is pretty good in itself, it's his hatred of Oliver that pushed him to act

We see a bit more of Malcolm Merlyn, as he tries to solve the problem of the Arrow his own way, nearly killing Ollie in the process. Moira really comes into her own here, and threatens to burn his world to ashes if he hurts her family again. I don’t understand Moira particularly though, I find that she’s too strong a woman to bow to Malcolm Merlyn, a point that becomes ever stronger as the episodes go by.

The villain of the week is barely worth mentioning, because he appears in 2 scenes to my knowledge, and spends both of them being beaten up, they’re 0-note villains, but their threat is real enough, and considering that the episode revolves around a different plot, that’s enough for this episode.

On the island, we get our first true insight as to who the villains on the island are, these flashbacks have provided a decent parallel to the events in the present, in this case showcasing Oliver’s resilience under torture, and hence ability to fool a lie detector test

We also get the fallout from the discovery of the Queen’s gambit in the last episode, as Walter leaves the house, not happy about the lies Moira was telling him. Secrets and lies seems to be the running theme of Arrow, and it’s a good one (although I must say, Young Justice did it first)

Rating: 8/10

Legacies

“Ladies and Gentlemen, our extra-special guest stars, making their world debut, the Royal Flush Gang”

Yup, we get the arrow version of the royal flush gang, a bit of playing card themed robberies. Except this is the realistic version. Family drama, guns and no super-powers (because that stuff comes later)

Lots of relationships get developed here. From Diggle trying to get Oliver to see a bigger picture than the list, to Oliver trying to reconcile with someone his father had wronged, to Thea getting the wrong idea from Tommy to Tommy’s attempts to get through to Laurel (and into her panties if you get my drift), to Oliver and Moira’s relationship going through turmoil, in the aftermath of Walter’s departure in the last episode.

And of course on the island, the ghost of plot convenience gives Oliver a (necessarily cryptic) message, keeping Oliver alive on the island for just a bit longer.

The pacing of Arrow always seems to be incredibly fast. There’s nothing specifically wrong with that, but there are times you wish it could slow down a bit. The scene with Ollie, Diggle and Felicity is one I wish would’ve been fleshed out, given the circumstances at the end of the season

Thea Queen gets a bit of the humility that is required for her development, but we’ll have to wait a while before everything comes to fruition. Oh and we get an appearance of the perfect son who… He never shows up again, does he?

Rating 7/10

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Images used in this review are from Arrow and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.