Arrow Season 3 Episodes 1-2 review - The Calm/Sara

Arrow has returned once more, so let's dig into its opening two episodes and see exactly what has transpired in Starling City

Yeah, I really do like that new logo, given who the main antagonist for the season is revealed to be.

Episode 1 - The Calm

Well, they certainly got this started with a bang, we have a new Count Vertigo, a date between Oliver and Felicity, Roy in his Red costume and the death of a major character (I’ll get to that later) all in 1 episode!

So, we have the inevitable struggle of being Oliver Queen at the focus, as we show how much Ollie sucks at it. The moment he opens himself as Oliver, he’s shot down with a rocket launcher, and trying to regain his company, he’s shot down again by Ray Palmer

Brandon Routh plays a very interesting Ray Palmer on the show, there’s obvious conflict to Felicity, because while they’re intellectually equivalent, Felicity’s loyalty and love for Oliver puts them at odds. It’ll be interesting to see if that tension goes beyond hacking.

We also have Quintin Lance, accepting a higher role in the police force, which in turn keeps him out of the action. He disbands the anti-Arrow taskforce in favour of having him. But then undergoes an identity crisis similar to that of Oliver

The new Count Vertigo is also interesting; he seems to be bringing his own interests to the drug, including what seems to be a spin on the Scarecrow’s fear toxin. Having Oliver confront himself as result was an interesting twist

Diggle too is having a slight crisis of identity it would seem, as the imminent birth of his daughter forces Ollie to side-line him, and on that birth, Diggle believes that he was right to do so, finding out who Diggle is now will be another interesting journey.

In Hong Kong, we see Amanda being a Class A b*tch. She wants Ollie to do what she says and threatens to kill a family if he doesn’t.  Really, that’s all we know at this point, and being honest we should’ve had a bit more on this front.

OK, I’ve held this point back long enough. Near the end of the conflict with the new Count Vertigo, Sarah returns. And by the end of the episode she’s dead, shot with Arrows, likely from the League of Assassins. This really could’ve waited an episode. The whole reintroduction of the Sarah only for her to die could’ve been the plot of an episode, rather than a last minute side-plot. It will however be interesting to see the reactions of the people close to her, and how it will impact everyone else’s identity crises.

Rating 7.5/10

Episode 2 – Sara

Looks like even more identity crises are brewing as the death of Sara from the last episode make its mark on the core cast of the show.

Yeah, this archer, whatever his name was, we all knew he wasn’t gonna end up being Sara’s killer; it would be too big a moment to reveal in episode 2 who the killer was. What his actual objectives were beats me, he was just a mercenary.

But, to the actual reactions, the big ones were from Laurel (Obviously) who decided she wanted revenge, even going as far as holding a gun to the assassin the Arrow captured and only not shooting him because the bullets had been removed from the gun.

Surprisingly, the other big reaction was from Felicity, she was clearly holding back tears most of the episode, and it affected her interactions. Which became interesting when Ray Palmer started trying to employ her again

OK, to Ray Palmer, I don’t know what to think of this guy, and I really think that’s the way they want to play him. He seems to want the great of the city, but is also a jackass, hoping to develop a “working relationship” with felicity, even going as far as to spend $1.2bn on buying every tech company in the city.

It’s not that Oliver doesn’t react, but he reacts the same way he did with Moira’s death, to hide himself, this time emotionally rather than physically, and the story unravels and shows the toll that takes on him.

Roy’s worries, whilst also with Sarah, are also with Thea, another worry which he and Oliver share, at the end of the episode the choice to go back, and a cut to Thea training with Malcolm on Corto Maltese is interesting.

In Hong Kong, Ollie’s given a new dilemma, because Amanda Waller isn’t enough of a bitch already, we have to beat that in, with having Ollie murder his best friend. Optimistically I could say she tasked him knowing that he would want to find a way to avoid it, where as anyone else would do it no question, but Waller clearly always gets what she wants.

Rating 8.5/10

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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.