TV Month - Arrow Season 3 episodes 3-4 review - Corto Maltese/The Magician

It's November, which makes this TV month

Arrow started its run well last week, with a strong opening pair of episodes, can it keep up its quality with episodes 3 and 4? Let's take a look and find out.

Episode 3 – Corto Maltese

You remember Corto Maltese; centre-ground for a nuclear attack from the Russians in Frank Miller's the Dark Knight Returns

Just some comic book trivia there, anyway we have an episode which focuses on what Thea's been up to (although to be honest, it covers it fairly briefly with a few flashbacks replacing the usual island flashbacks)

She too is facing an identity crisis of sorts, but hers stems back from season 2 when she found out the Malcolm Merlyn was her father, and was also still alive. It's interesting to see what his training has gotten her, and how far she has come in just a few short months

We see Laurel face her identity crisis in another way, in trying to lay the smack-down to criminals and ending up pretty beat up herself, she vowed to get herself trained, by a possible wildcat reference?

We also see Felicity get into her new job at Queen Consolidated, and the benefits of working with Ray Palmer. This week she gets her own office and personal assistant. Ray Palmer must be desperate. And this week we see he may be looking for weapons, although I couldn't tell whether or not that's what he expected.

The issue this episode is, surprise surprise, the villain. Whilst Malcolm Merlyn is interesting, he didn't do anything villainous, so I don't really count him as the villain, I do however think that that guy from Argus was just an annoyance to shoehorn Diggle into the whole affair.

Although it does raise questions about how far Amanda Waller wants her agents to go, if he's willing to put the lives of agents and their families at risk just to get out of the game, I'll bet we'll be seeing more of this style during the Island (are they Island flashbacks now they're in China) flashbacks

The episode ends with Nyssa's return to Starling City, with her relationship to Sara, I know this encounter was inevitable, and I'll be looking forward to seeing where it goes next week (or a few lines below if you're reading this review)

Rating 8/10

Episode 4 – The Magician

And so begins the major arc of the story, the League of Assassins.

Nyssa returns to Starling City to begin her path of grievance and actually may well be facing her own identity crisis too, as her father clearly never gave a damn about Sara, and may well be the man responsible for her death.

So, with Felicity away to deal with Flash problems, the team have to face the startling revelation that Malcolm Merlyn is back in Starling City.  And this is where Oliver's choice not to kill comes into question.

And it's a fair moral quandary, with a great villain to have it for. Malcolm Merlyn is responsible for the deaths of over 500 people, but he's also Oliver's sister's father and a suspect in Sarah's murder

Of course, like most people I dismissed the idea of Malcolm being the murderer. In addition to all the obvious reasons he gave, there's also the 2 major things. 1. He wasn't in Starling at the time, rather in Corto Maltese, and 2. Sara greeted her killer like she knew him

Laurel and Nyssa's bond was a focal point for the episode. They both have similar outlets for the grief, wanting to find the man responsible and kill him, but they have a resentment of each other too, given the paths they desired for Sara.

That scene at the graveyard was exceptionally well done, and the scene in the gym at the end also a good scene. Laurel's motivations this episode maybe shockingly similar to those in episode 2, at least the murder of Tommy Merlyn made it personal enough for her for it not to feel like trodden ground.

Of course, we also have Thea, buying back the land for the Verdant (from Ray Palmer I'd guess) using money from an investor (Malcolm Merlyn no doubt) and setting up the club again. There were a lot of "are you ok?" Moments but that was all the more needed after Nyssa kidnapped her.

In China we learn the Fyres was an agent for Waller, because she's still a b*tch who was willing to destabilise the chines economy, not to mention kill hundreds of innocent passengers, just to kill China White. Given that's she's shown up in Arrow before we know she'll survive this encounter, I hope they can still build up tension.

Rating 8/10

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Note: Episode 5 will be reviewed as an individual episode next week

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