Arrow: Unchained Review
The old school "Team Arrow" is back in business and they certainly haven't lost their touch. Neither has the stunt team apparently! Unchained"deals with the return of a familiar face in the form of Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) while Oliver's campaign runs into some difficulties and a major villain threatens the safety of every Starling City inhabitant.
As a starting opinion I will ask for a round of applause for the men behind those amazingly choreographed fight and chase sequences which truly immerses the viewer in the eye popping action. From the exciting Nanda Parbat Break sequence to those roof and physics defying chases, Arrow still holds the crown in regards to choreographies in TV shows while also showing the film industry how it is done. CGI is used extremely sparingly and that has also helped Arrow differentiate itself in tone and grittiness from other superhero themed shows. Many of the actor's performances in the face of action sequences are also astounding, as many do involve themselves in their own battles.
But with great action comes great responsibility for the characters to be any good. This doesn't seem to be a problem because of the awesome banter and dynamic between our heroes. As a team they all complement each other greatly. That point goes to the current ensemble, but today's episode showed us that the old group can still hold their own when it comes to fist fights and on-screen chemistry.
By "old group" I simply mean switching Thea for Roy, who made a welcomed fan-pleasing appearance with a sort of twist at the beginning. As for his scene with Thea, like with his fighting sequences, it didn't need any introduction because of their memorable rapport.
Aside from the points mentioned above, what impressed me the most from this episode was how it managed to tell separate plots and deal with different conflicts without feeling uneven or cramped. It delved further into Felicity's personal struggles; it posed a new obstacle for Oliver's campaign; it connected Thea to the main villain in an enticing manner and all of that while introducing a new villain who threatened the entire city. It even interconnected Oliver's issue in accepting Thea's decision-making with Roy's need to deliver justice in the face of unpredictable danger. A well- crafted vision in one of the flash-backs was also filled with more heart than expected. These multiple but solid layers of conflict were one of the huge problems with the previous season. Season 3 felt unfinished and very disjointed, as it juggled with plots and villains in a very messy and icky way. An example can be found in the way they totally wasted a possibly incredible gear switch when they almost turned Quentin Lance into a villain for the finale. Season 4, in the other hand, has kept a single main villain as a structural basis, and it has proved to be a very solid decision, as it avoids sudden switches in focus and themes.
There were some flaws with the episode, like Amell's believability while being electrocuted. This stood out just because of Amell's great overall performance as Oliver Queen, especially in this season with many stand-out scenes. A specially funny "whahahat?!" moment was when, after being handed his own ass in the beat down of his life, Curtis appeared snapping nonchalant jokes with Felicity in his next scene. Speaking about jokes, not all of them achieve a good landing, mainly when the team is apart and not involve in their accumulative chemistry.
Arrow, nonetheless, kept us hanging in a major twist ending which revealed the identity of "The Calculator" and wrapped the episode with a warm blanket and a good night kiss. That's right, Unchained was not only a good time (like almost all Arrow episodes) but an experience of quality which gave us solid drama and even better sequences of people hitting each other as hard as they can in the face. I just hope that the newly introduced villain established an awesome subplot without stealing that much focus from Damien Darhk. Arrow: Unchained gets and 8.5 out of 10.
The old school "Team Arrow" is back in business and they certainly haven't lost their touch. Neither has the stunt team apparently! Unchained"deals with the return of a familiar face in the form of Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) while Oliver's campaign runs into some difficulties and a major villain threatens the safety of every Starling City inhabitant.
As a starting opinion I will ask for a round of applause for the men behind those amazingly choreographed fight and chase sequences which truly immerses the viewer in the eye popping action. From the exciting Nanda Parbat Break sequence to those roof and physics defying chases, Arrow still holds the crown in regards to choreographies in TV shows while also showing the film industry how it is done. CGI is used extremely sparingly and that has also helped Arrow differentiate itself in tone and grittiness from other superhero themed shows. Many of the actor's performances in the face of action sequences are also astounding, as many do involve themselves in their own battles.
But with great action comes great responsibility for the characters to be any good. This doesn't seem to be a problem because of the awesome banter and dynamic between our heroes. As a team they all complement each other greatly. That point goes to the current ensemble, but today's episode showed us that the old group can still hold their own when it comes to fist fights and on-screen chemistry.
By "old group" I simply mean switching Thea for Roy, who made a welcomed fan-pleasing appearance with a sort of twist at the beginning. As for his scene with Thea, like with his fighting sequences, it didn't need any introduction because of their memorable rapport.
Aside from the points mentioned above, what impressed me the most from this episode was how it managed to tell separate plots and deal with different conflicts without feeling uneven or cramped. It delved further into Felicity's personal struggles; it posed a new obstacle for Oliver's campaign; it connected Thea to the main villain in an enticing manner and all of that while introducing a new villain who threatened the entire city. It even interconnected Oliver's issue in accepting Thea's decision-making with Roy's need to deliver justice in the face of unpredictable danger. A well- crafted vision in one of the flash-backs was also filled with more heart than expected. These multiple but solid layers of conflict were one of the huge problems with the previous season. Season 3 felt unfinished and very disjointed, as it juggled with plots and villains in a very messy and icky way. An example can be found in the way they totally wasted a possibly incredible gear switch when they almost turned Quentin Lance into a villain for the finale. Season 4, in the other hand, has kept a single main villain as a structural basis, and it has proved to be a very solid decision, as it avoids sudden switches in focus and themes.
There were some flaws with the episode, like Amell's believability while being electrocuted. This stood out just because of Amell's great overall performance as Oliver Queen, especially in this season with many stand-out scenes. A specially funny "whahahat?!" moment was when, after being handed his own ass in the beat down of his life, Curtis appeared snapping nonchalant jokes with Felicity in his next scene. Speaking about jokes, not all of them achieve a good landing, mainly when the team is apart and not involve in their accumulative chemistry.
Arrow, nonetheless, kept us hanging in a major twist ending which revealed the identity of "The Calculator" and wrapped the episode with a warm blanket and a good night kiss. That's right, Unchained was not only a good time (like almost all Arrow episodes) but an experience of quality which gave us solid drama and even better sequences of people hitting each other as hard as they can in the face. I just hope that the newly introduced villain established an awesome subplot without stealing that much focus from Damien Darhk. Arrow: Unchained gets and 8.5 out of 10.
