There may never be a time when Arrow gets back to the greatness it saw in season 2 or 5, but every now and then I love seeing it succeed on a smaller level like it did tonight.
There are inevitably some things that made this episode incredibly frustrating, for one, the stupidity of that Curtis-Diaz arc. I mean why in the hell I just watch Diaz & company go through an entire fight and Curtis bite the dust, only for it to be some silly VR game that Curtis set up for Diaz. So now that it's over and he supposedly helped them figure out Donte's whereabouts (by the way, who is Dante again?) is it finally time Diaz is removed from the show?
I was also a little bit underwhelmed by the Felicity/Laurel arc, albeit much better than those two characters have been given this season. And I'm not sure if the ending scene with Dinah is supposed to be related, but I'm down for a new mystery.
That brings me to the highlight of the episode which was Oliver figuring out the new villain of the week was after him because he's the son of the man Robert Queen killed while on the lifeboat all the way back in 2007. Boy, Robert Queen hasn't had a good week, that's for sure. But in all seriousness, I love when the show tells mini arcs like this that actually narratively make sense. Of course, on a grander scale it was Prometheus in season 5 getting revenge for his father's death. Tonight it was only a one-off episode, but when the show focuses it's attention on being about Oliver & his family's past mistakes, it typically breeds good storytelling. It certainly helped tonight.
8.0/10
There are inevitably some things that made this episode incredibly frustrating, for one, the stupidity of that Curtis-Diaz arc. I mean why in the hell I just watch Diaz & company go through an entire fight and Curtis bite the dust, only for it to be some silly VR game that Curtis set up for Diaz. So now that it's over and he supposedly helped them figure out Donte's whereabouts (by the way, who is Dante again?) is it finally time Diaz is removed from the show?
I was also a little bit underwhelmed by the Felicity/Laurel arc, albeit much better than those two characters have been given this season. And I'm not sure if the ending scene with Dinah is supposed to be related, but I'm down for a new mystery.
That brings me to the highlight of the episode which was Oliver figuring out the new villain of the week was after him because he's the son of the man Robert Queen killed while on the lifeboat all the way back in 2007. Boy, Robert Queen hasn't had a good week, that's for sure. But in all seriousness, I love when the show tells mini arcs like this that actually narratively make sense. Of course, on a grander scale it was Prometheus in season 5 getting revenge for his father's death. Tonight it was only a one-off episode, but when the show focuses it's attention on being about Oliver & his family's past mistakes, it typically breeds good storytelling. It certainly helped tonight.
8.0/10
