Arrow
Episode Title: “The Secret
Origin of Felicity Smoak”
Channel: CW
Director: Michael Schultz
Writers: Ben
Sokolowski and Brian Ford Sullivan
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 42
min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: November 5,
2014
There will be complaints about this
episode. It didn't do much for the overall narrative this season,
and it was very cliched, who really didn't know who the bad guy was
going to be? In spite of those things, I found “The Secret Origin
of Felicity Smoak” to be rather entertaining. It's fun to be given
occasional glimpses into the events that forged our supporting
characters. It's easy to think of a character only as they are when
introduced the the viewers, and not as people with backgrounds and
baggage. This week provided a welcome change of pace.
The training montage that opened the
episode, with Olive, Roy, Thea and Laurel practicing various forms of
combat was a good beginning to the episode; especially when
juxtaposed with Felicity's morning routine. The conflict this week
is centered on a hacker that has compromised the networks that
control Starling City, using a virus that Felicity had written five
years earlier. The bad guy is really just an excuse to explore the
Felicity Smoak character a little more. There is a lot of
mother/daughter drama that allows Emily Bett Rickards to give one of
her better performances to date. She's struggling with her mother's
expectations, a father than ran off (I'm going to assume he will play
a part in a storyline coming up) and guilt for having been the
catalyst behind the city's current troubles.
One downside to focusing an entire
episode on one supporting character is that the other ancillary
characters are left with woefully little to do. Roy, Diggle and
Laurel have little screen time, and what they do have doesn't seem
essential to the episode. Thea and Oliver have a couple of moments,
still lying to each other more often than telling the truth. With
Merlyn watching from a nearby rooftop it looks as though Thea and
Oliver have put all of their differences behind them, and are
planning to live in a loft that Thea has bought with Malcolm's money.
This latest develop elicits a bit of a grin from Merlyn, almost as
if this was all part of his plan.
The very end of the episode pulled us
right back to the ongoing hunt for Sara's killer, and we might have a
huge clue as to the culprit. This early in the season I suspect it's
a red herring, but there are only so many characters we've been
introduced to that could have gotten the job done, especially when
Sara's reaction to her killer is taken into consideration.
Conclusion:
“The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak” was a fun diversion that,
except for the final couple of minutes, had little bearing on the
story going forward. The ending alone seemed to take a season that
had been progressing haphazardly and put it back on track. Here's to
hoping the writers can use it as a jumping off point to bring the
show back to the level of the second season.
Rating:
7.5/10
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