Arrow
Episode Title: “Guilty”
Channel: CW
Director: Peter Leto
Writers: Erik
Oleson and Keto Shimizu
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 42
min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: November 12,
2014
I have wondered since they began this
show whether or not we'd ever see something as ridiculous as the
boxing glove arrow. That question is answered, and it didn't even
seem as absurd as it might have been. With that out of the way, on
to the rest of the episode!
Every character had their moment to
shine in “Guilty,” perhaps Felicity was underutilized, but that
is not that big of a surprise one week after having an entire episode
devoted to her. Roy was unexpectedly good this week, after seeming
like an afterthought for the majority of the season. They did seem
to resolve is involvement, or lack thereof, in the death of Sara
rather quickly, but this was probably a good decision. There was so
much uncertainty surrounding Roy's character last season that having
the entire Arrow gang acting nervous and untrusting around him wasn't
really feasible. I'm actually glad for the quick resolution of that
plot line. It does leave us with very little to go on regarding
Sara's killer, but there's plenty of season left to go.
Aside from clarifying Roy's position in
the grand scheme of things “Guilty” served mainly to further
acquaint the viewers with Ted Grant. Besides being a boxing trainer,
and apparently the person to turn Laurel into the Black Canary, he
was at one time a vigilante himself. His past life, and a partner he
left behind, are the driving force behind this week's episode. It
was a good choice to explain his backstory to the audience relatively
early in his character's time on the show, it adds a little bit of
legitimacy to the notion that Laurel will so quickly become the
Canary, and it avoids using the flashbacks in a future episode
explaining his backstory. With so much plot happening the villain
really took a backseat this week, serving only to get Oliver and Ted
face to face, and plant some sidekick seeds of doubt in Roy's mind.
Every episode doesn't need a great bad guy, but this guy felt
decidedly mundane.
Speaking of flashbacks, I'm still on
the fence regarding the Hong Kong flashbacks. Right now it just
doesn't seem like enough is happening to justify them. There's only
one reason I can see right now that they be included. China White
(Chien Na Wei) is one of the villains we know of that hasn't popped
up in a while. Perhaps she is responsible for Sara's death in some
way, directly or indirectly, motivated by something that will occur
in the Hong Kong scenes. It's probably a long shot, but it's one of
the only ways I can imagine her character being mentioned so
prominently in the flashbacks.
Conclusion:
A weak villain doesn't bring “Guilty” down too much. The
purpose of this episode was to drive the stories of Laurel and Roy
forward. I was a little shocked the writers decided to clear Roy so
quickly of any wrong doing, but it was the right decision. I'm far
from all in on Laurel's future, but at least now it's been
established that she's learning from a guy that was a vigilante
before it was cool. Something needs to give in the flashbacks
because everything in Hong Kong has been on the boring side.
Rating:
7.75/10
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