Arrow
Episode Title: “The Return”
Channel: CW
Director: Dermott Downs
Writers: Marc
Guggenheim and Erik Oleson
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 42
min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: February 18,
2015
What a strange week on Arrow.
I didn't keep a stopwatch handy, but I'm pretty sure that the
flashbacks this week accounted for more of the show's length than the
present day stuff. Normally that wouldn't be an issue for me, the
flashback components of this season have gotten steadily better as
things have gone along. All of this week's flashbacks taking place
in Starling City, with the present day story line happening on the
island, was a nice juxtaposition. The issue I take with the
management of time in “The Return” is that it deprived the
audience of some real quality time with Slade Wilson.
I was
very excited to see Manu Bennett reprise his role as Wilson. Wilson
provided for season two what this season has lacked; a villain that
the audience cared about. Unfortunately he's not around very long in
“The Return.” There are a couple of face to face meetings with
Oliver and Thea, and one good action sequence with a two on one
fight; underutilized is the best way to describe his involvement in
this one. Aside from the time spent on the island the only other
scenes from present day involved Laurel and Det. Lance at Sara's
grave. It seems that his acceptance of her admission is not going to
go as smoothly as it appeared in “Canaries.” He's turned it into
a trust/honesty issue and is threatening to start drinking again over
it. Laurel talked him down but it's clear that their relationship is
going to remain damaged for the foreseeable future.
The
flashbacks this week featured Ollie back in Starling City doing
Amanda Waller's bidding, stopping Chien Na Wei's sale of the Omega
virus at auction. Although he and Maseo were eventually successful
the real highlights of the flashbacks were Ollie's peripheral
activities. He spent most of his time running around Starling City
stalking his family and friends. It was fun to see Tommy Merlyn
alive and breathing again, and Detective Lance in the aftermath of
Sara's first death (As a side note, the wig they had on Paul
Blackthorne looked much more believable than the one they've been
putting on Stephen Amell) as a functional drunk. It seemed a little
ridiculous that he also managed to cross paths with Felicity and
Diggle, but somehow managed to avoid Moira completely. The one
aspect of flashbacks (and prequels) I find irritating are the
references to things that the audience knows that the characters
don't. This week is was Maseo commenting that the hood Oliver was
wearing wouldn't disguise him from anyone, “even if you smeared
grease paint all over your face.” It's like all the bald jokes in
the last two X-Men
movies at Xavier's expense, they don't add much for me and I'd rather
see them avoided.
The
last thing of note occurred in the present day scenes. Oliver
revealed to Thea that she is the one that killed Sara, she is
understandably upset and takes it out on Malcolm when they return to
Starling City. He genuinely seems hurt that she reacted in the way
she did, and he definitely wasn't happy with Oliver for sharing that
information. This moment seemed like the catalyst necessary for her
sudden about-face regarding Merlyn, as her reaction this week didn't
see justified at that point.
Conclusion:
The flip flopping of the settings for the present day and flashbacks
was a novel touch, but it couldn't mask the feeling that this was a
place holder episode. The return of Slade Wilson was underwhelming
and the constant glimpses of characters for whom the audience knows
what the future holds got a little tiresome. The only things of real
substance to occur were Thea's discovery of her role in Sara's death
and her subsequent tirade directed at Malcolm and Quentin Lance's
anger at the way Laurel had hidden Sara's death from him.
Rating:
6.5/10
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