Arrow
Episode Title: “Suicidal
Tendencies”
Channel: CW
Director: Jesse Warn
Writer: Keto
Shimizu
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 42
min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: March 25,
2015
“Suicidal Tendencies” began with
Diggle and Lyla getting married. Shortly after the ceremony the
members of team Arrow are all notified via their phones of a new
Arrow story, the press is running with the “The Arrow is killing
folks again” con being fed to them by Ra's. Diggle offers to stay
and help Oliver look into the allegations, but is told to go ahead
with his honeymoon. Before he and Lyla can even get to the airport
they're brought into a hostage rescue mission by Floyd Lawton and
ARGUS. So instead of Fiji, Diggle and Lyla team up with Deadshot and
Cupid and are inserted into the country of Kasnia to retrieve a bunch
of hostages that include a U.S. Senator.
Aside from Slade Wilson, Deadshot has
been one of the better villains this show has managed to set up. So
I was glad to see him pop back up. Not only did he play a major part
in the Diggle and Lyla portions of the show but through him we also
received a reprieve from the Hong Kong flashbacks; which had reached
a new level of boring last week. Although there weren't many of
them, this week the flashbacks focused on Lawton's return from war
and his inability to rejoin peaceful, law-abiding citizens. The
scene when he just loses it on his wife and daughter was hard to
watch, you could see that he just doesn't get normal life anymore.
Lawton had turned himself into something that can't exist outside of
the battlefield, which he proved by accepting the contract that was
offered to him, on Diggle's brother.
Back in Kasnia things really fall apart
for the Suicide Squad when everything is revealed to be a set up by
the senator. He thought that he would somehow increase his chances
of being elected President by surviving a kidnapping at the hands of
terrorists. When the squad showed up to rescue him he dropped the
facade, claimed that the other hostages were no witnesses to his
duplicity and had his men wire the building to explode. Following a
shoot out, and a conversation between Diggle and Lyla that is
overheard by Deadshot, talking about getting home to their daughter,
Lawton and the rest of the team concoct a way to free the hostages
and get everyone out safely. Everyone but Deadshot, who apparently
sacrifices himself so the rest can get away. There's no way I
believe he's dead, he's one of only a few quality villain-esque
characters the show has set up, so I expect to see him again. No
body, no death. It's also worth noting that Cupid wasn't quite as
irritating this time around as in her introduction episode. She's
still taking crazy to the next level, but it wasn't quite as grating.
Back in Starling City the police are
initiating a manhunt for the Arrow, aided by Ray Palmer. Ray tracked
the Arrow to the next location Ra's and his men attacked,
conveniently showing up only as the League's men have departed and
Oliver is left standing amidst the bodies of their victims. Ray used
the x-ray vision in his suit and a facial recognition program that
Felicity wrote to identify the Arrow as Oliver and tried to go to the
police with the knowledge. Instead he ended up sitting across from
Laurel, who does her best to dissuade him from pursuing what he
thinks he knows. Instead he faked a 911 call and lured Arrow and Roy
to an isolated spot. Once again Roy is swatted aside in a fraction
of a second and the showdown really begins. As an aside, Roy isn't
my favorite character, but even I'm getting sick of the exercise in
futility nearly every one of his fights turns into. Throw the guy a
bone and let him shine in a fight or two before he is once again
humiliatingly bested. Moving on, Oliver and Ray spar for a couple of
minutes before Oliver notices some sort of Death Star-like weakness
in the ATOM suit's design. With one well placed dart throw Oliver
shuts down the suit, and then talks Ray into believing him. Ray
might want to put some shielding on that thermal exhaust port.
There were a couple of issues I had
with the episode. First I'm just not buying Captain Lance's now
complete hatred of the Arrow. I know he feels like the Arrow
conspired to hide his daughter's death from him, but he's also done a
lot of good. They fought side by side against Slade's men, and
cooperated to apprehend some dangerous people. His complete 180 on
the subject just doesn't feel genuine. The other issue is something
that has plagued this entire season, the writing of the Felicity
Smoak character. This isn't about which romance she should be
pursuing or if it should even be there. When you watch a show on the
CW you know that every romantic angle is going to be presented at
some point. My issue is with the constant inconsistencies in the way
the character responds to situations. She has become the ultimate
flip-flopper. First she defends Oliver tooth and nail in an argument
with Palmer, than she accuses Oliver of wanting Ray dead and out of
the way ten minutes later. I just doesn't make sense.
To wrap up the episode Ray and Oliver
have come to an understanding and Palmer is pleading the Arrow's case
to the city brass. Only minutes earlier in an obvious moment of
foreshadowing Ollie mentioned to Diggle that he was most worried
about when Ra's and his men tired of killing criminals and went after
innocent people. During Ray's meeting with the Lances, Laurel and
Quentin, and the mayor an arrow strikes the mayor, presumably killing
her. Maseo is shown outside drawing back his bow to fire another
arrow, this time aimed at Felicity and...fade to black. I'd been
wondering when Maseo was going to be forced to do some of the dirty
work and stop acting as a liaison between Ra's and Oliver. I don't
think anyone believes that Felicity is in danger of dying, but an
injury to Smoak could be the catalyst needed to spark a confrontation
between Oliver and Maseo, and shed some light on how things went
wrong back in Hong Kong. I think the flashbacks are going to be
taking it up a few notches in the coming weeks.
Conclusion:
“Suicidal Tendencies” had a lot going on, and although there
were two separate stories being told neither felt like it got the
short end in regards to time. After some initial conflict Oliver has
gained a powerful ally, one whom I hope they bring a little closer to
the source material. At this point Ray Palmer is a boring Tony
Stark, with a glitchy suit. After seeming a bit rudderless in the
early parts of the season it looks like everything is building to
something pretty fun.
Rating:
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment