Thursday, April 23, 2015

Arrow: Season 3, Episode 20


Arrow
Episode Title: “The Fallen”
Channel: CW
Director: Antonio Negret
Writers: Wendy Mericle and Oscar Balderrama
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 42 min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: April 22, 2015

“The Fallen” was a drama heavy episode. Ra's has finally forced Oliver's hand, and with Thea's life hanging in the balance he had no other choice than to accept Ra's offer and become the Heir to the Demon. Throughout the entire episode Stephen Amell shined, conveying his grief over Thea's circumstances and leaving his friends behind, and the resigned acceptance of his place in Ra's plans. He was asked to carry the majority of the episode, and succeeded.

In an episode filled with powerful scenes the audience was treated to a good one very quickly. With Thea stabilized, but likely to never awake, Oliver was at her bedside when Malcolm came in. The devastated look on his face was a perfect moment from John Barrowman. His sorrow helped humanize a character that has become easy to dislike over the course of the show. After Maseo revealed to Oliver that there was still a way to save Thea's life, by accepting Ra's offer and joining the League, Malcolm argued against it. He claimed that the Thea that emerged from the Lazarus Pit would not be the one that she had been in life. His prediction proved briefly correct as she attacked Oliver and had severe gaps in her memory, but seems to have returned to normal after her initial confusion. This was a bit disappointing and I hope in coming episodes we are treated to more side effects of her resurrection.

Both Maseo and Ra's were the recipients of important character moments. One of the best scenes in the episode occurred between Maseo and Diggle. With Diggle accusing Maseo of cowardice, Maseo finally revealed what we all had presumed to be the case, Akio, his son is dead. That conversation would prove to be very important later on in the episode. Ra's himself was the focus a good piece of dialogue between himself and Felicity. He explained how he had come to be who and where he was an encouraged her to do something that had been impossible for him to do and tell someone she loves how much he means to her. This wasn't just a great scene because of the background information the audience got regarding Ra's, but it also served as one of Felicity's better moments this season.

Really Felicity was good this whole episode, which isn't something that can be said for her character much this season. She told Ray Palmer and Oliver how she really felt about her romantic entanglements, did her best to verbally confront the Demon himself, and when it looked like everything was lost formulated half of a plan to get Oliver out of Nanda Parbat. Even if that plan didn't go the way she wanted it was good to see her do more than flip flop her stances on things and follow others around. During her failed rescue attempt Maseo showed up trying to help, showing the audience that maybe the good man Oliver knew is still in there somewhere.

At the end it was all for naught, there's just no way for Oliver to break his commitment to the League. Although it seems like team Arrow has to say goodbye to each other far too often; this week's round of goodbyes was pretty touching. Oliver told Diggle how highly he thought of him, and once again had to leave Felicity teary-eyed and convinced that she'll never see him again. The whole scene was handled well and featured quality performances from everyone involved.

As has been the case for this entire season, the flashbacks were rather lackluster. This week they were used to inject some action into what was a drama heavy episode. The chase involving the cargo truck was fun, although I'm not sure how the team missed that transfer of the bio-weapon to the food cart. It was a little ridiculous that the vial Oliver and company were after was robust enough to survive the fight between Oliver and the street vendor, but shattered on the ground. They were hitting each other with the fist holding the vial, it simply broke when it could conveniently add to the tension in the scene. With failure apparent in the flashbacks it's hard to say where they go from here.

Conclusion: Having been placed in a situation he could no longer avoid, Oliver was forced to assume the role of Heir to the Demon. The character interplay in the present day scenes helped to keep the action-lite episode engaging. Now if only the flashbacks could be so successful.

Rating: 8/10

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