Arrow
Episode Title: “This Is Your
Sword”
Channel: CW
Director: Wendy Stanzler
Writers: Ben Sokolowski and
Brian Ford Sullivan
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 42
min
Rated: TV-14
Original Air Date: May 6,
2015
“This
Is Your Sword” is the next to last episode of this season of Arrow
and it's too bad that it took so long to get to this point. The past
few weeks have been some of the strongest episodes of the season, and
this was no exception. It'll be pretty much impossible to talk about
this week's Arrow
without spoilers, so be warned.
Diggle,
Laurel, and Felicity have gone back to crime fighting in Starling
City, having accepted that Oliver is gone. The episode opened with
Diggle giving chase to a random perp, who led him to an enclosed area
with the rest of his gang waiting. Things look bad for a moment
before Laurel makes an appearance with the Canary Cry. I really wish
there was another way for them to convey that power on the screen;
while it might work on the page it just looks ridiculous on
television. Diggle lost it on the last guy and beat him to a pulp.
Back at Diggle's, after an awkward attempt at a humorous moment
regarding Laurel sneaking in the back to avoid questions from the
neighbors, Diggle blew up in anger over Oliver's betrayal.
Back
at Nanda Parbat Oliver and Ra's are seen discussing the next part of
Oliver's ascension, his marriage to Nyssa and the destruction of
Starling City. Oliver left to get some air, and met up with Malcolm
for a clandestine meeting. Oliver dropped the facade and revealed
that he's thought he'd have more time to bring the League down from
the inside, but Ra's is forcing his hand. He and Malcolm hatch a
plan to enlist the help of his former friends, and Malcolm departed
just before Maseo showed up.
Felicity
went to visit Ray again, and it's getting incrementally harder to
like her character. She shows up to mope to him for a while, knowing
that his feelings for her will keep him from sending her away. He
had her sign a document, that is shown to be some sort of transfer of
ownership papers. The audience is supposed to believe that the
transfer is to Felicity, and while that seems probable I think a
swerve might be in store; with Oliver regaining control of his
company. Felicity received a text from Malcolm asking for a meeting
and surprisingly she went.
The
entire team showed up for the meeting with Malcolm, and of course he
couldn't convince them of Oliver's plans, because Oliver had been too
successful in convincing everyone of his turn. Malcolm breaks out
his secret weapon, and it's Tatsu. I'm happy to see Tatsu joining
the fray, but I was a little unclear on how her presence suddenly
convinced the team to go back to Nanda Parbat. The script was really
lacking in that regard, but the action is in Nanda Parbat, so if the
team needs to get back there I guess any excuse, no matter how
nebulous, is a good one. Tatsu also took a moment to share with
Felicity how often Oliver spoke of her during his recovery.
Thea
has gone off in search of Roy, who is working as a mechanic under the
assumed name Jason. She managed to track him down with little effort
and they had a quick reunion. They go back to his place and she
presents him with his old vigilante costume, thinking that he could
get back to what made him feel alive. She spent the night, but awoke
in an empty bed. When she went to his place of employment she was
told that he quit and took off, leaving a note for her. I don't know
how sudden Colton Haynes decision to leave the show was, but I wish
there had been a better way to handle his exit. His final words to
Thea didn't really seem like a good way to end things, but he did
leave his costume for her, so we'll be seeing Speedy in the near
future.
The
flashbacks this week were more of the same, A Quest for A Vial. Akio
has fallen ill and Maseo and Oliver go to General Shrieve's hideout
to get a cure. A cure that they have no proof of, they assume he'll
have it anyway. After breaking in they briefly tortured Shrieve and
he told them the cure was in a safe. They get it an bring him back
to Akio to administer the cure. Akio is already dead and the cure
was a rouse. He just wanted them to lead his men to their hiding
place so he wouldn't have to hunt them down. It's important to
remember that the vials didn't contain what we thought they did.
Another
confrontation at Nanda Parbat! Merlyn, Diggle, Laurel, and Felicity
team up with Tatsu, who is now in her costume as Katana, to storm the
fortress. Felicity tried to hack into the airplane the League is
going to use to spread the virus, but she is unsuccessful. Most of
the action in this scene is pretty good, but the League of Assassins
is more like a collection of Imperial Stormtroopers. At one point
Laurel fights three of them at the same time. I'm all right with her
taking down street criminals at this point, but there is no
explanation for her ability to engage three of the supposed best
killers in the world. When the airplane took off all appeared lost
until Ray Palmer showed up and managed to bring the plane down. The
highlight of this entire sequence was the duel between Tatsu and
Maseo. The fight choreography and the final words between them were
spot on, and easily one of the more emotional moments of the season.
The League overcame its Stormtrooper-itis when reinforcements and
Oliver showed up. The entire group was captured Malcolm tried in
vain to reveal Oliver's duplicity, but it didn't seem like Ra's
bought it. Ra's must have decided that it wasn't necessary to
destroy Starling City, the friends of the former Oliver Queen would
be good enough, and he broke the vial of Alpha/Omega in their holding
cell. The marriage of Al Sah-Him to Nyssa was intercut with shots of
Olivers friends apparently dying. I usually don't reference the
previews for the next episode, and honestly the trickery out of
General Shrieve should have been enough foreshadowing to convince the
viewers that none of the rescue squad was in danger, but couldn't the
previews be cut in such a way that the tension wasn't immediately
sucked out of the end of the episode?
Conclusion:
Despite the fact that some of the motivations were quite muddy, with
the script doing no one any favors, “This Is Your Sword” finally
got this season to where it should have been episodes ago. The
action was high quality, and the Maseo/Tatsu drama was some of the
best stuff of the season. We all suspected Oliver had bigger plans,
now we just have to find out if those plans cost him the friends he's
made along the way.
Rating:
8/10
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