So So Gay
Well this is a turn-up for the books: the classic ‘how could he be evil?’ plot-thread. Although it is nice that they came up with a use for Blackhawk…
Check out last week’s coverage for what happened previously
In this week’s installment, an armoured truck is robbed with tear gas and the drivers killed in the process. Oliver comes to the conclusion that it was ex-marine Ted Gaynor (Ben Browder – Farscape, Stargate SG-1), one of the names on ‘the list’. Diggle, however, quickly dismisses him as a suspect since he was Diggle’s commanding officer and saved his life in Afghanistan. Undeterred, Arrow tracks him down but Diggle gets in the way, causing them to fall out later when Oliver confronts him with the fact that although Gaynor may not have actually been present at the robbery, it was his security firm that was responsible.
The plot thickens when, as a result of Arrow stopping another robbery from taking place, Diggle is forced to assist in one. When he attempts to back out, Gaynor threatens to kill him. Obviously, Arrow saves the day and saves Diggle from getting killed. More context is supplied in this episode, Oliver confiding in Diggle about the trust issues in his history; a series of flashbacks interspersed throughout the episode gradually tells the tale of Oliver’s attempts to save save Yao Fei, his mentor, only for the very last one at the end of the episode to reveal that Yao Fei ended up betraying him. In other plot lines, Thea believes that her mother is cheating on Walter with Malcolm Merlyn, leading her to suspect that she had also done so previously with her father. This results in her going on a rampage which involves her taking a drug called ‘vertigo’, causing her to crash her car and get arrested for driving under the influence.
Well this is a turn-up for the books: the classic ‘how could he be evil?’ plot-thread. Although it is nice that they came up with a use for Blackhawk…
Arrow has relied on an unrevolutionary method of drawing concepts from the comicbook genre in order to carry the plot, making the series stand out by adapting pre-existing DC Comics characters in new and interesting ways. Although this is a commendable attribute, you would have thought there were a couple of more interesting tricks that the writers could have pulled out by now. We thought that the storyline involving Malcolm Merlyn was quite good, and that the New Year episode was excellent, but two episodes later and they appear to be dragging out the same plot devices. It is rather frustrating, and doesn’t inspire the greatest amount of confidence – if they are looking for a second season they are going to have to work on more original material than this.
Nevertheless, what they do work with is still good, and the action scenes are interesting and fun; Thea’s relapse also provided some interest in terms of entertainment value (why would you take a drug called ‘vertigo’ – who wants to be afraid of heights for a few hours?). The fact that she was arrested at the end was a positive message for any impressionable minds, so they deserve some kudos there.
Despite placing a heavier focus on Diggle’s role in the operation, this was a relatively disappointing episode in total. We want to see the game upped in the writing department, certainly if a second season has any chance of being commissioned.
You can catch Arrow on Mondays at 8pm on Sky One
