Article originally written for Seat42F.
This week’s episode of ARROW on The CW, “Broken Arrow,” is
anything but boring, again. Oliver (Stephen Amell) agonizes about letting Roy
(Colton Haynes) sit in police custody and asking Ray, a.k.a. The Atom (Brandon
Routh), to protect the city. But he has no choice because Quentin (Paul
Blackthorne) is on an Ahab-like quest to expose Oliver as The Arrow and toss
him behind bars, too. Will Oliver finally accept Ra’s (Matt Nable) position and
end this mess that, admittedly, Ra’s has caused?
Oliver is not someone who relies on others easily, and that
has always been a core part of his character. But Team Arrow exists now, and he
is not just a lone wolf. When Oliver is believed to be dead, the others step up
and continue the job he once performed, finding their independence. The
transition is irreversible, and never has Oliver needed their help more than
now, when he is sidelined again. Except, this time he has to sit and watch them
perform his duties, rather than recovering in a secret hideout.
The team is worthy of Oliver’s trust, though. Perhaps not
Ray, who means well but is far too inexperienced to tackle a metahuman named
Deathbolt (Doug Jones, Falling Skies, Hellboy) himself in “Broken Arrow.” But
Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), Diggle (David Ramsey), and Roy have earned his
confidence, and even if they don’t fill Oliver in on their full plan, they have
one. Diggle and Felicity convince Oliver to mostly stay back, and to his
credit, he does listen to them.
Staying back isn’t enough, though. With Quentin latched onto
the idea that he must catch Oliver, the issue isn’t going away, and Oliver
can’t hide from it. Lieutenant Pike (Adrian Holmes) advises Quentin to slow
down, lest he lose rank again. Quentin doesn’t appear to heed those words,
though. It is likely that Quentin will let this destroy him, and that will be
another thing for Oliver to feel guilty about, meaning he can’t save everyone
and this is something he must come to terms with.
“Broken Arrow” shows Oliver at his lowest in this regard when
Quentin tells Oliver and Thea (Willa Holland) that Roy has died in prison. He
isn’t actually dead, this being a trick cooked up by Team Arrow without
Oliver’s input, but Oliver doesn’t know this and comes as close to breaking
down as we’ve pretty much ever seen. He sometimes comes across as a little
cold, but he truly does carry the weight of what he does and the people he
protects on his shoulders.
Which makes it all the more tragic that, while Oliver and
company are saying goodbye to Roy for good as he leaves town to start a new
life, Ra’s runs Thea through with a sword. Thea is the most important person in
Oliver’s life, and if she dies, it will wreck him. Even if she doesn’t die, the
fact that she might have will definitely make Oliver re-think his priorities.
Can Oliver ever be The Arrow again? That identity has been
burned, and the public thinks the man responsible is dead. I don’t think Oliver
can give up trying to save the city, but will he do it as Ra’s, even though
Ra’s has done evil things, or will he take on another identity? ARROW is very
uncertain on this front.
It’s less uncertain about the future of Ray and Felicity.
Their days as a couple are numbered as soon as Ray sees how affectionate
Felicity is with Oliver. Ray knows her heart belongs to someone else. It
probably won’t be long now before they split.
“Broken Arrow” opens a big mystery when Ray takes Deathbolt
to Star Labs to be locked up. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) observes that Deathbolt was
not in Starling City when the reactor exploded (see: The Flash television
series), so how is he a metahuman? Thus far, all the metahumans they are aware
of stem from that accident. I assume this will be a story spanning both ARROW
and The Flash in the coming weeks or years.
There’s also yet another boring Hong Kong flashback in which
Oliver and his friends break into a lightly-guarded lab to steal an antidote for
a virus that some bad guys are about to unleash. To be honest, I find myself
zoning out during these scenes, as uninteresting as they usually are, and hope
the day comes very soon when ARROW dispenses with this nonsense. Thankfully,
these bits are brief this time. It was a good convention at the start of the
series, but has long since lost its luster.
Still, even with that complaint, “Broken Arrow” is an
excellent, engaging hour for the rest of its running time. ARROW has been
having a stellar third year, and this episode is no exception.
ARROW airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on the CW.
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