Arrow Season 2 Episode 12
Another week, another criminal escapes from Iron Heights.
What They Say:
Tremors – Arrow offers to train Roy, but Roy refuses unless Arrow reveals his true identity. Malcom’s earthquake machine is stolen by the Bronze Tiger. Laurel spins out of control after she is disbarred.
Content:
In a lot of ways, it’s still difficult to call Oliver as his new apparent name of Arrow since it just feels wrong. He’s been the Hood for a bit or just the vigilant. And my comics history has me wanting to just call him Green Arrow, but they can’t quite bring themselves to that just yet. But even more than that, he is just Oliver, no matter what’s going on. And that’s been an interesting thing since unlike a lot of heroes, it’s hard to tell if there really is a very different person here under the mask, if one is more of the personality than the other. But that makes him easier to read in a lot of ways regardless of which outfit he’s wearing. If anything, the difference in who he is comes down to his time before the island and after the island. Anything else is just shades of gray at that point as the post-island Oliver is a very driven man unlike his pre-island self.
With the start of this episode, we’re getting to see that the type of villains we have in the series are changing shape a bit, becoming more focused and intense. With Bronze Tiger having previously been captured and jailed, he’s given a taste of freedom here with a seemingly common criminal being put in the same holding cell only to pull out his knives from under his skin. That pretty much kills the messenger, but it gives Bronze Tiger his weapon and his ability to escape, which is designed around the mission he’s now been assigned. We didn’t get a lot with Bronze Tiger before when he appeared earlier in the season, but there’s a definitely kind of relaxed threat to him that’s really fun to watch when he springs into action.
Roy’s incident in the previous episode has given Oliver the impetus to try and direct him in a good way since he knows what kind of kid he is and he doesn’t want to make the same kind of mistakes that were made back on the island. And that means training Roy, giving him the tools he needs and the focus to handle the changes his body are going through and a way to channel it in a positive way. Roy’s not a patient guy though as Oliver tries to get him to learn control, which he really needs considering the last guy ended up nearly dead before getting to a hospital. Roy just wants to start fighting back against the bad guys in Starling City and use that as his way to learn, which is definitely not Oliver’s approach.
Of course, things end up working Roy’s way as he gets to go off on a job with Arrow as they get word that Bronze Tiger is rummaging around in Malcolm’s place. You can see that it’s not exactly Oliver’s first choice in a lot of ways, but it’s not a place he can let just be ransacked for any reasons. And especially not when they discover that Malcolm had a prototype of the earthquake machine there, one that’s apparently being sought after for Markovia, which has gotten a mention before in the series. The fight itself is pretty good, though Bronze Tiger is more of a cut and run with the goods type since he’s focused on the money, and Oliver is definitely tightly focused, but Roy is just violent. Which is definitely a good part of his personality that we’ve seen since his introduction in the show.
The island arc is naturally moving in small ways, steadily advancing in its overall plot that will bring us to the present in some way when it comes to Slade. There are reveals that aren’t quite reveals, such as Oliver telling Roy how he had to put an arrow through his eye in an oblique way, since we’ve already seen Slade in the present and know this. But a lot of it comes down to the way that Oliver is trying to make up in the present with Roy for the things he failed with when it came to Slade, particularly in regards to Shado. Slade, unfortunately, has kind of gone off the rails with the way he’s intent on destroying Ivo, which includes destroying the freighter, and he’s using Fyre’s missiles to do it. It’s an interesting subplot, but it’s so small overall and scattered that it doesn’t get to pick up the energy it needs.
On the less interesting side, we get a couple of plots that are just going in odd directions. Laurel’s descent into drunken obscurity is in full swing as a hearing is being put in place to see if she should be disbarred and that makes it near impossible for her to get a job in her field for awhile. She’s pushing everyone away and being snarky in an unpleasant way with those that are trying to help, which of course makes it all worse. As bad as that is, it’s nowhere near as bad as the new storyline that has Walter and Mark Francis of Kardak Holdings trying to convince Moira to run for mayor as Sebastian Blood is running unopposed. While there is the obvious angle of her trying to redeem herself and she has quite the background to take it on in an interesting way, it’s something that just screams privilege in that you can do such serious wrong or simply be associated with it and then you can throw money at it and become the mayor of a large city that you helped to destroy. I mean, it’s very comic-booky in its own way, but for a show that is trying to play in the real world a bit, it’s just hokey and unwelcome.
One of the best moments is seeing the way that, towards the end, Oliver knows when he has to make the right reveal in order to motivate somebody. With the realization of what’s at stake with the earthquake machine, it’s something that requires getting Roy’s attention in a short amount of time to use his strength in order to get to it. And that means pulling back the mask. It’s always a risky moment, but the two of them actually come across in a way that connects beautifully. I’ve liked Roy well enough to be sure, but when he sees behind the mask and understands not just the trust that comes from knowing the secret, but the realization that this is the man that truly saved him a year prior in a big way, you can see how Roy will now do just about anything for him. Oliver is definitely capable of earning people’s trust as he chooses wisely but Roy was the really risky one. And one that may have the biggest payoff as well.
In Summary:
The less I think about the Laurel and Moira subplots the more I like this episode as those two pieces of the puzzle just aren’t working for me, though I know they’ll figure into other events later on that could be interesting. It’s just not engaging material for a lot of reasons. The flashback part of the show is definitely a good one even if it’s spaced out too much when it needed to be tighter. It gives me the Slade I still want to see even though the present day one looks like he’s going to be a lot of fun. The focus on getting Roy up to speed is something that’s handled quickly, but it also plays to the comic book angle in a decent way as such things do happen. There’s a lot to take in there and some really neat moments that makes it very fun to watch. But the subplot that has the most potential for me is seeing where Bronze Tiger may end up as the chance to get a really strong small screen version of the Suicide Squad is coming together beautifully. Now that’s a spinoff I want to see…
Grade: B