Arrow Season 2 Episode 21
What They Say:
City of Blood – Diggle and Felicity go to extremes to keep Oliver from surrendering to Slade; Thea thinks about leaving town; Laurel goes after Sebastian Blood again.
Content:
With a pretty significant loss in the previous episode that pushed Oliver in some dark places and has radically changed Thea with how she’ll view life from here on out, Arrow was pretty brutal in its final minutes as Slade killed Moira.The fallout from that will take some time to truly digest and affect things since a lot of what’s going to hit is going to filter in over time with the show. The character paths have long had that rock that was Moira in the background, and with the problems that do exist, she was able to be there regardless. Without her there, Sebastian Blood has now become Mayor since there was no real contest to it. Blood making his appearance at the funeral is intriguing though since he pays his respects and wants to see Oliver, but it’s here that we learn that Oliver has not been seen in days. Even more amusing is that when Blood talks to Laurel, she realizes on some level what and who he is.
She does do her best to try and win Quentin over to her side into investigating Blood a bit more since she points out that she does have some familial relations that gives her a minor leg up o things. Blood, for his part, is enjoying his time as Mayor and all that it entails, but part of his bargain and deal with Slade is now coming home to roost as he’s being told to start executing the larger plans that he had made for him. Laurel does what she can to get closer to him, using her position in the DA’s office to get his help on a case, in order to get into his office to lay down a little useful technology to gain some information. And it’s definitely useful stuff since it reveals he knew about Moira’s death before it happened and had even written a press release for it. Sometimes it’s the small details…
With Team Arrow being broken apart at this point, it’s down to just Diggle and Felicity that are keeping things going in trying to help Roy, waiting and hoping for a cure from STAR Labs, and trying to find Oliver as well. The pair definitely have a good working relationship and work ethic but also the connections to use to exist on their own and progress through that, such as Diggle going to see Amanda Waller at ARGUS in order to use their facilities. Facilities that certainly excite Felicity as she sees what they have. It’s simple but cute and it naturally endears us to Felicity all the more. Interestingly, they do end up finding out where he is as it turns out that he has a secondary lair that he works out of, a backup of sorts, that also turned into a place where he could be alone to deal with all the things that have gone on since his return to the city that we never saw. It’s not a surprise for someone leading so many lives and lies to have a place to himself, especially a very Japanese place amid the concrete.
His resolution to end things is what’s driving him now though and it becomes a kind of very solemn and weary drive, one that has him telling Thea that she’s right to leave the city and never look back. But while he does go and try to give up to Slade, Diggle and Felicity end up knocking him out and bringing him back to the main lair where he discovers that Laurel is there as well. It’s been a bit of a minor point where Laurel has basically not believed what Slade told her, but she knew it to be true, much like she knows that Blood is who he is and a threat. This leads to a decent conversation between the two, including going back to talking about Tommy and what broke these two apart in a big way and caused other problems along the way. But while Oliver had left on the Queens’ Gambit years ago with Sarah, there’s still something strong between these two through all the ups and downs.
With Laurel revealing to him Blood’s involvement in his mother’s death and connections elsewhere to the season in general, that sort of resets things for Oliver in a way as it gives him new focus on top of Laurel reminding him that Oliver has a duty to the city in general. This starts to get the team back together a bit and while it has that darker side to it, there’s also a bit of fun as well, particularly when it comes to Diggle and Felicity and their interrogation scene. Oliver keeps the threat clear with Blood though and even makes it clear who he is as he’s intent on destroying Blood as it’s hard to imagine him turning around. But the issues are even bigger at the moment since Diggle and Felicity learn that tonight is the night that the mirakuru soldiers of Slade’s will be hitting the city. And that has to be dealt with first and foremost, which is kind of welcome as it gets back to the core three that are operating. While I’ve liked the expansion with Roy and Sarah a lot, going back to the core trio definitely tickles me in the right way, particularly since it’s going to be a bit more intense as they go up against Blood and the army he has under his command now, which looks particularly impressive.
With the island adventure, which has been a bit light recently, we get the group that Oliver’s a part of now making their way to the submarine in the bay to get it fixed so they can deal with both getting off the island and destroying Slade and his ship. This, of course, goes easier than it should in some ways since it’s given just cursory explorations of what’s going on but it has its challenges and continues to be that kind of light and fun adventure. But it has its dark moments as well as it goes on and they do what needs to be done in order to survive as we get the start of the recurring theme here about sacrifice for others. It also helps to be a piece that starts to inspire Oliver to become who he does when he returns to Starling City with the sacrifices that are made, the bravery of it all and the simple practical need to do what needs to be done.
In Summary:
Arrow continues its very solid and exciting run here this season as it shows how to really adapt comic book properties well while finding its ow way. With the full season storyline having so many hooks throughout and playig big moments along the way, we’ve gotten thrills pretty much the whole season. With it now nearing the finale, we’ve got Slade’s army making their way out into the city and hitting key areas as the whole place feels like it’s going to just blow wide open. It’s pretty fun to watch it all come into focus since you know it has to be big and to feel like a major threat and it does that really well here. While we get the solemn and somber side of things as you’d expect after the loss of the previous episode, everything comes into focus and goes big with more changes to the dynamic that keeps it exciting and interesting to watch, wondering exactly how it will come down and what other losses there will be.
Grade: A-