Episode Title: “Identity”
Writers: Ben Sokolowski & Beth Schwartz
Director: Nick Copus
Previously on “Arrow”:
In any TV show, there’s usually a willing suspension of disbelief. For a superhero drama like “Arrow,” that’s a given. But occasionally all we get are the “are you f***ing s***ing me?!” moments that can throw an audience completely out of the story.
Whoever decided that Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) would be a new antagonist for “Arrow” made a serious miscalculation. For starters, Laurel’s 180 turn on the Arrow hasn’t been well written nor has Cassidy’s performance lived up to the task of making Laurel a viable character. Despite taking a moment in this episode to try to explain Laurel’s change of heart, it just isn’t convincing at all.
I thought that Paul Blackthorne was over the top with Detective Lance’s hatred of Arrow. But his onscreen daughter is going even further without the inherent charisma that Blackthorne has. And it’s one thing for Laurel to crusade against Arrow and attempt to prosecute him… but sending her along on dangerous police raids?! And setting a trap with SWAT members in her office?
I call bulls*** on that, “Arrow!”
Granted, the cliffhanger was a pretty good one. But I doubt that next week’s episode will begin with anything other than the latest great escape of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell).
There are full spoilers ahead for “Identity,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “Arrow” you should probably skip this review or else Sebastian Blood will badmouth you to the Starling City press.
Sebastian Blood… really? I know “Arrow” loves its DC Comics references, and Brother Blood was a prominent Teen Titans villain. But who is going to vote for a guy with Blood in his name? That’s like somebody running for office under the name Death N. Taxes.
At least Kevin Alejandro is believable as a snake of a politician who is all too eager to trash Oliver in the press or incite a riot because it will bring him more publicity. Blood’s dialogue is a bit grating, but I already hate him. Since I think that was the intended response, mission accomplished. Although, I think Blood may have been better served with some nuance, so that the audience wasn’t immediately sure if he was a villain or not. There’s no suspense there now.
Unlike Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), I don’t care about the love life of John Diggle (David Ramsey). Wait, that’s a lie. I care only that Diggle’s breakup may spare us from seeing more scenes at Big Belly Burger… one of the three restaurants in Starling City. Diggle’s partnership with Oliver has always been the best part of this show and that was true again this week. Diggle’s healthcare joke was a little cheesy, but I laughed. And he and Oliver are a fun team to watch.
Felicity remains problematic because the writers can’t seem to decide whether to give her a reasonable personality or if they want to let Felicity fly off the emotional handle at the slightest excuse. Here, Felicity is upset that her official title is now “executive assistant” to Oliver’s CEO, but that conflict could have been easily defused if Oliver had simply said that he wouldn’t demean her with thankless office tasks and that the position came with a hefty pay raise. Instead, it’s just conflict for conflict’s sake.
As annoying as Colton Haynes normally is, this was actually one of his better episodes as Roy Harper. For once, Roy had some effective hero moments while attempting to take on the Triads. And Oliver’s solution to his Roy problem was a good one. Instead of trying to bring Roy on board as his vigilante wingman, Oliver gets Roy to become his eyes and ears in the Glades. I’m sure that Roy’s Speedy days are coming, but there’s no need to rush him into costume.
“Arrow” also had some good action sequences between Oliver and his newest adversary, Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White). Bronze Tiger still needs some personality to go along with his martial arts prowess, but he was still a better villain than his partner, China White (Kelly Hu). It was not a good choice to give Hu the monologue about the city never accepting Oliver as a hero. The only intriguing thing about China White is that she seemed to instantly realize that Oliver is no longer trying to kill his opponents. To paraphrase The Dark Knight, once Oliver’s enemies realize that the Arrow has rules, he’ll be a lot less intimidating to them.
From a technical standpoint, there wasn’t much wrong with this episode. The action and editing were well done and “Arrow” seems to have good production values. However, the continuing deficiencies in the scripting and in the performances of certain cast members is still holding “Arrow” back from becoming a truly good TV show. I had hoped that the summer hiatus would allow the creative team of “Arrow” to figure out what was working and what isn’t. But apparently, the show itself remains a work in progress.
