Episode Title: “Blind Spot”
Writers: Wendy Mericle & Beth Schwartz
Director: Glen Winter
“Arrow” fans who have never read the original DC comic books featuring Green Arrow and Black Canary may not be aware that the Lance sisters are an invention of this show. As originally conceived, Dinah Lance was the costumed heroine known as Black Canary. On “Arrow,” Dinah’s role is essentially split between Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and Sara Lance (Caity Lotz). In “Arrow” season 2, Sara gets to kick a lot of ass while Laurel… exists.
“Blind Spot” was a pivotal episode for both of the Lance sisters, although it further reinforced the idea that Lotz should be promoted to a series regular and remain on the show. However, it seems far more likely that Sara will eventually be written out of the series.
This was also a big episode for Sebastian Blood (Kevin Alejandro), another character who hasn’t clicked for me this season. Blood comes off as a half-hearted Harvey Dent mixed with a low rent Scarecrow. He’s just not a compelling villain, despite the show’s best efforts. Who could settle for this C-list villain when Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) aka Deathstroke The Terminator is waiting in the wings?
Before we go any further, you should know that there are full spoilers ahead for “Blind Spot,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “Arrow’ then you should probably skip this review or else Roy will hulk out on another serial killer.
One of the stronger aspects of “Arrow” Season 2 is the way that the island flashbacks and the present day storyline have been thematically linked. in addition to Slade’s presence in both timeframes, there’s also the reappearance of the Mirakuro superpower treatment that’s haunting Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) five years after Mirakuro turned one of his best friends into his deadliest enemy. Because of that, Oliver is particularly concerned about Roy Harper (Colton Haynes), one of the only survivors of the Mirakuro treatments in the present.
Despite the ridiculously easy way they tracked down a serial killer, I enjoy the Teens of Prey team of Roy, Sin (Bex Tayor-Klaus) and to a much lesser extent, Thea Queen (Willa Holland). Although Thea had previously been enthusiastic about playing hero alongside Roy and Sin, she’s been given little to do lately other than pout and express concern for Roy. Right now, the only interesting thing about Thea is that she’s Malcolm Merlyn’s daughter. And that plot thread hasn’t been picked up on in several episodes.
As for Roy, he’s clearly losing his grip on himself as he nearly beats a serial killer to death. Nor can Roy stop himself from hurting Sin, which calls back to Slade’s early struggles with his Mirakuro enhanced strength. Oliver certainly seems to see the parallels between Roy and Slade, which is why he reapproaches Roy as the Arrow and offers to train him to obtain retain control. Considering that the Arrow shot Roy in the leg during their previous encounter, Roy forgave him way too quickly before accepting the offer. But it means that we may finally see Arrow and Red Arrow/Arsenal in action as partners next week.
In the main plotline of this episode, Laurel tries to convince anyone who will listen that Sebastian Blood isn’t the man that he’s pretending to be. It seems like the “Arrow” creative team is trying to do some character rehabilitation for Laurel. There’s even a funny scene where Oliver/Arrow calls Laurel out for setting up a SWAT team ambush the last time they had a meeting. I took that as a tacit admission that Laurel’s early character arc this season just wasn’t cutting it.
Laurel’s tragedy in this episode is that she’s completely right about Sebastian, but no one will believe her… especially now that she’s been outed as a drug addict. I really thought that “Arrow” would contrive a reason to keep Laurel in the DA’s office after this episode. But the creative team actually had Laurel lose her job. Still, that should have been followed up with Laurel entering rehab or else she could fall even further.
The biggest problem with Brother Blood is that he doesn’t seem to have much of an identity of his own. Almost everything that Blood has done on “Arrow” seems like a pale imitation of something that a more interesting Batman villain has already done in any of the feature films. “Blind Spot” finally gets around to making the attempt to portray Blood as a threat outside of his costume, but it’s too little and too late.
Predictably, the Brother Blood that was defeated by Oliver in this episode was actually one of his minions, Officer Daily (Jesse Hutch). That means that Oliver’s no longer searching for Brother Blood and he thinks that Laurel was deluded. I didn’t expect the Brother Blood plotline to be abruptly solved in this episode, but I was kind of hoping that it would be.
Blood has some distinct drawbacks as the villain, which is why Manu Bennett made such a strong impression in this episode. Slade Wilson’s bloody debut in his Deathstroke costume gave the ending the kick that it needed. And I really loved the way that Slade cut down Blood’s men while putting Blood in his place.
Back on the island, Sara Lance finally got a chance to demonstrate that she won’t stab Oliver in the back again. Sara also illuminates her relationship with Professor Ivo (Dylan Neal). I assumed that Sara had a physical relationship with Ivo, but his mental instability suggests that he needs Sara more as an anchor than a romantic partner.
Given the chance to rejoin Ivo, Sara flatly rejects Ivo just in time for Oliver to have overheard the conversation. That firmly puts Sara on Oliver’s side in the flashback sequences. It’s actually been six episodes since Sara was last seen in Starling City as Black Canary. While I’m looking forward to the Canary’s present day return, making her the co-star of Oliver’s flashbacks has been a good move.
“Blind Spot” isn’t a perfect episode, but it feels like “Arrow” is building momentum towards the inevitable Oliver and Slade confrontation. If Laurel can be made into an interesting character along the way, then so much the better.
