ARROW Season 2 Episode 21
Episode Title: “City of Blood”
Writer: Holly Harold
Director: Michael Schultz
A good indication of how well “Arrow” is running its season hit me near the end of this week’s episode. I was genuinely shocked that “City of Blood” wasn’t the penultimate episode of the season. It felt like the final big push of the season, but there are actually two more episodes left.
The big plan that Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) has for Starling City feels like The Reckoning 2.0; which itself seemed like a rehash of Ra’s al Ghul’s plan in Batman Begins. “City of Blood” even has a moment reminiscent of The Dark Knight in which one of Slade’s superpowered soldiers intentionally allows himself to be captured in order to create havoc in the police station.
Slade’s effectiveness as a villain comes from the way that he’s been able to gradually strip Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) of everything that he has. His family fortune is gone, Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) is comatose, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) has run off and Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) is dead.
I was never a big fan of Moira as a character and her inclusion on this show contributed to a lot of its “CW moments” in the first season. But Moira had about as dramatic a death as anyone could hope for; which further demoralized Oliver and drove his sister, Thea (Willa Holland) away from him.
“Arrow” wisely brings back Moira’s ex-husband, Walter Steele (Colin Salmon) for her funeral after Oliver goes missing in the wake of her death. Salmon’s performance in season 1 gave Walter a more grounded humanity than anyone else in the Queen family. That’s a quality that “Arrow” sometimes lacks and Salmon did it again in his brief scenes in this episode.
From this point on, there are full spoilers ahead for “City of Blood,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “Arrow” then you should probably skip this review or else you’ll have to pay for Sebastian Blood’s dinner.
I think what surprised me the most about “City of Blood” was that two of my least favorite characters, Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Sebastian Blood (Kevin Alejandro) both had their best episodes of the season. Laurel has been particularly problematic this season since Sara is more like the Laurel that I wanted to see than the original model. Laurel’s vendetta against the Arrow and her spiral into addiction haven’t been very well written or performed. Similarly, Laurel’s recent use of blackmail to free her father and regain her job have been unintentionally funny.
However, Laurel finally gets her chance to shine this season when she confronts Oliver after making contact with Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) and John Diggle (David Ramsey). The Laurel that won’t let Oliver march off to his own death is the Laurel that’s been missing since last season. That’s the kind of scene that might actually get the audience back on Laurel’s side.
Of course, Laurel’s rare moment of effectiveness is undercut by the clumsy way that she injects herself into the final action sequence of the episode. That once again placed Laurel needlessly in danger after she saved Oliver from a situation in which he would normally save himself. But it was such a strong overall episode for Laurel that I didn’t mind too much.
I haven’t really liked Sebastian Blood at all this season because he’s basically been the poor man’s Scarecrow. “City of Blood” finally gave Blood some indications that he’s more than just Slade’s bats*** crazy political puppet. In some of his scenes, Blood actually looked like he’s unsure about following Slade’s agenda. And Blood’s reaction to Oliver’s secret over dinner was a terrific moment. It doesn’t redeem how Blood has been so generic for so long, but it’s a start.
Getting back to the beginning of the episode, Oliver pulled a disappearing act, so Diggle and Felicity enlisted A.R.G.U.S. and Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to find him. And once they do, Diggle and Felicity learn that Oliver has been keeping another hideout without their knowledge and he plans to surrender himself to Slade to end the escalation of threats against his family and friends.
While Laurel is instrumental in getting Oliver’s head back in the game, Isabel Rochev (Summer Glau) gives Thea notice that the nightclub actually belongs to Queen Consolidated and she gives her a few days to clear out. Considering that Team Arrow headquarters is downstairs at the nightclub, I think that Oliver’s secondary hideout will be the new base next season.
In the flashbacks, we see Oliver, Sara, Anatoli (David Nykl) and Peter (Seth Rogerson) attempt to fix the sub so they can attack Slade on the Amazo. This wasn’t very compelling compared to the rest of the episode and I felt nothing for Peter’s demise because he’s barely had any scenes on this show. But I do like the idea of Oliver and company using the sub to sink the ship.
The finale serves up a triple cliffhanger as Laurel and Oliver are trapped, Diggle is facing down a very vengeful Isabel and Slade’s army is already in position to attack the city and hurt Thea and Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne). As crazy as it sounds, Oliver could really use some help from Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) and the Suicide Squad. And I think that he might actually get it.
It will be tricky for the “Arrow” creative team to maintain this level of tension for another two episodes, but it’s going about as well as it can at the moment.
