Need a recap on what happened last time on Arrow? It’s been a while since our last episode! Lucky for you, I am totally lazy planned this out perfectly so you can review what happened last time before catching up with this week’s Arrow!
Episode Summary: This episode basically picks up where the last one left off- shortly after Cupid killed Isaac Stanzler, Detective Lance and the Arrow meet at the scene of the crime to figure out who could have killed him. There’s also a quick flashback showing Arrow saving Carrie Cutter from a Mirakuru soldier from the season 2 finale, thus beginning her unhealthy infatuation with the Arrow and Oliver Queen. Carrie has it in her mind that she and Oliver are together going to punish criminals that she finds guilty, so most of this episode is following her puzzles and trying to stop her before she kills again. She also manages to find his base, which is a somewhat impressive feat and shows she’s no petty criminal. Oliver tells her he can’t see anyone right now and ships her off to Amanda Waller.
In Hong Kong, Maseo goes to a secret ARGUS meeting and leaves Ollie with his wifey. After many hours with no contact from Maseo, Oliver decides to just walk up and ask the nice-looking thugs where Maseo is. Oliver gets into a lot of trouble and Tatsu, his wife, goes crazy-psycho-badass on the thugs. Turns out she’s really good at martial arts, and can also wield a katana! Oh, and Maseo was safe and forgot to call and let them know he would be late, so it all worked out.
Ray Palmer bribes Felicity into going to a business dinner with him by buying her an expensive dress and loaning her a lavish diamond necklace. She also appears on TV at Ray’s side during a press conference. Oliver becomes jealous of this blossoming relationship and Diggle tries to bring Felicity back to his side, only for Felicity to point out that Oliver is the one who ended things with HER and she’s not going to sit around and wait. Oliver decides he must tell Felicity how he feels, only to arrive at Palmer Technologies just as Ray and Felicity share a kiss. In the last bit of the episode, we see Ray developing his own superhero suit.
Episode Review: This episode was pretty decent, actually, given the last few episodes we had to slog through that weren’t much good in my opinion. Carrie Cutter definitely has the whole crazy thing down pat, and it’s kind of fun to have Oliver weirded out by it. As though growing up a playboy millionaire would leave one totally unprepared for this kind of scenario… anyway, I don’t really know if I have a lot more to say about it. She obviously didn’t kill Sara, so she’s not a murder mystery suspect. Looks like she’s now at Amanda Waller’s disposal, so it’s hard to say if we’re ever actually going to see her again. She may be no more than a villain of the week in this case. It was a fun plot, though.
Can we talk about Felicity for a sec? Agent Aaron and I were having a discussion about how she’s becoming a total superhero magnet. She has Oliver, Barry, AND Ray pretty much eating out of the palm of her hand. It’s not hard to see why- beautiful, talented, very useful, and she also has her funny geeky charm. In season 1, she seemed like more of an average bystander giving us a wide-eyed glimpse into the crazy life of a superhero. Now she’s practically a superhero herself! In a way, I don’t want her to date Ray OR Barry OR Oliver. I feel like they wouldn’t give her a good life, since their first concern has to be about their city and their duties as a superhero, and she’s such a great girl that she deserves someone who will put her first (or even a close second would do, really.) I am enjoying seeing her with Ray because their chemistry is good, but I wouldn’t mind if she ends up with Barry. But I don’t want her with Oliver- I think he’s better off with Laurel because of all the history.
As for Hong Kong? I don’t know, do I have to talk about it? These flashbacks are still just…there for me. Maybe we’ll be seeing more of Katana soon (more on her below!) but otherwise I just don’t get a lot out of them.
Character Corner
Katana
Katana is a Japanese superhero in the DC Universe. She was born in Japan and trained in martial arts as a child, and married into a family with Yakuza ties, but her husband decided not to become a part of it. In her DC origin story, her husband and two children are tragically killed by her jealous brother-in-law, and she decides to train as a samurai in order to fight for justice. Things seem to be a little different here- she still marries the same man but only has one child, both of whom seem very much alive- and she stated that she left Japan because it was not safe for her family there. I have a feeling we’re definitely going to be seeing her around more. Many of the flashback characters wind up either battling with or alongside Arrow in the present day, so I’m curious to know if she’ll pop up in an upcoming episode while not in a flashback…
Cheesiest Moment of the Episode
We actually have a DOUBLE FEATURE today with two cheesy moments! Get out some chips, cuz there’s enough cheese here to make nachos!
First cheesiest moment: the precise moment when Thea’s new DJ kisses her. He first makes a royal ass of himself by showing up to auditions and refusing to audition, then showing up for the job anyway and taking over for the other crummy DJ she hired. Then at the end of his shift, he starts hitting on her, she gives him his money, he gives it back and just kisses her? What????? I can’t even make this stuff up, guys.
This episode’s second cheesiest moment is brought to you by Diggle, who decided to take it upon himself to tell Felicity that Oliver likes her, like, likes her likes her, high school style, because Oliver won’t tell her because he thinks that she’s with Ray and he’d apparently rather sulk around Verdant and throw things instead of express his feelings. Felicity cools this cheesy moment off by telling Diggle that if Oliver has a problem with her “relationship” which isn’t anything more than her insane yet charming boss buying her lavish presents with some mild flirting, Oliver can tell her himself. Besides, Oliver is the one who ended things with her!
Diggle then tries to guilt trip her about this whole thing by saying her relationship with Ray is messing with Oliver’s head and putting him in danger, implying that Felicity is putting Oliver in danger by just trying to live her life! WTF, Diggle?! How self-centered are these people?! Also, having your friend go tell someone you like them is something acceptable basically in high school only. Mature adults should handle these situations a little better than that!
Overall Episode Score: B-/C+ (is that a B–?)
Coming up next time: we can look forward to not only new Arrow this week, but we’ll also talk about the special Arrow/Flash crossover episodes!