Jessie Robertson reviews the twelfth episode of Arrow season 7…
So, I presumed this rather innocuous title was going to have something to do with Emiko, and perhaps her next step in her own journey….but it’s even better than that.
Tonight’s episode showed The CW logo, in all green as normal, then came the Warner Bros. logo, and a picture of it’s old backlot. I started freaking out thinking I was watching the wrong affiliate, and they were replaying an old movie instead. Then I see Quentin Lance, in film quality, from 2012 talking about vigilantes. What???
In a completely innovative approach, a documentary crew (supposedly since 2012- where have they been all this time?) has been filming a movie about Oliver Queen and vigilantes and were ready to complete the film but ran out of money so they invaded Oliver and all his friends and families privacy for a big finish to their movie. I know, the plot holes are galore in this thing but my god was it fun to watch! Oliver uncomfortable around the camera, Felicity trying to look and sound her best, Curtis hamming it up and Diggle’s facials during those scenes, as well as stock footage and interviews from old favorites like Lance, Thea, Sara, Barry and even Rory (Ragman). Remember him?
The crux behind the episode would switch from documentary footage to the normal look of an Arrow episode after each commercial break. It was paced out perfectly. They catch Oliver and Dinah working behind the scenes on a new case which turns out to show Rene getting shot and Emiko kidnapped by a Vigilante catcher Vigilante. They find former allies and enemies masks in his hideout, such as Ragman and Huntress’ in more good call backs. There is so much history to Arrow and as outrageous as a lot of it is, I like that they use that history and elevate this episode with it.
The villain of the week is kinda that; Chimera, a guy who Oliver actually saved in his first year of being the Hood became obsessed with him and showed his affection in a murderous way…that’s normal right? There was a lot of good acting and ask for re-do’s and cut’s, very much in line with found footage movies today (although those are mostly horror.) This episode was very well put together and while you can’t do it every week, and again, it’s pretty preposterous on many levels, it really filled in the gaps of what would be a villain of the week show.
There wasn’t much bad, unless you didn’t like the format, which I could understand and totally see some people hating this one. Me, I dug it and bought in. Episode concludes with a loophole around the Anti-Vigilante law by deputizing the entire Team Arrow into SCPD. We also got some William personal stuff, which ties in with the flash forwards and him being friends with Zoe and a great ending where it shoots back to the future to show the Arrow Cave being discovered by future heroes.
Rating: 8.5/10 – great, great fresh episode that picks you up moving into the halfway point of this very uneven season.
Jessie Robertson
