Jessie Robertson reviews the thirteenth episode of Arrow season 4…
There is always a Choice – Arrow’s bumper sticker
Arrow has become The Flash this week – it’s all about Daddy issues. Calculator, Felicity’s dad gets busy right away by revealing he knows she’s Overwatch (can we talk about how goofy that name is? No? You’re right – it doesn’t need discussion). Merlyn, Thea’s dad, has to make a choice: to give up all his power or watch his daughter die. Nyssa, consumed by hate, but mostly the tyrannical rule of her father, puts Merlyn and Oliver in this predicament. It’s all very intriguing. As the episode moves, we see a lot of Merlyn, all sides of his character: the seemingly caring father, the brutal Ra’s, the exposition machine, etc. You wonder watching it, what and how deep does his connection to Thea go? He’s seemingly used it at his will, when it suits him, and used her as well, but he gives this speech to Oliver about seeing her as a baby, 4 months old, and feeling a connection to her. He puts Oliver on tilt asking him if he would sacrifice his son William (apparently Merlyn knows all) to save the city, just as Merlyn feels it’s not only his power he doesn’t want to give up, it’s what the League itself stands for, and has stood for centuries: Agents of Change. Where we see the difference is Merlyn becomes agitated, angry and benevolent screaming about these notions while Oliver remains calm and states he would find a solution that worked for him until there was no time left. And in the improbable (but not impossible) he does just that. He goads Nyssa and Merlyn into League bylaws: Trial by Combat; but as Nyssa’s Husband (in the League’s view) he steps in for her and promptly Skywalker’s Merlyn’s hand and retrieves the ring for Nyssa. It’s yet another really well done step in showing how much and how deeply Oliver’s changed over the course of the 4 seasons.
This struggle really takes center stage but we get bits of Felicity (because what episode won’t have her in it?) dealing with her own fatherly abandonment issues; she even asks her mother for advice, which she gets in strong doses. We see a vulnerability to Felicity, which is unusual for her, as she’s heavily guarded and very stout against people taking advantage over her; I mean, she’s Overwatch, she is used to surveying a scene from above , behind and inside and is never surprised or taken off guard. So, she sets her father up and unwittingly, he falls right into her trap. Hard to say what to make of him: he nearly outsmarts them all last week, but lets his broken relationship with his daughter get him caught (both digging into Palmer Industries RND lab and by the SCPD). It seems to be a one and done type story but Oliver pretty much tells us, almost as if off the script page itself, that things like this never end that easily.
Prediction Time!: The episode ends with Merlyn vowing dark and disturbing revenge on Oliver for disarming him and causing the disillusion of the League, so he goes to Damien Darhk to create a truly unholy alliance. He drops the bombshell that Oliver has a son. Could we get a child murdered on this show by Darhk? He would truly live up to his namesake if this were the case. I’m going to still go with Thea; She did just recover but things are going to come to a head with Merlyn and how Thea, or how crucial she’ll be to the plot of the show afterwards, I’m not sure. Let’s stay tuned.
8/10- Arrow did one story tonight but it did it right; I liked the episode long thread of fighting this situation and furthering both Oliver (and Felicity) as heroes worthy of admiration.
Other Notes:
– I’m going to miss those strange heart to hearts from Oliver and Merlyn now that they’re (again) mortal enemies: Merlyn – “You are handsome, but not especially bright.”
– I enjoyed the Nyssa terminology stolen from her sisterly counterpart from the comics (Beloved, Husband)
– Flashback time: there’s some good drama playing out between Oliver and Anna; she’s forced to tend his wounds knowing he killed her brother. How CW it gets remains to be seen.
– I hate to question logistics on a Super hero show because once we start doing that, the whole thing just falls apart, but just how far away is Nanda Parbat from Star City? I feel like we were made to believe pretty damn far last season and now they seem to be there and back twice within a few hours. And also, if Merlyn and Nyssa’s League forces are battling, do they have to do it in Star City?
Visit Jessie Robertson as he plays vintage video games and WRITES ALL THE THINGS- FOR YOU!
https://youtu.be/2bSRrPDqhqo?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published February 11, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
