Oliver was facing impeachment for his actions covering up the Green Arrow’s part in the death of Detective Billy Malone. Floating for the briefest of seconds the idea that they could throw Billy under the bus, making him out to not be the upstanding police officer he was just hammered home the obliviousness the writers seem to have towards the complete redundancy of that poor character. Did anyone bond with Billy at all in the few episodes he was in? Anyway, realising that the deciding vote on whether Oliver gets impeached could be leaned on, Thea went to the well that is Felicity’s magic USB stick again and using political leverage over their wife’s suicide, got them to vote in Oliver’s favour. In this week’s flashbacks, they showed a parallel where Oliver had to dig up dirt on a rival Bratva member to sway a vote in Anatoly’s favour. Considering if the vote went the other way they’d have put a bullet in him, I think it’s a little unfair to consider the two scenarios comparable.
The huge plot development that Susan Williams got fired and discredited last week was completely undone, as after a conversation with Felicity, Oliver convinced her to make good on what she did. Susan revealed that an “anonymous hacker” confessed to hacking her computer and she was given her job back, with an apology from the editor no less. I really struggled to see what the point of all it was. The fact that Susan doesn’t seem to bare ill will against Oliver and even, maybe against her better instincts, supports what he’s doing for Star City as both Mayor and the Green Arrow, pretty much snuffed out the slow burning fuse that was the threat of Susan exposing him. Unless there’s some sort of elaborate double twist, I just feel like the ARROW writers were, to mix metaphors, throwing red herrings at us for the last few months to see what stuck.
And speaking of red herrings... hoo boy... time to get to the big point of this week’s episode. Prometheus revealed! Obviously here be spoilers. To start, I feel I need to provide context as it’s only within the context of these characters provided by the comics that this twist of Arrow’s can be claimed to have really worked. You see, as well as the enigma that is Prometheus running around Star City tormenting Oliver and co, this season has also seen the rise of the gun toting vigilante known as, well, Vigilante, a recurring antagonist to Team Arrow who likes to shoot first and ask questions later, acting as judge, jury and executioner. In the comics, Vigilante is Adrian Chase i.e. the Star City DA in ARROW. In a pivotal scene half way through this week’s episode, we saw Vigilante and Prometheus square off on a rooftop, Prometheus trying to once again warn the latest bad guy off from hunting what he sees as his prey, Oliver Queen. After Vigilante managed to escape, Prometheus unmasked himself to reveal he was none other than Adrian Chase. A swerve it seems, that many a comic book fan loved as it threw everything they thought they knew out the window. There’s just one problem. I didn’t know Adrian was “meant to be” Vigilante. The reveal was just that, a reveal. In fact, now knowing the context of what was playing out in that scene, I’m curious as to what the end game is for ARROW because surely the big mystery has shifted onto just who the hell Vigilante, at least this version of Vigilante, really is? Beyond the bait and switch, all ARROW has really managed to do is repeat the same twist that Flash has done twice. An evil version of the hero, his identity secret until it’s revealed about halfway through the season they’re actually a character we already know, leads into a deeply personal conflict in the final flurry of episodes, racing towards the inevitable conclusion, the good guy wins. The ending, where Adrian met with Susan was, I guess, supposed to convey a real visceral threat as we now know he’s the man with intentions to hurt Oliver and those around him, just fell flat to me and seemed oddly melodramatic.
Frankly with all that going on this week, the awful puns made about Curtis’s “balls” were light relief. I’m still not sold on exactly what the hell they were thinking, making 5-6 testicle puns at the expense of the only gay character on the show, perhaps it’s indicative of the target audience the show is going for, but it was good to see Curtis do something with the synonymous Mr Terrific T-Spheres. His estranged husband Paul turning up to issue him with divorce papers felt like a gut punch. Is it too much to ask for a hero to just have a happy home life?
The biggest take away from this week was that ultimately, to avoid political ruin, Oliver had to sacrifice the Green Arrow persona to the public as an enemy of the people. Which is actually pretty clever if you think about Adrian’s part in the cover up of Billy’s murder. It was all leading to Oliver himself having to destroy the Green Arrow’s reputation and legacy, meaning surely, Prometheus is ready to strike his killing blow?
Written by Nick Whitney, ARROW Beat Writer -- Click to read Nick's posts
Related Posts:
ARROW Season 5 Episode 14 Review: Sin-EaterARROW Season 5 Episode 13 Review: Spectre of the Gun
ARROW Season 5 Episode 12 Review: From Russia With Love