Arrow Secrets: “Taken”

Taken

You can’t hear this week’s title “Taken” and not draw a reference to Liam Neeson’s Taken. Neeson spends the movie rescuing his kidnapped child. Neeson has ties to DC. He portrayed Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins.

Olympian

Curtis’s husband mentioned that he was an Olympian during “Taken” and this is interesting because Curtis Holt is similar to Michael Holt in the comics, and Michael is Mr. Terrific. There have been plenty of hints that Curtis will—at some point—become Mr. Terrific. Ollie called him “terrific” when Curtis gave Oliver and Felicity the wedding gift of a chip that would allow Felicity to walk again. Both characters are former Olympians. Curtis has worn Mr. Terrific’s Fair Play jacket. And they both created T-Spheres.

William

“Taken” marked the longest air time William, Oliver Queen’s son, had on Arrow since the Arrow/Flash crossover, which was when Oliver discovered he had a child. It’s also worth noting that “Taken” occurred 24 hours before Connor Hawke appeared on Legends of Tomorrow, and Connor is Oliver’s son in the comics.

This happened already

So many of the lines we heard Felicity and Oliver share after Felicity learned about William echoed what she said when she broke up with Ollie during the Arrow/Flash crossover. So Jim wasn’t wrong about the inevitability of the Olicity show down. “Stop. I can’t hear another lie” and “you’re the only person on the planet that considers the truth complicated” are direct quotes Felicity made the first time around and here they are again.

Of course that time line was erased by Barry, so we’re getting a little bit of déjà vu all over again.

Constantine in Hell

John Constantine was unavailable to help Ollie this week because he was in Hell. Literally. While I’m not sure whether or not John would’ve helped Ollie if he was around (Ollie ignored John’s warning, and John hates that), it does make sense that John would spent time in Hell. He is from the Hellblazer comics.

Vixen

We got our first look at a live-action Vixen on this week’s Arrow, but Mari McCabe has her own animated series on the CW. Arrow fed us the bulk of her background and it matches the comic and cartoon, but in the comics, she was a member of the Detroit-era Justice League. A couple of her teammates have made the jump to primetime. J’Onn J’Onzz (The Martian Manhunter) is currently on Supergirl, while Vibe is on The Flash.

Animated Encounter

Remember how Vixen has her own animated series on the CW. Well, she ran into Barry and Ollie on her show last season, and that’s the encounter Ollie referenced in Arrow this week. I guess they just linked the CW live-action and animated TV universe, or that was just a nice wink to the fans. Either way, it was funny.

I had that under control

I’ll have to go back and count how many times we’ve heard the following dialogue exchange in Arrow: Some says, “I had that under control,” after another hero saves them from a beating, and the second character says, “I know.” Mari was the first character this week, and Ollie got to say, “I know,” but it was Ollie who was overwhelmed last year, and Ray got to take the role of the second hero who saved the day.

Don’t tell Barry

Should Barry just go public with his secret identity? No one cares about keeping his secret a secret. Ollie knew Barry was the CSI who helped Samantha and implied to his baby-momma that he knew Barry, and Samantha would have to be thick to not figure out that Barry Allen is The Flash.

An army of little Olivers

Captain Lance made the comment that he wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t an army of little Olivers, and that isn’t too far off. In the comics, Oliver Queen sired more than one illegitimate child. One of them is even an on-again, off-again villain.

Nelson Plaza

Arrow and Flash love naming buildings, street corners, and points of interest after writers, artists, and executives, and Nelson Plaza is no different. Darhk mentioned the plaza as a meeting place for him and Ollie, and Nelson Plaza has to be a reference for DC Entertainment’s president Diane Nelson.

Did you miss our Arrow “Taken” review? Here’s a link. Thanks for reading.

Agent Carter Review: “A Little Song and Dance”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Typically, I don’t like dream sequences but the one that kicked off “A Little Song and Dance” worked well. It didn’t slow down the narrative too much or pull us out of what was going on (that could be because this episode was the second part of a doubleheader, but I’m going to overlook that), and we received insight with Peggy. I wasn’t sold on Peggy’s love triangle with Sousa and Wilkes, and I’m still on the fence, but the little song and dance number in her dream warmed me to the possibility.

The rest of the episode had your prerequisite spy double-crosses and triple-crosses, but the misdirection kept me guessing and wasn’t forced. Character motivations collided at the episode’s end and there wasn’t a false action made by anyone. The antagonists had a shared goal but they wanted to use different means to obtain those goals, and our group of heroes also had a shared goal and they couldn’t coordinate how they’d accomplish it. This whirlwind led to a nice chain of events, and we’re left with an explosive conclusion.

Whitney’s story appears to be done and her hunger for zero matter drove the central conflict. I’m sure we’ll see the fallout from happened this episode, and perhaps we’ll even see the dissolution of the SSR and the beginning of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Or at least the organization that will become S.H.I.E.L.D.. I don’t know how Agent Carter will top “A Little Song and Dance,” and I don’t think it can or if it should even try. This season was more of a new beginning rather than an end. And “A Little Song and Dance” ended with a bang.

The Flash Secrets: “King Shark”

JawsMoviePoster

Sharks…it had to be sharks

The Flash couldn’t go two minutes without dropping a Jaws reference. That makes sense, since this was King Shark’s big episode. Here’s a quick list of some Flash shark references:

An A.R.G.U.S. agent at the beginning of the episode called King Shark “Bruce,” which was the name given to the mechanical shark in Jaws, and that led to the great white shark in Finding Nemo being named Bruce, too.

After King Shark attacked the West House, Cisco said, “Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the suburbs.” That’s a riff on the Jaws 2 tagline: “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.”

Cisco actually slipped in a Jaws line. “We’re gonna need a bigger Flash” was originally “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

When Cisco said, “shouldn’t he be playing Quint in this scenario,” he’s referring to Bartholomew M. Quint, Robert Shaw’s character from Jaws.

At one point Cisco said the heck with subtlety and said, “Cue the Jaws soundtrack.”

20000LeaguesUnderTheSea

Nautilus Labs

Nautilus Labs doesn’t exist in the DC Universe, but The Nautilus is the name of the submarine in Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And this vessel might be where the DC Comics reference comes from: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Sure, it’s a Vertigo title, but it’s still DC, and the vehicle is the main method of transportation for the League. Of course, it could just be a Jules Verne reference and there’s nothing wrong with that.

KingShark

King Shark

He may not have been in The Flash’s Suicide Squad or be in the upcoming movie, but King Shark has been a member of the Squad, so it makes sense that Waller would plan to weaponize him. The TV show also went a different direction with this character than in the comics. King Shark never had a civilian identity.

InjusteGosAmongUsCyborgDeathstroke

Promethium

Promethium was mentioned in this week’s episode, and it’s a metal used in the construction of Cyborg (Vic Stone), the former Teen Titan and now Justice Leaguer. Cyborg wears depleted promethium, while Deathstroke the Terminator uses volatile Promethium in his suit.

Sharknado

More Shark Jokes

After King Shark tore a hole in the Wests’ house, Joe wonders if his homeowners’ insurance covers Sharknado attacks. Yay.

WallyWestFlashCW

Fastest Cup-Stacker

Wally admitted that he was so fast, it’s incredible. He’s raced cars, bragged with ever win, and now this cup stacking thing this week. You have to think that this is building toward something, and it’ll be interesting when he learns the truth about Barry.

Did you miss our Flash “King Shark” review? Here’s a link. Thanks for reading.

The Flash Review: “King Shark”

Jim’s Thoughts

The Flash continues to impress me. Although the second part of the Earth-2 excursion wasn’t as solid as the first, it was still good. I would call this week’s episode the second homerun in three weeks, and I’m hoping that signifies an upward trend as we head into the final leg of Season 2.

I was surprised we got as much of King Shark as we did. This show has a history of using the “Villain of the Week” format, and that’s what we got here, but it wasn’t as unsatisfying as it’s been in the past. There wasn’t really any character development for King Shark. They explained his origin, which was fine, but nothing much beyond that. What the show did do, and where I think the pay-off came in, was that they let King Shark be a stand-in for Zoom. Zoom is unreachable to Barry now, and King Shark represents the last of Earth-2 that can be dealt with. They went so far as to say as much in the episode, which takes away from what subtlety could have offered, but it worked more than not.

Speaking of character development, I’m pretty taken with Grant Gustin’s performance this season. He’s been pretty good from the start, but he’s shown some real chops here, and where it would have been easy to get carried away in portraying Barry’s guilt over what’s happened since he opened the breach, I think he found the sweet spot. He managed to be withdrawn without brooding, and that fits the character. Though Diggle mentioned Barry looking like Oliver carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, I think Gustin portrayed Barry’s burden in a way that was very much in keeping with what separates him from Oliver Queen. I also have to give a nod to Carlos Valdes (Cisco) and Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin) for their performances. As Cisco gets closer to his superhero potential, I think we see the character evolving, coping with inner conflict (again, without brooding), and that’s bringing him up to something beyond comic relief. While Caitlin has been relegated to the grieving widow role far too often, I think she’s done it as well as it can be done. Her light-hearted exchanged with Cisco in the end also helped breathe some life into the character.

I still don’t care about the West family drama. I like that they’re trying to do something with Wally, but it feels like his development is all off screen. If they’ve established before that he’s a gifted engineering student, I must have missed it. Since I’ve mostly tuned out those segments, I may very well have missed it, but it still feels odd for him to go from drag racing to applying to engineering school overnight, especially when he’s apparently been developing an elaborate project for it all along. While, I understand his resentment for Barry, and I can even believe it, I feel as though that element of the story is, at best, overshadowed.

If you’re a reader of The Flash comics, and you were paying attention to the Hunter Zolomon sighting in the park some weeks ago, this episode’s big reveal at the end shouldn’t have shocked you, but if you’re just a casual fan of the show, it was probably pretty exciting. Regardless of whether you saw it coming, it’s an interesting development, and if the show continues at the level it’s reached, I think there’s good reason to look forward to next week and beyond.

Kyle’s Take

While I love many of The Flash’s characters, I didn’t like “King Shark” as a story. The beginning of Jim’s last paragraph says it all “If you’re a reader of The Flash comics,” the ending made sense. If you’re a fan of the show and not a reader of the comics, you were left scratching your head. The Flash TV show didn’t develop Hunter Zolomon and that’s why I thought Zolomon sitting on a park bench over a month ago was just an Easter Egg for comic book fans. The biggest reason why Zoom made Wizard’s Top 100 super villains of all-time list is because of his relationship to The Flash. Hunter’s Zoom is to Wally West’s Flash what Bucky’s Winter Soldier is to Steve Rodgers’ Captain America. And TV’s Jay Garrick is nothing to Barry besides some dude he met this season. Before Jay could step in as the new Harrison Wells, Earth-2 Harry came into the picture. The two didn’t even become good friends because after Earth-2 Harry showed up, Jay transitioned to playing footsie with Caitlin, so you can’t even develop Zolomon as a villain by proxy.

You also can’t assume that every viewer has read The Flash comics. Jim’s right for dinging the show for developing Wally West off-camera (there’s more going behind the scenes with him than just his being a gifted engineer, and that’s got to change), but at least fans of the show who don’t read the comic know who Wally is. If you didn’t know who Hunter Zolomon was from the comics, you’d think he was related to Rip Hunter and belongs on Legends of Tomorrow or he once resolved an argument by suggesting someone saw a baby in half. It’s one thing to lean on the source material for inspiration. It’s another to depend on the source material to tell your story for you.

I’m sure the show will catch up non-2001-03 Geoff Johns, comic book readers in the coming weeks, but I’ve lost a lot of respect for The Flash writers as storytellers. Not only did they drop the Zolomon bomb, which opens up so many cans of worms it isn’t even funny (more on that later), the fact that Wally doesn’t directly tie into Zoom—except through some convoluted way—means that the West family story is a colossal waste of time. The Flash wants to collect speedsters like Arrow hoards archers (Merlyn, Arsenal, and Speedy) and tech-specialists (Felicity, The Calculator, The Atom, and Mr. Terrific). I’m going to need something more than Wally turning speedster, or being a speedster on Earth-MST3K, to care about the West melodrama.

Then we get to the fact that we’ve encountered at least three Jays. The hero in the mask has to be a Jay Garrick from some other earth and/or time—most likely Earth-1. On the surface, that doesn’t seem like a big deal but it means that Zoom has been to more than two earths and/or he’s traveling through time and exists in a Speed Force bubble. One of the biggest issues, if not the biggest issue, critics had of 1978’s Superman was the scene where Superman turns back time to save Lois. Yeah, that’s a typical Tuesday morning for The Flash.

The Flash has established that Barry can travel through time and to other dimensions, so the fact that DC has said multiple times that Arrow and The Flash don’t exist in the same universe as the characters in the new DC films, shouldn’t prevent a crossover for this show and the movies. Heck, Barry could be superimposed with Adam West on Batman, followed by twirling with Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman, and he can finish up by helping Christopher Reeve catch Margot Kidder by the Eiffel Tower. Before you think that any of that’s ridiculous, The Flash, with the abilities it’s already shown, has the power to do exactly what I just said. Come on, Barry, zip into Batman: the Animated Series. We’re rapidly approaching ludicrous speed. I can do plaid.

I know this sounds like sour grapes, but I’ve seen the WB/CW do this with Charmed. The sisters in that show defeated the source of all evil in their third season and had nowhere but down to go from there. It was this unbalance of power that forced the WB to make a rule for Smallville: no capes; no flight. Now waiting ten years to see Superman fly was silly, but The Flash should’ve made a rule of no time travel and no Earth-2 until season four or five. Gorilla Grodd is originally from Earth-1 and was sent to Earth-2. If you were going to do Earth-2 King Shark now (those were fantastic graphics by the way), why didn’t you stick with Earth-1 Grodd? It’s too late to contract this universe but man, is it way too big and unruly.

I agree with Jim about the characters. Gustin’s amazing as Barry. Cisco and Caitlin have done a lot with what they’ve been given, and this week, their characters grew. That moment between Cisco and Caitlin toward the end of “King Shark” was fantastic. This episode was at its best when it went the route of a Barry, Caitlin, or Cisco character study, but the other elements tanked.

Despite all these issues, “King Shark” was an entertaining episode, and I’m hopeful for an enjoyable Flash season finale. The Supergirl crossover—don’t get me started with how Supergirl’s presence on Flash directly links the show to the DC cinematic universe—happens either March 15^th or 22^nd, just in time for March Madness. That sounds about right.

One random point: I’m not sure that I buy Earth-2 residents’ acceptance of Earth-1 citizens naming their world Earth-2. Sure, Harry and Jessie chuckled at Cisco for telling them that no one from Earth-2 was allowed to talk, but if some Kyle from another reality told me that I was the Kyle of Earth-2, I’d correct him as many times as it took for him to get that he was Earth-2 Kyle. And that’s exactly what I tell other Kyle every time I see him. Isn’t that right, other Kyle?

Damn straight.

Want more Flash? Zoom to our Flash secrets page. Thanks for reading.

iZombie Review: “Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Dang. I heard iZombie was going to take a short hiatus—it’ll be off until March 22^nd—and that’s torture. Last week’s mystery of the week preceded another show, “Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind,” that packed as much as it could into an hour.

Ravi discovered that not all tainted Utopium is the same and that there may be your typical brain-dead zombies in the world, and that freaked the natives—it’s only a matter of time before Max Rager’s secret would shake loose, and now they may have to do a little damage control. Liv discovered that her roommate was the one who sexted Major while the two of them were together and she threw her out—Max Rager will take action and perhaps we’ll see them sic another mole on Liv. Major was ready to tell Liv that he’s the Chaos Killer. We knew Drake was tangled up in a mess a dangerous and thick as Medusa’s hair, but this episode showed just how complex and multi-layered his story is—I would’ve never guessed he was working with the police, but that makes me happy knowing that he’s not just a street thug. And we saw a newly re-zombified Blaine claw his way out of a shallow grave. I may have missed something and that was all in the show’s final ten minutes.

I’m not even sure I’ve processed everything that happened and that’s crazy considering how loaded iZombie was with plots and subplots before this week. Unlike some CW shows, you trust there will be a good payoff for most, if not all, of what’s going on. The characters intertwine nicely and even though iZombie is based on a comic, they changed enough of the original source material to keep things fresh and they don’t rely on the source material to build its characters.

It wasn’t all sunshine this week. The weekly mystery was a snooze but there was a nice twist to the ending: the guilty party got away with murder. This was particularly bad, considering that the victim was characterized as the kindest woman on the planet. Her daughter wanted her inheritance and dropped an air conditioner on her head. That’s a horrible way to go, but it least it wasn’t a toilet. That was in bad taste, and I apologize and I’m sure the victim just forgave me because that’s what she would’ve done. She would’ve even given her daughter the money if she asked. That ending ticked me off but that was the point.

Liv being subject to someone notorious for handing out second-chances was also the point of this episode. Her new beau Drake has a complicated past but he’s trying to make amends. Somehow, I don’t see a re-zombified Blaine giving Mr. Boss that same chance. Heads will roll when iZombie returns and I’ll try to wrap my head around what else happened this episode. “Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind” is easily one of the best iZombie episodes this season.

Thanks for reading.

Agent Carter Review: “The Edge of Mystery”

Kyle’s Thoughts

“The Edge of Mystery” could be one of the few episodes of Agent Carter when every character had a moment to shine, even Chief Thompson. Whitney reopened the rift, Wilkes gave into Zero Matter’s call, Jarvis attacked Whitney for what she did to his wife, and Thompson betrayed Masters and stuck it to the Council. Wow. That was a lot going on and every decision made by most of Agent Carter’s principle characters led to some life-altering moments.

I haven’t caught the second half of this week’s double-header yet, so I’m writing this blind to anything that happened in “A Little Song and Dance,” but I will take a moment and say that I hate that ABC has decided to air Agent Carter in two-hour blocks in order to make up for the network’s decision to delay the Season 2 premiere. I get why you wouldn’t want the two Marvel shows (Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) on at the same time, but there could’ve been a better way to handle this situation. Even though Agent Carter has suffered through three weeks of doubleheaders, the episodes the network have stuck together for these two-hours have worked because they have a through line (like last week’s return and escape of Dottie Underwood), so I expect “The Edge of Mystery” and “A Little Song and Dance” to follow suit.

Getting back to “The Edge of Mystery,” I liked how the show used flashbacks for Mrs. Jarvis. The show didn’t dwell too long in the past, and this moment reminded me of the flashbacks we saw with Peggy and Whitney; those were some of the best moments this season.

The outcast super friends reunited, sort of, and while I didn’t care for the first episode they were together, “The Edge of Mystery” toned down the camp. I liked the hint of comedy.

Yeah, I’d have to say that while Jarvis continued to shine, it was the shocking—and yet understandable—turns Wilkes and Thompson made this week that caught my eye. Agent Carter’s ratings have been down this season and that’s too bad. If the show offered more antagonists like Whitney and continued to build layers for supporting characters like Wilkes, Thompson, Sousa, and Jarvis, the show could have legs. Agent Carter could still get renewed, and unlike last season, I wouldn’t be upset if it did.

“The Edge of Mystery” was a stellar episode. It’s too bad I don’t have a week to think about and discuss the episode before watching what happens next. I guess I’ll get to watching “A Little Song and Dance.” Seriously, ABC, the doubleheader thing is a bad call.

Bob’s Burgers Review: “Sexy Dance Healing”

Kyle’s Thoughts

“Sexy Dance Healing” was a star-studded joy. Kevin Kline reprised his role of Mr. Fischoeder (pronounced fish odor), Rob Huebel portrayed a doctor, Steve Buscemi made an appearance as a lawyer, and Jon Glaser returned as Jairo, the Capoeiera guru. Okay, this week’s episode may not be steeped in strong familial ties like “Hauntening” or “Hawk & Chick,” but as far as Bob driven episodes are concerned, “Sexy Dance Healing” is about as good as it gets.

Bob stresses over everything but nothing as much as his catchy, punny burgers of the day. I have a soft spot for these puns—I’ve even made a few of the burgers—so it was nice to see the burger of the day take center stage for the first time in the show’s run. Bob found himself in a bad slump, coming up with names like “The say cheese burger,” and “Head, shoulders, knees, and tomatoes burger.” These weren’t Bob’s best names. While out on a walk to find his burger name muse, Bob slipped on the body oil Jairo dumped on the sidewalk. The rest of the episode showed Bob turn into a real Brazil nut. He committed to Jairo’s “sexy, dance healing” instead of suing him for damages.

Bob’s Burgers balanced this episode between the Belcher kids running their own fake law firm and gags about how much Bob changed. The one thing I wonder is why everything Capoeiera-related had to do with the buttocks. The last time Jairo was on the show, Bob missed one of his 4:30 appointments and soiled himself. When Bob first visits Jairo, Jairo asks him to describe the color and personality of his bowel movements. I have to admit that I shared this with my wife, who works as a nurse. Who knows, this could be another way to find out what’s wrong with someone? No one wants a clingy bowel movement. But I don’t know how a buttocks can look like it’s stressed over a test it has tomorrow.

There were plenty of butt jokes during “Sexy Dance Healing,” but they undercut Bob’s journey to self-discovery. He may stress about his burgers of the day, but the stress grants him the drive to be the best burger chef he can be. And the wait for “Runny out of thyme burger” was well worth it. This week’s episode may not be the strongest episode this season, but this season of Bob’s Burgers has been a particularly good one like last year’s.

Thanks for reading.

Grimm Review “Map of the Seven Knights”

Kyle’s Thoughts

Grimm had a lot of plot points that came out of hibernation this week. As a result, “Map of the Seven Knights” simultaneously came out of left field and felt familiar. The title suggests that a map’s involved but we hadn’t seen a new key (for the illusive map where something awesome is buried, which happened to be a major driving force in season two or three) for at least a season and a half, if not longer. The episode started with strange new texts and as soon as they opened one of the books, Grimm intended to reinvent Nick’s trailer—and they did by the end of the episode. Everything worked out too well for Team Grimm to be completely believable.

Somehow the new set of wesen, reminiscent of Anubis and his jackal head, factor into the Black Claw, and that’s a good thing. I didn’t like the idea of a one-off wesen, and these guys will show up again. But why haven’t we heard from them or hear about them before? The convenience of this character placement less than a week from the Gods of Egypt release smells of exploitation.

Despite this probable marketing tie-in, “Map of the Seven Knights” worked for the most part. Any time you can center a story on the criminally underused Monroe is a good thing. Silas Weir Mitchell got to show off some range this week, when the jackal wesen killed his uncle. I also liked how the gang finally got to visit Nick’s new home, or fome, as Adalind calls it: half home, half fortress. Nick opened up to Monroe, admitting that he doesn’t know how he feels about Adalind. This is great development. Juliette’s ghost should haunt Nick, for at least a while longer, and the show shouldn’t rush into hooking up Adalind and Nick. Kudos.

The gang eventually tracks down the box of Grimm lore and weapons, and while I could’ve done without reconstituting Nick’s trailer, I did like the wrinkle of a ledger with all the Grimms’ names written in it. This brought up a lot of questions. Who made this list? Why did they make it? And it also tied into the Black Claw which is usually a good thing.

I wasn’t sold on the group finding the new keys. Again, we haven’t met a new one of these things for over a season—Grimm had all but abandoned this story thread—and Team Grimm found three keys in one blow. I always thought Grimm should return to the map story, but it also struck me as a series ending mystery; they’d find the treasure and take a season to wrap up the series. Of course what happens after this story ends is conjecture on my part. Just because Nick and the gang only have two more keys to go doesn’t mean that we’ll see a resolution to this story or that the show will end any time soon. Actually, this season has been a pretty solid one for Grimm (the odd Juliette-Eve story aside), and “Map of the Seven Knights” was a strong episode.

Thanks for reading.

Arrow Secrets: “Code of Silence”

Demolition Team

The Demolition Team is a minor DC Comics supervillain team who first appeared in a Len Wein/Dave Gibbons issue of Green Lantern. These guys are goofballs. They’re a group of villains who all have construction-themed names, costumes, and powers, and Arrow did a decent job of making them look less ridiculous.

Marc Trottier portrayed Hardhat, Rachel Luttrell (Stargate: Atlantis) played Rosie, and Daniel Cudmore was Jackhammer.

Daniel Cudmore

Daniel Cudmore also played Colossus in X-2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past.

You’re Terrific

Ollie called Curtis (Mr. Terrific) terrific on this week’s episode. I’m not sure if he’ll don a costume soon, but I’m sure he will at some point.

There weren’t that many secrets in this week’s Arrow, so that’ll about do it this week. You guys are terrific.

Did you miss our Arrow “Code of Silence” review? Here’s a link. Thanks for reading.

Arrow Review: “Code of Silence”

Jim’s Thoughts

This week’s Arrow was mostly successful, I’d say. What surprised me about the episode was where exactly I found the strength of it to be. In a show that’s not usually sound in the dialogue department, Ollie and Ruve had some really great, tense moments. In those snippets, she was almost as compelling to me as Darhk, or at least I should say she did something to lessen the effect of him not getting much screen time. I actually think it’s a shame we didn’t get more of it, and that they went ahead and skipped over the debate itself altogether. I’m not suggesting they should have shown the whole thing. There are plenty of political debates happening these days, and I go out of my way to avoid watching them, but they could have given us a moment or two to show Ollie gaining the upper hand. It felt a little cheap to be told that he won a debate that took place entirely off-screen.

The Demolition Crew didn’t make for a great foil. They fit well enough into the story, and it made sense, but none of them were really developed beyond being given the gimmick of using tools as weapons.

Captain Lance did something to justify having kept his secret when he mentioned he was afraid of having to admit he once worked with Darhk. That made his motivation believable to me, but the other side of that, Ollie continuing to hide his son from Felicity still doesn’t add up. I get that he can’t let his son be common knowledge, but he can’t let his secret identity be that, either, and Felicity knows. It comes off as forced, and so when the shoe does drop, when Felicity learns about William, it will be hard for me to sympathize with Oliver.

The flashbacks were a little more entertaining this week. I can at least say something significant happened, though I still don’t really see how this is doing much for the development of the character, or the setup of the plot. For now, I’ll just be glad that section of the show gave us some movement.

The end of the episode couldn’t have surprised anyone much. I actually thought Darhk going after William would be the focus of this week’s episode, but I can say the Darhk character is still managing to impress, even in those small moments he’s being given. His mix of calm and cruel has an extra effect when there are children involved. If nothing else, tying some of the side plots more closely in, having Felicity and her mom keep close to Oliver while the drama with Lance unfolded made this week’s entry feel a bit tighter. The secondary plots didn’t scream, “FILLER!” quite as loudly, and Arrow did more to earn its hour.

Kyle’s Take

I’m glad that I was wrong about the League of Assassins. I went into a couple of weeks ago thinking here comes another Brick. The League might be a more pleasing Brick, but I feared Arrow was leading us down another rabbit hole. You got to hand it to this show. They take risks. Breaking up the League was a bold move, and one I’m not sure Arrow will commit to, and I enjoy that “Code of Silence” maintains the League’s dissolution.

I agree with Jim with most of his points but I was more pessimistic heading into this stretch of the season than he was, so I saw most of the things he hit on in his thoughts as pleasantly surprising. Perhaps I should hold Arrow accountable for more of its failings—and there are plenty of them—but this part of an Arrow season usually flops around, even when they have Deathstroke as the main villain, so I looked at this week as a net positive.

Could the Demolition Team be developed more? Definitely. Was the surprise ending at the end that much of surprise? No. Is the Arrow writers’ room giving us too easy an out with Felicity’s disability? You betcha. Do I still question why Ollie never made an attempt to contact his son, even though T-Spheres, this world’s greatest communication device, exists? Of course. But “Code of Silence” focused on Damien Darhk, or at least he was in the peripheral, and considering the time of the season, that should be applauded.

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