Arrow S01E05 - Accidents can happen.

ARROW
Season 1, Episode 5

5 years ago – Asian guy shoots dinner. Right, so, there I am once more, filling in on another arrowing review because MarXus is busy doing some maintenance stuff for the site (yeah, we gotta do that as well) and he’s, at least I think he is, writing some other review already. But back to the important stuff: the review itself. Remember, Oliver had been arrested at the end of last episode for literally everything from secret hooding to murder. So, there we are now, go. (Catchphrase. :P )

Oliver on the island, a kind of familiar face about now. New to that, remember, Asian guy can speak English. So, he is practicing his shooting act with bow and arrow to become, well, “Arrow” which of course he didn’t know then. He misses and has to retrieve the arrow, nothing wrong with that, but nothing special. So why show us this stuff? Because, and that is a major gun the show is pulling on us, the island is not as deserted as we thought. In fact, there is some sort of military group there which, you saw it coming, catches our billionaire playboy son and takes him to a piss hole, eh, I mean, arrest cell. That was a really nice stunt the show performed well and which will define what’s coming, so don’t miss a second of the coming flashbacks.

Back in the present, Detective Lance questions Oliver but is interrupted by his mom and step-dad in charge, Walter. But Oliver is only accepting Laurel as his lawyer. So far, so good. But then, they dumb Laurel’s character into a dreamy what-so-ever, really, way to go there by letting her say something as stupid as “Mrs. Queen, what are you...?” and just seconds after that “it’s been all over the news”. You know, when she knows why Moira is talking to her, why is she asking? Feels -just not right.  

Anyway, despite the screw-ups the show is constantly delivering in the Oliver-Laurel relationship, it is still on solid ground since it’s logical that Oliver would only let Laurel represent him, therefore, I’ll let that faux-pas just then slip. And eventually she agrees. Nothing big to argue here and it’s being presented quite good, actually. (Even though I’m not so sure if a lawyer is allowed to just walk in to a hearing if he or she is late, but since I can’t confirm if that is possible or not, it’s a little positive point because it comes around quite cool and saves her character a little there.) 

"Man, even some random dude got more screen time than me."

Result: Oliver having to wear a GPS device. But he can still party in his garden which he of course does in an instant. Why the show did include Tommy (or Merlyn a.k.a. Merlin as MarXus once put it) here, I don’t know. But okay, he is his best friend, so he has one reason to be there but they could use him some more in a episode if he appears - oh well, guess thirty seconds have to be enough. In comes Diggle and here is again a serious over-acting or, for that matter, over-speaking to be seen/heard as Oliver kind of insults Diggle to shut the door. And since there is no conclusive reason for insulting Diggle here, it has to be Amell’s fault. But for resolving the cliffhanger we were left with – why did Oliver miss that very camera? We now get to know, he did miss it on purpose, yeah, that’s right. He lets himself get arrested, even prosecuted just to pretend like he’s not Arrow while he just could have sent Diggle to play the Hood while he is being seen on like, a camera or something like that as he wants Diggle to do now anyway? Well, of course, he is a show-off and okay, it was kind of awesome when the show pulled the arrest move out of their sleeves so early into the season but hey, nothing beats logic. 

"I'm Brother Tuck from Sherwood Forest, got a problem with that?"

Well, before I go on criticizing everything, now for the plot for that episode: a German businessman suspected of arm deals. And Diggle is supposed to play the very Hood Oliver is and well, give him an alibi and get information on the very businessman’s next deal. Whom he again knows about, why is not explained but since we are used to not knowing from where he gets his info, I guess, it’s all right. And the toys he has are awesome, I want more.

At the big Q building, Walter is moving his resources to transport the "Queen’s Gambit" but first, Oliver does a, wait for it, polygraph. Which he succeeds at (seems not that hard to beat one, after all). Here is, according to me, the most intense and epic moment of the season (yet?). Oliver coming around to tell Laurel and her father (and do not forget the tech guy) that he was not alone on the island and that he was seriously tortured, by famous Deathstroke. This character will be spared from this episode’s review because he is a comic character and he will be explained later on in the show. I’ll just say that until now, he lives up to the hype. What makes this very scene (the polygraph) so good, so excellent is it being so damn convincingly and I’m so intrigued to forget about every fault the episode delivered until now just for the very awesomeness this scene is filled with. And here, we finally see what Amell is capable of as an actor and if he keeps that performance level up, it would be perfect. 

Back with Thea, who disappointed completely in the last episode. But this time, she is back to her normal self. And she acts tremendously this time, keep it up. But still, she has some doubts about Oliver being Arrow and Oliver can’t live up to her suspicions but she puts them aside for now, just like Diggle did a few episodes back. Nice parallel there, plus point.

 

And the awesomeness doesn’t stop there with Walter then getting informed his chef of security (who he sent to move the ship) was involved in a car accident and died. And we all know that was no accident. Very good acting here, as always from Colin Salmon. Meanwhile, Laurel visits Oliver and we learn two important things: 1) she wore fishnets for him and 2) she still has feelings for him. The latter we all did know before, all right, but hey, kiss scene. As cliché as it was, I’ll let it stand there because I’ve seen Smallville’s numerous takes on that kind of scenes and know that in a superhero series this is the best you can/will get. And Laurel gets to see his scars, but oh well, that doesn’t matter for now.

Next up is a hit on Oliver. Yep, a murder attempt. That scene features again an amazing stunt coordination fighting scene and I must say, this is the kind of scenes where “Arrow” never disappoints. Really, great work here, the scene looks absolutely fantastic and Lance saving Oliver was, again, even if a little coincidentally, a very good choice. This scene has no flaws which is why it is so short-reviewed, in case you wanted to ask that. 

"So, you still haven't realized your son is Arrow?"

 In the ending minutes, Moira gets to be a little more the family member we had thought she was in the first minutes of the pilot episode before she was revealed to have all these connections and stuff. But this would not be a good ending point for a week if Laurel wouldn’t show up and tell him he lied in the polygraph and still passed despite of a little flutter during the questioning. Then the writers went a little overboard in giving Oliver the line “I can barely sign my name” which clearly as he demonstrated a thousand times, he can. Sad that Laurel can be that easily deceived or can she?

Lastly, Walter is leaving the big castle and Moira (good decision there),  Laurel does a little “save-my-alcoholic-cop-dad-bonding” and Diggle and Arrow make up for making him only a side-kick pawn right before Arrow goes in and finishes the job with the German businessman but again, now he is back with murdering everyone before taking his time to let the real bad guy know “he failed this city”. But, hey, it’s Arrow, move along, nothing special to see here. 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

"Woah, Kermit the Frog, WTF?!"

OLIVER – This is the biggest development for Oliver this episode shows us. We get to know that he was brutally tortured on the not so deserted island. That he had lived through rough times back there and exactly that knowledge lets us view him differently then before. We now have the permanent image of him as the victim who overcame a storm which now kind of justifies his need to be a little more aggressive in his vigilante adventures (spin-off anyone?). And we get to see the real, damaged Oliver in two scenes, most important: the questioning with the polygraph when he for a moment opens up and shows that he is not the Oliver that the city has thought to be dead, that he is some other Oliver who knows the world’s brutality spreading around. The second one is his conversation with Laurel, even so it is mainly acted, some things still are true like he describing himself as damaged. And up until now this was the best character study of him that the show delivered, so a job very well done. 

LAUREL – Defining her in this episode are mainly again the exact same two scenes as in Oliver’s case: polygraph and conversation. She recognizes that she had seen a ghost version of Oliver all these days since his return, that Oliver has changed quite a lot and not to the better. And what is strongly implied is that she also takes a lot of the damage onto herself what Oliver suffered because she thought of him as the playboy he always was. But still, that’s everything that’s changing for her but it is strong and therefore enough. Good job again.

THEA – Back to her greatness of the previous episodes after the very last episode let me down in every way to Sunday for her character. She now faces the first doubts about Oliver and their relationship now again seems so realistic that, well, it could actually be real. I hope they keep this storyline up because it is a damn interesting one and it is the most perfect portrayal of a relationship in the show. 

QUINTON LANCE – What else can I say that, I like his character a lot and the acting is also near perfection. What justifies him getting some separate lines is the hit scene at the end where he, father of whom Oliver kind of killed, shoots someone to save his daughter’s “killer’s” life. He sees that Oliver has enemies and that he by far is not the playboy turned murderer for fun as he portrays him before the incident. He gets to see there is another dimension to Oliver’s character and that on the other side of the medal also gives him a new dimension which is introduced to us by him drinking to his thoughts at the bar, nicely put. I hope they explore this direction more. 

MOIRA – Well, she’s not as bad as everyone thought. But still, she stays true to her criminal side. Which is the right way to have taken this development for now. But they can’t do such little developments for her anymore because now, it is getting repetitive. 

WALTER – He confronts Moira about the “Queen’s Gambit”. That, I did not see coming (yep, the second time already which is a relatively good sign) and I really was “Oh wow” when I saw what game Walter was playing here. It was a dangerous game but I think he knows Moira is not the good housewife she wanted everyone to believe she was. Which is his character development while we there already. And his moving out scene at the end was also well placed and gave the series another new storyline to explore, so, again, well done. 

DIGGLE and THE REST were only side-kicks for the episode so I leave them out. 

"Do I have something in my face or what?"

THE PRESENTATION

What this episode finally gets straight is its over-acting problem. Though Amell kind of killed the feeling with his more of an insult voicing to shut the door, it was getting indeed better. There were still some scenes where it was more than visible but it was less than before and that is what counts.

And we got to see more of John Barrowman whose acting is really awesome to say the least (okay, I admit, I liked his acting ever since he appeared on “Doctor Who” but nevertheless it’s true), I hope, once again, to see even more in the next episode or the next ones crawling up.

Other than that, settings and the shots in general were again on a very high scale for a TV production which I again have to give the show a lot of credit for.

The plot however had some serious lacks of logic (like the “why bother to get arrested”-problem or the Laurel-thing in the beginning) but overall it wasn’t that bad, I have to admit. It wasn’t better than the last episode’s solid plotting but it wasn’t worse either, so I guess we’re in deep waters here for the moment.

The flashbacks again were not some of the best we’ve seen yet except the Deathstroke-introducing ones, but still they were again set into scene very well and the last one showing us that the Asian guy who was a military officer of some sort left Oliver back at his “place” in order to draw the guns for hire away from him made for an interesting turn in events, so another plus here.

CONCLUSION

Prison ain't that bad, really.

Though I have to say the episode had some lacks, it was the one with the most epic moments yet, the polygraph scene and the island torture. But as it was the case with the last episode the overall feeling of the show and in particular this episode’s development give more than enough reason to not rate it as a bad one. After all, “Arrow” is a fun show and that episode was awesome and was very short-lived in my opinion, so they surely did a lot of things (as mentioned above) right. 

Therefore this episode can be proud of it standing with a score of, hold it, close but still 4 stars. Because of the major flaw of Oliver not having to be captured for his little “I’m not Arrow”-stunt this episode would have only gotten three out of the five stars but since this is not a directly from this episode originating problem (more of the whole last two episodes) I didn’t count that one and of course, the better acting this time scored some as well. 

Arrowed up.

Black Lagoon S01E07 - Character development in perfection

BLACK LAGOON
Series 1, Episode 7

What is the perfect thing to sweeten up your day? Right, a new review. This time, I’m back to “Black Lagoon” with episode 7 which kicks off shortly after the Nazi-ship-bloodshed arc and even goes to the lengths of showing us one last shot of the ship with bullets and blood everywhere. Already saying that here, because in order to completely get what E7 is all about you should have watched that last arc or at least have read my review because otherwise this one will you strike you as a “WTF” moment, maybe even multiple ones at that. E7 review, go. (Man, I sure love to say “go” a lot. xD)

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Porn group watching.

Rock and Revy driving in that sweet dream of a ride and Rock, trying to light the atmosphere with not that good jokes, gets yelled at by the very not so funny Revy. Who he had to take along because Dutch set them up in order that they would sort out their stuff after that particular arc I was talking about already. So, delivery duty for these two, starting with visiting a nice little club which of course is a stripper bar, what else would it be? Funny dude there, should put him in the show more often. Next up on the list is Balalaika who we get to know is not only a bad ass military general but is also a porn cutter. And it’s not as fun as it sounds. And here we are, back in the car, getting to where we started all along, driving the car and Revy yelling at Rock. 

This time, we get introduced to the “Church of Violence” and indeed, that this one is. And thankfully, they will also play a big part in later episodes which is damn awesome because, you know, shooting and drug-selling nuns who are as bad as they come, what can you ask for more?

Now let’s drink some tea with the sister in charge who is also missing one eye, certainly how you’d expect a nun to look like. And you can order everything from them like the Lagoon Company did in this case with a grenade launcher but the sisters want more money. Why this is interesting? Because now we get a look at what is in store for Rock. Recognizing the sort of tea (good one, apparently) he makes the connection to the sisters being the off-chart drug dealers Balalaika and “Hotel Moscow” are looking for. And he gets a sweet deal through thinking strategic here which is quite the good contrast to the otherwise only solution of gun pointing which by the way, Revy does right there, next to him. 

"You are not gonna sleep with me after what happened
with those Nazis on the ship, pervo."

Second part of the episode: street restaurant. And there is what the complete ship arc has been building up, the big outburst that will change the show’s dynamic. Revy vs. Rock. And Revy shoots Rock, yeah, you read right. Rock is done apologizing (and he has every reason for that) but Revy ain’t. And after pointing her gun at him, she really fires at him. But Rock a.k.a. “bastard”, according to Revy, cheats death in such a cool way you just gotta hand it to him, he is not a typical white collar guy. And then, he goes on yelling at Revy – a move that would earn anyone else multiple deaths by her very own hands. But just before Revy really goes ahead to kill Rock which would have been kind of likely despite super-cool and calm Rock giving her a moral lesson once more she surprisingly seems to understand, police is coming around and yes the captain is corrupt but hey, if he would have to clean up the mess itself and cancel all his golf games as it's the case right now, he’s there to protect and serve and therefore asks them to get into the police car.

Here comes the big question: where does Rock stand, on which side is he? And Rock answers in the one way anyone would have, he stands where he stands. Which, if you think about it, actually makes a lot of sense and is also a problematic cause that will influence the show again at some point ([SPOILER (mark to read)] namely, season three a.k.a. the OVAs [/SPOILER]).  The episode ends with Rock lightening Revy’s cigarette (yes, you get to smoke in a police car there, awesome, right?) with his own – love is in the smoke, eh, I mean air. And we go to sleep.

Love is in the smoke, literally.

So, what is there to say about this episode? – While the three-part ship arc left us with a strong feeling something was on the horizon that would shake up the whole show’s dynamic, episode 7 delivers the first answer to that very feeling. Revy’s outburst. 

But, first things first, as always. We finally get to see some other people due to delivery duty and the introduction of the “Church of Violence” (CoV in the following) is something I would not have wanted to miss because while they may seem like normal folks for now like you and me except the whole gun thing and drug smuggling affair, they are completely the opposite. And I wouldn’t even go as far to say that they even pray to God because clearly, in this town, money is your better bet. What also shows that “Black Lagoon” is not only a fun show but also points out some real society problems which I do give credit for. The CoV will also be featured in many more episodes to come and they will get more bad ass, believe me and that delivers some good old-fashioned irony humor which I do miss in new shows. Another plus here: I mean, nuns with guns (which rhymes as I notice just about now), come on, that is bloody hell awesome. 

"Why didn't you go to the mass?"

Besides that, this first half of the episode shows us a Rock of a different kind, a more thinking, a more strategic Rock who shows his qualities as a deal maker now and [SPOILER] as I previously stated this is a side of Rock that will be important for the OVAs who do play with this very element hidden deep inside his soul [/SPOILER]. 

What I like about this first part in particular is the way of giving the show a kind of familiar tone and a serious flow. What that does mean in daily English? It means that the Lagoon Company is finally shown as a company (yeah, you know, from their name) and they do so without forcing anything, without having it feeling weird or something, it just feels right. And what makes it so familiar is that they have to do things everyone has to do from time to time like taxing or collecting money. I mean - how more realistic can they go with that for a pirate crew? On top of that, the scenery shown is really really contributing to the overall atmosphere. 

Now, for the second part which is by far the more important one here: Rock who is now done apologizing gets shot at by Revy. That move, I did not see coming, well of course, the gun pointing, yes, but the other thing, definitely no. But of course, you can’t kill the main character of a show before the very last episode, unless you have multiple ones but that’s another story, so Rock does some slick cool-guy-esque move and bam, with his bare hand he pushes her gun away from his face, resulting in the bullet only grazing his head, but still leaving a nasty blood mark there. For a show that has had far MORE unrealistic things until now, this comes at you like the real thing. Furthermore, this whole outburst with the conversation following is not being played too harsh or even too fast for that matter, it, again feels just about damn right. 

I know, this time I can’t really give you more explanation for those two things than I just did because this episode is a miraculous work of art. The twenty-three minutes were over so damn fast I almost thought this was some sort of short-lengthen bonus episode or something which it despite the feeling isn’t. I spotted no plot holes (given that there was not much room for any, to be fair), not a single forced element and still, the animations rank top. E7 is what you would call the perfect character development episode which I do like, especially when it is done in such a brilliant way. There, I said it: brilliant, perfect. And this is also how this episode ranks among the others, perfect.

"Already going for a score, that can't be good."

5 full stars, not a single (!) negative aspect I could point out except the episode seriously being too short. Ready your Cutlass for more good stuff hopefully coming up.

  

Arrow S01E04 - Arrow up.

ARROW
Series 1, Episode 4

So, hey, today you get episode 4 of „Arrow“, CW’s new hit show. Why me and not MarXus? Easy, I have some free time to spare and he asked me to fill in for him. Therefore I’m reviewing the episode but don’t be afraid, our opinions don’t differ that much, or that’s what I like to pretend. :P

For the guidelines he has established until now, I will try(!) to follow them but bear with me if I do something else from time to time, after all I’m not him, am I?

For Arrow: While we now have three episodes beyond us, episode 4 kind of feels like another of those “everything’s changing/new”-episodes which I can’t say I dislike. But let the review unfold (magic). And even so, it might not seem that way from the beginning, I’m actually a big fan of the show, no hate comments necessary. ;) 

THE PLOT

Intro voice-over again (you know it) and then a “Previously on”-tag. I’m not going into this for obvious reasons. (For those still in the unclear, this is not, I repeat, not part of episode 4.)

While episode 3 left us hanging with a shot Diggle and Oliver basically showing him that he indeed is Arrow, we now get to see the very outcome of the situation. “Hey.” 

Ep4 centers on Oliver’s try to recruit Diggle into becoming his side-kick. So, of course, we start off by a heated discussion on whether Diggle should join him or not. Here comes the first big plus this episode gets from me: Diggle stating what is true, Oliver being a murderer.  Thank you for pointing this one out, finally. And again, I truly am in love with his hide-out, they definitely should show some more of it with the coming full-season order. 

Back at the castle, character development is in order, but an unbelievable one at that: Laurel who is still NOT his girlfriend again comes home to see if he was hurt in the shooting (Ep3). Where is the credibility behind this move? I mean, sure, after yelling at Oliver and all this stuff, she has no better things to do than playing the lovey-dovey girlfriend part. And next on, right there on the spot, is Thea. And that’s not a good one either because she knows way less about Oliver and his relationship to Laurel than, I suppose, Oliver himself. I mean, he is older (Thea is still going to some sort of college/school after all) and all she does give him as advice is in such a “go for it” manner like he wouldn’t. Please, writers, stop this kind of development. It really kills the realism the show is clearly trying to establish.

But there is also something good on the horizon and yes, it’s another flashback even if it is short for the moment but we’ll get to that later on. 

So, for the plot: Peter Declan, guy who apparently didn’t kill “his wife in their baby’s room”, just two days prior to his execution. What I have to give credit for is that this time, the writers disguised (or at least tried to) their “going after the list”-pattern quite good for a 42-minute show by making Declan’s wife a whistle blower working for Jason Bordur, another bad guy on the very list. So, nothing to argue here, the story setup seems real, a small plus for “Arrow” once more.

"Hey, you! Give me back my wallet and car keys, damn it."

While we had to wait patiently for now to know what would be Diggle’s next move after being asked to join Oliver on his revenge quest, we get a part of the answer in form of Rob Scott, the replacement bodyguard who obviously has no idea what he is up to. Which is of course a lot of ditching. The motorcycle sequence is an awesome one while we’re there. It has lots of humor and is not out of the usual storyline waters. Afterwards, when he ditches him at the café, again, it is put into motion well. So, this time, full score on the fun parts of the show. (But again, it is kind of unrealistic that playboy Oliver Queen is also a perfect smith these days, but damn, some online courses sure must work hell.) 

"Eleven minutes. Confirmed."

Eleven minutes into this episode, the show delivers what everyone has been waiting for, Arrow meeting Laurel in person (kind of feels like Smallville’s big Louis-Superman moment and if I think about it, the castle really does remind me of Lex’s castle back there, coincidence or trying to blend in like a very familiar setting so you don’t question the show’s portrayal?). And it starts off with Laurel pointing a gun at Arrow. But never mind why she put the gun into a drawer so far inside the room, let’s focus on Oliver standing right in front and behind her and she still doesn’t get the connection between our rich guy and our vigilante, kind of unrealistic but necessary for the show to continue, just saying. And wow, an innocent guy, who would have thought that? And of course, she does as she is told and goes visit the framed guy who delivers a really grasping story, very good acting here.

Now, for a (hopefully) season-long side plot and yes, every show needs a good one. And Arrow kicks it off with a not so big revelation, 2.6m $ missing. Could be a book-keeping error, couldn’t it now? 

Back with Diggle: an intense moment when Oliver admits to him that his father shot himself in the head right before his eyes and that he is out for revenge with or without him. But he still hopes to do so with him. Kind of part of the conversation, he drops the bomb that he took out the sniper from last episode who killed Diggle’s brother as was hinted previously by the name Andrew Diggle on the chest of that very sniper in E3. Nothing wrong with that, and I’d say this is the best part of the whole episode that gets topped off with Oliver, you guessed it, ditching the new guy. That is the kind of “Arrow” I really enjoy from the bottom of my critical television soul. Keep up the good work here. 

Following the money trail, Moira (Oliver's mom) solved the mystery with herself being the culprit but Walter ain’t buying that, which of course is the right choice. Meanwhile, Laurel becomes lovey-dovey with Arrow, sorry Oliver (who is still using a voice scrambler). And damn, just when I thought this roof scene was still okay in its own cliché way, they let me down by letting Laurel say “[t]hat sounds lonely.” And that I can’t overlook, sorry, but that’s just too over-dramatic and really unnecessary. But they save some by giving Arrow an exit way he deserves. 

In the big Q building Walter isn’t letting go on the 2.6m and Miss Smoke is the trusted one he refers to, same as Oliver did in a previous episode. And she seems natural, not that much over-acting, good job until now.

"I told you everything, now let me go."
- "Do I look like the good guy to you?"

Elsewhere: tranq dart for the bad guy. Nice move. But what comes is much better, Arrow’s art of questioning and I really really liked that “it’s time for the ten-fifteen to Blood Haven”-moment there. And besides all critics or irony, this scene looked so damn good. 

Watching along, Laurel now goes against the bad guy from the list, personally. “Prison can be a dangerous place.”  Indeed. Why prison? Because she has to meet her client (who is still imprisoned) again after court didn’t go as well as hoped. And now we get to see a (slightly) darker side of our favorite hero when he is desperately trying to save his love during a prison riot set up by the bad guys. And it surprises me how fast she can run in heels but oh well, this is television after all. Now for that scene where Arrow is beating up some guy who attacked Laurel - and boy, he hits him good. Initially, the show runners had shot a different scene, one where Arrow (in his fake police uniform) has the guy in a safe headlock and then would go on to break his neck but is stopped from Laurel. But since the darkness the scene is shot in prevented this feature to be seen in post-production, they re-shot the scene like this. Which I consider sad because this would have been a wonderful parallel to Oliver’s bird killing on the island which we get to know in a flashback.

Safest password in the world, really.

Lastly for the side plot act: Walter finds, beware, the “Queen’s Gambit” in a warehouse downtown right there in Starling City. Suspense. 

In the very last minutes of the episode, the show wraps up its three loose plots: 1) reuniting the innocent guy whom we have already forgotten about with his daughter while throwing the bad guy in prison (by the way, there is one little flaw here, Arrow first shot his left hand but later he is shown having his right hand injured), 2) Moira meeting CAPTAIN JACK (omg, awesome, for those who don’t get it, Barrowman played Captain Jack Harkness in several “Doctor Who” episodes and its cool spin-off “Torchwood”, check it out if you haven’t already) a.k.a. John Barrowman (very good actor, should do this show good who really only has one extremely good actor, David Ramsey a.k.a. John Diggle) and guess what, he is kind of the boss behind everything connected to the Queen family’s wrong-doings and 3) making Diggle accept the job offer (and he is a side-kick as the show is not called “Arrow and a bodyguard”) as anticipated (his replacement resigned by the way but that’s the other position). 

Two things I have left out until now, for importance reasons of course, the flashbacks and Detective Lance’s inquiry on the Oliver-Arrow theory. 

First things first, the flashbacks. While they’re surely not the best ones we’ve seen until now, they make for perfect side story telling, not in a way of an actual side plot but more of accompanying the real plot like they did this time. The intended parallel is what makes me have actual hope this show is set for even greater things than it seemed until now. Connecting both story lines is a stunt not many shows would have been able to do so easily seeming like “Arrow” did. And that gives the episode another plus.  And on top of that, the surprise that the Asian guy on the island can actually talk English was a nice goodie at the end which also shows that the time of no-speaking is over and action will find the island now. 

Second, Lance’s Oliver-Arrow-theory: Having heard from Laurel that Arrow does not always wear his green costume, he gets the idea that he might have overlooked something and yes, he certainly did. Oliver being caught on camera pulling out his Arrow costume from some trash bin from the party earlier, before the shooting. And therefore, he comes into the castle and, bam, arrests Oliver on everything from “obstruction of justice” to “murder”. Which is also the big cliffhanger the episode leaves us with. While we now have to say “how stupid was that guy for missing a camera where he hid his costume?”, the next episode will deliver a solution for all this, so this one will not be acknowledged in the final score out of fairness. 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 

This, I will do character per character which are actually getting developed during the episode. 

OLIVER / ARROW – He is mostly defined through what we get to see in the flashbacks. Which is the case this time as well as we get to see Oliver’s first hands-on murder, killing that bird. He is reluctant at first but slowly because of his hunger gives in and gets himself something to eat (what the Asian guy had planned all along). Sounds realistic, is realistic. The other development Oliver has in this episode is having to prepare to get rid of Laurel’s picture he is carrying around. Yes, while he screwed around with her sister. Really the bonding guy, our protagonist. But what gives our guy a humanly touch again is the fact that he needs to talk his soul off to someone and that particular someone is Diggle whom he tells about the list. Pretty bold move, but at the right time. I’m good here. 

"See, I'm Arrow, not Oliver."

LAUREL – From all lovey-dovey (and yes, she is that, there’s not a single more accurate way to say it otherwise) to lovey-dovey for Arrow who “stands against everything [she] believe[s] in” but hey, she’s attracted to him. That was achieved way too easily and way too fast. A little bit more time (two episodes or so) would have done that development a lot better because just about now, I do not think of Laurel as the great character anymore she was introduced as in the first couple of episodes. Just too much here, sorry folks. Big negative one. And she doesn't get that Oliver and Arrow are the same even though she stands centimeters in front of him.

THEA – She kind of becomes the “big sister” for Oliver here and even gives him relationship advice while also she is okay with the fact he banged her sister (doesn’t even seem to care, hello?) out of fun. That is the most unbelievable character development “Arrow” has yet delivered. It is not in any kind justified or previously implied to at least masquerade it as a constant development. It’s just there for one episode and end. That’s one major disappointment which will cost the show some serious stuff. 

DIGGLE – I like the fact that Diggle fights with himself here about whether he should join Oliver on his quest or not and if he should go to the police, for that matter. After all, Oliver is basically a murderer. Pretty good in the development category here was also that first (back in the hide-out) he wanted to punch Oliver and now (back at castle at the end of the episode) he agrees to join him. Mainly this is achieved through Oliver’s out coming (as mentioned in Oliver’s development chart). I’m looking forward seeing him as the side-kick in the next episodes. 

MOIRA and THE REST have not that much of character development, so I exclude them here for time and space reasons.

THE PRESENTATION

One disappointment, “Arrow” sadly keeps on delivering, is the major over-acting at some points, mainly in Oliver’s and Laurel’s cases. But that won’t change from one episode to another, so I hope the actors get more relaxed with episodes coming.

Other than that, “Arrow” is an awesome ride because you don’t feel like this is your regular TV show. It continues to do so because of cool-looking scenes like the prison riot, the train questioning and the roof meeting that all contribute to an overall feeling that the show truly deserves to be on air. I mean, all negative aspects beside, the show’s feeling is mostly “awesome” which is why it also is one of my favorites of the 2012-13 TV season. 

CONCLUSION

"Hi, Captain Jack's the name. Wanna ride on my star ship?"

Episode 4 has an overall good feeling behind its back while it also delivers some few flaws that cost some now. While the story development was extremely good and well-prepped, it doesn’t play out for now because it is set for way more episodes that are still to come. Therefore, the episode also feels like it’s missing something. And sadly, we could just see a brief moment of John Barrowman, so that couldn’t save another star which it could have easily done because Barrowman is an amazingly talented actor who as said would do the show good in disguising some serious over-acting. 

3 stars for a good episode that delivered good scenes and a decent enough plot but still lacks in some departments. There goes my hope the show will rise to its possible high that is in reachable distance, especially with the new cliffhanger of Walter discovering the ship. I’m intrigued to see how that will play out over the course of the season (series?). Arrow up.