ARROW Season 4 Episode 6: Some LEGENDS OF TOMORROW Set Up



When the CW announced DC's LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, I was thrilled. I loved THE FLASH and ARROW and was so excited to see this DC TV universe expand with new characters, old returning characters, all wrapped up in some awesome time bending story line. But there had to be a cost.

Just as over the years the Marvel Studios movies have been criticised for sacrificing their character's development and story time for setting up future movies, I really felt these last two weeks have done exactly that for ARROW. Last week had the bonus of having Constantine in the episode but this week had nothing to distract me, for lack of a better term, so looking a little closer I felt short changed on a couple of things.

Firstly, following Sara's return from the dead last week, her resurrection is barely touched upon. The other's in the group seem so at ease with the situation. No big deal is made over the fact that someone who was dead for over a year has been brought back to life. Shouldn't this shake the very foundations of their beliefs in the natural world? I'm not even sure that Sara had one conversation with Oliver (you know, the lead of the show) about what happened. She's back in the field – it was cool to see both Canaries fighting side by side – until it's shown she can't control her blood lust as she goes a little wild beating people up. What exactly did Constantine's magic help achieve? She has her soul back but she's still losing control?... I don't know. A quick phone call to her off screen Mom (Please bring Alex Kingston back to the show) and she's off to find herself. It doesn't feel like the natural journey off this character. It feels like a hasty resurrection so she can go star in a spin off show. Oh, wait. 

Ray Palmer's return from the dead was also a little too hasty for my liking. So, it turns out he didn't die but was instead miniaturised. He then somehow ended up a captive of Damien Dahrk as Dahrk's engineers strive to find a way to reproduce Palmer's tech for HIVE's own nefarious means. Using his technological prowess, Ray managed to send a distress signal to Felicity so she and Team Arrow could come rescue him. Racked with guilt, Felicity points out to Oliver that he had been sending the signal for weeks after his accident, but she didn't pick up on it because she was busy “losing herself in Oliver” after they drove off into the sunset together at the end of last season. 

I don't hate Felicity Smoak or the whole Olicity fandom/phenomenon. I simply wish the TV show based on a comic book vigilante could be a little more about super heroics and vigilantism. This episode looked a little into Oliver and Felicity essentially dealing with the baggage of one of their exes turning up needing help and whether their relationship was strong enough to cope. It was and I'm okay with that. I think they're good together. I'm not one of these hardcore ship-haters that wishes Felicity would die – even if she is my pick right now for being the one in that grave seen in episode one. The problem is that the whole urgency of Ray's rescue is halted by this, as well as a visit from Felicity's mother. I try not to hate but she just seemed to serve to show the whole strain- on-domestic-tranquility side plot was important to the writers. I'm sure there are fans. But when Oliver tells Felicity she should take the night off from trying to find Ray to have a family dinner with him and her mom, I really felt the urgency drain from the story. If the main characters have time to have family dinner's, should I care? To there credit, they do try to rationalise it by saying they need a plan in place, I'm just not buying it. 

After Team Arrow break into one of Palmer Tech's competitors and steals a high end piece of straight technology needed to return Ray to his normal size, assaulting a couple of guards for good measure (aren't they supposed to be the good guys?) they take Curtis Holt with them to rescue Ray from Dahrk's facility. I like Curtis. He's been a fun character to get to know, this week revealing to us he can also base-jump/paraglide because as he puts it “He has too many hobbies.” Sounds like the Mr. Terrific I've read up on. I'm more interested in him becoming a crime fighter than in Sara and Ray's respective resurrections, because Curtis had a few episodes to flesh him out. 

Using science I'm not even sure was explained (I just watched the episode for a 2nd time about half an hour ago and the Sci was definitely a little Fi) they rescue Ray, but not before Dahrk manages to capture the Green Arrow and question as to whether or not he should take his mask off to see who he really is - the second time in this episode the show nods to the fact Oliver's disguise really doesn't hide his face all that well, you just need to go with it. This turns out to be part of the plan as a distraction whilst the other go get Ray. It works, but only barely, as Dahrk seems to use magic to tie and choke Oliver to death using chains, before using ninja techniques, the Green Arrow gets away. 

Ray decides to stay dead in the eyes of the public at least for now and points out that Dahrk actually intercepted his distress call to Felicity possibly making her a potential target for retaliation. Dahrk simply HAS to know the identities of Team Arrow right? Conceit about Oliver's mask aside, there's too much evidence for him to have not worked it out. Hopefully Ray will stay on Arrow for a little while as the Atom, helping Team Arrow fight HIVE before jetting off to be in Legends. My gut tells me not to expect too much.

Written by Nick Whitney, ARROW Beat Writer