And because I don't want to dwell on the negative for too long, I'm just going to get this out of the way; Curtis Holt is just awful. Not actor Echo Kellum, he seems great, but the character. What have they done to the character of Mr Terrific that I discovered last year and love in love with? I loved the reference to the “original” Mr Terrific Terry Sloane, the nod to the origin of the “Fairplay” mantra and heck, I even loved, yes loved, the costume silly T-mask and all but the writers have ruined the character so much, they're actively taking digs at the character's backstory which they themselves established last season. Every time Curtis is shown to be weak in training, or uncoordinated in the field, the others straight up question him with “You were an Olympian?” Yes, he was, an Olympian with genius level intellect. I appreciate there's a big difference between being a super smart world class athlete and a crime fighting vigilante, but they've seriously wrecked the character. Until he suddenly and inevitably toughens up I don't know what the purpose of his character is in this veritable swarm of other heroes. He's just a black male Felicity.
ARROW Season 5 Synopsis
ARROW Season 4 Finale: CW, You Have Failed This City
Speaking of which, Felicity continued not being awful this week, which was great. Her new boyfriend Billy tipped off Arrow to Prometheus's arrival in Star City, which simultaneously reassured me of him not being a douche love rival and him probably turning out to be Prometheus himself. There was that new District Attorney character too though...
Subplots about Thea being played by a journalist aside — What is this? The West Wing? — the rest of the episode was pretty good. There was the welcome return of Michael Rowe as Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot, seemingly having survived being blown up in Season 3. I was excited to see him back and the big FU from the CW to the DC movie producers over the use of Suicide Squad characters, but it turned out to be a fake out as he was just a hallucination, which kind of sucked, but was still fun. I did like however, that is was used to great effect, illustrating the state of Diggle's mental health in the wake of killing his brother. Thank God he confessed to Lyla, because I'm rooting for Diggle.
Oh and what the hell? Post Flashpoint, Diggle and Lyla no longer have a daughter but a son? And this was revealed in THE FLASH? Well I'm not caught up with THE FLASH, so cut out the (potentially) big developments on other shows ok?
Pro Wrestler Cody Runnels, better known as Cody Rhodes or Stardust appeared this week as villain of the week Derek Sampson. A run of the mill villain, pushing a new drug called stardust, a clear reference to his former wrestling persona that he wrestled Stephen Amell as last year, Cody didn't have a lot to do in the way of monlogues but did get to kick ass once his pretty boy gangster got super-zombified after being dropped into a batch of his own chemicals. I hope he comes back and they develop his character but that may be the wrestling fan in me, as he's had some turmoil in his life this last year. Go get 'em Cody!
In the flashbacks we saw Oliver go deeper into the Bratva, including the ultimate trust exercise, an initiation that left Oliver with the signature scar he's sported on his back for the last five years. This tied back into the theme of trust when Oliver revealed his identity to his new team, remember, the ones we don't know anything about yet? Yeah, those guys. Can't see how that would backfire. Coupled with Felicity confessing her part in the destruction of Ragman's hometown of Havenrock, I can't wait to see how the work together next week when they break Diggle out of prison at Lyla's request.
R.I.P. Sara Diggle 2014 – 2016.
Written by Nick Whitney, ARROW Beat Writer -- Click to read Nick's posts
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