There's a new Vigilante on the streets of Star City. Simply named Vigilante, the mask wearing, gun toting judge, jury and executioner struck me as a sort of DC/CW version of the Punisher, calling into question the Green Arrow's effectiveness as a hero. When a gang of armed robbers hit a series of banks in Star City (And frankly what madness is that? The city is swarming with masked vigilantes these days.) it was a race against time and a war of ideologies for Team Arrow and Vigilante to stop them in their own way.
Furthering the sub-plot of Oliver getting into bed (ahem) with Susan Williams, Oliver met with her for a possibly ill-advised drink and to ask her what he should do when faced with the prospect of someone with more extreme values having more success in the same areas he felt he's been failing in. Presuming he was talking politics, Susan told him to stick to his guns, giving Oliver the inspiration he needed to confront Vigilante. Of course this lead to a one on one fight between the two, Vigilante claiming that the Green Arrow was weak and couldn't possibly have lost someone to the wave of criminality they fight, which of course is laughable; everyone close to Oliver is killed, kidnapped or tortured at some point. Green Arrow bested Vigilante but the ski goggle sporting killer managed to escape before he could be unmasked, undoubtedly to be seen again. I'm about 90-percent sure I know who Vigilante is, but this is one I'm not going to look up on Wikipedia right away. I want to see if The CW gives us a slow burn on this.
In the flashbacks, the theme of moral ambiguity is also teased over Oliver's confrontation with Kovar. Turns out that Taiana's mother literally works for the man, or so he claims, and that he isn't the monster Oliver has been lead to believe he is. Revealing to him that the Bratva have betrayed and used him, Oliver makes a desperate attempt to escape with Kovar at gunpoint, unfortunately ending in Oliver getting a beating courtesy of Kovar's bare hands, and when those hands belong to Dolph Lundgren, ouch! That beating looked brutal.
Quentin and Thea grew closer still as surrogate father and daughter, causing me to fear of Thea's life. Quentin's not had a lot of luck when it comes to daughters, having buried his three times, which is impressive considering he only has two. So unconvincing was the reveal at the end of last week's ARROW episode that even Quentin with all his boozing wasn't convinced that he was the Throwing Star Killer and that Prometheus must be messing with him for some reason. Offering his resignation to Thea, believing himself to be damaged goods, Quentin found himself staring at rock bottom, only to be saved by Thea. By just being their for him and giving him a much needed lift to the rehab clinic, Thea may just have saved good old Quentin, who I presume we won't see for a few episodes until he's cleaned up. I'm sure he'll be back just in time to see Thea bite the dust.
Diggle was stressing out over his fugitive status and being unable to spend his son's second birthday with his family, which had a neat little conclusion when Rene arranged for him to spend the day with Lyla and John Jr at the safe house he's hiding at. It was a cool moment to show Rene and Diggle bonding but did Rene really need to help with it? Isn't Lyla a top spy? Also, I'm still freaked out by Sara's deletion from history and replacement by John Jr. It's just... weird.
Oliver again met up with Susan, thanking her for the advice he had so needed to hear, before they sneaked off like a couple of teenagers, ditching Oliver's security, to go on a proper date of sorts. All well and good, but I'm still waiting for Susan to get the proof she needs that Oliver was in Russia five years ago and not on a deserted island. Was the mention she made of a twitter war with a Russian reporter a nod to this perhaps? ARROW, don't tease me like this. She knows. We know she knows. Do something.
After Thea brought Oliver up to speed on Quentin's situation, presenting the throwing star left at his apartment, it became apparent to all, that Prometheus knows intimate details of the lives of Oliver and his closest friends and allies. Thus the episode ended on the bomb shell that sold me on this week's episode being a hit – Artemis is in league with Prometheus. We don't know how far in with him she is, or if he has anything on her forcing her to cooperate with his plans because it's not exactly impossible for them to just keep faking us out each week, but I'm hoping, nay, praying that's not the case. Having a mole on the team offers some exciting story opportunities, calling Artemis's fight with Prometheus last week into question and if her motivations are truly solid, it could make the whole “new recruits” angle the thing that actually ensures ARROW Season 5 isn't the end of the road.
Written by Nick Whitney, ARROW Beat Writer -- Click to read Nick's posts
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