Arrow Season 4, Episode 12
Between the rooftop Parkour, the surprise paternity reveal, and Shado saving Oliver on Lian Yu, tonight’s episode of Arrowgave me some serious season 1/season 2 nostalgia. Maybe it was the return of Roy Harper, but this episode had a lot of energy — the kind of energy generally more reminiscent of a show in its first or second season than its fourth.
Star City really can’t catch a break.
Wow. Pretty much everyone hates Star City. Why does anyone still live there? This week, it’s The Calculator’s turn to try to kill pretty much everyone within the Star City’s confines. He hires his own band of mercenaries from the dark web and everything. Luckily, our girl Felicity is one step ahead of him (even with a super important presentation that will pretty much determine the future of Palmer Tech on her mind). With the help of Team Arrow (especially Roy), Felicity stops The Calculator. I’m not sure I agree that Roy couldn’t have done anything to let Team Arrow know he was being blackmailed into helping The Calculator. (It’s called writing a letter without looking, Roy. Get your act together.) But, given that Roy’s chief mentor has been Oliver “I Can Figure It Out Myself” Queen, I suppose this isn’t so much of a narrative leap.
Felicity’s dad is The Calculator.
The other big personal connection between The Calculator and Team Arrow, of course, was the end-of-episode reveal that tech-talented villain is none other than Felicity’s long-absent father. Yep, if you’ve spent any time on the Internet, you probably saw this coming, but that doesn’t make this twist any less interesting. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that The Calculator is played here by the ever-charming Tom Amandes, who has made every show he’s ever graced with his presence about 10x more interesting by simply appearing on screen. Favorite line in tonight’s epiosde? The Calculator’s reaction to the idea that he might target the Internet: “Not only is it where I work. I’m addicted to funny cat videos.” Yep, he’s definitely Felicity’s dad.
Thea’s swim in the Lazarus Pit finally catches up with her.
When Thea took a dip in the Lazarus Pit last season, I was excited to see the consequences of that choice play out. Unfortunately, Arrowhas only sporadically been interested in telling that story. Tonight, it took center stage, with Thea’s decision not to satiate her bloodlust literally putting her into a coma. As with many dilemmas in the Arrowuniverse, there are a bunch of dudes — i.e. Malcolm and Oliver — standing around, trying to shape how Thea should feel about the decision of whether or not she should kill to stay alive. To be fair, they seem to (slowly) realize that they can’t make choices for Thea. Or, as Malcolm puts it: “Sometimes the greatest act of love is no action at all.” I would have liked to see Laurel have more to do here. She and Thea seem to have grown much closer this season. I would even call them best friends. Presumably, if Colton Haynes hadn’t returned for this episode, someone else would have gotten these discussions/dreams of a “normal” life with Thea. Both Willa Holland and Haynes nailed their final scene together. Thea and Roy’s relationship hasn’t been a focal point of this show for some time, but tonight’s episode reminded me how strong the characterization of their dynamic has been since the first season. Their conversation of how, if they could change things, they would choose each other was heartbreaking and affecting. It’s not hard to believe that these two will always love one another. The best part of Nyssa’s trek to Japan? She runs into Katana, who is dutifully guarding the lotus. (Speaking of characters I’d like to spend more time with…) There short fight is beautiful, but the best part of their interaction comes in Nyssa’s suggestion that they put down their weapons and chat. It has never been more clear that Nyssa is the wisest, most competent warrior on this show. Nyssa’s little aside also demonstrates what Arrowcould be doing with its flashback time. I liked this week’s flashbacks more than usual, but I still would have gladly given that time to Nyssa’s trek to Japan. We could have found out more about her sidekick, or actually seen the conversation between Nyssa and Katana, complete with a conversation about how Tatsu is doing after having to kill her husband to save him from the constant misery of having lost their son. (She’s probably not doing so good, huh?) Point is: Flashbacks aren’t the only way to expand the scope of the Arrowstory. I don’t know what’s going to happen here. I just hope it results in more Nyssa.
“I have this darkness inside of me…
Flashback time! This week’s flashbacks actually weren’t so bad — mostly because I was distracted by the return of Hallucination!Shado (last seen in season 2) and the fact that Oliver finally told Taiana what really happened to her brother. Um, that he was the one to kill him. Actually, Oliver, context does matter. This has always been an unconvincing argument that Arrowtries to make: that killing is always the same degree of morally wrong. Context is important, and it actually kind of hurts narratively that we’re still not really sure why Taiana’s brother attacked Oliver like a crazy person. But that’s what happened, and I don’t think Oliver actually wanted to kill him. This, for example, is different than the pre-meditated murder of Moira Queen in front of her children because Oliver once was confused about which one of his girlfriends he should try to stop from getting killed. (Yeah, I’m still not over Moira’s death.) It was also through Parkour and Roy ziplining away from explosions. Never underestimate the power of watching a character you like zipline away from an explosion. Keep up the good work, Arrow.
