1.2 Honor Thy Father This week sees Oliver enter his mission to clean up the city in a more organised way, attempting to hide his alter-ego from his friends and family while protecting Laurel from the corrupt businessman she’s helping to bring down. We see Oliver target the background baddies over general criminals on the street, going through his father’s list of society’s dregs as a guide. These are the people who might go unpunished if it weren’t for vigilantes like Green Arrow, and that gives the show a sense of purpose above the weekly vengeance saga it could have been. We learn that Queen Industries has actually contributed to the problems back home, giving Oliver a personal interest. The conflict of interest between various characters is interesting this week, too, since Oliver, Laurel and Quentin are all after the same man but going about it in vastly different ways. Quentin believes that there’s no need to go outside of the law to get justice, and his conviction is this idea casts doubt on whether Oliver’s methods are necessary. Each week we’re likely to see a cop, a lawyer and a masked vigilante clash over how to deal with problems, and it really separates the show from other, more narrowly targeted, series. Arrow isn’t afraid to question what Oliver is doing, and I like that a lot. Everyone is having trouble with Oliver’s return to the living, and the episode begins with the slightly surreal sight of him legalising his own resurrection. This formality hasn’t made things easier for Moira or Thea, however, and the former’s shifty intentions are becoming more and more sinister. One of the final scenes of the episode reveals that she had something to do with the boat crash – and thus her husband’s untimely death – and the slow drip-feed of information is working brilliantly. Though there are many who hate long, drawn-out plots, I’m a sucker for a big mystery, and I’m hoping they keep things under wraps for a while. In the same way, I can anticipate the flashbacks adding plenty of intrigue to each episode. This week, we only account for a few hours of Oliver’s experience and, considering they have five years to cover, it’s made as entertaining as possible. Admittedly, I was slightly worried we’d just be watching Oliver look for firewood and master archery, but this episode revealed that he wasn’t quite as alone as he’s made out since his return. Who is this Arrow-lookalike? Hopefully this is something that’s revealed next week. It’s a complete unknown to run alongside the weekly hunt for criminals, and I can’t wait to see more. All in all, this was another great episode of Arrow, with cliff-hangers and intrigue to spare and some genuinely engaging characters to boot. What was Moira’s involvement with the accident? How long with it take before someone discovers what Oliver’s up to? Read Caroline’s review of the season premiere, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here
