4.17 Beacon Of Hope So here we are with Felicity no longer part of Team Arrow, a move that pretty much nobody wanted and one that poses the question – what are the writers going to do with her now? This is a series about the Green Arrow, hence the name, so seeing one of the regular cast members working outside of that core group feels like a distraction. But the rest of Beacon Of Hope was pretty great, and a vast improvement on what we’ve been seeing from Arrow lately. It’s light and zippy and pun-tastic, which are three things this side of the DC TV universe rarely gets to be. It’s what we all loved about Felicity in the beginning and, now, what I’m sure we’ll all learn to love about Curtis Holt as he takes his place in the Arrow Cave. But as hilarious as it is watching him run around the lair with Quentin (who was also fun this week), or look at Oliver like a wounded puppy when he pulls his usual ‘you’re not taking this seriously enough’ schtick, he’s not the only good thing about the hour. While I’m not the biggest fan of the Bug Eyed Bandit as a villain, a hostage situation with our heroes trapped on both sides is always an entertaining story to tell with a cast as big as this. On the one hand, we’ve got Felicity, Thea and Donna inside Palmer Tech and, on the other, Oliver, Laurel, Diggle and Curtis. We get the best of both worlds – Felicity and Thea taking charge without the intervention of interfering older brothers/ex-fiances, and big damn hero shots of Diggle, Laurel and Oliver as they attempt to rescue them. From the show’s perspective, she’s been out of character rehab for a while and could theoretically be slotted back into the way the Green Arrow and Black Canary’s relationship goes in the comics. But on that controversial note, let’s just enjoy the fact that we just watched a genuinely entertaining episode of Arrow, with minimal flashbacks, involvement from the entire cast and almost no focus given to who’s breaking up with who. I’m sure I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is what fans want to see more of, and there needs to be less pandering to small factions of the fanbase from behind the scenes. Read our review of the previous episode, Broken Hearts, here.
