By: Marc Guggenheim & Drew Z. Greenberg (story)
The Story: Vertigo’s out of order, Moira’s out of order, this whole city’s out of order!
The Review: Moira Queen is an interesting figure within the Arrow universe. Central as she is to some of the show’s most important storylines, she’s never been much of an active player in any of them. This is partially the fault of her character makeup; as an upper-class socialite with few discernible skills, she has little choice but to fall back on classic feminine wiles to exert her power. She deceives, schemes, bargains, but rarely do you see her actually do anything.
Yet even in this limited capacity, Moira does far more than other characters in her position, which is mother to our hero. Usually, these women are relegated to little more than sounding boards for their children’s exploits and had Moira been trapped in this role, she’d have a much smaller presence in the show. As she is now, her sole purpose seems to be generating drama for the other principals to grapple with, a function which she serves very well.
But there are limits to how far the show can credibly stretch her secret life before she turns into an All My Children character, and this episode comes very near to that point. Her first big revelation—spoiler alert—that she had a brief dalliance with Malcolm Merlyn early on in her marriage wouldn’t be all that surprising in itself, except in how it contradicts her insistence last season that her only relationship with Malcolm was purely professional (or conspiratorial). But it’s the episode’s final twist that really plays up the soap factor, delivered with such melodrama that you’re as inclined to laugh as gasp.
What’s most interesting about these dual scandals is how they revolve around Thea, another character who struggles to find purpose on the show. If the writers have turned Moira into a source of conflict, Thea has become its main recipient. She’s matured a lot since this season began, but her cathartic boxing session with Roy* reveals just how much pressure she’s under, and nearly every scene with Moira seems designed to push her over the edge.
At any rate, Moira’s courtroom drama makes for a pretty decent A-story, even against the insistent distractions of Count Vertigo’s return. Despite Vertigo’s near-shrieking appearances in the first season, he, like his comic book counterpart, didn’t make much of an impact. Here, he redeems himself by carrying out a rather ingenious plan worthy of his supervillain status, and learning crucial info about Ollie in the process. Even though this advantage is made moot by—spoiler alert—his death, it’ll always be there for him to exploit should he come back once more
And I really have little doubt that Vertigo will come back at some point. As one of Green Arrow’s most traditional villains, one who has yet to reveal his superpowers, it doesn’t seem right to close off his story this early on. Besides, the show has already set a firm precedent of bringing back supposedly dead characters, not only with Vertigo himself, but Deadshot, Sarah, and now—spoiler alert—Malcolm Merlyn.**
While it’s a little disappointing that—spoiler alert—Ollie has violated his no-kill policy so soon, the show seems to be making a point early on that he can’t refuse to kill as arbitrarily as he used to resort to it. Though slightly traumatized by the experience, he is quick to reassure Felicity, when she apologizes for putting him in the position of making that hard choice, that “He had you and he was going to hurt you. There was no choice to make.”
Another disappointment is how predictable it is that Felicity’s decision to strike out on her own, while Ollie and Diggle are occupied, would lead to her capture and the subsequent showdown between Vertigo and Ollie. Having spent half the episode slightly irritated at the guys for underestimating her tech skills, it would have been nice to have her show some resourcefulness out in the field before getting caught. Oh, well. Maybe this incident will be an incentive for her to learn some defensive maneuvers of her own soon.
The island flashbacks are still poorly integrated into the episode, but they are admittedly exciting to watch. Shado and Slade have started owning their characters only a little less than Felicity and Diggle, and with Sarah now hooked up with them and linking them to a plot involving something that may “save the human race,” events on the island are more important than ever.
Conclusion: The show has definitely found a comfort zone for the bulk of its episodes, though shortcomings prevent it from reaching consistent excellence.
Grade: B
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * Did anyone else wonder if Roy encouraging Thea to use him as a human punching bag was just a backdoor brag about his rock-hard body?
** Kind of makes you wonder if Tommy’s set for resurrection, too. How likely is it that the father would come back without the son?
– I think the writers just save the best lines for Felicity now, which is not a bad idea. I like “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look disgusting,” a lot, but “Try heroin, sometime—not try. Try,” is pretty good, too.
– Does anyone else look at Slade now and think, Damn, man, wipe that chocolate off your face?