By: Jake Coburn & Ben Sokolowski (story)
The Story: One should think twice before inviting a man with an eye-patch into one’s home.
The Review: I didn’t mention the cliffhanger appearance of Slade in the Queen family home last week because there really wasn’t much to talk about besides its dramatic power. Now that we’re actually dealing with the fallout from his revealing himself to Ollie, we ought to talk about Arrow’s portrayal of Slade Wilson, who in many respects cuts a more impressive yet sympathetic figure on TV than he does in comics.
Compared to the amoral mercenary we almost always see (check out his guest part in Forever Evil for a typical example), television’s Slade has an emotional component driving his ruthless behavior, one that makes him difficult to hate even when he’s planning to destroy Ollie and everyone he loves. A large part of this comes from the passion Manu Bennett brings to the role, selling Slade’s rage and despair with equal finesse, making you believe that there’s a core of pain in his deadened heart.
It’s clear, too, that despite his polished, suited exterior, the present Slade is still capable of suffering. Watch his dismayed expression when he sees that Sara is not only still alive, but prospering by Ollie’s side, and you know that in his head, it’s a fresh reminder of the choice Ollie made that led to Shado’s death. It doesn’t matter that Ollie was manipulated by Ivo and motivated by pity and guilt for his role in Sara’s suffering. “I don’t care,” Slade replies soullessly after each of Ollie’s protests, perhaps the result of the Mirakuru combined with the weight of his anguish.
Although the episode succeeds in making Slade worthy of empathy, it doesn’t shirk in its duty to build up his formidability. Ollie isn’t even willing to regroup before taking his first shot at Slade, attempting (and failing) to stab his ex-friend the moment his mother leaves the room. Sara’s no less alert, instructing all of Team Arrow, including Roy, to end him at any opportunity before he destroys them first. In response to the big-ass rifle Diggle pulls out, she says, without too much conviction, “…That might work.” This is all to tell you that the combined skills of Ollie and his allies may still be swept away by Deathstroke’s sheer power.
There’s plenty of tension to be had here, but Coburn-Sokolowski also turn out a very structurally sound episode. Integration between the past and present has always been a problem for the show, but this episode doesn’t struggle at all, freely allowing the island storyline to take the lead. I confess that I tend to ignore the flashbacks in most episodes, being far more interested in the present than the immutable past, but this time, events on the island will not be ignored. Instead of being merely clarifications of how present circumstances have come to pass, the island material takes on importance in itself. It helps that Arnell, Bennett, and Caity Lotz play their past characters in an almost completely distinguishable way from their current roles, but the episode also establishes characters and action that belong to the past alone.
If there’s one flaw to these proceedings, it’s the weak, clichéd attempts to make Ivo sympathetic by virtue of his ill wife. It’s going to take more than the robotic delivery of his addled wife’s voice on the phone to get you to look past all the evil he’s done. This simply proves that, with rare exceptions, Arrow has a hard time creating villains who are dimensional as well as formidable.
Conclusion: A near-perfect union between past and present that gives all the characters greater depth, save one.
Grade: A-
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – Physics nerds, please explain to me how that parachute trick does/does not work.
– I get a bad vibe from the missionary prisoner on Ivo’s freighter: “Can you imagine a better place for a man in my line of work?”
Grade
Conclusion