Arrow S02E17 – Review

By: Mark Bemesderfer & A.C. Bradley (story)

The Story: Ollie encounters the wrath of girlfriends past.

The Review: While any intimate relationship between human beings leaves its mark even after it’s over, romances tend to have the most profound effects on people—not surprising, as you’re often baring more of yourself to your partner than anyone else, even your friends and family. Looking at a person’s ex, how they met, how they got along, and how they broke up, you get a fairly complete portrait of who that person is for however long the relationship lasts.

After last week’s episode put Diggle front and center, you’d think the focus would shift right back to Ollie this time around. Instead, the spotlight trains elsewhere, only partially illuminating Ollie on the fringes. Since all three of the main players—Helena, Sara, and Dinah—have been romantically entangled with Ollie at one point (some twice!), the episode isn’t entirely divorced from its star, but his role is felt rather than seen. He’s an influence, but not the focus.

Despite the fact several of Ollie’s flames are involved at once, the episode is admirably free from cattiness, particularly from Sara. She can’t help raising an eyebrow, of course, when Felicity refers to Helena as “Oliver’s psycho ex-girlfriend hell-bent on revenge against her father.”

“Ex-girlfriend?” she murmurs. (“That’s what you took from that sentence?” Ollie says.)

But aside from that piqued remark, a lot of Sara’s anger at Ollie’s kid-gloves approach to Helena has less to do with a lover’s jealousy and more to do with her panicked concern for Dinah, who’s been enlisted to try Mr. Bertinelli and thus placing herself in Helena’s sights. Sara justifiably points out the hypocrisy between refusing to simply put down Helana yet immediately ordering a kill on Slade the moment the assassin threatens Ollie’s loved ones. When Ollie protests that the situation is different because he “created the Huntress,” Sara shoots back, “Yeah, well, you created Slade, too.”

The strength of that scene comes from the restraint in both the writing and acting. Heated as the emotions become, they never boil over into soap opera material. Ollie’s silent, stricken reaction to her accusation makes her realize she’s gone too far, and she retreats, snarling her hair with frustration at herself and the situation at hand. The sad part is Ollie accepts Sara’s statement, a reminder of how guilt, rather than vengeance, has become the central motivation for season two’s Oliver Queen.

It’s not always pleasant to see the characters beat themselves up, whether it’s Sara’s regret over her killer’s instincts, Dinah’s depression from showing weakness, or Roy’s fear of losing control, or even Helena’s sense of isolation once her primary drive is taken from her. But greatness comes from channeling that guilt into hope, rather than despair. Dinah and Sara, with each other’s help, choose the former, restoring Dinah’s self-confidence and sealing Sara’s status as hero rather than assassin. Roy, on the other hand, loses hope for himself and in the process loses Thea, which can only worsen rather than resolve his condition. Helena hasn’t chosen yet, leaving her at the end of the episode on the brink between villainy (which she pretty much wallows in for most of the episode) and redemption. We know she’ll eventually rise above her past, but it’ll take slow, careful work to make us and everyone else forget her crazed carelessness in this episode.

Conclusion: The show is proving quite talented at crafting episodes that don’t need Ollie as their keystone, and strong performances from all the characters bolster the show’s credibility even further.

Grade: A

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – Methinks Ollie’s due for another reveal of his extracurricular activities. After Lance calls the Arrow and starts when Ollie’s phone starts buzzing nearby, Felicity remarks, “It’s getting really hard to keep track of who knows whose secret identity.”

– Love the Sara-Felicity-Diggle dynamic. When the exasperated Sara asks them what they think she should do, Felicity doesn’t hesitate to answer, “Oh, I think if the Huntress shows up, you should totally kick her ass.” Diggle wordlessly nods.

– Hate the pointedly ironic lines. “You’re the only one who doesn’t lie to me, Ollie.” Really, Thea? After all the inexplicably odd behavior and circumstances, the lame excuses he’s given you, and the fact that you yourself called him out for not telling her about his tensions with your mom, you still believe Ollie is the one honest man in your life?