Arrow "Guilty" Review

"Don't abandon me."
"Never."

I want you to have that little dialogue in the back of your mind and try to figure out who it was that partook in it. The result may surprise you.

So unlike most episodes of Arrow, this one's name could easily have been changed to another one. Instead of "Guilty," I think a great title could have been "Arsenal" or "Memories" given what happens. Yes, obviously the word 'guilty' is spelled in blood at all the crime scenes, but, still, we got major character development for Roy and the theme of the episode was at first about where guilt lay in the two crimes going on, but ultimately it was about memories.

But I really like that this was a Roy-centric episode, coming off of the Felicity-episode we got last-week. It served as much needed development for Roy and served up heaping amounts of tension for the character and his relationship with Team Arrow going forward. While the Ted Grant stuff was cool, I think that there could have been a bit more with Roy, though there was a good amount of it to keep us hooked every time he's on screen, something that hasn't happened probably ever.

The episode picks up with Oliver and Roy chasing some serial killer who hangs his victims by their feet and spells 'guilty' in blood below them, meanwhile Laurel and Ted Grant continue to train and box and stuff. Oliver manages to find another killing at some Hispanic place--which was full of stereotypical Hispanic people--and finds another body in Ted Grant's place just as the boxer shows up. Oh, timing, you suck.

Meanwhile, we get our first step into Roy's inner psyche as he asks Felicity to take a blood sample for any residual Mirakuru. I'm glad he did, because as far as we knew, and based off of the promos and stuff, it was pretty clear that Roy may have killed Sara. Or at least, he was the prime suspect.

Though that Komodo man...

Anyway, Laurel stops Oliver from taking down Grant and Oliver finds himself in a world of confusion as we find out that Grant was accused of murder six years ago and all of the victims have shown up at areas near him. But, Laurel isn't convinced, especially how Grant was with her the entire time while someone was being killed.

Oliver snoops on Grant a little, going to his secret hideout, and gets attacked, finding Grant to be an equal match in not just boxing. And ladies in gentlemen, we finally saw it...

THE BOXING GLOVE ARROW!

No, it wasn't the same as the comics. Oliver dove away from Grant and nocked an arrow, putting a boxing glove on the end of it and shooting it at Grant. Clearly not a permanent thing, but, still the exact thing Green Arrow fans have been waiting for since the show started. And it was cool as heck.

Grant exposits to Oliver that he was formerly a vigilante--presumably called Wildcat but he never said it--before Oliver was even a thing but gave it up six years ago because the toll it took on his life was way too much. This is interesting, because we've gotten so many potential super-heroes on the show such as Laurel, Tatsu (Katana) in the flashbacks, Roy back in season two. Yet we've never seen a former super-hero. I thought it was cool, it was sort of like someone Oliver could look up to.

If he wasn't so untrustworthy of everyone, as he doesn't trust Ted Grant at all throughout the episode. While, yeah, this is because Grant was accused of murder and it's fairly obvious that he could have killed all these people, it's also because, as we find out, Oliver is really mad Laurel is taking training lessons from Grant. Laurel tries to defend herself saying it's just to get the heat off her, but, obviously she wants to be the Black Canary.

And the fact that the show creators just dropped Katie Cassidy in full Black Canary suit is kinda telling of that little fact. Just a little, though.

So instead of a love-triangle this episode, there's a bit of a hate-triangle going on between Oliver, Laurel, and Ted.

But enough about triangles, let's talk about Roy.

We find out that there is zero Mirakuru in his system...but there may have been some a little while ago that was burned out in his latest incident, the same incident that may have killed Sara. Felicity, Roy's helper in this, also points out the strong forensic evidence that points to a super-powered Roy throwing the arrows into Sara like he did in his dream. So...

Roy? Buddy? You alright?

Oliver and Ted head to the old night club where the latter apparently killed the drug dealer and they find the real killer there, but he gets away and Oliver has Ted arrested, making Laurel feisty.

In a pretty interesting twist, Roy actually tells Laurel and Oliver about this, Laurel doing her usual thing and walking away, while Roy also decides to leave and let the original Team Arrow think things over. Sort of like the opposite of a good mic-drop. Just gonna drop a little bomb and leave, eh, Roy? Classic super-hero.

I got a little mad that there was another subplot going on in the episode because this one was so full of potential that we had divulge back into the episode's story. Sure, there wasn't technically a "villain of the week" sort as much as there was a "dang it we gotta stop this thing" situation like last week, or yesterday's The Flash, but still. The stuff with Roy could have carried the episode and I think we would have been fine if Ted Grant had just told Laurel some of this stuff while their bond strengthened.

However, then we wouldn't get the symbolism at the end of the episode. Ted's old partner, Isaac, is revealed to be the one doing all this. He used to be Wildcat's sidekick and they prowled the Glades taking down crime-lords, but Isaac started killing dudes (including the drug dealer Ted was accused of murdering) and went down a dark path, which reminds Laurel, and the audience, of Roy obviously. He even mentions it. So much for subtlety.

Team Arrow gives chase as Isaac holds Laurel and Grant hostage, driving to...somewhere, but Laurel manages to get Isaac out of the car and then crashes their car. Nice. So while Oliver and Diggle take to Ted and Laurel, Roy shows up (!) to save the day and fight Isaac.

Outside of the fighting in "Corto Maltese" we've never really seen the trained Roy Harper fighting anyone. Nor have we really seen Roy in his costume do anything besides, um, flips and shoot an arrow at a truck. This time, he fights Isaac and manages to defeat him. Like all episodes of Arrow, the action is great but it's even better because we finally see Arsenal become born into the sidekick-y guy he's going to be. Heck, Isaac even claims that Roy is another weapon in Arrow's "arsenal." This would come back later and Oliver teases to call him "Arsenal." Good, Oliver, good, let the fandom flow through you...

Oh, and about those lines earlier? Yeah, Roy said, "Don't abandon me" and Oliver says, "Never." It was adorable! This obviously referencing a scene in which Diggle wanted Roy gone because everybody hates Roy except for Oliver and maybe Thea. Maybe.

In the present time, the episode ends with Laurel asking Grant to train her to become a vigilante, to become his apprentice basically, and Oliver helps Roy remember that he killed a cop in his Mirakuru rage, and then saw Sara's face. So, sort of like doing math: Mirakuru rage + killing cop last season + seeing Sara means Roy does not = Sara killer.

And thank goodness. Roy's character isn't nearly strong enough to hold his own little sequence of events right now. And I'm glad to see Oliver was quick enough to realize that Roy killed the cop and that being in the Mirakuru state is sort of like being high or drunk: you won't recall things unless you're in that state of mind...or if you have super-hero CANDLES. I don't know, I read in my Psychology book back in eleventh grade, you figure it out.

But, of course, no episode of Arrow is complete without two things: 1. Flashbacks and 2. Introducing the problem for next week.

Basically next week we get Captain Boomerang (I think...yes?) and Cupid, someone obsessed with the Arrow and has been killing a bunch of people because of it. Crazy.

The flashbacks this week were cool, as we got to go back to Maseo and Tatsu back in China and see the case against China White evolving. Here was where we got our little candle-magic trick, as Tatsu helped Oliver meditate and basically flip through his memories and find an envelope dropped so quickly he missed it before, and then they manage to uncover who China White is looking for because of it. But, Tatsu isn't too happy, as she wants Oliver out of their lives ASAP.

But, Tatsu...you're Katana...you guys are super-buddies! Okay, sure, not yet, but, still!

Overall, this was a strong episode of Arrow. And a much needed one, checking yet another name off our list of potential Sara killers. Roy managed to get some character development and a super-hero name while Wildcat was found out to be a former super-hero and Laurel is going to train to eventually become Black Canary. She'a also no longer a part of Team Arrow, so, we need another girl. Nyssa? Nah.

She's too awesome.


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