Heck yeah folks, the CW's Arrow is back after a three-week hiatus due to the Olympics.
USA!
But, now that we have the best show on television back, it's time to talk about it! And I'll get rid of the elephant in the room here:
WHERE THE HECK IS ROY?
I'll say that before we get into spoiler territory. Which is right...now here is your spoiler warning if you are not caught up on Arrow season 2 but you should because it is an amazing TV show and is the best show on television by a very long shot
Alright so the episode starts with the Clock King, William Tockman, performing a heist for some item. The two bozos he is working with go against his orders and we get a glimpse into the brilliant mind that is this week's villain.
I have to give the episode credit, too. I know that this show is more grounded in reality than most other super-hero shows,
Okay...maybe a little less grounded
Well now you're just being rude!
but, it really made the Clock King seem like a super villain. Before he gets into all the sweet hacking, where is more of a hacker than a timed genius but whatever, we see how precise he is with time. Everything is down to the last decimal of a second, the very decimal at the pace in which a person walks, almost as if it's been practiced. Of course, that would be a little ridiculous, but that shows how ridiculously smart this guy is. And the episode plays off that well.
Sadly, the Clock King is given nothing more than just a throwaway story and hardly more than a throwaway roll. In the Suicide Squad line-up that was revealed a few days ago, the Clock King wasn't featured. Probably because they gave him a terminally ill disease, which probably means this guy is never gonna show up on Arrow anymore (unless Amanda Waller can cure him, and let's be honest, she probably can) which is unfortunate because he has the potential to be a great villain.
Next we see Sara getting into some training with Dig and Ollie. Felicity is the background enviously watching the trio spar. But wait, where's, you know, ROY HARPER?
I mean, come on guys! We had an entire episode based around Roy training and controlling his rage, and then we had the huge reveal where Roy learned all about Arrow and his bid-ness, but, where was he last episode where Nyssa was messing stuff up? Actually, I'll give that one a free-be, because there was a Roy scene cut for space and I get that this was supposed to be a more Sara-centric episode.
But this episode had no excuse. Sure, we had to establish that Felicity was envious of Sara and that Sara is part of the team, but, it is difficult to include Sara as part of the team when the full team isn't there! Imagine the breakthroughs Roy could have training with Sara, who knows how to kill and also knows how not to kill, something we've seen Roy struggling with. When the only line Roy has in the entire episode is just saying his name to someone he should have been introduced to, since Canary is part of Team Arrow, it is not a good sign. I mean is Oliver never going to use Roy in his fight against Slade or Brother Blood? If he isn't, then why the heck introduce him to Team Arrow? It just makes little sense. Maybe in the next few episodes we will see more of him, since apparently Slade is going after all of Ollie's family, and Roy has dedicated himself to protecting Thea. A Deathstroke vs. Red Arrow fight is something I could look forward to (Roy would get pummeled but it would be awesome).
Not only that, but Roy would have helped out immensely in the episode. When Oliver and Sara are chasing Tockman and his two goons (they're just goons, it's old super villain stuff that works in their favor, I liked it), they couldn't catch them because Oliver was dealing with the two thieves and Sara was chasing Tockman himself. But if Roy were there, they could have outnumbered Tockman and halted him before he blew up the Arrow Cave.
Oh yeah, that's very important. Well, okay, it didn't blow up, but, as Felicity puts it: the computers committed suicide. The Clock King manages to hack into the Arrow Cave's network and as such is able to make all the computers basically implode in what looked like gunfire in the preview but I was wrong (I was really hoping Deathstroke would show but I am confident that is not very far from happening). This plays in quite prominently as now the group has no way of finding Tockman nor of figuring out his next move.
Luckily, though, Felicity has something to prove and breaks into a bank and manages to spring a trap on the Clock King. However, to quote The Major from Team Four Star's Hellsing UIltimate Abridged: "Ah, but her doctor, that is the plan. Because now we can plan around the plan that they are planning around our plan!"
If you can't follow that: Tockman is able to get one step ahead but Team Arrow has Diggle, who is able to stop the Clock King from blowing up the bank. They also have Oliver, who can apparently slide down stairs like there are no steps there but it makes for one heck of a cool entrance. To climax Tockman's rather "eh" story: Sara and Felicity track him down, but Tockman nearly kills Sara before Felicity saves her and manages to almost electrocute the Clock King, saving the day and nearly killing him.
There's a cute little Olicity moment for all you Olicity people (WHY YOU NO SHIP SARA AND OLIVER?!) in which Oliver pretty much friend-zones her like he always does, thus resolving the Felicity envy arc. There's also a little bit of a "scar" thing in which the badasses talk about scars and tattoos they have, and by the end of the episode, Felicity has one to. I bet Roy has scars...but apparently we don't care.
Now despite the episode being called "Time of Death" to sort of symbolize the Clock King as the villain, I think a more appropriate title is: "Laurel...finally!" Because, finally, Oliver speaks for the fanbase when he gives her a straight-talking to and if she were a guy he probably would have punched her in the face.
It seems that this episode, like it usually does if there is Laurel drama that does not deal with the main story (luckily she was dating Brother Blood so in some episodes it did tie in), the Lance family was at the forefront. They were nearly as great a conflict as was Felicity's struggle to be recognized or from tracking down the untrackable Clock King.
Det. Lance decides to throw a family dinner and Laurel wants it at her house. Sara is scared to go, and asks Oliver to go with her. That was the first problem. If you even bring him it hints at a relationship. Laurel is clearly still messed up, so, rekindling a flame that was doused (because the boat sank...it's dark humor, people) would not be wise. Laurel, of course, catches on to this, and makes her typical scene.
Before I can get into Oliver's kind words of endearment and friendship, I will point out that I was fully rooting for Det. Lance and Mom Lance (I refuse to call her by her first named because she is not the Black Canary) to get back together before she, and Laurel, go ahead and mess that up. It was nice seeing Lance happy like he was in the "Heir to the Demon" flashbacks. Good times.
Anyway, Laurel storms out of the room and Oliver pursues, yelling her name. First indication of good things to come. Laurel says some stupid (so...normal) Laurel things and Oliver finally says enough is enough, pointing out that she has been blaming everyone for her problems because of herself. Because apparently it was Oliver's fault, Sara's fault, and even Tommy's death's fault that her drug, drinking, and job problems arose. When he played the Tommy card, I knew it was serious. Then he basically says that he is done caring for her like he has all this time and that it is time for her to be a big girl.
Luckily we don't see Laurel until the fleeting minutes of the episode, where she finally reconciles with Sara and proclaims that she is an idiot. Again, basically. She also asks Sara not to hate her, but, I kind of thought it should have been the other way around. She also reconciles to her father by going to an AA meeting, one that Det. Lance tried to get her to go to before that she was all, "UGH DAD nobody gets me omg #ttyl."
Stupid Laurel? Hopefully, it will just be Laurel soon enough.
Sin also came back, both in the present and in the flashbacks. Pretty much nothing happened in the flashbacks except that we found out that the pilot of a plane that was shot down by Ivo is the father of Sin, and that his dying request to Sara was for her to look after Sin if she made it home. Good job, Sara!
But now, my friends, it is time for the final scene of the episode. Final scenes this season have been monumental, mind-blowing, and yes, even make me have heart-attacks in my couch (or so it would seem). At first, I was set back. It was Evil Mom-Oliver banter about Thea. LAME.
Then we hear a scruffy voice. I knew that voice. That sounds like Slade. But it can't be Slade. He wants to kill Moira. I was confused.
So Moira enters the living room and we see the back of a man sitting there. No way, I think. NO FREAKING WAY.
"Oliver, I'd like you to meet Slade Wilson."
Needless to say, I freaked the FREAKING HECK out.
Of course Oliver was completely shell-shocked to see Slade, who gave him a firm handshake of course, still alive and now, in his own home. This is just the beginning folks. Because this:
Is on it's way. And let's just say that this may indeed put every other super-hero show, and even some movies, to complete shame. Because we're going to get not one, but possibly TWO Oliver Queen vs. Slade Wilson duels in the form of Lian Yu Ollie vs. Slade and Starling City Arrow vs. Deathstroke (fun fact, episode 18 is titled "Deathstroke" so...it is on).
I'll make one final quote, because I feel that is sums up what the writers told each other when creating this whole thing. Yusei Fudo's infamous line: "Let's rev it up!" Classic.
See you next time!
P.S. Stay tuned, because after next week's episode, the next three (in order) are titled: "Suicide Squad," "Birds of Prey," and the aforementioned, "Deathstroke." My excitement is a Super Saiyan 3 level right now.
Links to images:
Barry Allen Arrow: http://www.comicbooktherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/barry1.png
Solomon Grundy Arrow: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/33503/Arrow%20Solomon%20Grundy%20mid-season%20finale.jpg
Green Arrow vs. Deathstroke: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/eoIchLnM1wI/hqdefault.jpg
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