In this episode, apparently Starling City’s only competent cop screws up big time, and we meet Slade Wilson.
The villain this go-round is Cyrus Vanch, an original character who apparently was a criminal nightmare back in the day and is hoping to get back on top by killing Arrow. Picking a fight with the vigilante who has a double-digit body and maiming count seems like a stupid idea, but since criminals are pretty thick to begin with, at least it’s credible.
Unfortunately, Quentin Lance does something that puts a target on Laurel’s back, hopefully in a believable way since the show tends to write Quentin against type as an intelligent, by-the-book cop who just has a temper problem, instead of a total idiot who would have been fired in reality years before the show started.
Also, Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) makes his first appearance in Ollie’s flashbacks and Thea will apparently begin to realize there’s a big, wide world and nobody cares about her whiny rich-girl problems. This probably ties into the fact that after episodes of them not calling her “Speedy”, her entire family apparently can’t call her anything else.
It’ll be interesting to see this episode, but honestly, the previous episode is a hard act to follow. The show finally merged Ollie’s family drama and his vigilante activities in a credible way, gave Thea the emotional smackdown we’ve been rooting for since this show started, and featured a lengthy action sequence where Ollie punched his way into a drug-dealer’s den before cramming an overdose of his own narcotic down the guy’s throat.
Which is something we’re guessing will bite Ollie in the ass somewhere around May, since Count Vertigo is apparently going to be his Joker.
Either way, more Quentin is always welcome: Nobody does “smart-ass” like Paul Blackthorne. The fun starts tonight at 8pm EST.
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I actually kind of like this show, but I have stopped watching it so I can just marathon it all at once when the season finale hits. It is just too much of a goddamn love/hate/despise thing for me to watch every week.
Heh, I can’t resist.
I’m interested in seeing Manu do an American accent, since he obviously doesn’t do one on Spartacus. If Vertigo is going to be the Joker of the series, I would like to see Deathstroke become GA’s Bane. Hopefully tonight will lay the groundwork for Slade appearing in present day Starling City instead of just flashbacks.
And we’re on.
and the recaps are back
Dammit.
Heh, Iron Heights. I love those little shoutouts.
This guy is the child of Donald Pleasance and Chris Elliot.
He was on Heroes, right?
I dunno, I blocked most of that show out.
Yeah the European who became a japanese hero.
He’s more remembered for being the british ponce on Alias
I meant the guy who got stabbed, for the record.
Cue the Joker stab.
Listen to Diggle, Ollie.
Like you have said though, he has a blind spot the size of Canada when it comes to his family.
Crashed plane? If there’s a smoke monster, I’m out.
I’m okay with a Polar Bear.
What About a Polar bear no one can see until its dead?
Manu Bennett, I hardly recognized you without being almost totally naked and covered in baby oil!
Good ol Crixus
Crixus appears in body armor. Blood explosion impending?
Oh, that would be awesome.
Quentin is actually right here. Just because Ollie is killing dickheads doesn’t mean he’s a good guy.
That was a very weird shot there, him walking in on her bending over putting on heels.
Here’s to you, Ms. Oedipus.
He immediately lays the cards on the table. what is this 180?
I guess he trusts his mom.
One would hope he made a copy of that, otherwise, he is an idiot.
I think that was the copy that Felicity gave him, not the one his father did.
Yeah, he’d better have some backup.
“Everyone has to stop asking questions in this family”
Seriously? How better would you drive people to ask MORE questions.
Logic is not an ongoing theme with the Queen Family.
Oh, great, Thea has a new, equally shitty friend.
Ah, the chick from Sanctuary. Wonder how she likes acting in front of actual sets.
Are they trying to make him seem like a complete idiot?
“Arrow-side chat.” Diggle is the wittiest once again.
Diggle is awesome.
Ollie defending his mom, episode title is “Betrayal”, I guess we know what the twist is.
My fiancee just pointed out everybody has their phone on vibrate on this show.
CW would probably manadate their ringtones be some trendy indie band.
There is no evidence of foul play? The guy was in a pool of blood.
I’m assuming Cyrus has a cleaning service.
My fiancee heard “Are you going to help her” as “going to do the heifer”. I can’t argue.
Did anyone else notice that the name of the dead lawyer’s law firm was Wolfman and Perez? I love the easter eggs that this show drops.
They’re good with that stuff. The very first shot of the episode was of Iron Heights.
The Last Exorcism Part 2. Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Final Fantasy: The Last Exorcism Part 2.
XIII.
“The Last Exorcism 2″ looks like “The Exorcist 2″.
Place your bets now. What are the chances Slade gets through this episode with both eyes intact?
I’m thinking yes, actually.
Is it me or does this Mafia home look a lot like a tourism center?
So, Ollie just killed how many guards to spy on this guy?
spy for like 22 seconds.
His arrows will blot out the sun
…But its already night
Seriously, there was an arrow in a guy’s neck.
Do Fat Pants really require more explanation wizard-boy?
Douche-y couple, or douchiest couple?
On this show, tough call.
wait until Thea starts going steady with a dude. It will be strong competition.
Especially since her designated beau is Roy Harper.
Once again, Diggle does the actual fucking detective work.
He is the man…
Why is this show called Arrow? It should be called “Digging, guest starring the Green Arrow”
Black Arrow was copyrighted.
Diggle does NOT fit in.
Come on Diggle, plant a bug on her..
I’m pretty much rooting for him to slug her at this point.
I know the rule here is that the name Diggle is only funny the first time you hear it, but when she says it it sounds funny again.
Especially Mr. Diggle.
Mr. Diggle sounds lsoemthing Thea would name her pomeranian
Ten bucks Thea tried to put a collar on Diggle and got knocked the fuck out for it.
“couldn’t do much, had to put arrows in dudes necks instead. Its basically a compulsion for me.”
Hey, if you can’t be effective, wreck things.
Bet he liked doing that.
“That’s for… being kind of right!”
Rooftop Garden on the 6th floor?
It would have been funny if when Diggle walked into the party, they thought he was a stripper.
GammaSquad fan service?
I like the guy but I don’t want to see his firearm.
Winick building was a reference to Judd Winick. He was a GA writer and Judd from season 3 of the Real World.
Please let it be blown up.
“This place uses its own kind of magic”
you mean rope snares?
in related news, vampire diaries is weird.
Has anybody noticed that all the antagonists of “The Vampire Diaries” in previews are Black? Unfortunate implications ahoy!
I was on Laurel’s side until she called him “obsessed”. HE DOES KILL PEOPLE.
I’ll give her some leeway for having just been in the middle of a super tense standoff.
She channeling Nicholson there? You want me on that roof. You need me on that roof!
I just want Diggle to say “I’m doing your fucking job, you’re welcome!”
Seconded
Diggle is already too smart for this conspiracy. He’s going to be killed in this episode or the next and I will be sad.
Nope, he’s got a contract. Also, he did kill an entire fire team in the second episode.
hurray for contractual immortality!
I don’t think so, the audience benefits from having someone for ollie to talk things out aloud with.
GO TOMMY!
By far his best moment on the show.
“he straight murders people”
“wah, you’re such a whiny bitch, just like my dad!”
Does anybody else think Cyrus the Virus here is going to get stomped like an Irish dancing stage?
Have I missed something? Have the identified the bimbo as someone important yet?
Yeah, Cyrus’s moll has a source in the police. So Cyrus is going after a police detective’s daughter. BECAUSE HE’S SMART.
Ollie must be really, really, really sick of being in the middle of Tommy and Laurel’s relationships.
“You look like you have a terminal disease”
“I’m sorry”
OK, I laughed.
I do like that he called out Tommy for acting like a kicked puppy everytime laurel comes up in their discussion.
Yeah, Ollie is doing the right thing.
Ignores Diggle, but hopefully Tommy’s revelation will spur Ollie to check on his mother.
Do you think Manu Bennett just layered on as many clothes as he could get for the sheer novelty?
Well, his costume is different, but the job description is the same.
he does it to protect ollie from the sheer force of his muscles. Its DBZ’s weighted clothing training method.
Laurel does not trash mooks nearly often enough.
She was trained to fight bye the penguin!
I like this guy way more than the Count from last week.
The Count overacted big-time. On the other hand, this guy is the biggest idiot in the show’s run.
Tasers! My only weakness!
Hey, would you take her on hand to hand? She just beat up three guys!
“Mr. Diggle” just gets funnier every time I hear it.
I’m going to claim I broke the glass on that one.
20 years later and I still say “The Taser, The Taser” like Beavis.
I just think… “in the face…..”
Nobody in this city believes in soundproofing.
Evil confederate of capitalists? Obviously went with the low bid on the evil construction company selection.
SHIT YEAH DIGGLE WITH THE STETHOSCOPE!
Heh, nice cover but where is the smell.
Are you going to argue with a guy thirty years younger and twice your muscle mass?
Diggle literally bought a lighter and cigarettes as a cover story.
I think we’re going to see a Tommy/Quentin team-up.
Hey, Cyrus. Kidnapping a police detective’s daughter? AWESOME IDEA CHAMP!
He does a serious amount of drugs?
Well, he did want to make a statement
That statement is “I’m a fucktard.”
OLLIE STOP BEING AN ASSHOLE.
How the hell is the audio distorted like that?
“You bugged my mother?!”
“Ok, I’m going to explain this real slow, because its obvious that you are a moron”
Not a master class in acting there…
Yeah, not Amell’s greatest moment.
That was… pretty funny, actually.
I thought slade would be taller.
He’ll sacrifice the eye to gain a few inches.
He seriously needs a mask or something.
Spray painting your face: hides nothing, probably poisons his eyes. Best of both worlds!
Someone on here said it best: Guyliner is the ultimate disguise.
Nearly everyone he talks to knows him incredible well.
Is everybody else seeing this baby ad? Or did I just drop acid?
I thought it was going to be a terrible etrade commercial first time I saw it.
My name is Crix-, uh I mean Slade Wilson.
I live in the Boston area, and the weathermen are salivating over this storm that’s going to hit us.
There was supposed to be a quick snowstorm in Charlotte last week and it was almost nothing and I am sure that pissed off the weathermen here.
So your big plan, idiot, was to send guys with guns against somebody who killed all your guys with guns last time? GEE, THERE’S NO FLAW IN THIS PLAN.
“That is a lot of bullets”
But this dude has the best of weaponry the 15th century can offer, he can’t lose!
Impressive bodycount this ep.
“I’m no Einstein”: NO SHIT.
When bad guys get the drop on good guys, they never, ever fire.
Good for Ollie.
I am the only one allowed to indiscriminately murder bad dude on this show! Don’t muscle in on my territory!
Well, Diggle has a few notches on his belt.
“I counted the number of arrows and flechettes”
And I’m sure he has no other weapons or tricks ever.
And can’t just beat the shit out of you with his bare hands. Like he did last episode.
HE JUST SAVED YOU YOU UNGRATEFUL TWIT!
Why do I get the feeling that will soon be pining for thea?
She looks super creepy right there.
Thea is clearly rubbing off on Laurel.
So Green Arrow’s kryptonite is 25 guys. Good to know.
The best way to beat Arrow is to throw too many expendable thugs at him.
Unless he has Quentin or Diggle backing him.
Yeah, I think Tommy is screwed now… Drat.
Think he will call him Dominus?
I’m just waiting for John Hannah to show up.
I dunno, ASIS is a crappy name, but on the other hand, they did send a muscular guy with two swords.
Almost as bad as ISUS?
Sadly that is actually what the Australian foreign intelligence agency is named. It is literally called the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. I guess it makes Arrow-level sense, because, you know nothing in says espionage like a big muscular guy who likes to shank people with swords.
It sure beats the parkour obsessed former ASIS operative showcased in that Burn Notice episode, at least Manu Bennett sounds close enough to an Australian.
Well, he’s from New Zealand, I believe.
What annoys me about this as the character is definitely portraying an SASR Member.
If they had done even 5 minutes research they would have realised that ASIS was governed firstly by the Intelligent Services Act (2001), that prohibited weapon use by ASIS (except where Self Defence), as well as curtailing violent or paramilitary operations.
In 2004 this was amended (Intelligent Services Amendment Act (2004), which allowed ASIS to be involved with planning and undertaking paramilitary or violent activities, BY OTHERS, and provide, train with, and use weapons and self-defence techniques in certain circumstances (that is where the overseeing minister deems the circumstances suitable).
What that means is: The Bill allowed ASIS to work with other organisations (such as the CIA or MI6) in paramilitary operations, provided ASIS staff and agents were not personally involved in carrying it out.
So just 5 minutes of googling or wiki reading would have given them that info. They could have then rightly called Wilson SASR (Special Air Service Regiment) not ASIS.
Diggle with the double jab!
So Deathstroke trained the Green Arrow? Interesting take on things.
Well… that’s a cliffhanger…
Well, I did not see that coming.
So I’m guessing most of next week is flashbacks to the island.
So I guess your MOM won’t recognize you through the guyliner? Thats some powerful stuff.
All in all, an OK episode. This villain was one of the dumbest characters of the show’s run, but I did like that the characters weren’t stupid and Laurel not being a damsel in distress but thumping three Mafia thugs.
I thought it was good. I feel kinda ripoffed that this was technically the first appearance of Deathstroke. I wonder if they’re going to reveal who the imposter is.
I like Cyrus’s adoption of Zapp Brannigan’s most famous strategy: Send wave after wave of my own men until Arrow reaches his kill limit
He’s basically the Joker with Zapp Brannigan’s tactical skills.
Did anyone notice that Laurel said she was going to call Kate Spencer, the DA on the Cyrus case. Kate Spencer was the latest version of Manhunter in the DCU. Another possible guest spot like the Huntress.