Arrow: State v. Queen

I'm going to keep this one brief, because to be honest – not a heck of a lot happened here. Well, I suppose it did, but not in a way that's open to much discussion.

As usual, it takes the trifold path of storytelling by interweaving the overarching plot, a Villain of the Week, and the island flashbacks. Let's go in reverse order:

Over on the island, Professor Ivo and his men are still trying to track down Slade and Shado, convinced they pose a threat even though they really don't. If they're after the hosen, why not offer medical treatment for Slade and safe passage off the island in exchange for it? There is really no reason whatsoever for them to be hostile in this situation, and it's causing them far more trouble than it's worth.

Thanks to a rather contrived stand-off, Oliver manages to escape Ivo and his men, and ends up on a team that includes both his maybe sorta girlfriends. Before things get awkward, they realize that the hosen has co-ordinates carved on the back of it – which means that after a Japanese submarine ran aground on the island, one of its crew members carved its location onto the back of necklace, which he was buried with at the gravesite, which Professor Ivo somehow knew about.

That awkward moment when the two girls you're in a relationship
with meet each other in a life-or-death situation and neither one of
them is your actual girlfriend.

Whatever, all you need to know is that Team WTF Are We Doing have decided to head for the submarine and see what they can find there.

Back in Starling City, we have a brief flashback to the night of the Undertaking and the destruction it wrecked on Iron Heights Prison. As someone who has recently lived through two major earthquakes, I can attest this this was the fakest one I've ever seen.

The Count manages to escape his cell, and if you've been enjoying Seth Gabel's attempt to channel both the Scarecrow and the Joker (complete with a homemade video of him threatening Paul from Orphan Black Adam Donner) then make the most of his final swansong.

In a plan that involves getting a lot of Vertigo into people's systems – but honestly, I lost track of all this and it's not that important anyway. Adam Donner does not make for a particularly interesting hostage (in regards to the amount of investment the audience has in his safety) and if we were meant to be impressed by Oliver saving him despite the fact he was gunning for Moira getting the death penalty... well, they didn't really set that up properly, and by now it's something I would fully expect Oliver to do anyway.

What's more interesting is what happens after Felicity gets nabbed by the Count and Oliver is pulled away from court to deal with it. For the first time in a long time, Oliver breaks his "no-kill" rule when the Count threatens Felicity with Vertigo, and as a result he goes tumbling out a high rise window with three arrows in his chest.

Acting!

But the problem with this development (having watched a few episodes in advance) is that it goes nowhere. Oliver suffers no traumatic/guilty side-effects and the general public/police force doesn't seem to care either. On the whole, it demonstrates why the whole "no kill" policy will never truly work – because if you're regularly going out at night to defeat the bad guys, sooner or later you're going to have to make a hard call and take a life. Oliver is capable of killing, his motivations make no difference to the people who have to clean up after him, and the show doesn't really want to deal with the consequences of either one.

To make the effort to spare lives is a noble endeavour, but it's all you can really commit to if you're in the vigilante line of work.

But hey, they killed off a recurring villain. That feels like a reasonably significant event.

And finally, Moira Queen goes on trial, charged with conspiracy and murder. One glaringly false note is the fact that Laurel Lance is among the prosecutors, even though she clearly has an interest and a history with the defendant. It would simply never be allowed to happen.

But for the first time ever, Laurel is let in on a secret – and even though it's out of the bag by the end of the episode, it was still a fairly novel experience while it lasted. Turns out that Moira's big secret (or at least part of it) was that she had an extramarital affair with Malcolm Merlyn – which is a big dent in her defence considering they're playing on her fear of him.

But despite all this – Moira is cleared of all charges. Oliver is mildly confused by this, but it's not until Moira is driven out to a carpark that she realizes what really happened: Malcolm Merlyn is still alive, and he pulled the requisite strings to get her off the hook. And why do this? Because it turns out Thea is his biological daughter.

"Surprise bitch. Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."

Okay... not sure what to do with this information. It's pure soap opera, but I'll admit to being interested in finding out how this effects the Queen family, especially Thea. She'll inevitably be the last to know (that's how these things work), but the revelation throws some interesting light on everyone's relationship with Tommy. Malcolm now has a new heir, Oliver's sister is now half-sister to his deceased best friend, and Moira's daughter now has a new father.

And I'll admit to liking Moira characterized as a Lady Macbeth. I don't doubt that she loves her children, but she's definitely not as fragile as she seems. From here on out, it'll be interesting to see whether she's going to reassert her power, or continue to play the helpless victim.

Miscellaneous Observations:

Yikes, I've been pretty snarky tonight, aren't I. Honestly, I enjoy this show – it's just that the last two episodes have been a bit rough.

Felicity says about the Count's escape that "prison wardens worked overtime to keep a lid on it" which is the biggest load of bull this show has ever tried to pull off. When dangerous criminals escape, you broadcast the news so they can be recaptured!

Until I read someone else's review, I didn't realize that the inmate the Count gives the key to was the Dollmaker. Now I'm annoyed I couldn't appreciate that continuity.

Roy's heart is in the right place, and I can even get behind him giving Thea boxing gloves and letting her blow off steam – but by punching him repeatedly? That's just weird.

Despite a few contrivances per episode, the season as a whole is in good shape. The flashbacks to the island feel more and more relevant to what's going on in Starling City with Sebastian Blood's activities, and the League of Assassins and Malcolm Merlyn dancing around on the periphery of things suggests further developments later down the track.