And maybe I'm reading into it too deeply, but a part of me wonders if the trust issue is maybe also an acknowledgement from the Arrow creators that they've been losing the trust of the fans after a mediocre season 3 and a trainwreck season 4.
Anyway, let's talk about trust.
(spoilers beyond the jump)
Last week, under Felicity's guidance, Oliver granted his new recruits enough trust to tell them his true identity. But apparently that trust only goes so far, because he still doesn't want them out on the field. They have to watch and analyze in a classroom style with Felicity as Oliver interrogates a low level thug. Turns out that there's a new drug being sold on the streets of Star City, called stardust (not a random name), and Oliver is trying to track down the source. It's pretty clear that Wild Dog is the wild card of this team, as he's impatient and ready to burst from the lack of action.
Meanwhile the team is still undergoing physical training in their abandoned warehouse thingie, and this is where we get the background story for Curtis' secret identity. He's modeling himself, apparently, after one of his favorite wrestlers ever, right down to wearing a leather jacket with the words "Fair Play" on the sleeves. And another nickname for this wrestler? Mr. Terrific.
What even is going on here, though? |
She approaches the Nancy Grace-wannabe reporter who first criticized Mayor Queen over the Lance decision. The minute Thea told the reporter that Oliver had had nothing to do with the hiring and it had been Thea's decision, I literally cringed. I follow politics and the media enough as an observer to know where this was going. And I was right: Nancy Graceish reports that the absentee Oliver isn't even running the city, his sister is, and that Oliver has no clue what's going on in his own office. Ouch.
Thea offers Oliver her letter of resignation for this mega screw-up. But we'll come back to the politics later.
So this happened:
Mama Felicity and Papa Ollie are going to be SOOO MAD... |
Comic back fans know what happens when people fall into vats of chemicals...
Anyway, Wild Dog thinks he did good shutting down that particular drug production, but Oliver rips him a new one, because the new DA tells him that undercover cops were set to follow Sampson's operation to the real and larger source of the drugs and funding. Of course, with Sampson and his dudes dead, that operation is now done. Wild Dog is totally incapable of seeing the bigger picture of things, and Mama Felicity is super disappointed in him. Like Thea, Rene done screwed up, big time.
Comic books EMIRITE? Sampson wakes up during his autopsy and discovers he can't feel pain, so he proceeds to kick the crap out of everyone because now he's like a supervillain or whatever (not really, as we'll see later).
Well, this can't be good... |
This may be comic-book accurate, but I personally think it looks incredibly silly on Curtis... IMHO |
Oliver appears to have learned a lesson about being a leader and accountability. His response to Wild Dog's fuck-up was to go deal with the problem his underling created, and in the process he trusted his team to do what needed doing. And on the mayoral front, Oliver publicly states that Thea's decision was on him, he did not accept her resignation, and that he completely agreed with naming Quentin Lance the Deputy Mayor.
We didn't see much of Quentin in this episode... but he sure cleans up good, doesn't he? |
OoooOoooooo.... |
THIS GUY.
That sound you're hearing is me squeeing, because I LOVE this version of Deadshot... |
But now he's randomly in prison, and he and John have a serious heart-to-heart about things, including the fate of John's brother Andy (who Lawton was supposed to have killed years ago, and that John himself killed last season).
What's goddamn creepy is that the show had me honestly believe that he was alive, even as weird as the situation was. Maybe because in my heart of hearts, I never actually believed Lawton died that day when the building exploded. There wasn't a body, after all! Kudos to the writers and directors for the way these scenes were done and shot, because I kind of think they were the best thing about this episode. There was, to me, an almost dreamlike quality to the camera here, but John's guilt over Andy seemed painfully real, and huge kudos to David Ramsey.
When Lilah comes to visit John in his cell, Lawton isn't there (much to John's confusion when he turns around to find an empty cell and all the pictures of Lawton's daughter gone). John is so consumed by his guilt over Andy, that he imagined Lawton's presence just so he would have someone to confess to. Maybe he felt Lawton was the only person out there who might possibly be able to understand him? I don't know, but it was really powerful. And it's sad to see John's shoulders bowed with so much guilt, as he tells Lilah to not fight for him, because he feels he is a murderer and he needs to pay for what he did.
But Lilah be all like, "Eff that noise!" because at the end of the episode, she shows up at the Arrowcave to ask Oliver's help in breaking John out of prison.
We didn't get anything new this week on Barry's screwed-up timeline. Maybe we'll get to meet John Diggle Jr. next week!
What did you think of "A Matter of Trust"? Sound off in the comments below!
Ivonne Martin is a writer, gamer, and avid consumer of all things geek—and is probably entirely too verbose for her own good.