by Demi Moumas, Reporter
Months of waiting and finally it is over. Arrow is back at its normal time at 8pm on Wednesday nights. Thank god…this show makes hump day end as hunk day. Yes, that is me being a girl hot for the main actor. The good thing about Arrow is that the writers are taking it in a different direction from last season. It will be interesting to see considering our main villain from last season, Malcolm Merlyn (oh John Barrowman, I will miss your evilness) is dead and his accomplice, Moira Queen is in jail. I am also interested to see the dynamic of the Arrow team as well as the drama between Laurel and Oliver over Tommy’s death. So let’s fly our way into this review!
Or back to Lian Yu, the island that Oliver escaped from in the first episode of last season. This season it starts off with him apparently going back to the island to hide away from all his trouble. Tsk, tsk…can’t hide from your groupies Ollie! Felicity and Diggle tracked him down to the island to bring him home. It is kind of speaks a lot of Oliver’s mental state. He has a kind of Stockholm syndrome for the island. Why go back to the place you spent all of Season 1 trying to separate yourself from? Felicity gets the first smile from the half naked archery, opening it up for Diggle and her to convince Oliver to go back to Starling City.
In the city, Oliver is brought to speed on what is happening with Queen Consolidating and how Isabel Rochev (played by the wondrous Summer Glau) is trying to take over his family’s company. During this catch up on current events on Starling City, Diggle explains who ‘Blood’ is, a man from the Glades trying to help the victims. Blood is only mentioned once, but it had a certain foreboding aspect to it that I would not be surprised if he became a major player in their lives.
Diggle ends up taking Oliver to his sister, Thea, who now runs his club Verdant. She also has her boyfriend Roy Harper working there with her. Talk about office romance. In all seriousness, despite what her mother did and her brother leaving again Thea’s character has matured. She is not trying drugs or running around with crazy friends. You get a sense of responsibility from her. I hope it lasts throughout the season though, you never know with this gal. It’s like The Real Housewives of Starling City with her…or at least the Real House-sister. One minute she’ll be good and loving and grown up, next thing you know she’s off her rocker doing some crazy stuff. I digress though; seeing Thea acting so mature makes me do hope that she stays that way. Despite wanting to hurt her mom for what she has done, Thea does do the right thing at the end of the episode. She goes and visits Moira in jail after everything that has happened and tries to reconcile with her.
So after the attack during a fundraiser, including the mayor getting shot and Laurel being introduced as working for the District Attorney, Oliver finds out the second reason why Diggle and Felicity came to get him. Four thugs are running around dressed up as the Hood, but with guns and no restraint. Oliver doesn’t like being played. News flash neither does anyone else! But he gets angry at Diggle and demands to be taken home in order to help his family’s company. Clearly Oliver doesn’t want to be the Hood anymore, but we can only fathom why.
The introduction scene for Isabel’s character is very tense. It seems Felicity has been upgraded from IT tech to Mr. Queen’s personal assistant. All the fan girls and boys rejoice, clearly this is a clue to the Olicity pairing. Isabel takes vicious jabs at Oliver which I am sure is part of her plan to try to through him off his game. Luckily for Oliver before the talks get too far, the four thug Hoods enter the room. Hello, does the security downstairs not work properly unless Diggle is there? How do these people get into the elevator with assault rifles? Anyway, they are after Oliver now since his mother was apart of the Undertaking. After getting Isabel out of the room while Diggle is shooting them one of them catches Oliver. Luckily, our favorite tech girl whacks him in the head. Oliver then returns the life saving favor by taking Felicity on a ride down a few floors on the chain of the office shades.
After the cops come to investigate and everyone leaves the office, Diggle and Felicity question Oliver on why he didn’t take on those thugs. An argument breaks out that he didn’t come back to be the Hood that he came back to save the family. Felicity steps up being a boss as she demands to know why Oliver is denying it so much and why he isn’t doing anything about them. Oliver explains it is because as the Hood it is kill or be killed and that his best friend (Tommy, who died in the Season 1 finale) died thinking he was a killer. Felicity suggests that he find another way, but Oliver basically blows her off saying if they won’t help her save Queen Consolidating he will find someone who will.
That someone is his mother. He goes to the prison his mother is being held at. Despite being a billionaire and confessing to the truth, her prison looks like a dingy low class place. I mean come on, you didn’t pull the trigger to kill the Glades and you have money, don’t you think you’d get into a more pristine jail for the ‘rich’. Oliver explains the hostile takeover to his mother and she tells him that this is a family business and that he doesn’t have to do it himself.
Back at Verdant, the thug Hoods attack looking for Oliver. Roy attacks when one of them points a gun innocent woman. That’s when they take Thea as a hostage and Roy really can’t do anything about it. When Oliver comes to the club to see cops in it Officer Lance, who got demoted for the events of the Undertaking, tells him they came for him but took Thea. Oliver makes a decision and quickly makes his way to the basement with Felicity and Diggle behind him.
Downstairs Felicity shows off her improvements, including the custom bow she got for him. Let me tell you, I don’t know where that girl got the money for improvements but damn it looked good. She also kept the bar mount that she liked when Oliver did. Hey Felicity…I liked it too! After that comment, they down to work. They realize that these Hoods were all people who lost loved ones in the quake. After a little pep talk from Felicity, Oliver dons the costume to go get his sister.
At the Standing Strong church where they met, the Hood fights these copycats and saves Thea. The fight choreography looks better than the first season. It looks more fluid and less faked. It also shows the aggression from the anger the character Oliver has been having through the episode and his flashbacks. The Hood defeats the copycats and leaves them for Officer Lance. When Lance comments on how the victims of his are a little more dead, the Hood says he is trying something different.
Despite their falling out over Tommy’s death, Laurel and Oliver make up over his grave. I think this is appropriate because Laurel has committed herself to help capture the Hood. I cannot wait for the conflict this will cause of them later down the road when Oliver continues his vigilante escapades. What will happen when Laurel finds out his secret? These are questions that pop into my head in the first episode!
It is especially fun when Oliver outwits Isabel by bringing in Walter, who is now head of the Starling City National Bank. He has committed the funds to help Oliver keep his control over Queen Consolidating, even if he has to partner with Isabel. It was interesting to see that Moira told Oliver to go to him especially with what has happened. After the meeting, Felicity once again makes Oliver smile making all those fans squeal in happiness.
Now before I talk about the ending of the episode, lets talk about the flashbacks. During them you see how life on the island is after they get rid of Fryers and his men. Shado, Yao Fei’s daughter, is now living with Slade and Oliver. Shado and Oliver are apparently in a relationship. Well considering she is probably the only woman on the island good for him, but watch out for Slade, he might want her for himself or a threesome. The former ASIS agent is training the young billionaire and honing his skills. In my opinion, this explains where he gets much of the ruthlessness that he exhibits in some of his battles. I like how the flash backs are still progressing intermittently between the present events. They explain the reason why his decisions in the present are the way they are or how Oliver acts a certain way. In this case, the fact that he has a body count and his anger are relevant.
Okay, so imagine my surprise when I’m watching the end of this episode expecting Roy to get his ass beat down after saving someone only for him to be saved by………that’s right folks! The Black Canary! My jaw dropped! I was not expecting the Black Canary, consider Laurel’s character was based on her. One thing that got me is that her staff broke into two batons for her to use. In the flash back, Slade was using two bamboo sticks to teach Oliver the same kind of fighting technique. Did Slade teach the Black Canary? I have theories. Not only that, but who is the Canary? I can only assume it is someone that Oliver knows. Why else would should choose Starling City? I personally think it would be awesome if Felicity was her, but I highly doubt she is. I can’t wait to see more of her.
Another ending surprise is what is suggested when Oliver is speaking to Diggle and Felicity in the Foundry. He wants to do the vigilante business differently. He wants to honor Tommy and not have the vigilante be known as a murderer. In order to do that, Felicity suggests starting anew with a new name. So as Oliver is contemplating this, he is looking at the green arrow head on his arrows. Then…..scene cuts to black. Hopefully the name Green Arrow makes it into the show, or at least Arrow. Episode two comes out soon and I can’t wait to find out more.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Arrow – “City of Heroes” 5 newly named heroes out of 5.
Follow ComicsOnline.com through the name changing tension-filled drama to Facebook for more TV reviews and everything geek pop culture!
