Arrow "Broken Arrow" Review

Where to begin with this...odd conception of an episode...so this is Broken Arrow, no, not the 1996 action film starring John Travolta and Christian Slater (Though that would be one hell of a crossover) this is the latest Arrow episode. Here we have Roy going to jail pretending to be the Arrow and ends up faking his death, escaping and going incognito, meanwhile, Ollie realises he's pretty much useless at this point and has to rely on Ray to fight the villain of the week, a meta-human named Deathbolt played by Doug Jones. In the end, it's a combination of Ray and Oliver's skills that lead to their victory. Also Thea is stabbed and most likely killed by Ra's Al Ghul...so let's get down to business.

Let's start with the Deathbolt plot because that's surprisingly what I have to most to say about. Back when it was announced that Doug Jones would be appearing in both Arrow and Flash, I got really excited because Doug Jones is one of the greatest character actors of all time...and they made him a villain of the week...wow what a waste. Although I suppose he will be appearing in Flash next week so I guess he's the villain of the fortnight? My point is, when I hear Doug Jones as a meta-human, I expect something awesome, or at the very least an elaborate costume for him to wear, instead we get a Cyclops rip-off who really isn't that threatening or memorable. Maybe he'll leave a bigger impact in his next appearance, but for right now it was really disappointing. But atleast we got more of Cisco and Ray together, infact, screw Olicity, i'm shipping Raysco. But seriously, how do the meta-humans poop? Ray asks the real questions here.

Then there was Roy's imprisonment followed by an abrupt death and an even abrupter goodbye, which I don't get, there was nothing in this season to build up to him having a goodbye, nor any alternatives set up for him. Is he going to join that team-up show in the works? Maybe the Teen Titans? Or are they literally just cutting him out for no reason? Though now that I think about it, it's not all that surprising that they're cutting him out because he has had very little to do this season except be the voice of reason amongst a bunch of angry nutbags. But that's not to say you have to get rid of him, he's still a likeable character and maybe seeing him in a different position would be good for him. But seriously, how rushed was this exit?

And then as if one big change in the status quo (not that things were quo before) Ra's shows up and kills Thea, or atleast, that's what it looks like. Now first of all, yes they actually did set this up prior so it's not completely out of left field. But second of all, i doubt she's dead; think about what Ra's said before killing her "he will beg me" so my theory is, he kills her so Ollie has no choice but to beg Ra's to use the lazarus pit to bring her back to life, Ra's will agree if Ollie agrees to take over as his heir. Not a bad plan, but then I think that maybe this should have been option A, i mean I don't see how ruining his reputation is going to help anything.

In the end, this was a meh episode (surprise!) the major events didn't get enough focus and what did get focus didn't actually feel important enough; it's a case of where the less interesting plot got more focus than the one that deserves the attention. 6/10.

-Danny