What interests me most about season six of Arrow is their committal to breaking up the team and actually having them operate separately. The only real downside is that the show makes it seem pretty obvious it is just "a phase" at times and the division of the team is really eventually going to come to a head at some point in the season. There's not going to be a moment where Dinah, Rene and Curtis spin off into their own show (if it were comics, they might) because the logistics behind television production simply won't allow it. But for the moment I will enjoy what the show will have to offer.
"We Fall" follows Team Arrow and Team New Arrow (what a name!) responding to a huge electronics hack attack by Cayden James against Star City. There's a couple of interesting threads that emerge out of the attack as part of it. Oliver and William's relationship comes to a head, Dinah and Vincent's relationship shifts slightly, and the audience and characters learn a bit more about what truly motivates Cayden James. The episode has a nice setup as it allows all the disparate parts of Arrow to come together in a stand-alone way but keeping many of its continual arcs on track.
The episode eventually culminates in a showdown at a community centre-turned safe zone following Cayden James' electronic hack attack on the city. The episode makes an interesting choice by having the large fight scenes narrated over by Felicity as she explains to William what his father does, and tries to assuage his fears about his father taking up the mantle of Green Arrow despite his wishes, as she draws on her own personal experiences. It never takes on the demeanor of adult-lectures-child as Felicity treats William more of a capable individual, if not an adult. It happens to work on top of that because of the school bus-tunnel scene where the show implies that William has perhaps inherited some of his father's more heroic traits. As Oliver and Diggle rush to rescue William from the tunnel attack, the show explicitly shows us William is at least not a hapless child as he takes charge of the situation, even in spite of the bullying he suffers from some of his peers; like the relationship between Team Arrow and Team New Arrow, the personalities involved are able to rise above their differences to help those in need. It means that when William accepts that Oliver and the Green Arrow are intrinsically tied, there is some implicit understanding within him that agrees and appreciates what his father does. I did wish there was some acknowledgement of it, but I'm also glad the show doesn't spell it out, as most of William's heroics happened out of eyeshot of Oliver and Diggle.
On the subject of the two vigilante teams, it stands to reason that any following episodes in this particular status quo will ultimately lead to some kind of team-up or ultimately having their threads colliding with one another. Part of me also hopes the split stays for longer for the show to examine the two teams and their professional relationship outside the likely many Cayden James-fueled crises. Perhaps something as simple as a metahuman in town creating chaos, or smaller criminal factions connected to one another, to see both teams operating almost entirely independent of another. This does happen in "We Fall", but more so in the context of the two teams (and for Team New Arrow in their inaugural dilemma) working in tandem to keep the city together. There's little begrudging done on both sides as with the crisis of the week, both sides agree it's too much to handle alone at times. I have my position on this element of the show fairly set, so I do hope the show allows this time to breathe as it did with Diggle-as-Green-Arrow earlier this season.
Dinah is a particular strong personality as well in this episode as she makes her discontent with Vigilante from the previous episode, as well as after it's revealed he provided intel for two attacks to help win back Dinah's trust. The new team does temporarily feud on how to best act on his intentions, but the show does seem very intent on making Vincent Sobel/Vigilante a double agent within Cayden James' organization. By the end of it, Dinah is relieved and the two of them meet in secret to resume their relationship. It makes me wonder if there are more twists and turns in store for the two, but at least there is some more substance to their interactions mixed with some intrigue.
Lastly, there is the matter of Cayden James' motivations. A lot of it is left to words throughout the episode, and any attempts to find the source of the forged information that was left for him happens off-screen. Part of me wonders if the forged proof of Cayden's son's death is one last gift from Prometheus last season (which would cement him as the most hilarious but best villain Arrow has had). It stands to reason Felicity especially will try to get a hold of the information but with Cayden's incredibly onerous demands on the city, perhaps it will come too little too late for Oliver as he ends up giving into his demands to keep his city together as much as he can as mayor. It makes me wonder how long it can continue.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Much love for Thea and Quentin, who always have great chemistry together. They don't have too much to do again this episode, but having Thea back to help Quentin as almost a third daughter is always delightful to see.
- Although he was generally a background character, it kind of sucked to see a character like Pike basically get killed off before the title card.
- Cayden James' alias for getting into Oliver's office was Ben Gale, which was a nice nod to Emerson's two character names on Lost - Benjamin Linus and Henry Gale.
- "Suit up" is getting a little worn out but I guess they really like to commit to it with Curtis.
- This episode is the combo breaker for every episode beforehand having an extended single-cut action sequence, but makes up for it with the speech from Felicity.
- There is a bit of sadness in Diggle's eyes when he has to put on the (new!) Spartan costume rather than the Green Arrow one.
No comments:
Post a Comment