As Oliver Queen states, sometimes good news is accompanied by bad news. In this case of Arrow, a poor episode (last week's "Collision Course") is followed with a good episode that brings Thea and Roy back into the fray to produce a strong story of the week. "Doppelgänger" works because of a much stronger focus on the main and legacy cast, providing a breath of fresh air after the sordid events on "Collision Course".
New Team Arrow is surprisingly absent except for Dinah's larger involvement in the SCPD police force, with Rene having no scenes, and Curtis have a quick scene with Zoe that really doesn't go anywhere or produce anything of note except to remind the audience something happened to Rene last week (despite having it shown in the previously on...). That effectively puts New Team Arrow out of commission for the time being until their involvement is needed. Given the tease and preview for the following episode, it will be at least another week that at least focuses on Thea, which is a nice turnaround for the season moving, even if for a brief series of episodes.
"Doppelgänger" is a fairly straightforward episode that moves at a brisk pace and has pretty much a singular purpose, and it is to bring Roy (and by extension Thea) back into the fold, at least for the time being. There's not much to muse on except for the tiny details the show has deemed to insert, with myself hoping they somehow pay off as the Diaz plot comes to fruition. One scene in particular stands out with SCPD Captain Hill giving sound advice to Oliver in order drum up money for the force (and by extension, the city) to the tune of 30 million dollars, as this could easily have been done in secret for the benefit of Diaz.
Black Siren posing as Laurel Lance is a very interesting B-plot as we follow Katie Cassidy through the many masks that Earth-2 Laurel has to wear as she moves from confused survivor, to well-meaning and regretful villain, and to dastardly double agent. Quentin finds himself now paired off with Dinah in another smaller plotline to root out crooked cops, giving the dynamics of the cast something interesting as it pits two people with some big odds working with one another for a greater good. There's also a lot of good character work as Oliver and Thea muse about Roy's involvement over the years and subsequent sacrifice.
The one big question remains though, is how exactly is Diaz such a mastermind? I'm sure the show will eventually pull back the curtain, though there is already a lot to be shown in "Doppelgänger". A lot of it is probably from surveillance recorded by Cayden James, though there are smaller, finer points - like finding Roy despite no one else being able to locate him - making him seem like a credible threat of his own accord. My main concern is how Diaz incites everything to begin with; he's basically had about a year of lead time from our heroes in the distant background, manipulating events to his liking. Hopefully the writing ends up catching up with the performance, because there is the feeling from my gut this could end up like the situation in season four (and three), where the main villain ends up being portrayed by a fantastic actor, and the performance is outstanding, but the writing doesn't feel up to par.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Fireworks arrow! Although it's probably too much work to think about precisely how it would work.
- The casino fight is welcome and a breath of fresh air to alleyways and warehouses. Tracking the reused arrow in a series of attacks is an interesting way to frame the action, although in this point the action sometimes feels a little lacking in any other meaning except for our heroes to exert some agency on the antagonists.
- A really minor point, but I do like they are still addressing Diggle's need to reclaim the Green Arrow mantle, though the show also is setting it up in a way that Oliver feels as if he can't give it up again for some reason.
No comments:
Post a Comment