Arrow (TV Series) Spectre of the Gun (2017) User Reviews

Politically Charged

[ThomasDrufke · 6/10 · 15 February 2017]

For the most part, I like my movies and TV shows to stay out of politically-themed stories. Now, this doesn't mean there can't be entertainment made specifically to tackle political topics. But Arrow isn't that. I've always considered Arrow to be great escapist entertainment. I can escape the daily chaos that is our current world and enjoy an hour or so of a comic-book show. I have to be clear here: I certainly can appreciate what this episode was trying to do and the conversations that it sparks, but there's a particular way to go about those conversations. I don't think this episode effectively tackled the topic of gun control.

It would be one thing if the writers wanted to give Mayor Oliver Queen something to do in his day-time job rather than at night, but there was nothing about this episode that felt natural. I mean really, why have we not seen Prometheus since the mid-season finale? 4 straight episodes without a season's central antagonist? The episode's message actually had the opposite impact on me. I felt like a message was being shoved down my throat unexpectedly.

As far as the rest of the episode goes, I really enjoyed finally seeing Rene's backstory before he became Wild Dog. It turns out he had a wife and a daughter before all of this vigilante nonsense. Rick Gonzalez has been a bright spot this season and he showed once again why he will be a welcomed regular on this show for quite some time. To me, the idea that Rene had a particular stance on gun control because his wife was murdered felt way more earned than forcing this issue into the present day plot. I would liked even more focus on Wild Dog.

There wasn't a ton else going on tonight. Dinah signed a lease for an apartment (random), Felicity told more lies involving her hacking, Thea made her not-so memorable return, and Vigilante made a pointless cameo. Overall, it wasn't executed as well as it could have been and I think found itself too obsessed with a political message that wasn't earned. I'm all good for an underlying message in TV and movies, but not one that forces conversation into a show that was never meant to be a show that covered those sorts of issues.

+Rene backstory

-Political message shoved in our face

-Where has Prometheus been?

6.3/10

Grim and ambitious

[danielloe · 8/10 · 16 February 2017]

***Warning! Contains spoilers!*** This is, in my opinion, by far the most ambitious Arrow episode ever. It takes one of the most controversial issues in America at the present and bases virtually an entire episode around that. Now, I'm not going to lie. This wasn't an easy episode to watch. The opening sequence is extremely disturbing, because it feels all too real. This is one of those episodes that clearly one you either love or hate.

As you can probably guess by my score, I ranged more on the loved side. I have a few issues with it, but it's rare to see a politically centered episode dealing with a current topic tackle the issue in such an interesting way. This episode is unapologetic ally political, with constant references to many issues in America, with seemingly no more restrictions on having the characters voice their opinions one real life issues.

One thing I really like about this episode was that it wasn't preachy. Both sides of the gun control debate were fairly represented, and in the end the real resolution is that compromise is the answer. But for a while, the characters don't know what to do, just as it is in real life. There's no easy answer, and that's really interesting to see. The ending undermined this feeling a bit, which is why I couldn't fully get behind it, but the grim realism and complete boldness on the part of the writers to tackle such a controversial issue so directly, yet without preaching, more than made up for a few flaws.

I haven't been the biggest fan of season 5, but this episode definitely kept my interest through the entire run time.

Arrow - S05E13 Spectre of the Gun

[j_forbesy · 8/10 · 15 February 2017]

This episode of Arrow had a pretty different feel to what we are use to getting in Arrow. When Oliver first joined the political side and became Mayor, I was excited to see how he would be as a mayor. Up until this point, we had've had too much, but this episode really changed it.

I really enjoyed how this was more of a Mayor Queen episode rather than an Arrow episode. While we did get a bit of Arrow stuff, I really liked seeing Oliver start to warm into his role as mayor. While it isn't going so smooth sailing, it was great to see him tackling Star City's problems from a political angle. I really hope we do get more of this in the back end of the season because I like seeing a more mature Oliver handling these situation differently from the typical put an arrow in someone.

Along with the political story line we got some political pushing in the episode. While I don't always like heavy political pushes in some TV show, I felt out of all the episodes we have got with Arrow, this was the one to do it. It ran a nice parallel between the politics in the episode and what is happening in the real world. As I don't live in America, I didn't quite get the full effect of the political push, but it was still a nice parallel to have this episode.

The final thing I really liked about this episode was the back story of Renee. Over this season I've started to like Renee more and more as a character and most have that has come as we learn more about him as a character. This was the biggest chunk of information we have gotten about his past and I thought it really put a lot of his characteristic in context and it makes him more understanding as a character. My only nit pick with his flash backs was that he doesn't seem like he is old enough to have a daughter that age. When it was mentioned in past episodes that he had a daughter, I thought that she would of been quite young, however that wasn't the case. While it's not a big thing, it did just take me out of the episode of a second or two.

Overall, a pretty solid episode. While it was on a quieter note to some other episodes, I thought it was great to see a more political Oliver, something we haven't got a lot of this season.

Arrow goes political...

[solarpanelshydroelectric · 16 February 2017]

Well, that was unexpected.

Of all the things I expected Arrow to do, going political was not one of them. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised, as Arrow tackled a very sensitive subject in a tasteful, if not masterful way. Doing something like that is always going to be a big risk, as people will pretty much get offended no matter what. I thought the show did a good job avoiding getting TOO preachy. It was certainly ham fisted, but not nearly as bad as some critics and fans have claimed. It's no Star Trek in terms of tackling socio politics, but not terrible either. In the comics, Oliver Queen was on the far left, but it's understandable why they didn't do that. Enough people are upset already, even though in my opinion the episode took both sides of the argument fairly, certainly not pushing an agenda, but whatever. The Oliver of tonight's episode is more a well meaning in-the-middle type guy who wants to find a middle ground. It's not exactly a risky move, but it did lead to some really good speeches from Stephen Amell.

The episode was also somewhat notable for flushing out Wild Dog's character a bit more. Character development isn't exactly Arrow's strong suit, but this was a nice attempt nonetheless. It's pretty well acted, but it's somewhat pedestrian in execution. There were plenty of other nice, smaller moments, that contributed to make this a really solid episode. I definitely wouldn't want every episode of Arrow to get political, especially if it's tackled at the same level of intelligence as "Spectre of the Gun", but as a one time thing, it was pretty solid.

+Tackled a controversial topic with taste

+Rene's character gets more focus

+Diggle and Dinah

-Still a bit ham fisted and preachy

8.5/10

One of the best episodes of Arrow

[franciscofernandes36 · 10/10 · 18 February 2017]

I have the following thought for me: Comics are a literary genre. Comics are a popular genre ... by the way, quite popular these days. And they are also one of the most popular genres among young people in our society.

In that sense, why not do what Tolkien or Martin did with the fantasy genre? Problems like the growing evil in the world (read: inner evil of people as social intolerance and inability to talk serenely about political values) were approached by two of the best known writers of the fantastic world in his greatest works. Can anyone criticize the merit of these magnum opus?

Another example? The Dark Knight Trilogy...

The media, as the first contact between reality and families, and their television programs, their series or films, should challenge us, people and citizens, to get out of the syllabic monotony and the relaxed disinterest to which they are accustomed.

Seeing Green Arrow always jumping off the rooftops, shooting an arrow and catching a mere villain can be fun, but have him defending a political position helps him a lot to make him a more realistic character.

In this sense, this episode of Arrow, although the little developed history, was a spectacular episode. The non-stop action must sometimes have a certain interregnum and an episode to reflect like this one is the best thing to USA and the rest of the world nowadays.

10/10 STARS

Pushing a Narrative.

[theshellhasghosts · 4/10 · 7 June 2017]

A man entered the Mayor's Office with an AR15 and opens fire, killing bunch of people and wounded even more.

The only reason I have a problem with this episode is because it tries so hard to push the Liberal Narrative of Gun Control. That in of itself is bad but they say things that are not true at all to try and pull parallels to real life.

Example.

1. AR15 stands for Armalite 15. The show tries to say that the AR15 and the M16 are the same gun. They are not. They also say AR stands for Assault Rifle, it does not.

The main differences of these guns is that an M16 has fully automatic fire option, an AR15 does not. They are normally not sold up to Military velocity specs or accuracy either.

2. They try and say that "You do not need any information to buy one so they are almost impossible to track." that is a complete lie. Every single firearm in America, that is sold legally, you need to fill out information with the dealer that they provide to the State. I do not care where you have heard different, you are wrong. It is the law and it is impossible to legally sell any Rifle or Handgun without getting it registered with your County or State, normally both.

3. There has been an Assault Ban and it was revoked.

They try and say there isn't one anymore...but there is. Automatic weapons are not sold to the general public. It's been illegal since around 1920.

4.They think firearms aren't registered. They are.

5. Tries to say there is a limitation to freedom of speech. There isn't. So long as you aren't threatening violence, you can say whatever you want.

6. They try and portray the Pro-Gun side like idiots. They provide all the examples above without having any of the Pro- Gun people retorting, like they are factual. They aren't.

I would have given this a 1 if they didn't find common ground towards the end. Them pushing an agenda needs to stop.

Leave it to Guggenheim to write some organic uneventful trash

[TrundleTheGr8 · 5/10 · 15 February 2017]

With Flash and LoT being off this week i was hoping for an episode of Arrow to fill that void only to be underwhelmed with an episode of political garbage, the only points of this episode i enjoyed were Rene's backstory, Diggle and Dinah moments, and when Oliver talked about all the people he lost, which hit me right in the feels. Other than that the villain of the week was not even entertaining, just depressing. Guggenheim strikes again, but hey at least we didn't get any olicity garbage shoved down our throats. It was also nice to have Thea back but this episode overall was quite boring, way too much of Guggenheim's political agenda and not enough action.

Too much politics, none of it currently factual

[conjh13 · 1/10 · 24 February 2017]

As soon as I heard phrases like "it's military-grade" and "it's the same thing as an M-16" I knew this was going to be an awful episode. If you're going to jump on such a politically-charged issue, at least get the facts right. The AR-15 hasn't been military-grade since 1964, when it was replaced by the M16, which is not the same gun. Or in other words, yeah, it WAS military-grade... OVER FIFTY YEARS AGO. Since 1964, AR-15's are semi-auto rifles specifically designed for civilian use, and as such, they are no more dangerous or lethal than any other semi-auto rifle of similar caliber.

As for stricter gun control laws, it's also a proved fact that going stricter does not help, especially not in the US. Chicago has some of the strictest laws in the nation, yet has some of the highest gun violence in the nation. The reason is simple and should be obvious. There are simply already so many guns in the US (estimates say over 300 million) that getting one illegally is trivial. If the federal government banned gun production today and started actively trying to destroy every gun currently in the US, you could still probably get one fairly easily even a hundred years from now. Stricter laws do nothing when you can get dozens of guns directly in private sales from some guy in the middle of nowhere.

It honestly doesn't matter which side of gun control you fall on in the US, because there's literally nothing positive additional government regulation can achieve at this point.

This episode made me want to vomit, and I was actually unable to finish it.

Reviews about this show shouldn't have to be about politics, but here we are. Hopefully this will never happen again.

Worst ep ever

[Jane2002 · 1/10 · 9 March 2017]

This is the worst episodes of Arrow I've ever seen. When I saw the warning at the beginning my first thought was, "Oh this is gonna be good! Maybe we'll get some kick ass fight scene with rolling heads or a glimpse of an ass!" Instead I got an episode about gun control. WTF? While they did seem to show both sides of the issue, it was still totally out of place. I tune in to this show as a way of escape, why did they have to go and make it political? It was a complete turn off. At this point, the show is going downhill and is my least favorite of the CW's superhero lineup. The only good thing about this ep was Rene, he's easily becoming the only reason I'll be tuning in. I appreciated finally learning his backstory. AND as doofy as it is, I love how he calls people hoss, it's hilarious.

The Worst Episode of Season 5 so far

[KeepPoliticsOutofTV · 3/10 · 17 February 2017]

This is one of my favorite seasons of Arrow, but this episode was just terrible. Arrow got political this week and tackled the issue of gun control, it tried not to take a side, but they made sure the lefty characters got their message out to the viewers at home. Politics need to stay out of TV shows. Supergirl is so damn liberal that I no longer watch it: lesbians, a female president who beat a "horrible man" who ran against her, open borders for aliens, etc. I want to be able to watch my TV shows without being force fed liberal beliefs. The saving grace of this episode was the backstory for Wild Dog, but I felt the death of his wife was poorly handled. This better be a one time thing because I will stop watching the show if it keeps this up.

An Empty Episode

[DeltaFlotFan · 3/10 · 16 February 2017]

The most disappointing episode of the series. While there are ways to write in a political viewpoint into an episode, this was not done here. This episode hits you over the head about gun control, in a show where you have a group of vigilantes running around the city. Wrong place for this message. About the only redeeming part of this episode was Felicity and Curtis agreeing that civil discourse between opposing views has been lost.

Good but, leave out the politics.

[tatrodder · 3/10 · 20 July 2017]

Good episode but could do without the liberal gun control message. I don't need some director spewing their liberal beliefs on me. I am a gun owner, I have an AR15 As an American it is my 2nd amendment right. I'm sorry if Hollywood doesn't like it but, too bad. I found the line that Curtis said "Land of the free, home of the stupid" very offensive.

Really? Anti-gun propaganda episode?

[funkfool-1 · 1/10 · 6 September 2018]

At least make some attempt at knowing the facts regarding the functionality of the firearms in the episode.... I guess being liberal means never having to acknowledge the facts of an issue.

Where the heck did this plot line come from?

[emmagata · 3/10 · 15 February 2017]

I've watched this from the beginning but recently strayed away because it basically became just one giant fight scene. I thought I'd give it another go and what do I see? A gun violence/control debate? All sorts of weapons (and magical spirits/powers) have been used throughout the show and now all of a sudden there's an issue with guns? Seriously? At least it attempted to show both sides and some resemblance of accuracy. I hope this is a one and done plot line. If I wanted this kind of debate, I'd turn on CNN.

And a 9.4 rating before the show was done airing on the east coast?

Worst Episode of the Series

[creed-49887 · 2/10 · 13 April 2017]

I didn't give this a one out of ten because they made a small attempt at showing both sides of the gun control issue. What they did actually do is show the typical ignorance of those who support stricter gun laws. Curtis remarks that the AR15 is the exact same thing as an M16 and the former Navy SEAL present doesn't bother to correct him. It is crazy that a group of vigilantes or the former cops (I am retired police myself) would be opposed to citizens being able to protect themselves. The episode ends with a "common sense" gun laws speech by Oliver.

I really like this series and understand that it is fantasy. This series (and Flash) dance around the fact that sometimes bad guys need to be stopped permanently. How many times have either of these characters chosen not to kill someone who later kills someone. The conversations about Diggle struggling to kill someone who is threatening to never stop trying to harm his wife and kid is absurd. Would anyone really struggle making that choice to protect their family, even if the threats were coming from your brother?

Arrow tackles gun control...

[highmarksreviews · 3/10 · 2 February 2018]

Arrow has proven capable of handling touchy subjects like drug addiction and vigilantism in past seasons and with such an interesting idea, "Spectre of the Gun" should have been a winner in some ways. Sadly, the show continued down a boring road this week yet again with zero action and bad dialogue. It also failed to address the subject it set out to discuss, and ended up making a big mess of it.

Propaganda heavy episode. You miss nothing in the series skipping this episode.

[Imperceptor7 · 1/10 · 1 April 2020]

This is a heavy handed anti-gun propaganda piece. The plot is simple, boring, predictable and not in any way related to the overall narrative of Arrow. Do yourself a favor and just skip this one.

A good Idea, But Executed Badly

[knightjar-74369 · 4/10 · 12 March 2018]

This episode tried to Tackle an important topic: Gun control. But the end result of this episode was just...odd. Firstly, there's Rene's story in the episode. The Flashbacks are good, getting to learn about Rene's family and why he's a vigilant, that's all fine. But. but the fact that Rene is hassled by the rest of the team for carrying a gun just makes no sense. Oliver uses a bow and arrows to fight crime and there for he probably carry's some Flechete arrows with him in case of an emergency. At the very least he knows how to defend himself with hand to hand combat. Curtis fights with tech. Dig can fight bare hand as well. And so can Dinah. But Rene fights with two Machine Pistols and Probably isn't as good a fighter as the others, and yet everyone hassles him because he carries a gun. ? Now I'm not pro guns, but Rene uses a gun to fight crime, so why can't he use one to defend himself? This part of the episode didn't make sense to me. And the other thing about this episode that completely didn't make sense is that, Oliver talks about introducing stronger laws for the whole episode and by the end all he's managed is some nonspecific legislation that doesn't really do anything. So, the moral of the episode ends up being: As much gun violence as there is, no public official can do anything about it.

A good idea for an episode but the end result was rough and didn't make sense.