Beyond Redemption

In a season seemed headed down an uninteresting and disjointed path, Beyond Redemption ended up being easily the best episode we have had since the Slade episode last season. Everything from the fantastic dramatic writing, to Lexi Alexander's great directing, this episode was a joy to watch.

The main focus being that Oliver is indeed running for mayor and using Sebastian Blood's office from season 2. Although he didn't necessarily need to use that particular office, it was a nice call back to season 2. Especially because there was already a built in lair. The new place looks incredibly by the way. These two new additions gave the team some nice reactions including Diggle's "oh you're serious?!" line and several other facial expressions and reactions throughout the episode. After all, the last few mayors have been murdered, so questioning his decision seemed appropriate. It's funny that all of the teams' lairs need to be near something important for Queen. His club, his company, and now his office. I guess this kind of confirms that he will become mayor. They wouldn't have this new place under a random mayor's office.

The best part of the episode was Oliver constantly popping up on Quentin. Often the best scenes in Arrow have been between Stephen Amell and Paul Blackthorne and this episode proved no different. Props to both their acting at Quentin's apartment. It really showed how much both these men have tried and tried to clean up this city only to fail time after time. Some really good emotional material all the way around in the episode, but that scene may be my favorite going all the way back to season 2 in terms of pure acting. It was heartbreaking to watch Oliver admit to Quentin that he's running for mayor mostly because of the advice he gave him a few weeks ago. Quentin has been that disapproving father to Oliver throughout the show and this scene served as the crux to that relationship.

The theme running through that scene, Oliver's mayoral candidacy, the rogue cops, and even Sara was the idea that they aren't beyond redemption, the episode's title. While I wasn't too keen on Quentin pointing the gun at Sara, Blackthorne's acting really helped me get over that hump into feeling so much sympathy for the entire Lance family. They have gone through more than any other family, by far. The villain's of the week were definitely there more to serve a purpose in story telling and not to pose much of a threat to the team. That's fine, but I can't help but think I would have given the episode a 10 if it had better villains.

Other than that, it was fun to see the team struggle with the new lair and phenomenal acting across the board. This is the best episode of the season of both Arrow and The Flash. Major kudos to both the writing and Alexander's directing. Please bring her back for more episodes.

Some other small notable things were the subtle mention of the ring Oliver was going to propose to Felicity with. I couldn't tell if Felicity really didn't know about it or she was just trying to hide that she did. Felicity also had some great moments with Curtis, who is becoming one of my favorite characters. Seriously, him and Patty Spivot over on Flash have really helped boost each show respectively. During those scenes Felicity mentioned Neil Adams, who is a writer of many DC comics and someone I have met at Chicago Comic con. One of the funniest moments of the episode also came from Felicity as she watched Oliver on the salmon ladder and said "I'm so glad we're back". That really hearkened back to the best moments of season 1 and 2. Lighter tone is definitely welcomed. Finally, Diggle mentioning how much he hates raising a daughter in this city reminded me of the possibility of both him dying at seasons end and potentially him moving away. It almost seems to me like because this season is about HIVE and linked to Diggle's brother's killer, this may be it for Dig. That's just me hunch right now.

+Great writing

+Lexi Alexander steps in as director and kills it

+Curtis

+Blackthorne and Amell on top of their game

+New lair

+Embracing Mayorship

-Villains didn't do much to impress

9.6/10