Arrow (TV Series) Penance (2016) User Reviews

A good episode, but a step back..

[maddniarslan · 8/10 · 27 October 2016]

I thought that, although it was good, this week's episode of Arrow was a step back... Which is a shame really because after watching the promo for the episode, I had predicted that it would be quite possibly the best episode so far if not up to par with the first three.. One thing to learn from that; don't judge anything by it's trailer.

Anyways on to the episode.. SPOILER ALERT (obviously) The first three episodes have been great, because of great action sequences, interesting and (really) badass flashbacks, and just an overall great dynamic.. this episode lacked.

The first thing to point out would be the editing, really poorly edited episode. Obviously can be ignored because no one will remember that in the long run, but should be mentioned.

The next negative thing I have to say, so you know, we can get over with it and get to the good stuff, is about the Rory/Felicity story.. arc.. thing. I thought they handled it really well last week, and I was happy they didn't extend it any further than it needed to be, but they didn't do it right this episode. The ending conclusion that they came to was fantastic, I like that Rory isn't like every other character who's lost somebody on CW shows, so seeing the sort of plan him and Felicity came up with towards the end of the episode made me happy. However, the entire segment he had with Oliver and then Felicity at his workshop was rubbish, really awkward stuff that could've easily been avoided if they just completely cut those scenes and went straight to the part where he came back after coming to grips with Felicity's reveal.

The flashbacks; they were okay at most this episode, but what they sort of 'opened the doors' to was great. Oliver is now Bratva. Trust. Also, I thought Stephen did a great job with the flashback scenes and I think he is under appreciated for the fact that he plays two very different Olivers each week.

Now to the good stuff..

Although it was weird to see Oliver leave his team outta nowhere at first, it made sense later on, and I actually liked the dynamic, because it proved that Oliver could set aside everything to help his brother Digg. I also loved the solo Oliver prison breakout stuff, really season 1-ish. What I'm sort of unsure of though, is if that idea of setting everything aside would've been better presented if the episode as a whole did that, and we just got to see Oliver breaking out Digg for the whole episode, I feel like that way it would've seemed a lot more important too, "John is in prison" isn't something to be taken lightly, a separate segmented episode dedicated only to that would've made that idea clearer... but then again, we got some pretty kickass Team Arrow stuff.

All in all, 'Penance' was a good episode, but could've been better. I'm still super pumped for Arrow this season, probably more so than any other show because I'm excited to see what the cast and crew do to redeem themselves.. that dynamic makes it more exciting.

Arrow has been great so far but I'm still worried for it, they've tested the patience of many fans that have now left the show, viewership has drastically dropped to almost the average CW show level. They're gonna need to do something really big to get fans back but the way they're sort of rushing things and from the teases we've got, I think the Arrow team has something really big up it's sleeve.

+ Thea/Quentin Dynamic

+ Oliver sets everything aside to help Digg.. Diggle is back

+ Wild Dog character is getting better (judging by this week's episode and next week's promo)

+ Prison break stuff

+ Stephen's acting in the flashbacks (worth noting)

+ Adrian Chase is a sick character

+ Felicity's character is improving

• Curtis is getting a little annoying

• No in-depth look into Ragman's past, needs to happen soon.

• Poorly edited episode

• Mehh writing

8.5/10

Arrow - S05E04 Penance

[j_forbesy · 8/10 · 27 October 2016]

Like the other CW superhero shows, Arrow has been flying high for me and 3 weeks in, it was going alone strong. Coming into the 4th week of these shows being back, I was still waiting for that one episode that didn't knock it out of the park, and I had a feeling that it was going to be Arrow that brought that miss hit. And it was.

In no way was this a bad episode. I would still rate this as a really strong episode and compared to what we good dished up last season, this episode was a stunner. But compared to how well they started the season and how strong the other shows have been every single week, this episode was a bit of a let down. There was still a lot I liked about it though so I'll dive into that.

First of all, I thought the opening scene was really well done. I'm really liking this relationship that we are starting to see with Oliver and the new team, especially with Wild Dog. I like how Wild Dog tests Oliver more than we ever saw Roy or Thea do when they were his understudy. I like how Wild Dog is that similar personality to what Oliver was in season 1 when he was just running around killing people. They both show that sense of being reckless and I really like the dynamic it is creating not only between them but the overall team.

The first bit that was a bit of a let down for me was when Rory spoke to Oliver about leaving the team. I'm not sure if it's because we just had a couple of big farewells on Flash or it was in competition with last season finale with everyone leaving, but it felt a bit soulless. At no point did I ever believe he was going to be gone and never seen again but I wanted them to draw us in as the audience into believing that it may have been an end to him on the team. The flip side of that though, I really liked the scene with Rory and Felicity later in the episode. I like this Felicity we are getting, she is more inline with what we saw and loved in the first two seasons. Out of everyone, they are the friendship I want to see grow the most. There is just something about the situation that I like seeing play out on screen and I think that is mostly because they are playing out as a redemption story of Felicity, who up until the Olicity stuff, I was a massive fan of.

Something that has improved massively this season and it continued to again this episode was the flash backs. I'm really liking the story they are telling but more importantly the pace it is being told at. In 4 episodes we have seen Oliver go from a fight club fighter to a member of Brava. For me, I think the overall pacing of how they have done it has been balanced perfectly. One of the big problems I had with last season's flash backs was that they seemed to drag on and on and it took forever for the story to actually move anywhere.

My favourite stuff of the episode was the jail break scenes. Firstly, they reminded me so much of early season Arrow where it was just Oliver on his own, breaking into places and taking out guys. What I liked about these scenes most was the meaning behind them. Over 4 seasons, regardless of the individual quality of the seasons, the relationship and brothership that has been formed between Oliver and Diggle is some of the best I've seen. These scenes for me really represented how strong their bond really is and how well Oliver and Diggle know how each other works. I was expecting a little more fight back from Diggle for wanting to stay but to me it all made sense that when he saw Oliver coming to his rescue, he would know that he had to leave. I think this was a great role reversal because so often we see Diggle giving Oliver a talking to on why he isn't thinking straight, where in this episode, we got to see Oliver doing a similar thing for Diggle. A bonus to that, Diggle is my favourite character on Arrow is it is always great to see him playing a large role in the team.

Like I mentioned at the start, this was the weakest episode so far across all the CW superhero shows. But in its own merit I still think it held itself as a solid episode. I just think that there were a few individual moments that were missing a bit of heart that the other shows are hitting us with so it fell a bit short for me. Also, I was hoping that Speedy was going to suit up and go out there to fill into Oliver's leadership. While I don't count that as an opportunity lost, it is something that personally I would of liked Thea to step up and do as both a character and to build upon the foundation that has been formed as Mayor of when Oliver can't do something, Thea is the one to do it.

8/10

Dig is Back

[ThomasDrufke · 7/10 · 26 October 2016]

It seems like a yearly thing for Arrow to have an episode centered around a prison break-out. This time it was breaking Diggle out of prison, who is serving his "penance" for his missteps in the latter half of last season. Some fun moments here and there, but the episode fell victim to a few too many moving parts.

I don't normally mention flashbacks first in my reviews, but I felt like they were completely unnecessary this week. I haven't minded the Russia material this year, in fact it's been a million times better than anything last season had to offer, but taking a week off tonight probably would have been the best move. I get that they wanted to have a link to the prison scenes in the present, but sometimes less is more.

I was on board with Diggle's wishes to stay in prison for a while because of last year, but I'm also excited to have him back in Star City. Lyla and Oliver are right though, his family and the city need him. Looks like he will be serving his penance as Spartan while hiding out from the law. It will definitely be interesting to see how that pans out.

The other big character arc came from Ragman as he quit the team and then in a huge unexpected shock, rejoined the team merely a few segments later. I understand Arrow wasn't likely to include him in one episode, only to have him quit, but I'm just not a fan of his character. Of course, that can change, considering I'm coming around on Wild Dog as of late. He seems to be stepping up his game. Perhaps next week, when it looks like Team Arrow will break him out of Church's grasp, will be when he earns his stripes the most.

Quentin and Adrian Chase had some time together this week as they worked with each other to investigate Church a little more, while Oliver is gone. There were a few moments where Chase specifically mentioned vigilantes that I feel like solidifies him as the new favorite to be Prometheus. There's still some other possibilities, but I have to believe he's the new big-bad.

So in all, it was an okay week for Arrow. I'm still excited for this season but I would like to get some more movement on the Prometheus front, considering it's been two straight weeks without him. Here's hoping.

+Diggle is back

+Oliver beating his team up

+Quentin & Thea

+Wild Dog is growing on me

-Ragman please leave

-Flashbacks were unnecessary

7.5/10

Prometheus Possibilities

Adrian Chase 45%

Billy Malone 10%

Susan Williams 15%

Someone else 30%

Original Team Arrow is back!

[BBloomcamera · 10/10 · 28 October 2016]

So much went on in this episode between characters. Almost felt it should have been broken up into two episodes. Dig is back! That is all that really matters. I loved the scenes with Thea and Lance during all this. I loved when they came down to the bunker. It's clear they don't know totally what goes on down there. The recruits are becoming more interesting and really are better at working as a team. This season is "mean" so far. I do like it, but I am worried for these new recruits. Overall, I could have gone for more Oliver with Dig and Lyla scenes. A little less judgmental/always too emotional Felicity would have been nice too. Even with that being said, I am looking forward to Original Team Arrow being back together. Dig has really been missed. I think he will be a big help to Oliver as he has these two very full-time jobs. Hopefully, he will help Felicity get back on track.

What was the point of this episode?

[scarlettyforest · 6/10 · 26 October 2016]

Arrow's fourth episode this season was spawned from last weeks 'cliffhanger' where Lyla asked Oliver to break John out of prison, but I have a few gripes with this episode. Disregarding the fact that the series has already done prison break episodes a few times before (Roy's escape from Starling City and the time Laurel was rescued by Oliver), this episode contributes nothing new to the show and revolts back to the same aimless, clichéd writing that littered the last two seasons of the show.

For a starters, Arrow so easily throws around terms like "John's in prison" or "Everyone in Havenbrook was killed!", but the thing is: I don't care. As heartless as it sounds, the writers need to make the audience care about characters if they want 'drama' to come off as more than, well, drama. After a whole season of John complaining about his brother, I don't need another episode of Diggle crying about it, because people don't do that in real life, they do that on soap operas. If Arrow wants me to care about these scenarios, show me the red fire engine that John and Andy fought over when they were younger, tell me who Andy said he wanted to become on career day in elementary school . Give me an episode on how Ragman's father inherited the rags as a wide eyed young boy, then juxtapose it with him as a father, fear in his eyes, trying to save his sons life.

On another note, I'm also still waiting for Curtis to become a hero. I had the same issue with Laurel when she first transitioned into the Black Canary (although I liked her a lot more later on), and that is, these versions of the characters written by the writers are not 'vigilante' material. The word 'ex-olympian' keeps getting thrown around Curtis a lot but he's not characterized as a fighter or as someone bold enough to become a costumed vigilante which makes him come across as silly next to streetwise kids like Wild Dog and Artemis.

This episode's story arc of a prison break also leaves me perplexed with wondering what story the writers are trying to tell. Oliver may be a vigilante, but he's also the Mayor of Star City. It's unethical to jump the gun to breaking someone out of prison without first exhausting every measure available in the legal system. Oliver can't inspire the people of Star City to have hope in their officials if Oliver can't have faith himself. This extends into another problem with the series: What is the point of Oliver Queen? In the comics, the Green Arrow was a symbol of progressivism and hope for those who had been exploited by the rich and powerful. This Oliver Queen? He abandoned his crusade against the wealthy long ago, and its clear that the series has a focus on Oliver trying to beat up "the bad guys" rather than him trying to actually help the people by inspiring to be better.

All up:

+ (Some) exciting breakout scenes

+ Kord Industries shout out

• Illogical decisions

• Poor Writing

• Drama

• Bland direction and editing in action sequences

6.4/10

Prison Break: Arrow

[highmarksreviews · 7/10 · 1 February 2018]

After the two episode slog that was the team-building story arc, "Penance" introduces a good plot, good action and more dramatic depth. While the show faced a slightly cheaper set piece this time around, Season 5 is on a good path to redeeming Arrow.

Turning point....

[cmyth007 · 5/10 · 29 December 2020]

This episode was really a turning point for me. Some of the characters just start to really get irritating. I sat and watched this episode and started to get irritated with how irrational and unbelievable the characters were starting to act. John and Felicity have become very tiresome. And Curtis? I have no idea why they added him to the show. He is beyond irritating. It's like they wanted more of Felicity's "Charming" 'babble when I'm nervous' behavior and for some reason felt like they weren't getting enough from her? The Curtis character was irritating before his first appearance was over.

And John, wallowing in self pity after killing his brother--who just got done threatening to kill his wife and daughter...give me a break.

I hope they make some big changes because at this point, I can't stand Felicity or John anymore.

New Team is awful

[kjv-06229 · 1/10 · 29 July 2019]

The show has reached a new low. A guy in a goalie mask and another that can't shut up. This has become painful to watch.