After last week's train wreck of an episode, it was nice to see Arrow get back on track this week. Although I'm sure I'm not the only one to be surprised that, with the third to last episode of Arrow season 5, we'd get the resolution to the Robert Queen story arc.
In Adrian Chase's continued efforts to destroy Oliver, he sends Oliver a mysterious dead corpse stuck in concrete. And why? Well, because as it turns out, this is a corpse of a man that Robert Queen killed and covered up. Oliver tries to deny this as some sort of trick and lie from Adrian, but eventually has to face the reality that his father may not have been the man that Oliver thought he was.
Yeah, this is tough. Try to think of someone close to you that has passed away who you loved and respected, then try to imagine how you would react of details surfaced of something awful they had done. Pretty heart-wrenching, right?
This is what Oliver has to deal with this episode and the emotion that comes along with it is pretty strong. The scenes between him and Thea in this episode are pretty great as they talk through it between themselves in a very Oliver/Thea sort of way. Oh, and by the way, Thea is back. She walked in the room and I was reminded that I hadn't seen her in a long time. I guess it says something that I haven't really missed her too much while she's been gone, but I was happy to see her again, so make of that what you will.
The resolution of all this I think was done pretty well as it ties into a lot of themes that have recurred throughout the series. We know that Oliver and Thea's mom wasn't the best person in the world, but she loved her two kids a lot and gave her life saving them. Thea herself was then dealt a huge blow when she learned that Malcolm Merlyn was her real biological father. Then we come full circle learning that there was a lot more to Robert Queen than Oliver and Thea knew about. As Oliver said, this whole brigade began with him trying to honor his father and now he has to come to terms with the fact that his father killed a man and covered it up? Ouch.
But the final resolution is paralleled with their mother. No, their father may not have been a good person, but he sacrificed his life to save Oliver Queen back at the beginning of the show, so it shows that he loves Oliver. And as we learned in the video that Thea watched at the end, he really loves her, too, even though he is not her biological father. It was a great way to wrap up a story line that I had no idea was going to be wrapped up at this point. But I liked it.
Then we have the battle with Adrian Chase at the end, which was pretty cool. Up until Adrian Chase gave in like a rag doll when Oliver told him that his father was ready to disown him. That was just too easy. Had that been the actual way they defeated Adrian Chase, that would've been the dumbest resolution ever. But as we saw from that final shot, and given the fact that this WASN'T the finale, Adrian Chase has something up his sleeve. He wanted to get arrested and Oliver played right into his trap without even realizing it.
And, oh yeah, we had flashbacks. Real flashbacks. They mainly consisted of Anatoly and Oliver saying their farewells. Good bromance moments. Then Dolph Lundgreen comes in and knocks Oliver out. More on that later, I suppose. And more to come on why Rene decided to NOT show up at the hearing? Even though I'm not super invested in that arc, I thought Quentin and Rene had established the fact that he WAS going to show up?
Overall, I'm glad that we're back. This is not the episode that I thought we were going to get this week, but it was much better than last week's mess, and the more I think about it, the more I really enjoyed it.
In Adrian Chase's continued efforts to destroy Oliver, he sends Oliver a mysterious dead corpse stuck in concrete. And why? Well, because as it turns out, this is a corpse of a man that Robert Queen killed and covered up. Oliver tries to deny this as some sort of trick and lie from Adrian, but eventually has to face the reality that his father may not have been the man that Oliver thought he was.
Yeah, this is tough. Try to think of someone close to you that has passed away who you loved and respected, then try to imagine how you would react of details surfaced of something awful they had done. Pretty heart-wrenching, right?
This is what Oliver has to deal with this episode and the emotion that comes along with it is pretty strong. The scenes between him and Thea in this episode are pretty great as they talk through it between themselves in a very Oliver/Thea sort of way. Oh, and by the way, Thea is back. She walked in the room and I was reminded that I hadn't seen her in a long time. I guess it says something that I haven't really missed her too much while she's been gone, but I was happy to see her again, so make of that what you will.
The resolution of all this I think was done pretty well as it ties into a lot of themes that have recurred throughout the series. We know that Oliver and Thea's mom wasn't the best person in the world, but she loved her two kids a lot and gave her life saving them. Thea herself was then dealt a huge blow when she learned that Malcolm Merlyn was her real biological father. Then we come full circle learning that there was a lot more to Robert Queen than Oliver and Thea knew about. As Oliver said, this whole brigade began with him trying to honor his father and now he has to come to terms with the fact that his father killed a man and covered it up? Ouch.
But the final resolution is paralleled with their mother. No, their father may not have been a good person, but he sacrificed his life to save Oliver Queen back at the beginning of the show, so it shows that he loves Oliver. And as we learned in the video that Thea watched at the end, he really loves her, too, even though he is not her biological father. It was a great way to wrap up a story line that I had no idea was going to be wrapped up at this point. But I liked it.
Then we have the battle with Adrian Chase at the end, which was pretty cool. Up until Adrian Chase gave in like a rag doll when Oliver told him that his father was ready to disown him. That was just too easy. Had that been the actual way they defeated Adrian Chase, that would've been the dumbest resolution ever. But as we saw from that final shot, and given the fact that this WASN'T the finale, Adrian Chase has something up his sleeve. He wanted to get arrested and Oliver played right into his trap without even realizing it.
And, oh yeah, we had flashbacks. Real flashbacks. They mainly consisted of Anatoly and Oliver saying their farewells. Good bromance moments. Then Dolph Lundgreen comes in and knocks Oliver out. More on that later, I suppose. And more to come on why Rene decided to NOT show up at the hearing? Even though I'm not super invested in that arc, I thought Quentin and Rene had established the fact that he WAS going to show up?
Overall, I'm glad that we're back. This is not the episode that I thought we were going to get this week, but it was much better than last week's mess, and the more I think about it, the more I really enjoyed it.
