“Arrow”; starring Steven Amell, Katie Cassidy, Davide Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes, Manu Bennett, and Paul Blackthorne; airs Wednesday nights on the CW at 8/7C.
Warning: This review will contain spoilers.
“Arrow” Season two is fully committed to the “City of Heroes” tagline that was teased at the San Diego Comic Con. The latest episode, “Tremors”, is heavily focused on Roy Harper’s training under the tutelage of Starling City’s vigilante, The Arrow.
The Arrow continues to keep Roy in the dark about his real identity. Roy’s recent injection with the Mirakuru serum has caused him to have enhanced strength and healing, but the side effects that have apparently caused Slade Wilson to become a crazed villain are having similar effects on Harper. Oliver does his best to teach Roy patience and control but he mostly fails miserably. Roy is charged with emotion and Oliver’s tricks like punching water in the bowl and sparring with a wooden dummy only amp Harper’s emotions up to eleven.
While Oliver is training Roy, The Bronze Tiger gets help escaping prison from a mystery man who hides the Tiger’s claws inside his “bum knee”. The Bronze Tiger is told that his benefactor requests only that he perform a job that he will be greatly rewarded for. Proving that there is some honor amongst criminals, the Tiger agrees to the job. The job of course, being the worst kind of trouble for Starling City and its group of heroes because The Bronze Tiger’s target is a prototype earthquake machine in Malcolm Merlin’s abandoned mansion.
Oliver gets word of the break-in from Felicity and he takes a frustrated Roy Harper along to see if a little action will help calm the fledgling hood. Ollie tells Roy to suit up and they break into the Merlin Mansion to see if they can find out exactly what’s going on. They end up in the garage where The Bronze Tiger and his men are stealing the prototype earthquake device. A fight breaks out and through Roy’s over zealous pummeling of the wheel man, the thieves get away. Oliver knows the city is in danger now and inadvertently upsets his already sensitive protege. It’s at this point you’re certain The Arrow would much rather have Diggle at his side than his sister’s boyfriend.
The Laurel drama continues to spiral out of control as her father, the former detective Lance, tries to trick her into attending an AA meeting. She isn’t having any of his fathering, especially because she sees him as a hypocrite because of his past struggle with addiction. Laurel ends up out of control at Oliver’s bar and is notified by Thea of the situation. He, Diggle and Felicity are meeting in the basement to go over the failure to secure the earthquake device. Felicity is able to bring up the club’s security so everyone can take a good look at Laurel’s self-destructive behavior. Oliver tells Thea to send Laurel home in a cab and has to quickly dash away because Felicity has found where the earthquake prototype is.
Oliver Dashes off to save the day but is caught allowing the villain to monologue. The Bronze Tiger, done with his job, is an honorable crook. He attacks Oliver from behind and it’s only because of Roy’s stubbornness that The Arrow is saved. Of course Roy followed The Arrow because he wanted to prove that he can save the city even though he is partially to blame for the device getting away in the first place. The device is armed anyway though, and is behind a blast proof door that Oliver’s explosive trick arrows cannot get through. Oliver knows he needs Roy but Roy is caught up in his rage again. Harper will not listen to the voice modulated voice of The Arrow and continues to beat on The Bronze Tiger. It’s only when Oliver uses his real voice and grabs Roy that Roy stops. Oliver tells Roy that he knows how much Harper loves his sister and that he needs to focus on that because only Roy can break through the blast door and destroy the prototype before it destroys Starling City. Harper saves the day and Oliver’s secret is out. He makes Roy swear that he will not tell anyone his secret and now Roy is officially part of Team Arrow.
Roy, “You saved my life. You gave me purpose.”
The Arrow, “We’re just getting started.”
© Copyright, The CW
At the end of the episode Amanda Waller visits the Bronze Tiger in prison to request his services. She tells him that his unique talents are wanted for a unit she’s putting together–a unit that’s really more of a squad. That certainly confirms the rumors of the Suicide Squad showing up in Arrow in the near future. The DC characters don’t stop there though, as Sarah Lance aka The Black Canary makes a blurred appearance in the final scene of the episode. She’s probably there to help Laurel with her addiction problem but I’m happy we may get a chance to see her and Ollie fighting side by side again next episode.
The episode was a fun one, even if it felt a bit rushed. It would have been nicer to focus more on Roy and Ollie’s interactions and less on Laurel’s downward spiral but that character development is going to be necessary as the series continues. Hopefully the Laurel addiction story means that Roy will be saved in the CW version of the DC universe from the drug addiction his counterpart in the previous DC universe suffered, but only time will tell. In that time we’re going to see exactly who else DC is going to add to the ever growing list of characters in The Arrow, and from all appearances “Arrow” will continue to thrill.