Arrow, 5.06 - "So It Begins"

Warning: SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED.

Hey everyone! I apologize for not keeping up, A LOT has happened this week and I'm still trying to process and figure out what's going to happen in the future. I've watched the latest Supergirl episode and will be writing a review, forgive me - I just didn't want three Supergirl posts in a row. I have yet to watch Jane the Virgin or last week's episode of The Flash, but bear with me - I will try to post them all soon. So, you'll just have to settle with this week's episode of Arrow. Let's get started!



To put it nicely, this episode....well...it was just a hot mess. Every week, I think that it can't possibly get worse, but the Arrow writers always manage to impress me. They continue to fail at writing proper character arcs and personalities, even for the ones that have been around for FOUR years. To my shock and dismay, I found both Oliver and Felicity dislikable and out of character this episode. Somehow, the Arrow writers only know how to write Oliver in two modes: unnecessarily asshole-like or unnecessarily apologetic. Also, no matter what the writers want us to believe, there is no way either of them would've moved on so fast when not even eight months ago, Oliver himself declared that she was the best part of his life, the same Oliver who told Barry he had never been more at peace with Felicity nearly a year ago. They even have the audacity to let Oliver and Felicity JOKE about their respective love interests. Nuh uh, I'm not buying it, and I never will.

The writers clearly don't respect Felicity - they seemed to be cursed to lack respect for the female lead. I stopped liking Laurel after season 2, but it was clear that the writers didn't know what to do with her and that's why she became so disliked. I fear that Felicity is destined to go on the same path. The inconsistencies build and build, to the point where I question if the writers even remember what they wrote in the previous seasons. Felicity is insistent on NEVER EVER bringing Oliver coffee when they were just friends, but all of a sudden she gladly delivers coffees to Detective Fugly (look, they could've at least cast a hot guy or better yet, a GIRL, for the love interest) at his job, while she herself is unemployed? She has to resort to concocting bad lies and straight up stealing evidence from her boyfriend (which literally could get her arrested, by the way)? Sigh.

Anyways - with Church out of the picture, Oliver must deal with the threat of Prometheus, and fast. Prometheus is cunning and always one step out of reach, spelling out "So it begins" with fire and murdering people with throwing stars. He doesn't tell Baby Team Arrow until Prometheus' threat is publicized - a good decision, in my opinion. We can never get enough Original Team Arrow, and let's be real - Baby Team Arrow are still novices, and would've hurt themselves and the mission. Of course, that's not how they feel - they go off on Oliver for continuously distrusting them. This is still the definition of hypocrisy, in my opinion. Curtis still can't even fight properly, and this should really be acknowledged. He just looks stupid trying to argue with his two months of training while Oliver survived 5 years on an isolated island, Slade Wilson, and Bratva, and Diggle spent years in the army and as a bodyguard. We finally get some interesting and much needed background on Evelyn's trauma and pain, but only for two seconds and only because she was mad at Oliver. Really, writers, really? Evelyn ends up validating her inexperience anyway, trying to go after Prometheus alone on a moving underground train. "Get out!" she screams to the poor conductor. Yeah, great idea, Evelyn! If only he wasn't stuck on a speeding train in a tunnel! While I'm talking about, it was REALLY lucky that he happened to be the only one on the train! Imagine what would've happened if there were, I don't know, ACTUAL passengers on the train as well! Rory is the only good one, which is ironic because he's the one white guy on the new team. In conclusion, I am bitter.

Felicity and Curtis plus their super advanced tech figure out that the names of Prometheus' victims are anagrams to people on Oliver's list. Remember the list from way back when in season 1? When Arrow still knew how to ground stories in reality while developing interesting - sorry, I'm getting carried away. Once again, the team is super pissed at him, and they really shouldn't be. It's especially unsettling that Curtis, Evelyn and Rene, all people of color, get so mad about this. Why is it wrong for Oliver to murder these corrupt people, most of them rich old white men? Every single person on that list deserved to be there, and all indirectly destroyed or killed innocent lives through their selfishness and greed. The need for Oliver to pay for his past mistakes over and over again is getting really tiring and cancels out the progress he has made over the past seasons. 3x23, literally titled "My Name is Oliver Queen", anyone? And last I checked, Oliver still didn't actually KILL most of them. The inconsistencies are really, really, REALLY, getting annoying at this point. I might as well add that this is so unfortunate for the victims. I mean, it's already sad that they're being murdered, but now we know that they're being killed only because the letters in their names can be arranged to form other names.

This episode wasn't completely unsalvageable - John Diggle slayed in every scene he was in, and the final reveal was unexpected and well played. Diggle's reaction to the newbies is actually me - he doesn't particularly care for them, and can tell that they can be more of a hindrance that a help. He also proves that he will always have his brother's back - Diggle always knows what to say to make Oliver feel better, and their dynamic is one of the best parts of the show. As for the throwing star in Quentin's home, it's obviously a red herring, and with the discovery that Prometheus must be part of the SCPD, it looks like I'll be (reluctantly) sticking around. However, these are two measly pros to go up against my growing list of cons. I'm afraid the writers will turn my favorite characters into people I can't recognize or like at the rate they're going, and that makes me sad. I just want to protect Oliver, Felicity, John and Thea from bad writing. With the sh*t happening due to the election, we deserve to get some happy content. Please?

Rating: 6.4
Extras that didn't make it in: With violence on the daily, why are people realistically still living in Star City? If the mayor's office doesn't have money, how do people still have jobs? "Stop calling Susan Williams my girlfriend" - one of the only relevant things Oliver said this episode. To Thea and Felicity, of all people. Sad.

*My next review will probably be The Flash or Supergirl. See you then!