Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and this week on Arrow Huntress came back and gave us a
nice teaser for future Birds of Prey episodes in season 3 and beyond.
There was a lot of secret identity revealing teased and Slade also made a huge move against
Oliver.
So let’s start with a big question.
How far gone is too far gone.
Let’s look at what happened to Helena in this episode and apply that logic to Slade.
First though, next week is a very Deathstroke centric episode.
So if you have questions about that or about Birds of Prey, leave them in the comments
and I’ll include them in my Q&A video tomorrow.
Be sure to subscribe to get that.
The writers really did a lot to mirror the Huntress and Deathstroke characters, so because
there was so much awesome to talk about.
Let’s do Top 5 moments and try to answer the question, is Slade too far gone to come
back.
Careful for spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode yet.
Here we go, Number 5 - Secret Identities being revealed.
Felicity’s quote heavily foreshadows the next couple of episodes.
It’s getting really hard to tell who know’s whose secret identity.
Marc Guggenheim revealed that more people are going to learn Oliver’s secret identity.
Based on the situation Thea got herself into in the last couple minutes of the episode
and the cell phone moment Detective Lance had with Oliver.
I think it’s safe to say they’re both going to learn who’s been shooting all those
baby Arrows around.
Detective Lance in particular has been getting more and more complicit with the Arrow since
Sara started working with him.
It’s like he’s an unspoken member of the team.
Gordon never learned Batman’s identity, or at least never let it show that he knew.
So I hope Lance does the same thing with Oliver.
I want him to figure it out, but I like the idea of Oliver not knowing that he knows.
Thea on the other hand is probably not going to take it very well.
Everyone has been lying and keeping secrets from her.
It just feels like they’re clearing the path for Merlin to swoop in.
The John Barrowman cameo meter is off the scale right now.
I also really though the Canary would reveal herself to Laurel.
Which I also think is coming.
Remember the title of Episode 19 is The Man Under The Hood.
But that doesn’t mean that they Canary couldn’t out herself to Laurel.
Who else gets the vibe that pretty soon it’s going to be open war against anyone in a mask.
Bad or good..
Number 4 - For the Record Don’t Call Me Speedy.
Marc Guggenheim keeps using the Arsenal name when talking about Roy, but technically they’re
not really settling on anything yet.
Oliver called Roy Speedy not because he wanted to give him that nickname.
But just to remind him of Thea to shock him out of his mirakuru induced rage coma.
It’s possible that if Thea is the one to die this season, Roy could take up the name
Speedy to honor her.
The list of candidates for people who Slade will kill is really being localized to Oliver’s
family.
Thea, being the biggest teaser going into next week.
It seemed like Roy agreed with Oliver’s request to keep her at a distance.
So I don’t expect Slade to turn Roy against Oliver, but I do think the writers will tease
that in episode 20.
Seeing Red.
They keep focusing on how pissed off Roy gets.
Like that last scene with him smashing the bracelet.
I have a feeling Roy is going to ‘let the darkness in’.
Number 3 - Laurel Let’s the Darkness In
Her last scene just felt so sinister.
But I think they just want us to think that Laurel isn’t going use baby Arrows to go
after what she wants.
Teeing up her confrontation with Brother Blood.
It really feels like with Oliver going after Slade, she’ll be responsible for dealing
with the underling.
Earlier this year, everyone was wondering if they would kill Sara off and use that as
the catalyst for Laurel to become the true Black Canary.
As much as she’s course corrected her life, I don’t feel like that’s going to happen.
It just feels like they’re investing so much in Caity Lotz’ Canary that it would
be a complete waste of an amazing character to kill her off right after teasing a Birds
of Prey team-up in a future season.
If you’re not sure about that, the final scene is almost a dead giveaway that Huntress
will be given the Suicide Squad speech at some point.
Hopefully she’ll be back before the finale.
Number 2 - The Canary VS The Huntress
There were two awesome fight scenes with some nice Oliver jokes.
Just that Oliver definitely has a type.
And that type is stabby girls in black leather.
I loved their fight scenes, both of them.
Especially Canary getting pushed out the window.
I thought it was nice that Sara’s only reaction to learning about Oliver’s relationship
with her was with subtle bemusement.
That’s one of the things that I think Arrow is doing well.
Not defining it’s female characters in terms of their sexual relationships the male characters.
Also I thank them for downplaying the love triangles, I’m sure tumblr has some really
funny Slade Oliver ‘ships though.
I generally try to avoid those types of posts.
So I don’t have to burn my eyes out.
and my Number 1 moment - Slade takes Thea and sets the stage for the beginning of the
end.
Remember my big question, how far gone is too far gone for Slade.
Oliver tried to kill him on the island.
But taking Thea with the assumption that he’ll threaten to kill her kind of makes it seem
like that’s what’s going to be the point of no return for him.
They haven’t mentioned Jericho or Ravager in several episodes, but I’m still holding
out hope that Oliver will use them to try and bring Slade back mentally.
The next episode, Deathstroke, is actually a deep dive into Slade’s head.
It’s really like a complete Slade story for an hour.
Connecting more dots from the island to now.
We’ll also get more of an explanation of what the mirakuru has done to his brain.
Because it’s really the reason all this is happening.
They spent the entire episode mirroring Huntress’ story with Slade’s.
And she found some redemption, or at least came back to sanity.
I think it’s foreshadowing that Oliver will be able to redeem Slade a little.
Not completely, because I’m hoping that Slade continues to develop as Deathstroke
the mercenary in future seasons.
But enough to stop him from trying to destroy Oliver.
They’ll probably be frenemies for life given all that’s happened between them.
But now it’s your turn to answer my question.
Can Oliver redeem Slade this season?
Will the darkness quote unquote, ever get out?
Overall the episode was a solid B plus for use of Huntress.
I loved her character and how dark they made her.
Last time we saw her in season 1 she was pissed off and stabby, this time she was a full on
killer.
Not so much that she couldn’t find some redemption.
But it seemed like her Helena persona returned by the end.
I’m so hoping Amanda Waller pays her a visit soon.
How else will they be able to do a Birds of Prey episode next season?
Felicity had one of the best lines of the episode even though it feels like she was
barely part of the story.
Superheroes will be unmasked shortly.
Ultimately resulting in the growth of Team Arrow.
It’s getting really crowded in that basement.
Remember though, there’s still the threat of a major character dying.
Currently Thea is at the top of the list.
Let me know who you think is going to die this season?
Thea, Sara or Moira?
Remember, Q&A tomorrow.
So leave your questions you want me to include.
Right now click here for last week’s episode and click here for that Q&A link.
I’ll add the annotation as soon as I post it.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow.
High Fives!