Hey youtubers, this week on Arrow Slade Wilson returned to fulfill a promise he made to Oliver.
But it’s really just the beginning.
This episode is really the first in a line of four episodes that comprise a villains
arc.
It’s also the beginning of season 2’s end game.
Meaning every episode until the finale will take the Oliver Versus Slade story to new
levels.
Next week is a break but I will be doing a predictions video so if you’re finding me
for the first time be sure to subscribe to get it.
Since there were so many WTF moments in this episode let’s do our Top 5, then I’ll
do my favorite quotes and review.
I’ve also got some more details about Grant Gustin’s cameo as the Flash later this season.
Careful for spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode.
But here we go.
Number 5 - Businessman Slade meets Oliver’s family.
The main conceit here is that Slade was planting bugs all over Oliver’s house, but I loved
listening to businessman Slade talking to Moira as if he were a totally normal person.
A totally normal person running on mirakuru and leading a small army of supervillains
to destroy her family.
More to his campaign contribution.
I think he’s going to embed himself in Queen Industries via Summer Glau who is still part
of the story.
Even though he lied about not having a daughter I think she’s working with him.
She may not know who he really is though.
To be clear about his children Ravager and Jericho.
Oliver mentioned him in a previous episode, so either Slade thinks they’re dead or they’re
emotionally dead to him.
So it could have just been a metaphor.
Number 4 - Team Arrow Rolls Into Battle.
There were a lot of other teasers in the roll out montage, like Roy with the bow.
But when the “party” so to speak started, it was like being ringside at a Muhammad Ali
fight.
That’s why my favorite lines of dialogue from the episode came right then.
Oliver’s “What would you like to do now Mr Wilson” and Slade’s reply, “I hate
to Break up the Party.”
The big reveal though was what the actual promise was and Slade’s ally who takes Diggle
out.
Number 3 - All Hell Breaks looks on the freighter.
I’m considering a lot of the boat scenes to be part of this, starting the moment Slade
learns Oliver was responsible for Shado’s death.
They rebuilt the whole deck of the boat to shoot the action scene and it looked glorious.
Just a hail of bullets and people jumping overboard.
My favorite stunt was hands down, Slade reaching over and grabbing Oliver mid-air as he was
jumping over the side and yanking him back on.
I know a little about how stunts are done, so I could tell they used wires but it looked
so bad ass.
And it got even crazier after Slade took control of the boat.
Number 2 - Oliver and Slade put on the hood and the mask for the first time.
This is like the birth of their persona’s, The Arrow and Deathstroke.
If you remember the australian rum they drank and that Slade brought in present day.
My screen got all fuzzy so I couldn’t tell, but it seemed like the name of the rum was
Deathstroke.
Somebody feel free to correct me in the comments.
There were some funny moments that follow like Oliver missing that Lord of The Rings
signal fire shot.
But really it was Slade calling him a brother.
I still think Oliver is going to try and redeem Slade by the end of the season.
Even though they’ll spend the next four episodes trying to kill each other.
And my Number 1 moment - Slade without his eyepatch watching the mansion.
The first thing that really grabs you is his eyeless socket.
It’s just haunting.
I think it’s just meant to visually show the hole he has inside his soul right now.
Like punishing Oliver will replace what he’s lost.
Both Shado and the eye.
That to me was bigger than Slade just peeping on the Queens.
That just implies he’s going to use the surveillance to catch them with their pants
down.
Here are a couple bonus moments though - Roy and Slade’s handshake of the century, Oliver’s
murder dream of Shado, Oliver’s training montage on the island.
Just running while shooting and doing something that looked very similar to the salmon ladders.
I already said a few of my favorite quotes, but here are a few more.
“Lucky for me, before all this I had a lot of practice.”, Slade calling Sara “Blondie”,
“I’m fortunate to have your entire family here.”, “I have allies too”.
My favorite quote hands down was Felicity’s “Looks like Oliver Butt Dialed Us.”
She didn’t have much of a presence in the episode, but they did give her one of the
best quotes.
My other favorite was Slade’s promise though.
“You cannot die until you have known complete despair as I have”.
Overall I give the episode a solid A. And it’s only the appetizer to the main course
that is the next four episodes.
That’s what Arrow has done so well this season is build the stories in such a way
that they all inform these final episodes.
We should all go back and re-watch season 1 and 2 right now, because think of how the
context of those stories change now that we know what’s really been going on since Oliver
came back to Starling.
Slade has been planning revenge this whole time.
The episode itself really did feel like a sequel to season 1’s The Odyssey.
Remember that episode setup Shado’s storyline and mirrored a lot of moments with Yao and
Billy Wintergreen.
High Fives to the production team.
Seriously, they rebuilt that entire deck for the major action scene and it looked amazing.
Mark Guggenheim was behind it and he also had a big teaser this morning about Episode
20.
He was waiting for a special announcement to reveal what’s happening, but it’s basically
Grant Gustin coming back to guest star as The Flash.
I’m predicting he’ll come out of his coma.
He might not have the red suit yet, but he will have his super powers.
I’m guessing he’ll be key to defeating Slade.
We only know the titles of episode up to 18, and there will be 23 total just like season
1.
So there’s still so much that’s going to happen.
I can’t wait to see it.
Be sure to subscribe to get all my Arrow and Flash videos.
I’ll be doing another Flash Bonus video this week and an Arrow Q&A.
So feel free to ask me anything you want.
Right now click here to learn about Arrow Season 3 and click here for that Q&A Video.
Thanks for watching, see you tonight.
High Fives!