Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and this week on Arrow we found the Man Under The Hood doesn’t
matter and we got probably one of the most important Island Flashbacks all season.
If you’re finding me for the first time I do Arrow videos and Q&As every week.
Be sure to subscribe to get everything.
I’m working on something special for the next 4 weeks too.
So let’s start with the title.
The Man Under The Hood, what’s it all about?
That was our big question.
When we found out someone’s identity was being revealed I had all kinds of plot theories,
which Quentyn answered in this really eloquent speech.
But let’s talk about that during my top 5 moments.
Careful for spoilers if you’re not caught up.
Here we go, Number 5 - Quentin’s Man Under The Hood Speech.
This is a version of the Dark Knight speech that Gordon had in that movie.
Which is fitting, because I always thought there was a strong parallel between Quentyn
and The Arrow and Gordon and Batman.
Maybe that means someday Quentyn might be commissioner of Starling City?
This was such a great way to put Laurel into this really positive mindset as to how she
was going deal with learning Oliver’s secret.
And I love that Quentyn refused find out.
I kind of suspected from the moment she found out that she was going to treat this like
a good thing.
Once the shock wore off.
And that epic Hug she gives Oliver is her just shedding her last moment of doubt.
It was great, every time on Arrow should be hug time.
She’s definitely going to become another stealth member of Team Arrow.
In the way Quentyn is is an unofficial member.
And side, note I definitely think we’ll see a Slade Oliver Hug by the end of the season.
They wouldn’t create a cure if they weren’t going to use it.
Number 4 - Slade Is Waiting In The Arrow Cave
This was one of the best action sequences all season.
It’s almost like a short film, you could just cut it out and post it as a 4 minute
trailer.
Stephen Amell even did this funny thing on twitter where he teased fans by giving a breakdown
of the scene.
Here’s his post.
I can’t wait to see him do a comedic role someday.
Unless you consider Oliver on Arrow to be a comedic character.
He and Felicity would make a great comedy duo.
She already gets most of the comedic lines in the scripts.
Number 3 - Slade Is Using Roy To Create His Army
Even though they’re not a legion of soldiers, if one person on mirakuru is bad.
Even a couple of them would be a nightmare.
And Roy in that crazy Tanning Booth looking harness was straight out of a horror movie.
I love how this episode kind of jumped from noir cop drama to science fiction at star
labs to horror in Slade’s lab.
Which is really a credit to the writing and the set design.
I’m guessing that when Roy skipped town Slade captured him.
Roy didn’t turn sides.
If it wasn’t clear, Roy still has Mirakuru in him.
He flips out in the next episode, so we know he wakes up off that table in the Arrow cave.
The way the mirakuru works I think is that the serum is like a catalyst for your body’s
own natural abilities.
So once you get injected, your own body just starts producing it.
That’s why Roy’s blood can create all those other super soldiers and Slade can transfuse
Isabel into a super soldier.
Number 2 - There Is A Cure For The Mirakuru
This was one of the biggest Island Flashback scenes ever.
Just because it gave us the solution to the problem that is Slade.
We’re going to make him human again, there’s a big asterisk though.
When Ivo was explaining the cure, he said it only reverses the physiological effects
of the Mirakuru.
Not the psychological, and it seems like the only reason Slade is attacking Oliver is because
of evil Tinkerbell Shado.
So if they cure him, it sounds like it won’t get her out of Slade’s mind.
I may have just heard it wrong, but either way he won’t be indestructable anymore.
They’ll be able to kill him for real.
Meaning Oliver is probably going to have a choice to make like he did back on the Island.
He’ll either have to Kill Slade or do something else.
I keep saying that Oliver is trying to not kill people this season, so I don’t think
he’ll end up killing Slade.
For a number of reasons, but that doesn’t mean Sara won’t try.
Like a reversal of how Oliver killed Ivo.
She might try to take care of Slade for Oliver.
and my Number 1 moment - The Flash Crossover with Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow
So much to talk about here, let’s stick to the big stuff.
First off, the Star Labs facility they’re working at is like the candy store of Super
Weapons.
In case you missed it, when they grab that gun Caitlin says all of the tech in that locked
area belonged to Arthur Light who was Doctor Light in the comics.
A super looney tunes bad guy.
I think we can thank Geoff Johns for including the name drop.
He wrote the Flash comic book for a long time and is working on the Flash TV Show right
now, so it makes sense that he would write this episode.
They also answered everyone’s future crossover questions when they mentioned Felicity visiting
Barry.
He’s being kept in Star Labs Central City facility.
The producers confirmed he wouldn’t wake up until the first episode of The Flash.
Which is done, yes they’ve finished the pilot.
Geoff Johns, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim tweeted this picture when they watched it
for the first time.
No word on when we’ll get to see it.
Hopefully they’ll just air it on TV after the Arrow finale in 5 weeks.
and here’s one giant bonus WTF Moment - Slade brings Isabel back to life by transfusing
Mirakuru into her.
Andrew Kreisberg just revealed a whole bunch of details about her character.
She’s basically a mashup of Isabel Rochev and Ravager.
So she has Isabel’s backstory from the comics, she was Oliver’s father’s lover and wanted
revenge on his family.
And the tv show is turning her into Ravager.
The way Slade was looking at her on the table was kind of the way a father would look at
a daughter.
So maybe he kind of thinks of her as his adopted daughter in a really perverse way.
We’ve all seen the pictures of her as Ravager, but now we know that she’ll be juiced up
on mirakuru.
So Summer Glau is essentially playing a Terminator again, and it’s going to be full of awesome.
You have no idea.
There was this other really cool bit of information about the Ravager persona they revealed.
On the show, they originally wanted Caity Lotz’s Sara character to start as Ravager
and switch back to being good, until Summer Glau was cast.
Because she worked so well as a fighter, they decided to give the Ravager arc to Isabel.
So now it’s your turn, let me know what your favorite moment was.
Flash Crossover, Laurel kind of becoming part of the Arrow fan club or that Ravager teaser
at the end?
Overall the episode was a solid A. I feel like I’m going to be giving straight A’s
to all the rest of the episodes this season.
The show has done such a good job of building momentum.
Which is amazing considering how awesome The Promise was earlier this year.
Stephen Amell had this really nice rally cry for the next 5 weeks so I’m even going to
be doing a special countdown series I’ll explain in a sec.
I know I mentioned how the episode went from cop drama to sci fi to horror, and that’s
one of the reasons why I think the show is able to stay so interesting.
It’s really easy to get comfortable with a format, like just watching your billionth
episode of Law and Order.
I’m really interested to see which genres they do in the rest of the episodes this season.
And I’m really coming around on Laurel’s character.
I know everyone is still thinking she’s going to become Black Canary in season 3,
but I still think that’s too soon.
I think she’s just going to stay in her current role and just start trying to help
Team Arrow from behind her desk, the same way Quentyn helps them via the police force.
The character that’s really dangling in the wind right now is Thea, John Barrowman
probably won’t be back till the finale, but she is a big part of Roy’s arc next
week.
So she hasn’t completey skipped town.
I feel like I’ve covered all the important stuff, but let me know what your final thoughts
are on the episode and whether or not you think Oliver will be able to cure Slade.
Just like normal, my Q&A will post tomorrow.
Be sure to subscribe to get it if you’re finding me for the first time.
That countdown series I mentioned will start next Wednesday morning.
I’m going to do bonus morning videos for Arrow every wednesday just to help get everyone
pumped for the finale.
Feel free to suggest topics in the comments.
Right now click here for that Q&A, i’ll add the annotation as soon as I post it and
click here for last week’s episode.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow.
High Fives!