After two amazing and very impactful episodes, Arrow returned to the main plot of the season: Damien Darhk, and Ollie’s mayoral campaign. What would follow was a simple yet effective return to this plot, with one sowing numerous seeds that’ll be followed up in the future.
Where “Code Of Silence” shined was in showing the lengths HIVE is willing to go in order to achieve its goal, as well as Darhk’s depths of…well…darkness.
First off, the opening scene where his wife outfoxed Team Arrow? Epic. Then we go into the HIVE base for the first time? Complete with honey comb architecture? Brilliant. And Darhk killing one of its members…via a video screen…while he is in MADRID, SPAIN?!?!!?!? Man this guy is good. Oh, and Merlyn now being in HIVE? Oh yeah, that’ll be big later on. Though I’m confident he hasn’t revealed Ollie’s identity as the Green Arrow based on everything Darhk did in the episode.
Back on track, the use of the Demolition Team was simple, yet effective. A little too simple at times, but it was clear from the beginning this was a “resetting the course” kind of episode, so it’s hard to fault it for that. Besides, what they lacked in backstory, they made up with in visuals. A nail gun, a sledgehammer? And bringing down buildings? Cool.
There were disappoints in the episode though. First, I was truly sad that we didn’t get to see the debate between Ollie and Ruva. The whole point of the mayoral campaign is to show Ollie is competent enough to be mayor. Yes, he’s done charity work, and taken a stand against crime (as Oliver Queen), but handling the issues is just as important. And with all the mentions of “Debate Prep”, it was a little sad to not see it, then hear that Ollie “won” the debate.
Also…there’s Donna…
Look, the overall story for Donna and Quentin was actually good. As it dealt with secrets, and the trust one must have with each other. BUT, the way Donna went, “you either respect me enough to tell the truth…” and etc. etc. was just sad. This was the same crap Iris did to Eddie in Flash Season 01. Didn’t work then, didn’t work now. Cause some truths are impossible to tell, because they’ll get people hurt, or put them in danger, if told. I’m glad this got resolved in one episode so we don’t have to dwell.
Now, let’s talk about the last few minutes. Curtis coming up with the bio stimulant to get Felicity to walk again? Beautiful. This show is REALLY dark at times, and rarely does anything purely good happen to a character (seriously, think of one pure moment that was forced, coercised, marred soon after). So for this to happen? Epic.
And…Damien now has William! Because his mother “wanted them to look after him for a while”…so…where is Samantha? Is she dead? This would be a shocking move, especially if it was done off-screen after we just saw her in the Flash/Arrow crossover.
The flashbacks were simple yet again, but they did deal with Cochlan for the last time. And set the stage for the escape we all know is coming. None of these people are on the island when Ollie gets rescued, so where did they go? We know Ollie is getting off the island at least one more time (see: his Russian tattoo). The only question…is how?
“Code of Silence” was a solid, though simple, episode that brought spotlight back to the main plots of the season. The diversion with the League and Thea was great, but now it’s time to gear up and take down Darhk…before the body count gets uncontrollable.
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
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