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TV REVIEW: FTN reviews Arrow SO1EO17 The Huntress Returns

March 21st, 2013 by Marc Comments

An interesting episode of Arrow this week, though the plot wasn’t as strong as episodes that have recently passed, it was still pretty exciting, so lets get into it.

Spoilers ahead…

Just as Oliver decides its time to take a break and spend some time with his new lady, his psycho ex-girlfriend, Helena Bertinelli a.k.a. The Huntress shows up looking to assassinate her mob boss father. To help her get close to her pops, who is now in protective custody, she looks to recruit a very reluctant Arrow. To accomplish her recruitment mission all it takes is putting Oliver’s loved ones in danger, in this case the homie Tommy. I have to say, I really love Huntress as the villain. In the comics she has always walked the thin line between villain and hero, and here her turn as the main villain who is sort of not a villain was well executed. I actually enjoyed her character more as the villain than as the reluctant hero. In her last appearance I wasn’t too fond of Jessica De Gouw’s portrayal of Huntress, her back and forth battle between the good and bad voices in her head so to speak didn’t really work for me, but this time she knows exactly what she wants and how to get it and that made her character a lot easier to swallow this week.

Thea and Roy Harper get some together as Thea tries to play the knight in shining armor for Roy, but ends up getting that turned around on her as Roy jumps in to save Thea from some bad dudes roaming The Glades. It was good to see that they eased up on the make up job they were putting Colton Haynes through; he looked a lot more natural. He also had a super bad assed mini fight scene when he shows up to save Thea. Whatever the hell was that spin move on the wall was, one thing is for sure, it was super sick! I cannot wait for him to finally partner up with Arrow; we’re going to be in for some awesome fight choreography. They also finally hook up, not much to say about that, but it happened.

Tommy and Oliver have some sappy moments with each other as they finally discuss Oliver’s other life, it was good to see Tommy finally come around to Oliver’s side, but I wish they hadn’t used that tone that they use when Tommy is wooing Laurel. You guys are supposed to be bros, talk it out like bros. I was half expecting Oprah to pop up and mediate. Elsewhere Laurel’s mother, Dinah, shows up with some evidence to make her believe Laurel’s sister, Sarah, is still alive. I felt bad for her dad as he tried to wrap his around this new discovery as it seems he has just barely began to put his life back together following Sarah’s death. One thing of note here, Lance referred to Arrow as The Archer, and though it’s not the name I hope they stick with, it is so much more preferable over The Hood or The Vigilante. Dinah’s evidence does seem pretty compelling, and at the end, she even wins over her former husband. It will be interesting to see where this goes, but it better have a huge payoff at the end, something that affects the overall story and somehow brings Arrow into it.

The final showdown this week sees Huntress finally track down her father’s location by roughing up poor Felicity. In another awesome action sequence, Huntress moves through the safe house putting arrows into lawmen along the way. The show is finally starting to its fight scene stride. We have had some good ones in the past, but early on they were a bit muddled by choppy editing and camera angles. It looks like the kinks are getting worked out as this episode delivered some great action sequences. Unfortunately this one doesn’t end well for Oliver’s new lady, Detective McKenna, as she takes a pretty nasty shotgun blast from Huntress. There was another nod to the DC Universe here as McKenna breaks things off with Oliver, telling him she will be moving to Coast City for her rehab. Now she can spend her days obsessing over Green Lantern instead Arrow.

The flashbacks were played up minimally here, though they followed the episodes quasi-theme of leverage, they didn’t really play along with the story of the week like they usually do. They did however provide one of the most badass moments of the week as Slade Wilson takes down a whole squad of Fyers men with double pistols. First off, as big fan of John Woo films, I love double-pistoled gunslingers to death. Second, this was the first time that we really see glimpses of Deathstroke in Slade Wilson. There’s no doubt that he’s been a really cool character, but that scene and those skills he displayed are 100% “Deathstrokian”, simply awesome!

Overall, though the plot wasn’t a strong one and seemed pretty simple and straightforward, what we did get was an exciting and action packed episode with some great fight scenes and some good character development as Huntress finally starts to come into her own this week. I also am looking forward to see Roy Harper become a more developed character as well. Not the strongest episode the show has had, but definitely a good one. My only other complaint is that Diggle kind of played the background here, though I did like Oliver’s recognition that Diggle is right about things more often than not, the sly “I’m not going to say I told you so” was a perfect way for Oliver to admit he was wrong without having to admit he was wrong. Actually, I do have one other complaint, Steve Aoki’s “music” almost damn near sent me into seizures.

3.5 out of 5 nerds

You can follow Christopher on Twitter @AUDone44 and The Nerd @nerdfollowing

 

 

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….