TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Arrow Season 03 Episode 07: Draw Back Your Bow

I will fully admit that I was very nervous going into tonight’s episode of Arrow. Mainly because of the involvement of new villainess Cupid, and the “reveal” that she was a stalker to the Arrow. Stalker stories are very tread upon, and can wind up being very cheesy. And though I won’t deny “Draw Back Your Bow” had some very cheesy moments, very few came from the actual Cupid storyline.

Props right off the bat for showing a logical reason for Cupid to become Arrow’s stalker. There was honestly only a few ways it could’ve been done right, and using the finale from Season 2 to be the spark was very nicely done. I also liked how Cupid wasn’t just a fan, or was just a crazy girl who wanted to be with Arrow, she was a real person who had a disorder. In this case Attachment Disorder. It added some depth to the character, which was needed as her dialogue was very one-sided.

In my opinion though, the Cupid storyline tied into the other main storyline of the piece, the budding relationship between Felicity and Ray Palmer, and how that was affecting Ollie. First off, Ray Palmer has a Salmon Ladder. Why? Who knows? But he does! Anyway, it was fun watching Ray basically shower Felicity with gifts to entice her to come to a business dinner with her (“you and I are going to be best friends…). All the while, her repeated mentions of Ray was clearly getting under the skin of Oliver, and like the great wingman he is, it was Diggle would had to point it out to him. It’s true that Diggle as of yet hasn’t been doing much this season, but what he did this episode was honestly some really great stuff. From chatting with both Ollie and Felicity, to showing Ollie that he had a true friend in him, it was all good.

A small but noticeable story was Roy still dealing with the fact that he killed a cop in Season 2. It really is good to see him struggle still with the truth, mainly because he was already 100% after just finding out about it, it would’ve come off as pointless. This struggle was amplified when he got beat by Cupid (though I’m not sure how…). And this led to a great mentor/protege moment as Ollie exploded in The Arrow Cave, and realized that both him and Roy needed a night out.

One story that honestly didn’t click was the Thea storyline. Yes, it’s nice that we see her in a story that doesn’t involve Malcolm, and that she’s getting Verdant up and running. But the search for a DJ? Really? Did she still have some she used when she last ran the club? Then the over-the-top introduction of the DJ (who I don’t even believe got named…) was incredibly cheesy. Oh, and now him and Thea are an item? Really?

The flashback scene this episode was easily the strongest of the season so far. As we saw Ollie and Tatsu seem up to find out what happened to Mateo after he disappears. It was short, but very cool. Especially since we saw the first appearance of Tatsu’s blade! Also, we got some backstory to her and Tatsu, and how they had to flee Japan to be safe. I hope we get more info on this as time goes on.

In the end, “Draw Back Your Bow” was a decent, more-or-less filler episode that kept the season going strong. Cupid was not the best villain, and some other stuff didn’t really click well. But other scenes did work well, and some future stories are truly beginning to….atom-ize…