One of the biggest plot points of seasons 1 and 2 was that Oliver Queen has a blind spot for loved ones. Moira, Laurel (the original Laurel), Thea, etc. And that glaring weakness made its return in “Inheritance”, where we found out more about Emiko and her relationship with Dante, and it did make for some interesting television despite its flaws.
By flaws, I meant that…we’ve been here before, multiple times. In fact, the only time that a certain someone entered Oliver’s life and he wasn’t up for trusting them was Laurel E2. He honestly knew nothing about Emiko until very recently and yet he was bent on saving her, when it became very obvious that she had no interest in being saved. Thankfully, Diggle was there to right the ship, and it worked for the part. But as a rather 4th-wall breaking line said, “reminding me that this has happened before doesn’t make it better”. Exactly Oliver, exactly.
Still, I applaud the writers for not only going all in on the Emiko twist of her LEADING the 9th Circle, but using her own life via the flashbacks to show that she didn’t want to be that at all. She wanted to be the daughter of Robert Queen, and yet he left, and then when she tried to prove that she was worth his time, he dismissed her. And of course, that led to the reveal that she knew about the Queen’s Gambit…after all…the 9th Circle helped Malcolm Merlyn get the deed done.
Elsewhere, Felicity recruited her former Helix friend to help her with Smoak Tech. Which I fully approve of even though we know where this is all headed. Felicity is honestly trying to save the world, it’s just going to end much differently than she suspected.
Finally, I’m oddly compelled by the Laurel storyline. Granted, I do think that Dinah and the others deserve to give her some credit (aside from Felicity obviously), but her being pushed to the edge by the 9th Circle (and if the next preview is any indication, way over the edge) is compelling, and I look forward to seeing how it might end. Especially since we don’t see Laurel in the future timeline…
“Inheritance” did retread on some old ground, but it did pay off in the end with some big twists and some potential big steps forward.
4.5 out of 5 nerds
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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