TV - Arrow Season 3, Episode 10

Steve Taylor-Bryant recaps the comeback episode and wonders how people are in Left Behind…

The mood was never going to be great after the mid-season break but I didn’t quite anticipate the level of sadness that TeamArrow would be going through. Even though Oliver hasn’t returned from his face-off with Ra’s Al Ghul, the streets of Starling City still aren’t safe and our intrepid gang is the case of some criminals for Laurel to put away. Arsenal is Ollie’s bike, Felicity tucked away in the ArrowCave, and Diggle is up high on the building tops firing down arrows to catch the perpetrators whilst moaning about the snug fit of Oliver's ArrowSuit. Laurel successfully tries the case in court on behalf of the District Attorney, but still no smiles. The phrase “it’s only been 3 days” seems to be the team's way of not dealing with the fact Oliver is probably dead and even Felicity’s ability to coerce every spy satellite known to man has drawn blanks on finding Ollie.

Enter Malcolm Merlyn. Much to the disgust of TeamArrow, Merlyn is just the psychopathic loon that could track Oliver and the team really need some kind of closure. Meanwhile something bad is happening. A thug of a henchman named Brick is stealing evidence and getting a high percentage of the villains that Oliver locked up released, on the proviso that they work and answer to him else he will give the police back all their evidence. Ray Palmer has got some of his ATOM suit working, which also upsets Felicity and Laurel decides that enough is enough and something needs to be done in Oliver’s absence and dons Sara’s old suit and wig and introduces Starling to the new Black Canary.

When Merlyn returns with the sword covered in Oliver’s blood and shows some strange sort of compassion (who knew?) the team goes into meltdown knowing that Oliver is now dead. Felicity doesn’t like the way that Diggle and Roy do something in the name of The Arrow and decides enough is enough and quits, also her job at Ray Palmer’s side as well due to seeing too many people die. The world we know is now in flux.

This episode was always going to be hit and miss. The build up to the fight with Ra’s Al Ghul and the following outcome was going to be pretty hard to top with Vinnie Jones playing, well, Vinnie Jones. A good caper story? Yes. Flawless execution that we have come close to seeing all season? No. Even the fact we know Oliver is alive and being tended to didn’t lift the fog of doubt that we have that without Stephen Amell the show would falter. It’s unfortunate but I know better things are to come. We are close to seeing ATOM in all his robotic glory, Black Canary is just starting her adventure so that storyline is appealing if nothing else. It’s just not there yet.

Image - IMDb.