I loathe this episode. Not only was much of it a great waste of time, but the soap opera tactics and clown villains like the Count and Malcolm Merlyn make me question what has been a superior season. Arrow is currently skating on thin ice with me. The writers had best do damage control quickly or it will go to the marathon later pile. That's how much I hate this episode, since it was previously tied as my favorite show of the season. For more on exactly why this episode sucked out loud, my rant (not review or recap) should be posted here on Sunday.
This is the worst episode I have seen on TV this year, and I watched the We are Men pilot. No episode has ticked me off as much as this one, since Supernatural's Taxi Driver.
ReplyDeleteFor me, this episode actually affected how I view 'Arrow' as a series. Since late season 1, I've felt like 'Arrow' is overall a good show that's aware of how silly it can be. The show managed its own campy elements in a sincere enough way - and treated its character and its story with enough respect - that the audience has been able to enjoy the action and the character interactions while also taking the series' narrative seriously.
ReplyDeleteThis episode blows that entirely out of the water. A show that understands what it is and respects its audience would never, ever bring back a "big bad" that was killed in the previous season finale. It's categorically irrelevant *how* it happened and how the show explains it - a series simply cannot mislead its audience to that degree. 'Arrow', essentially, lied to its audience on about a central story point.
It's so damaging because there's no longer any reason to trust what's happening. Is The Count dead? He sure looked like it - but who knows! What happens if the show kills off a major character? How can you possibly get emotional about it when they might be brought back a few episodes later? How are we supposed to take ANYTHING that happens seriously from this point forward? What's the point? If the show can just re-write its own narrative and cancel out major events, then why do those major events matter?
I'm going to watch Arrow a couple more weeks to see if I can reconcile this with my genuine enjoyment of the characters and action, but I may very well be out before this season ends.
I completely agree that the show its has become an unreliable narrator, which makes it hard to take its drama seriously if they can magically reverse the effects of what they have written.
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