I feel as though I should apologize for apparently swaying the writer's of Arrow last week. If I was looking for any sort of resolution after “The Offer,” this episode seems to offer it in bulk! Here's a checklist of my recommendations from last week and how they played out in the latest episode, “Suicidal Tendencies.”
1 . John should leave Team Arrow and be with his family.
I almost feel personally responsible for this one. I said, “John, you could do so much better,” and what happens? He tries to balance both, only to basically throw in the towel with Team Arrow at the end of this episode. I know he'll stick it through the season for Oliver's sake, but Diggle is obviously wanting to adjust his priorities. I mean – indulging my girlier side for a moment - who wouldn't want to prioritize someone in this amazing wedding dress?
But – returning to the point – Diggle and Lyla's renewed marital bliss is short-lived, and they're pulled from the reception moments later to tackle some sweet vigilante justice and a long-distance secret ops mission. Not bad for the most important day of your life, am I right?
From there, the episode continues by hitting us over the head with the painfully obvious theme of “Responsibility vs. relationships.” Not only does Diggle decide he might opt out of crime-fighting in favor of fatherhood; but we see Deadshot's transformation from loving dad to no-concerns assassin, as well as Oliver's obnoxiously stoic attitude towards Felicity and Ray's relationship because “he just hasn't learned that he can't have both yet.” Are we sensing the theme yet? Good. Let's keep moving.
2. Oliver definitely needs to run the League of Assassins.
I mean, come on, friends. I know Ra's is purposely trying to persuade/force Oliver into taking over the League, but even before he started off-ing criminals and turning the cops against the Arrow, I feel as though this is a win-win choice. The most obvious pro being that he and Felicity can be together. Ray, after some training and restructuring of his suit's power supply placement (what an obvious Achilles' heel from a guy with such a high IQ) can protect Starling City in his absence as the Atom. Team Arrow can upgrade their outfits from hoodies to full-on ninja tunics and run around all over the world seeking justice to their hearts' desires. I don't understand the downside. Also, side note, but equally important, Oliver was shirtless for the first time in a while. #praise
This week was a nice breather from the Flailing Canary. It's even suggested that there might be some “big reveal” in store (hopefully) where Laurel – after training “secretly” with Nyssa – proves her worth as a member of Team Arrow and finally kicks some butt. She's even getting knocked around a bit, as made evident by her sporty cast that everyone seems to notice throughout the episode. (We won't, however, discuss in detail her wardrobe department's poor choice of wedding attire though … needless to say, orange is not the new black for this Canary.)
And to be honest, Laurel is FINALLY starting to whine less and contribute to the cause. Girl totally threatened Ray openly with all her super amazing lawyering skills (which may be unrealistic, but totally rock in the legal world according to television) when he wanted to expose Oliver as the Arrow. Way to be the boss! I actually found myself rooting for her … This does not often happen.
Now after all my “checks” are marked, the episode throws in just a few more details to get us excited for what's to come. There are two big ones I want to discuss before we're done. One is the Atom situation. Ray totally goes angst-ridden teen a la Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode IV in this episode by vowing to hunt down the Arrow and then calling out Felicity for her secrets. The truth is this guy has a lot of great ideals, but he needs to understand the rest of the world is most definitely not going to live up to his Utopian vision. Time to learn how to cope and move on, my friend. Then after a good sulking session, some less-than-stellar CGI sequences and finally a decent butt-kicking from Oliver – complete with relationship lecture - he decides he's going to calm down and actually be useful. Yay! I'm intrigued to see how they incorporate him into the future of the series. I get the feeling (via this PaleyFest Trailer for The Flash) we may see him jet off to Central City to protect Felicity (who is obviously not dead) from League assassins, but I guess we'll see.
And finally, let's deal with this Deadshot “death.” Great story set-up with a dash of political commentary concerning the PTSD issues Floyd faced, and I'm glad he received his heroic moment at the episode's conclusion. However, I don't know if we've seen the end of Deadshot. Why, then, would we get a glimpse of his H.I.V.E. history and the murder of Andrew Diggle only for our key witness to die? And if television has taught us anything, if you don't see a dead body, (and sometimes even if you do .. ::cough cough:: Oliver ...) that person is probably still alive. Somehow, somewhere. But in the meantime, we might see some interesting revenge-seeking from Cupid, who conveniently became enamored with Floyd when he saved her during the shoot-out. I think it'd be especially awesome if she went after Amanda Waller, since it was she who endangered Floyd's life by sending him on this mission. But those are just my thoughts and personal hopes. ;-)
I'm going to stop here and allow everyone to process all the crazy that happened in that 45-minute showtime. See you back next week!
Margot is a huge supporter of all things relating to "nerd culture," in particular those involving superheroes and Disney. She loves books, movies, music and working out, and currently lives in Athens, GA, with her rabbit, Gigi.
