Arrow S06E04 Review: Lost

Arrow, Season 6, Episode 4: Reversal

This is not a drill. 

I've not been super-excited about Arrow for the past week,  I have to admit. It remains solid, but relatively... dry. The twist that John Diggle is now the Green Arrow with a crossbow ends up being just, well, that. Oliver Queen playing daddy is also just... that. Things happen, but they aren't as interesting as they could've been, and while the cast remain as charismatic as ever, and I still have a 5-season investment in the actors and characters, it's possibly my least favourite of the CW shows as far as the fun factor goes. 

But this episode is special for me, because it introduces Michael Emerson to the show as a villain. Where even the cast themselves freaked out when they were informed that Emerson was going to be on the show, how could I, a newbie Lost fan, not be excited? I watched all the seasons of Lost less than two months prior to the announcement of season 6 of Arrow, and god damn if I wasn't excited for this. 

And this episode reveals that Emerson's character isn't actually Richard Dragon like everyone thought it was going to be, but rather Cayden James, the dude that led Helix we saw last episode with a burlap bag over his face. He's Black Siren's anonymous sponsor (Katie Cassidy's having way too much fun playing evil Laurel for sure) which makes me root squarely for the villains in this episode by dint of how charismatic they all are. Well, other than Dude #3 that pressed his fingertips to the internet key alongside Siren and Cayden, who I don't think even got a name.

And, well, it's certainly a mammoth debut for Cayden James.  The Helix subplot is one subplot from season 5 that I actually like despite its rather contentious pacing and integration into the Prometheus main plot. It gives Felicity so much more agency beyond just being roped into 'tech girl' and 'love interest, but there was so much about it that could've been done better. Clearly, the way to do it is to introduce a master manipulator. Now Cayden James himself doesn't actually have a lot of screentime in this episode and if not for Michael Emerson's performance he'd just be another villain-of-the-week that shows up for like a total of 8 minutes on-screen. The previously enigmatic and plot device-y Cayden James ends up becoming an actual character, and his master plan isn't actually to upload a virus into the internet, but to see Felicity break into the firewalls and worm something more subtle into it... in order to leave him completely blameless since it is Felicity's 'digital fingerprints' that hacked into the world wide web. It's somewhat similar to Prometheus or Slade from before, or even Merlyn at times, where he's a mastermind who tries to control every aspect of our heroes and is constantly fifteen steps ahead, but where all of them were emotionally-driven or has a manic vengeful agenda, Emerson's character is far more calculating and far more interesting for that. 

The actual Felicity plotline is okay, too, even if it sidelines the entire supporting cast in favour of making her the main character. Oliver gets to moonlight as Overwatch this episode, and it's... okay? Part of me wants to groan at how they're pretending that Oliver's going to hang up the hood for good, but I did like the role reversal that happened, and how Oliver ends up being the supporting voice while Felicity struggles with the fact that she let Cayden James loose on the world. (A guilt-trip she really should've had last season when she nuked Havenrock). Felicity's subplot of setting up a new company with Curtis ends up being brought up a bit too much for my liking, but Emily Rickards is a charismatic enough actress that I don't really mind.

Felicity having to manage her civilian life (with the very understanding Oliver) and being approached by Alena, her old Helix contact, is pretty cool, and Alena nearly dies this episode, but I am a bit too distracted by the larger Helix plot to really care about the Felicity/Alena girl's night out. I also loved how the episode begins as a generic 'Black Siren murder spree' with a side of Olicity before swerving into a far more plot-relevant tie-in with Helix and Cayden James returning to the scene.

Overall, I may have geeked out a little more than is healthy with Michael Emerson entering the show, but I do feel that this is actually a decent episode that has a healthy and not-plot-tumour amount of Olicity shipping. Hopefully the rest of the season can pick up the pace, though, because if Inhumans is any indication, the presence of great Lost actors does not a good superhero show make.