Arrow, Season 6, Episode 12: All For Nothing
Arrow's sixth season is kind of unique. On one hand, the week-by-week writing is definitely some of the best that the show's gotten, especially compared to the trainwrecks that are seasons 3 and 4. On the other hand, the 'big picture' writing and the writing of the individual characters are so inconsistent and all over the place that I have some genuinely mixed feelings about this. It's, on paper, a pretty great episode that explores a couple of recurring side-characters and ends with a shocking twist that I genuinely don't see coming. But when taken into context the characters being utilized and the writing behind them? My reaction is honestly "m'eh". It's not outright bad, but at the same time this episode is so drab and dark for genuinely no real good reason. Yes, Arrow is a lot darker -- by a huge margin -- compared to its CW siblings. At the same time, it's also the most bland.
And while serious storytelling is neat, there's also the sense of them stretching drama for longer than it should... except it really isn't. Sure, it's built up throughout the season, but this is where the Dinah/Vince storyline really comes to the forefront as the A-plot of anything. And the B-plot is Quentin trying to 'redeem' Evil Laurel, something that, again, while hinted at before, has never been given a lot of focus until now. But at the same time it's still very dull. There's nothing objectively wrong with this episode per se, but at the same time the end result really feels bleh.
Let's dissect the B-plot first, shall we? Essentially, Quentin finds out that Evil Laurel has been following him for... some reason, and then he and Thea get convinced that maybe, just maybe, there's a shade of Good Laurel within Evil Laurel somewhere. It's a neat sentiment, and the maybe-maybe-not interaction is well delivered by actors Katie Cassidy and Paul Blackthorne... but at the same time, Quentin's obsession isn't anything particularly fresh, and the downer ending to this story as Quentin is told that his hopes are dashed to the ground is well-acted. It's a neat little storyline, honestly, well-written and well-acted, but again, I can't muster a lot of energy to be excited about it.
Vigilante's whole "I'm a double-agent" deal feels honestly shoehorned in to try and restore the character into his heroic roots, but it's too little, too late. By this point, Vigilante's been such a recurring villain that his sudden "but I'm actually good, you guys!" storyline ends up feeling like we're discussing a completely different character. Admittedly, Vigilante's big role last season was to "troll" longtime fans by subverting the expected Adrian Chase/Vigilante reveal, but at the same time it also means that Vigilante ends up being an afterthought throughout most of his appearances last season, and here it's clear that they didn't really have that much of a plan surrounding him until these past few episodes. Redemption of a soulless killer is one thing, but Vigilante essentially goes through what Oliver Queen did in five seasons within the space of three episodes, and the result is a really jarring whiplash. Not to mention Dinah and Vince just had a brutal fight not a couple of episodes ago over the fact that Vigilante's in bed with Helix.
And the flashback this time around centers around Dinah and Vince and... and it's bizarrely a rehash of Dinah's origin story and the events leading up to the disastrous sting operation, and I'm genuinely baffled. It's well acted, sure. It's also well-written. But it adds nothing about Dinah and Vince that we don't already know.
And again, the relationship between present-day Dinah and Vince feel rather poorly executed, even if both actors try their best. It feels more like a "get from point A to point B" storyline as Vigilante ends up working together with Team Arrow and the Outsiders to copy Helix's entire database and send it off to Felicity. We get some great confrontation between Vince and Cayden James, but ultimately Anatoly (proving that he is a "good man" by tasering someone from the back) ends up torturing Vince to draw the Outsiders in, splitting the good guys in twain as Team Arrow is forced to deal with the bomb (and a bunch of hostages) while the Outsiders fail to save Vigilante. Who gets sonic-screamed to death pretty graphically by Evil Laurel.
And that's the whole point of Vigilante, whose death ends up just being a catalyst for Dinah to essentially become the DC Punisher, vowing to murder everyone in Helix. And also to re-affirm that Black Siren is indeed evil. And yeah. The episode succeeds well in slamming down these two points, and in a nutshell, the episode does get the job done. On the other hand... it has the unenviable task of trying to frame Vigilante's redemption arc in a way that is downright unbelievable in the time-frame provided, and thus Vigilante's death ends up in a resounding "eh, I didn't see that coming" from me. It's what happens when a story prioritizes plot over characterization, and it's not a very compelling story as a result.
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