Arrow S07E08 Review: Multiple Arrows

Arrow, Season 7, Episode 8: Unmasked

I completely forgot that I have another episode of Arrow before I'm caught up to Elseworlds. Whoops! It's just that episode 7 has such a huge "mid-season finale" vibe with Diaz's defeat and Oliver's release from prison that I just completely forgot!

And this episode is... it's interesting. Unlike the respective pre-Elseworlds episodes for Flash and Supergirl, this episode didn't end with a huge battle and confrontation against the season's main villain. Hell, we went through all that Diaz crap in the past two episodes. Instead, what Oliver faces is interestingly a different sort of problem. Multiple Green Arrows running around, and the fact that he still wants to help a city that bans vigilantes. Oh, meanwhile, the flash-forward, the ARGUS storyline and the Felicity-becoming-hardcore storylines are playing in the background.

In a sense, this episode feels more like an attempt to shake up the status quo more than anything. A confused Oliver just wants to enjoy freedom for a while, and maybe give speeches in public gatherings to help people in the prison, but an attack by one of the two people claiming to be Green Arrows causes him to help out Dinah and Rene in investigating the string of murders, leading the evidence to point towards one Max Fuller, who is, entertainingly enough, a returning character all the way from a minor flashback subplot in season one. 

The False Green Arrow, apparently a trained assassin called "The Mirror" who specializes in mimicking other people's fighting styles, attacks Oliver and Felicity in their home, leading to an action scene... where Felicity, like a goddamn badass, straight up shoots Mirror in the leg. This leads to a bit of an argument between the two... but considering Felicity has been traumatized by Diaz's attack at their apartment earlier this season, there's a pretty damn good reason why she got pretty angry. And in a series where practically everyone is willing to defend themselves in some capacity, I did feel that it was odd for Oliver to act so surprised and horrified. Thankfully, though, the scripting and the argument wasn't as melodramatic as previous seasons of Arrow would probably have it be, and both Oliver and Felicity talk through this problem like adults, but I still feel like this subplot really isn't as interesting as it probably could've been. 

I'm also not particularly convinced about Dinah's sudden stance about how she wants to "restore Green Arrow as a hero". Sure, public opinion is apparently in Green Arrow's favour, and the mayor was a gigantic dick about it, but I really don't buy how Dinah's reaction towards vigilantes went a complete 180 just because Oliver is her friend. Still, it does lead to a pretty damn satisfying moment as Oliver, sans mask, charges straight into Fuller's nightclub, beats up his bodyguards and arrests Fuller in full view of the public alongside Dinah. And having Dinah tell off Mayor Doucheface since she's apparently deputized the Green Arrow as part of the SCPD is definitely an interesting development.

It's admittedly a pretty mellow development, though, as things just sort of... happen. The huge revelation that the New Green Arrow is an unknown, Asian woman that is apparently Robert Queen's daughter (Emiko Queen, then, from the New 52 comics) seems to be handled pretty oddly, with the opening sequence of the episode showing her off working out (and, trying to be as polite and not crass about it, but now I get why all the female audience really loves the Salmon Ladder) and basically going "yep, this is the New Green Arrow". The revelation seems really muted and nowhere as exciting as it could've been.

Meanwhile, Diggle and Lyla dig around the mysterious Dante painting from... shit, from episode 4 or 5 or some shit, and find out that it's connected to the Longbow Hunters and a bunch of terrorist organization from the comics... and decide to... go for Ricardo Diaz for help. Welp, I guess we're still on this Diaz train. 

Meanwhile, the future storyline is... still pretty boring. They meet Blackstar, they talk to Blackstar, we get a conversation with William about instincts, and find the same bomb map, and decide to go to the Glades. Also, something something Mark of Four. The writing's not as bad as some of the worst flashback storylines we've gotten in the past, but I really groan and wonder what the whole point of all this is. It's just so utterly underwhelming. 

(Oh, and the episode ends in the same Monitor arrives on Earth-90 Elseworlds prologue as the other CW shows did)

Anyway, while it's not as exciting as the past two episodes, it's still a neat, huge status quo changer that's handled in a rather muted manner. I do appreciate the subtlety, but I really felt like this probably could've been handled with a bit more excitement, especially in the parts of the Emiko Queen revelation or the ARGUS-working-with-Diaz revelation. I dunno. Not a bad episode, but one that could definitely have been done better. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Emiko Queen, a.k.a. the Red Arrow, was a character from the New 52 reboot of the DC universe, introduced as Oliver Queen's half-Asian stepsister, born to Robert Queen and the assassin Shado. Her conflicting loyalties between her half-brother and her mother was the catalyst of her character arc in the series. In her first appearances, Emiko helped Oliver face off against the Longbow Hunters, and attempted to claim the title of the Green Arrow for her own.
• Max Fuller was actually a minor character from the first season's third episode, "Lone Gunmen"! The incident where Fuller threw Tommy and Oliver out from his club, Poison, took place in that episode's flashback segment.
• The Mirror, a.k.a. Frank Cassidy, shares a supervillain name with minor Batgirl antagonist Mirror, Jonathan Mills... although where Arrow's Mirror is a specialist in mimicking people, the comic-book Mirror is a serial killer that enacts retribution to those he feels have "cheated death".
• Among the three terrorist organizations mentioned by ARGUS:
• Kobra, a pretty major cult led by the titular Kobra (Jeffrey Burr), who did battle with various forces in the DC comics universe, among them Checkmate, the Suicide Squad and the Outsiders, and believed themselves to be part of a prophecy to bring forth the arrival of Naga-Naga, the snake god. Kobra has famously appeared in the Batman Beyond cartoon as well. 
• Basilisk is a terrorist organization that was an antagonist in the rebooted New 52's Suicide Squad, who is obsessed with collecting metahumans in an arms race because they believe humanity will be shattered by a superhuman war. 
• Third World Liberation Army is a very minor terrorist organization that was featured in one volume of Wally West's run as the Flash, who hijacked a plane and was stopped by the Flash.