Arrow S07E13 Review: Creepy Notes

Arrow, Season 7, Episode 13: Star City Slayer

It's a pretty simple, standalone episode, honestly, dealing with the titular "Star City Slayer". Or, in other words, our old prison buddy Stanley Dover. He's apparently the man responsible for the creepy notes that some of our characters have been getting over the past couple of episodes, and apparently he's super-obsessed with Oliver Queen. It's an interesting take on a psychopath, really, and I actually do like the Stanley stuff. It plays out kind of like a horror movie, with Stanley managing to slash Dinah's throat when the B-team attack his base, and later gas the entire Queen family while they are eating dinner while doing his bad guy rant. And from that standpoint, this episode is kind of a success, with Stanley as a pretty unsettling villain of the week and a far more well-executed one than, oh, Chimera or whoever from the previous one. Of course, Stanley does have the benefit of being built up over multiple episodes, but still, his actor's performance in this episode is certainly one that's memorable.

I'm curious, though, because as someone who's figured out everyone else's secret identities, if Stanley's going to be back in some capacity, either as part of the Suicide Squad or as one of Diaz's associates or something. I dunno.

Less memorable is the continued arguments between Oliver and William, which is just... repetitive. And honestly, I can't blame William for calling his maternal grandparents and wanting to leave with them. While Oliver and William did make up through the course of the episode, William's arguments do kind of make sense. For all of Oliver's talk about being a better parent, he's ended up basically sending William out of the way for his safety, but continuing to either be a vigilante or a member of the police force. And part of it is due to generally inconsistent writing as to Oliver and William's relationship over the past couple of seasons, but I dunno. This episode feels like there's a hint of finality to William's exit from the present-day storyline, I guess. Or that might just be my wishful thinking, because William's future storyline is way more interesting than any of the drama that surrounds kid William in the present day.

The B-plot is an utterly bizarre exit for Curtis Holt. I have been on record for saying that Mr. Terrific is one of the most under-utilized characters in the series, and poor Echo Kellum really doesn't get much chance to act. And after constant downgrades for his character from joining the 'Outsiders' to becoming basically just a support dude for ARGUS, I don't blame the actor for wanting to get out. I really wished that it happened in a better way than what we got this episode, though, which is just a couple of conversations with no real drama, and then at the end, whoops, Curtis decides to leave anyway.

And I find this particularly bizarre. I really wished that Mr. Terrific's exit has been built up a bit more instead of the "oh no he has a conflict... eh it simmered down. He has another conflict... and it also simmered down" bit that we have in this season. Especially since interviews note that they've apparently been planning Mr. Kellum's exit since around halfway through season six? I dunno. There is kind of a shake-up among the CW shows, and this isn't a particularly well-handled one, IMO.

In the future, we get some fighty-fight in the vine-encrusted Arrowcave between Blackstar and Connor Hawke against Team William, and it's... it's a well-choreographed fight, but at this point... I just honestly don't really care about this entire subplot? It doesn't help that the location was pretty dark and I'm not as familiar with the future cast so I'm not sure who is fighting who. The big revelation here is that apparently Blackstar is Mia Smoak, and is William's sister. Or, well, half-sister, I guess, to parallel the Oliver/Emiko stuff. I really want to say that I kinda care and that this is some huge revelation, but we really know jack shit about Blackstar/Mia other than she exists, and honestly I just really don't care all that much about the future segments of this show. 

Anyway, this is... it's an okay episode, as much as the B-plots regarding Curtis and the flash-forward are pretty underwhelming. I did like Stanley as a villain-of-the-week, and he is pretty damn fucking crazy, but this episode feels pretty filler-y, honestly. Although maybe part of it is my general disdain at Arrow's status quo in general. I dunno.

A brief announcement that I've been planning to make since for a while... I'm going to severely cut down on superhero TV shows. I'm still going to do all of the CW stuff and Gotham, but especially after looking at the long, long hiatus with The Gifted, I think I realize that I just don't really have all that much interest in that particular show anymore. I'll watch it, still, but I don't expect to review it per-episode. We'll probably get a huge, entire-season review if/when I finish it, or maybe in batches of five episodes or something. I dunno. We'll see when we get there. Likewise, I don't think I really care enough about The Punisher to do it episode-per-episode. Netflix Marvel shows have genuinely been some of the hardest shows for me to really watch and review regularly, and while I love them, I don't really love reviewing them. I'm going to do Punisher's second season in a single review. I dunno... I just feel kind of overwhelmed with so many things to watch and talk about that I feel like I have to cut down on some of them, I guess. They'll be reviewed eventually, but not in the same format that I've been doing things, I guess.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Star City Slayer, a.k.a. Stanley Dover, is a loose adaptation of a Green Arrow villain from the comics with a similar name. The comics Stanley Dover is a pair of father and son (Stanley Dover Sr and Jr) who befriended a demonic entity, with the father being particularly abusive to the son. Yeah, it's... it's nothing quite like the character from the show. 
• We get a brief reference of Singh and Dinah fighting Blockbuster and his gang from Bludhaven, which is a reference to the Batman/Nightwing enemy. During the period where Nightwing's solo series ran with him living as the sole superhero in Bludhaven, Blockbuster and his gang was indeed the big bad of that run.
• Oliver's favourite food being chili is a minor running gag in the comics, particularly with this gag recipe in one of the databooks. I'm not particularly familiar with the comic book arc that involves it, but apparently Ollie's chili was one of the things that managed to jolt Batman-God of the reality where he came from during the Trinity event.