Arrow – Identity

Alderman Sebastian Blood accuses

The medicine that is supposed to be going to the hospital in the Glades has been hijacked. If it continues, the doctors and nurses will continue to leave and the little medicine left in the hospital is going to force the hospital to close. That is the premise this entire episode focuses around. We kick it off with an action sequence with Roy acting the hero and attempting to stop the hijackers who are trying to steal the medicine FEMA is delivering. It’s clear that Roy’s never going to let up on his quest to be a hero and help the people of the Glades who need help the most.

Go Felicity! I love that she stood up for herself and her identity as an intelligent MIT educated woman. If she had just accepted that Oliver had reassigned her from her job in security to being his secretary, I would have screamed foul. I am looking forward this season to seeing more of Felicity as she rounds out as a character. This seething for being demeaned into a position unworthy of her skill and prowess was perfectly played with a moment of counting calm. Which she later proves as she feeds old video to the police to take them off The Hood’s trail. Felicity was never a weak character, but this week she took her opportunities to speak her mind. When Diggle wouldn’t speak up for himself, she prompted the discussion. It was Felicity’s festering and refusal to bring Oliver coffee that I loved most.

Arrow fighting Bronze Tiger

As a recurring baddie, China White is a bit lackluster. A good villain has motivations an sympathies. A good villain can make you falter and understand their side, even if only for a moment. China does not do hat, she is just bad. Which can also be played well, but she isn’t bad enough. As is, China is an annoyance and I don’t see why she would want to divert the medical supplies from the Glades. Though with her comes Michael Jai White’s Bronze Tiger and that is always a fun treat, even if equally as one note as China.

Speaking of one note characters, I am back to finding Laurel’s character irritating as her only drive is to bringing down The Hood. She’s beyond driven and making leaps in judgement. I’m afraid that Laurel’s storyline for the season will follow a similar path as her father’s from last season. If she was a bit smarter, she would have seen what happened to her father and be a bit more cautious. And no, catching The Hood at the end of the episode just feels like a false lead or the show would be over. I hope that we get more out of Laurel. At the very least, there is hope if we get to witness the moral dilemma when she discovers Oliver is The Hood she seeks.

Oliver struggled with the inability to be effective. It came at him from two fronts and his attempts to fix it from both sides were met with challenges. As Oliver, he was battered by Alderman Sebastian Blood who placed all the blame of the destruction of the Glades on Oliver and his family. On the other side, The Hood his being so ruthlessly pursued by the Starling City Police that he can’t even operate effectively as the vigilante. Oliver attempts to make peace with the Alderman by throwing a benefit in honor of the Glades hospital. When complications arise, Oliver chooses he can do more good as The Hood, than as Oliver, and goes to stop another hijacking. The Hood is changing as China noted. She’s left alive and the medicine finally makes its way to the Glades Hospital.