Viewer Log: Arrow ep 3

Episode Three opens to Oliver Queen pumping iron and monologuing. He does a lot of both of these things throughout the series. I can sum up 90% of the monologues from season 1, “(Insert Name) has failed this City. I’m going after him/her.” This particular robber baron, James Holden, owns a company that installed substandard fire alarms in The Glades, Starling City’s low income district. Oliver implies that there’ve been dozens of deaths. Messy. Holden had just won the lawsuit that would have required him to pay damages to the survivors and their next of kin. Oliver decided to “converse” with Holden and strongly suggest he reconsider paying. He goes to Holden’s penthouse, takes out his guards, and confronts Holden. Before they can get into the meat of their conversation, Holden is shot and killed, and Oliver takes a bullet or two dodging the gunman.

Back at his hideout, Oliver does his best to do some forensic investigating on his new opponent. Which is interrupted when he realizes that the bullet he was hit with was poisoned. He takes some sort of anti-toxin before passing out. Flashback to the island, but I’ll get to that in a minute. He wakes up hours later, returns home, and sees his sister being brought in for breaking and entering. Thea Queen has continued the family tradition of being a problem child, much to Oliver’s dismay. While the cops start investigating Holden’s murder, all but Detective Lance convinced that “The Hood” did it, Oliver is a couple of steps ahead. Bullet’s laced with curare, a deadly poison, and making incredibly difficult shots are the signature of an assassin that various intelligence agencies have labeled Deadshot.

Kind of amazing that a guy with a bow and arrow could beat him
Just sayin'.

Oliver takes a quick break from investigating to show Tommy, and to a lesser extent Diggle, his factory. Not the cool stuff he set up in the basement, but the ground floor. His plan is to turn it into a nightclub. Why? To Tommy, Diggle, and everyone else, because he’s a bored trust fund baby. Really? To cover his…unusual hobby. Hey, I’ve heard worse ideas. Rather shockingly, we learn that Oliver has connections to the Russian Mob. Yeah, they don’t go into detail about that one for a while. He’s able to get info on Deadshot, whom the Mob have used before. He learns that Deadshot is Floyd Lawton, and where his usual hideouts are. He confronts Lawton at his hideout, but Deadshot is a rather tough opponent and escapes. Oliver gets his hands on a laptop, which he brings to Queen Consolidated’s IT expert, Felicity Smoak. Felicity, who is awkward but adorable, is able to get some info from the laptop.

Apparently, there’s a company up for auction, and one of the perspective buyers hired Lawton to…lessen the competition. Oliver looks into the site that the auction is going to take place in, and it’s pretty much a perfect killing site for someone of Lawton’s skills. Oliver, as the Hood, goes to Det. Lance and lets the Detective know what’s going to go down. Lance sets up a security detail, and Oliver prepares for the fight. Deadshot starts shooting, and Lance just barely save’s Oliver’s step-father Walter. Oliver gets Diggle to watch out for his mom and sister, and sets out to stop Deadshot. Oliver and Deadshot duke it out, while having a morality debate. You know how it goes, “you’re a killer” “so are you” “Shut up, I’m different.” Oliver is just barely able to stop Deadshot, after the assassin’s wrist mounted machine gun runs out of ammo. Arrow through his funky telescopic lens, and into his eye. The euphoria of victory quickly fades when Oliver turns around, and sees Diggle. Diggle had followed Oliver, you know, because he’s a bodyguard, and took several bullets. Oliver rushes to his lair, and treats him for GSW’s and poisoning. The episode ends with Diggle seeing Oliver in gear.

The flashback story is pretty simple. The mysterious Archer pulls the arrow he hit Oliver with from his shoulder. After recovering, Oliver attempts to escape, is caught in a net, and then rescued again by the Archer. He’s really sticking his neck out for a spoiled rich boy. Just saying.

Overall, a solid episode. It is the firsts time that Oliver goes beyond his personal quest and starts fighting a villain that isn’t related to his list. We also get some odd little inconsistencies with his past. If he was stuck on the Island for five years, how the heck did he get connections with the Russian Mob? And where did he get training in forensics? Get set up for the long haul, cause those questions won’t be answered for a while, just a heads up. Deadshot is a decent villain for Arrow, as his skill set is close enough to be a real threat to Mr. Queen. There’s some continued exploration of Thea’s bad habits, as she’s 17, getting drunk, breaking and entering, and just overall being a problem child. The whole dad and bro being dead thing really messed with her, apparently. This episode also introduced the breakout character of the series, Felicity Smoak. Ms. Smoak was originally supposed to be a one-off character, name dropped, does her thing, and then fade back into the background. But, actress Emily Bett Richards’s portrayal of the socially awkward, but still adorable tech geek, and her chemistry with Stephen Amell turned her into a recurring character for season 1, and then a major cast member for the rest of the series. While I’m not crazy about the “Olicity” fandom, look it up some of those folks are just plain nuts, I do enjoy Felicity and her quirky quirkiness. We also get some exploration of Diggle, as they introduce his sister-in-law, Carlee, and learn that he’s got a dead brother. Minor things for now, but they’ll get more important as the series goes on. So yeah, good episode. Next time, number 4 of Arrow.