“Moira Queen, you have failed this city!” Well duh.
So, the cat’s out of the bag. With a title like “Betrayal” I didn’t think it applied to Oliver and Diggle, even though it was Digg that finally convinced Oliver that something was rotten in Maison Queen. Serves Oliver right for showing Digg all the high tech listening devices he had. Laurel got a chance to be both the betrayer and the betrayee, just to add some duality to her personality. It mostly worked, even if there is no amount of convincing that will get her over that dewy eyed obsession with the green one. The heart wants what the heart wants.
Lying liars who lie
I liked “Betrayal” even if the villain of the week story once again fell apart so easily. After all, the theme was how those that we trust and love end up screwing us in the end. That always makes for good, if not predictable, television drama. In one corner there’s Laurel and her father. Anyone with a pulse would have called that the whole bugging of The Hood bat phone a few weeks ago would blow up in his face, and it did. Laurel had her shady rooftop meeting with The Hood and Detective Lance came in blazing with guns and plenty of backup. Oh, except they didn’t count on The Hood jumping off the wide open second story roof and running away. Um, yeah. Shouldn’t they have surrounded the building or something? No matter, for the point was that Oliver got away, and Laurel was seriously pissed.
In the middle is Tommy and Laurel. Why am I loving that her lies and infatuation over The Hood is getting Tommy in a tizzy? Aw, poor baby. I like how poor Tommy went to Oliver licking his wounds and Oliver played along beautifully. I especially chuckled over Tommy telling Oliver, “I just can’t believe that Laurel of all people would lie to my face. I guess that’s the way that it is with people that you’re closest too.” Oliver’s response, “I know.” Hee, there’s that smooth move of telling the truth without giving the secret away.
Do you think this show is setting Tommy up for a fall? I mean, his Dad is a lying bastard, Laurel is lying to him, and how do you think he’ll take it if he finds out Oliver’s secret? Everyone is lying to him! Any chance this guy will go darkside? After all, he seems to be taking Laurel’s actions as an ultimate betrayal, and thinks her infatuation is because she likes dangerous guys. You think he’d actually try to become that person? I hope so, because the dude needs to be more interesting.
Best homage to aSimpsons episode
Then on the far end of the spectrum is the ultimate betrayal, Moira and Oliver. Considering this has been building up all season, it’s about time. It all reminded me in a twisted way of an episode of The Simpsons with Sideshow Bob. Bart figured out Sideshow Bob’s diabolical plot to kill Aunt Selma, but when he tried to explain it to Homer, using among other tactics storyboarding and playing it out with hand puppets, it was all for not. All it took was a few sentences to Marge and they were off the foil the plot. In this case Diggle is Bart (and all of us who can clearly see what’s happening) and Oliver is Homer.
Of course Oliver gave his own mother the benefit of the doubt, even if Digg insisted with the tact of a two by four to the head that the woman was guilty. It was quite obvious that Moira was up to something considering Walter found the book of names Oliver now had and ended up MIA. Still, despite what it looked like, Oliver had to ask her. He bought her ultra unconvincing story that it was all Robert’s doing and her burning of the book in front of him in desire to protect the family. Digg just had to roll his eyes and replace Moira’s driver for a few days to get all the proof he needed. Considering that proof involved a conversation between her and Mr. Merlyn about moving the wreckage of the Queen’s Gambit, it was pretty blatant evidence.
Uneven characterizations of the week
On the plus side, Thea’s screentime was limited to a whole few seconds of whining about her community service, which was a freaking gift considering she should be in jail, but I’ll digress since she was pleasantly absent. On the not so plus side, what was the point of Cyrus Vanch? He kills a dude that really had it coming, but his greatest atrocity ended up being monologuing and bragging after he captured Laurel? I feel so sorry for David Anders, who I think is a great actor but always gets the short straw in terms of writing for his characters at times.
The prize for uneven characterization of the week goes once again to Detective Lance (since Thea was on break). Will someone please give this guy some balls, or better yet, a consistent personality? How can he be so damned wishy washy that his obsessed behavior over the Hood gets him in trouble with his boss at work, he bugs Laurel’s hood phone, completely betrays her because he must catch this guy, and then works with him to get Laurel five minutes later because he has no other choice? Shouldn’t he be a bit more bad ass than that and decide to go in there with guns blazing himself? How can the Hood be too dangerous for Laurel yet he becomes the answer to saving her? Here’s the general summary of their rooftop conversation:
Detective Lance: I hate you and everything you stand for. You’re a degenerate and a killer and you will be locked away for life. Out of all the people I don’t trust though, I least trust you the most. Let’s work together and save Laurel. I promise I won’t arrest you.
Oliver: Oh, if you promise then, let’s do it. But remember, me vigilante, you cop. Okay?
Detective Lance: Whatever.
After that The Hood breaks ties with Laurel because it keeps putting her in harms way. Well duh. That’s even more obvious than the fact that Moira is up to no good. Notice how Digg lectured you about that too? Ah well, if Oliver listened to Digg, then we wouldn’t get all this perplexing drama to gripe about.
Get your Lost on
Once again the flashbacks did it for me, and one week after I write in my review my suspicions we’re getting a rehashed version of Lost, Oliver shows up at a plane wreckage site? This is looking too familiar. I did however love that the mystery of the masked man was somewhat explained, in that there are two masked men. Oliver meets one, Slade Wilson, gets tied up, beat up, and ruins his own shoulder to prove a point. I swear poor Ollie is really back at the cave on a bad acid trip or something the way all this crap happens to him so quickly. Slade and his partner are there to get Yao Fei off the island. I’m assuming at this point it’s because he’s a great dancer. Meet the men of the ASIS, or Australian intelligence. Okay. Hey, if it mean’s I get to hear a lot of Manu Bennett’s gorgeous Australian accent, I’m good with this twist.
Can I put out some real glowing praise for this week’s director, Guy Bee? The fact that he gets to branch out to Arrow now from other shows like Supernatural has been nothing short of exciting. I love the way he shoots stories, and this week the flashbacks outside and inside the airplane were especially visually appealing. A lot of the credit goes to the DP for the extraordinary lighting, but Bee captured the essence of those scenes as well. Awesome job all around.
In summary…
Let’s look at the betrayal scorecard then. Laurel didn’t forgive her father and temporarily broke ties, Tommy forgave Laurel even though she had just seconds earlier talked with The Hood and lied about it again (this relationship has disaster written all over it), and Oliver puts on the suit and makeup and scares the bejesus out of Moira with an arrow pointed at her head using the tagline, all with hopes of getting honest information out of her as to why she’s in this mess. Considering the preview gives away that the outcome doesn’t exactly go as planned, I guess Oliver is screwed no matter what when it comes to getting the truth out of this woman. Funny how those good times getting tortured on the island are looking a lot better these days, huh Ollie?
Hi, Alice,
Thanks for reviewing this show. I am enjoyiing the Wed night combo of Arrow and SPN (the slowly winning me back to happy SPN that Jeremy Carver is developing. Now with another season in the bag for both these shows perhaps some of the issues will be able to be addressed more squarely…maybe not…whatever!
Anyway, I read somewhere that TPTB for Arrow recognized the issue with the Thea character and are trying to turn that around. Hopefully going forward that will come to fruition. I really want to like the character because seing Oliver as big brother is a nice change for the character, he almost relaxes a bit with her; the affection between the siblings is real. Now, just grow her up a bit.
As for Lance, yeah, he’s ticking me off as I wrote you earlier. He swings wildly from one side to the other…yikes, I’d be dizzy if I was him (perhaps he’s a functioning drunk and that’s why he swings so wildly back and forth)
I’d prefer an uneasy alliance from here forward with him and the Arrow (or the Hood or whatever). Lance will ignore much of what the Hood does as long as the Hood doesn’t force Lance’s hand to arrest him (in other words) stay fast, Oliver, run away quickly but give the police all the possible good press with gift-wrapped criminals for them to arrest and prosecute.
ah, well, the Diggle/Ollie bromance is my favorite part of the show and I like Felicity Smoak a lot and am thrilled she’s joining in on the secret.
With a second season in the bag I expect a continued deepening of the mysteries of the island and really enjoy Steve Amell’s performance of young/naive Oliver, newly returned playboy.brother/son/friend Oliver and Oliver with Diggle and then finally the Hood. How that guy keeps all four characters straight I’ll never know but I enjoy the results of his efforts.
Thanks for the review!