Rating: 7/10
A criminal obsessed with bombs is trying to blow up Starling City. Sebastian Blood is trying to win an election, while Oliver and Felicity have problems.
I hadn’t remembered this episode from the last time I went through this season. I can see why. Pretty much nothing happens in it. First, the villain was awful, wasn’t a good match for Arrow, didn’t have any backstory or if he did it was so brief I blinked and missed it. The focus should have been more on Brother Blood, but this episode kind of frames him as a good guy for some reason. I guess so he looks better than Bomber Man, or whatever his name was.
Also, the weird side story with Oliver and Felicity getting into an argument and then making up later feels like something out of an after school special. Which might work in, say, a cartoon being they’re aimed at children and such, but definitely doesn’t work here in Arrow’s darker atmosphere and generally more adult themes.
Not to diss this episode entirely as it did have some pretty good action and I really wasn’t ever bored during this mostly filler episode.
SCORING:
+8: Pretty good, despite its flaws
-1: Lame villain, super lame
-1: I was going to say something about the Oliver-Felicity thing but really this whole episode was just reiterating things we already know
+1: Good action
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