Episode Title: “Home Invasion”
Writers: Ben Sokolowski & Beth Schwartz
Director: Kenneth Fink
Previously on “Arrow”:
Episode 1.19 “Unfinished Business”
“Arrow” is starting to redeem its version of Deadshot (Michael Rowe) after initially portraying him as a knock-off of the minor Batman villain, Mr. Zsasz. Now Deadshot is the recurring threat that neither Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) or John Diggle (David Ramsey) have been able to permanently bring down. He’s like a cockroach that way. Deadshot lives to kill another day, splintering Oliver and Diggle’s relationship in the process.
There are full spoilers ahead for “Home Invasion,” so if you aren’t up to date with “Arrow” then you should probably skip this review or else Tommy will move out unexpectedly.
At the beginning of this episode, most of the Arrow team is on the same page as Oliver promises to help Diggle avenge his brother. But in the middle of that, Oliver is introduced to the newest clients of Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy): Eric (Daniel Quinn) and Nancy Moore (Jessica Harmon), a married couple who bring a legal case against Edward Rasmus (Al Sapienza)… who quickly proves to be the generic evil businessman of the week when he sends Mr. Blank (J. August Richards) to kill the entire family. Only their young son, Taylor (Callie Seagram Airlie) manages to get away.
And faster than you can say “plot contrivance!”, Laurel volunteers to be Taylor’s legal guardian until his grandparents return to the country. And after Blank makes a second attempt on Taylor’s life — which was foiled by the timely arrival of Arrow — Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell) swallows his pride and suggests that they stay with the Queen family; which is well protected.
Nobody calls Tommy out on the fact that his father is ridiculously wealthy and also well protected. But the real reason is that Tommy knows that keeping Oliver/Arrow nearby will likely ensure the safety of Laurel and Taylor.
On a side note, there was a good moment for Laurel when she saw through Blank’s fake detective badge because of something her father taught her. Speaking of whom, the ever present Detective Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) was once again the only ranking officer in two subplots this week. No wonder this guy never solves any crimes! He’s too busy constantly driving across the city and trying to be in three places at once.
With Thea Queen (Willa Holland) and her boyfriend, Roy Harper (Colton Haynes), Quentin plays a little “Scared Straight: Arrow Edition” with them by bringing them down to the morgue and showing them the 26th person that Arrow has killed. Really? Only 26 men since the start of this series? Ollie’s going soft!
While it’s Roy’s destiny to be Arrow’s sidekick, it’s hard to buy into his sudden interest in helping Oliver in his quest. Even with Oliver saving his life a few episodes back, the shift in his character is jarring and not very believable. Also fairly unbelievable is the way that Thea decides that she’s going to join Roy’s quest just because it’s important to him. Okay… sure.
Things go south for Oliver when he blows off a sting for Deadshot to prevent Rasmus from skipping town with the hit still on for Taylor. The subsequent showdown between Diggle and Deadshot was intense and it was easily Deadshot’s most formidable showing on the series as he easily subdues Diggle and only spares his life because he isn’t being paid to kill him. If Deadshot won’t kill for free, then who paid him to kill Diggle’s brother? That may be a mystery for next season.
But Diggle is enraged that Oliver wasn’t there and he terminates their partnership over it. Amazingly, Oliver doesn’t point out that Diggle left him hanging on a mission a few weeks back while he was chasing down leads on Deadshot. And Diggle is so over-the-top dramatic about it that you’d almost think he was breaking off a romantic relationship with Oliver.
As far as romantic breakups go, that’s Tommy’s department this week. Tommy has become one of the more sympathetic characters on “Arrow,” but he’s also his own worst enemy. Tommy is so convinced that Laurel will leave him for Oliver (if she discovers that he’s Arrow) that he preemptively breaks up with her after the crisis is over. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy and kind of a silly move, really.
Even if Laurel learned the truth, Oliver still got her sister killed… which is probably the biggest wedge between them. This was Tommy’s best chance for happiness and he blew it.
Mr. Blank seemed like he might be a good recurring foil for Arrow, right up until Oliver killed him. Regardless, the fight between Oliver and Blank in the Queen mansion was terrific. The action seemed more convincing in part because Oliver wasn’t in costume at the time.
This week’s island flashbacks were a little frustrating in their brevity. While Shado (Celina Jade) trained Oliver with a bow, romantic sparks flared between them a little too quickly. But the bigger event was the return of Yao-Fei (Byron Mann), who betrayed his daughter, Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) and Oliver to Fyers’ men in a cliffhanger. It would be nice if the island storyline could get its own episode now and then, just when things become interesting. Instead, the way the island plot lurches along unevenly tends to lessen the impact when something important finally happens.
All in all, this was a fairly solid episode of “Arrow.” Hopefully the remaining three episodes of the season will be able to match some of the series’ previous high points.
