Arrow Season 3 Episode 19 - Broken Arrow Review

Arrow Season 3 Episode 19 – Broken Arrow Review

Oh man the feels.

 

Broken Arrow followed the aftermath of Roy falsely confessing as the Arrow. We see his experiences in prison and follow Oliver team up with Ray to take down a Meta Human known as Death Bolt.

 

So wow they poured emotion into that episode and it worked incredibly well. I’ll naturally start with Roy and I have to say how much I’ll miss him on the show. He went from a kind of annoying guy in earlier seasons to the guy who ultimately stepped up to save Oliver. I don’t mention acting performances often but big props to Colton Haynes for this performance.  These were some really powerful scenes, the one with Thea in particular was gut wrenching. His fight scene was also great and you could really feel his intentions and understand what he was going through. It seems like he is finally at peace with himself. The evolution of his character is extraordinary and I’ll really miss having him around. It was a fantastic way to send him off. The bromance was strong in this episode.

 

Speaking of bromance I really should mention how great the Oliver Queen character is. I don’t often, I think we all take it for granted but this is one interesting character. You really feel his conflict and inner turmoil and you can see how everything begins to weigh on him. It’s almost like everything is closing in on him, limiting his options and he’s great. It’s like Felicity said, he’s given up everything to be the Arrow. His interactions with Ray were also a lot of fun, it makes an interesting contrast. His seasoned and stoic tone compared the hopeful and optimistic Ray Palmer is a joy to watch.

 

Ray Palmer is a lot of fun, I’m glad he’ll be in the spin off, I’d love to see him be more focussed on. So many of his lines are funny but he’s not just a big joke, he is determined and heroic. I like how he took on Death Bolt, first time he got wrecked but second time even without Oliver he stepped up like any good hero should. It was like another step taken to becoming a hero. There was a problem however which I‘ll get to later.

 

While there wasn’t much to Death Bolt in this episode, he wasn’t really the focus. Ra’s al Ghul however steals every scene he’s in. He has such a presence and such authority. I love how he has everything planned out and he’s so methodical as well as being a total badass. His fight with Thea was so well done. It really got across how powerful he is and he’s losing a fight to no one. He’s incredibly menacing and yet incredibly calm and dignified with it as shown at the end.

 

There were other positive aspects, Captain Lance was enjoyable, his bitterness and determination as well as his obviously not thinking clearly made him really get to the characters. Diggle is Diggle, no more needs to be said and I liked how Felicity wasn’t too much of a downer and her scenes with Ray are a lot of fun to watch. Now however I’m going to talk massive spoilers. We knew someone was meant to die. I thought it was going to be Roy and I have done for a long while. I was feeling very justified along with distraught as he was stabbed in the prison. That scene took such a great character and made him look so powerless to avoid his fate, it was great. The switch u and seeing him alive was such a massive relief and at the same time done so cleverly I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted it too happen. It was a great twist and after a touching scene when each member of team Arrow says goodbye to him in a completely fitting way we got another even bigger WTF moment. Thea’s death at the hand of Ra’s al Ghul made my jaw drop about 50 feet. After a very well done fight scene I was thinking maybe he was just messing with her or maybe he’s take her hostage. I was absolutely gobsmacked when he killed her.  This was a great twist as you would think it would open many doors for the end of the series. It seems almost certain she’ll go in the Lazarus pit and be resurrected but will it send her insane. She doesn’t know Roy is still alive after all. It also seems to open a way for Oliver to take Ra’s al Ghul’s place and they can do so much with this it really excites me to see what happens.

 

Negatives time. I enjoy Ray Palmer a lot but let’s face it, he does not suit the tone of Arrow at all. Some of his lines made me laugh a lot and it was hilarious seeing him high five Oliver but sometimes the changes in tone can be a little too jarring. It’s necessary to have lighter moments but sometimes he take things a little too un-seriously for what’s going on. This isn’t a big complaint however as I did enjoy his presence and he does make a nice contrast to Oliver’s brooding. I almost like him for similar reasons I like the Flash TV show. He’s light hearted in comparison to Arrow but still has his serious moments and doesn’t go as far as to be camp and silly. It is worth mention however that for me at least the shifts can be a little too jarring, at least for me.

 

The other issue is the flashbacks. This was an odd one as while a lot happened it still felt very slow and even a little dull. The flashbacks in previous series were constantly intense as well as building on Oliver’s character to give us a better understanding of him in present day. Now however they don’t really seem to be going anywhere. Even when it does reach the climax I don’t see it really wowing us. Hopefully I’m wrong but the build up at least has not been very interesting at all and now it looks like they’re cutting out Amanda Waller, the best part of the Hong Kong flashbacks. I should mention that I liked seeing her in a weaker state, she’s always been powerful and I enjoy seeing such powerful characters with such presence at their weakest, similar to when we saw Malcom Merlin’s fear of Ra’s al Ghul.

 

Next week’s episode is called The Fallen and will likely see Oliver and the gang head to Nanda Parbat to use the Lazarus pit on Thea. It looks promising and I can’t wait to see how Thea reacts after coming back to life.

 

Broken Arrow was a fantastic episode and one I heavily enjoyed. It did a good job of really setting up where the rest of the season will go and did a fantastic job of setting a character on his way who I think we’ve all really grown fond of. A great episode and a great finale to who has become a great character.