You'll have to pardon me. I'm still spazzing out about the news that Colton Haynes, formerly of Teen Wolf, will be joining our ridiculously gorgeous cast as Roy Harper. Seriously, this show's cast is starting to look like something out of a David DeCoteau film — only with, you know, actual writing, plot and acting and stuff.
It's Christmas in Starling City. Oliver is celebrating the holidays by not killing people. It could just be due to the fact that the bad guys are wetting themselves and giving in to the Hood's demands now instead of trying to put up a brave front. It seems they've caught on to the fact that the "get in the Hood's face" plan has not had a high success rate with previous targets.
Digg tries to convince Oliver to take a break during Christmas. He also indicated Oliver might be overcompensating since his relationship with Helena went south, after Oliver turned her into a more dangerous and effective killer.
Oliver's sudden streak of mercy is not shared by a new entry into the "Crazy Killers of Starling City Parade." Someone is following along behind Oliver and killing off the targets who have already paid for their crimes. And they're doing it with arrows, which is totally copyright infringement.
This episode also brings back the Magical Ninja Island flashbacks. It's been so long I was starting think Oliver had just starved to death in that cave. But no, Mr. Miyagi, whose real name is Yao Fei, returns at last. And Oliver is all, "dude, please tell me you brought some KFC and not the living-in-a cage kind" and Yao is like, "no, but I did bring the guy who had you tortured as a present. Can we be besties?"
While past!Oliver mulls that over, we return to the present with Detective Lance who managed to shed his Inept Inspector title this week. He's been given the probationary moniker of Dedicated Detective Lance. We'll see how long this lasts.
Instead of seeing an arrow-riddled body and shouting with mad glee, "I knew it! That Hood is a murdering psycho!" he says the evidence doesn't fit, so they have to acquit. However, the notion that there is a copycat Hood out there makes him pretty grouchy.
While I know this is more than just a wannabe vigilante, I do see the reason for his anger. This is why he dislikes vigilantes. Once you get one guy acting successfully outside the law, other will follow and chaos will ensue.
We have an amusing dinner scene where some Romney stand-ins are talking about how Robin Hood was a thief and that no one needs a vigilante to rob from the rich and give to the poor because that's what Democrats are for. Oh, show, you're wicked.
Mr. Merlyn is there and he and Oliver share some glances which, um, seem intense in a way that the slashers will have fun with.
Oliver needs to find the latest renegade killer, and to do so he needs one of the arrows used in the murders. While Oliver can waltz into a maximum security prison and back out again without detection, stealing evidence is outside his skill set. So he contacts Dedicated Detective Lance and asks for his help catching the copycat.
Lance, understandably, tells him to get stuffed.
Walter, in the meantime, is continuing his own investigations. He confronts someone on the List of Doom, an employee of Queen Industries. He can't outright ask him about the List and he has no idea what connection the man has to other members of the List, so it's kind of a pointless act. I guess Walter was just trying to shake loose some new leads.
Mr. Merlyn is not pleased. He lets Moira know that Walter is becoming a problem and that it might be time to deal with him. Can I just say that it's amazing to me that John Barrowman can be every bit as creepy and scary as he can be charming and funny? Mr. Merlyn is so vastly different from the iconic role of Jack Harkness that I don't even think of the pervious character while watching Arrow.
Since Detective Lance's boss is determined to blame the latest deaths on the Hood, Lance decides to go rogue and help the vigilante he hates so much. It's a serious moment of growth for the character and I hope he doesn't backslide after this.
With the help of Felicity Smoak, Oliver tracks the killer down to a warehouse. The evil archer has left him a little present in the form of a huge bomb. Oliver narrowly survives the trap.
Our Magical Ninja Island flashback wraps up with some tasty bits of information and a return of Deathstroke. It turns out the island was a Chinese prison for the worst of the worst. We are told that Yao was one of the prisoners, but come on. Aside from shooting Oliver and barricading him in a cave, he's been a really nice guy.
The flashback ends with Yao being defeated and captured by Deathstroke and Oliver running away. I think maybe this was all to give us the idea that Yao was actually the evil archer in this episode, but I didn't buy into that at all.
Walter and Moira have another confrontation. I am completely in love with the character of Moira. She seems so sad and yet determined and yet ruthless and yet world-weary. She wants Walter to stop poking into things that will get him killed. But Robert was his best friend and he won't back down.
Things come to a head when the evil archer takes some hostages and demands the Hood surrender to him in exchange for their lives. Oliver is all, "Oh no you didn't!" and Digg warns him that confronting his nemesis might not be a good idea.
Oliver is adamant that whoever it is cannot possibly be anything worse than anyone he dealt with on Magical Ninja Island. So he runs off to save the hostages. He does, and easily, because the evil archer just wanted a chance to beat the crap out of him.
Yep, Oliver gets his ass handed to him. He barely escapes, adding a few more scars to his collection. And we get the big reveal that I was expecting — Mr. Merlyn is the evil archer.
No, this wasn't a surprise. And yet, it still made me jump for joy. Mr. Merlyn is not some doughy, privileged executive waiting to be intimidated by the Hood. He's a complete bad ass and an equal to Oliver on every level. This is what an arch-nemesis should be.
Walter's pursuit of the truth finally gets him in too deep. Mr. Merlyn puts him into a coma (I think) until his ultimate evil plan unfolds. Moira is furious, but she buckles. I really want to know how she got herself into this situation.
And that's it for Arrow for 2012. Thanks to everyone for commenting and chatting about this new and interesting dark hero story. Happy holidays to you and yours. Peace out!
