Arrow Public Enemy Review

To say that the story line with R’as has been a slow build would be an understatement. We had our big dramatic mid season conclusion with Oliver lying on the side of a mountain dying, but yet now that he has returned to Starling City, this has been the slowest build to excitement in the history of this show. However, this was the defining moment of the fight so far this year.

R’as has finally made the Arrow a true public enemy with his random killings in the city. Captain Lance has now become obsessed with capturing the Arrow due to his killings but also due to the rift created by Sarah’s murder. He will stop at nothing to take the Arrow in. The news conferences featuring him demanding the capture of the Arrow were a bit cheesy, but yes necessary.

Lance sends the entire police force on a manhunt to catch the arrow after Maseo lures him to a spot and then calls the police to capture. The manhunt results in the team having to split up to get away. In doing so, some cops were harmed but not seriously. This just sparks Lance further into outrage, but the final piece of R’as’ puzzle is to let Lance know exactly who the Arrow is. He captures him and reveals to him that Oliver is in fact the Arrow.

The manhunt then changes to the search for Oliver Queen throwing his team into turmoil and leaving Oliver with a decision. The decision he makes is the unpopular one and he turns himself in. This would be all fine and good except for there is one thing he did not count on – Roy has a desire to be caught. He stops the police convoy carrying Oliver to prison and reveals that he is in fact the Arrow (falsely of course). This is where the show ended.

The flashbacks this week were excellent with Oliver coming in contact with Shado’s sister, Mei, while continuing his escape from A.R.G.U.S. While there he saves her from an A.R.G.U.S. attack and continues on his journey to escape.

The other side story from the week is the continuation of the Ray and Felicity love saga. When Ray was hit with an arrow in the attack on the mayor, it causes a blood clot threatening to kill him. He has a nanotechnology that can save him but the hospital refuses to allow him to use it. Felicity comes in with the technology and injects it herself but when Ray tells her that he is in love, she doesn’t return the favor. It looks like we are about to restart the Olicity drama again.

Overall, this was an episode that Arrow needed as the R’as story line never really ramped up and it is in a clear third place right now behind Flash and Agents of SHIELD. They needed this type of episode to truly build R’as into the nemesis that Arrow needs. The first season her Merlin and the second season had Deathstroke, but this season has missed this all year. I think that we are looking at a strong 5 episode race to the finish that I wasn’t expecting until last night.