Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The same can be said for ARROW.
Returning from winter hiatus with a bullseye, Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), now joined in the bonds of holy matrimony, seem to be the only union that is not fractured in Star City. With Rene’s (Rick Gonzalez) admission that he betrayed Ollie, Dinah’s (Juliana Harkavy) relationship with Vigilante/Vince (Johann Urb) and Curtis’s (Echo Kellum) furor at being spied upon, Team ARROW dissolved again instead of uniting behind the happy couple. (For those wondering why Urb looks familiar, he plays Abby Sciuto’s boyfriend, U.S. Park Police Sergeant Burt Moore, on NCIS.)
Not everything is fractious. Thea (Willa Holland) is out of her coma, and Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) had some nice moments by bonding with Ollie and Laurel. Passing down his own father’s watch to Oliver, cementing their “substitute father/son” relationship was touching and much-needed as the team continued its downfall.
Quentin’s dynamic with Laurel (Katie Cassidy) is interesting, and it seems as the two may move toward filling the vacancies in their lives with each other. Perhaps Laurel’s redemption is in the cards and two sonic screamers eventually could end up on Team Arrow. However, extracting Black Siren from her new pseudo Legend of Doom may not be easy now that she has bugged the ARROW bunker.
With Cayden James (PERSON OF INTEREST’s Michael Emerson), Anatoly (David Nykl) and Boots (Tobias Jelinek) having axes to grind and a dragon, Richard Dragon (Kirk Acevedo) waiting to enter, this is not the time for disharmony among the good guys.
So, as Ollie, Felicity, John (David Ramsey) and Quentin try to hold Team ARROW together, Wild Dog, Black Canary and Mister Terrific form a new team (name yet unknown…” Terrific BirdDog, maybe?).
If Oliver does not learn acceptance and forgiveness soon, it will not be only Cayden James who makes Ollie suffer…he will do that to himself.
ARROW airs tonight (January 18) at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW in U.S. and on CTV Two in Canada.
