TV: Arrow: Season 5, Episode 4 – “Penance” Review

This week’s episode of Arrow features Oliver teaming with Lyla in order to break Diggle out of a military penetntiary.  The new team isn’t fond of the idea.  Will they be able to stop him?  If he escapes, will Diggle re-join Team Arrow?  Also, Tobias Church increases his push for control of the city.  Will he succeed or will his last encounter with Prometheus change his plans?  Read on to find out!

 

****Arrow: Season 5, Episode 4 Spoilers!****

Photo Courtesy of Dean Buscher/The CW.

Photo Courtesy of Dean Buscher/The CW.

Green Arrow and Team Arrow – The dysfunction of the team opens the episode as Wild Dog, once again, disobeys orders which throws the rest of the team off when trying to apprehend a criminal stealing a mysterious package.  Green Arrow shows his frustration by telling the team to take a couple days off.  He then speaks to Rory (Ragman), who has been MIA, only to find out that he is leaving the team.  He knows that Felicity had no choice but to divert the nuke, but he still can’t bring himself to be around her as a constant reminder of who destroyed his city.  I thought that after the past two seasons of Olicity, that I would never want to see Felicity’s character on the show.  It wasn’t the actress, but the role that was written for her.  I enjoy the way the writers have changed her character to reflect the old Felicity in seasons 1 and 2.  Her role is not the main focus, she is the tech. guru, and she is Oliver’s foil, but she isn’t overused and constantly crying.   Felicity fills the team in on Oliver’s plans to break Diggle out of a Military Prison, and they try to stop him, which he easily takes care of them and continues his plan.  Felicity goes to speak with Rory in order to try and talk through the tension between the two.  We find that not only is Rory worried about the constant reminder of his destroyed city when seeing Felicty, but he is also worried he cannot fill the legacy of Ragman that his father, and grandfather before him carried.  Rory later returns when the team is discussing the need to stop Tobias Church.  Felicity initially does not want to send the team into action without Oliver, but Rory’s return changes Felicity’s opinion and she tells them to go and take Church down.  For a while the team is doing well handling Church’s men until Mr. Terrific takes a knife to the back!  I was glad to see that Mr. Terrific was wounded in battle; not because I do not like the character, but at this point he has seemed like the weak link.  It makes sense that he would more than likely get injured in the field as he has the least amount of experience.  This season has been much more believable, which is why I like it.  Even Ragman’s “powers” bridge the gap with subtle magical elements, yet are still grounded in a realistic tone.  The supernatural isn’t overdone, but still helps with the connection to the last two seasons, acknowledging it exists. Next, they come face-to-face with Church.  Wild Dog tells Artemis to take Mr. Terrific to safety as he stays to fight Church.  Although Wild Dog gets some hits in, Church easily handles him and tells his men not to kill him as he may have use for him.  Lance then shows up with an escape van in order to help the team, leaving Wild Dog behind against the judgment of the team.  Upon returning to their base, Felicity and Rory decide to help balance each other and not let guilt take-over each other.  Oliver returns to the team stating that they will do whatever it takes to find Wild Dog.  The team is honestly growing on me.  The writers are doing a much better job balancing the characters.  The team’s commitment to finding Wild Dog shows how close they have become, but my thoughts are that Church will use Wild Dog as bait for Green Arrow and his team, or he may try to break him down and turn him against Team Arrow.

Photo Courtesy of ScreenRant.

Photo Courtesy of ScreenRant.

Tobias Church –  Church has been monitoring apackage that the criminal at the beginning of the episode was trying to steal.  The package ended up being a setup so that Church and his men could enter into an evidence area and steal weapons.  He had planned the entire situation, which shows how meticulous he is with his planning.  He wanted to set up the criminal in order for Team Arrow to catch him, give the package to the police, and have them take it to the evidence room so that he could detonate the package gaining entrance in order to steal weapons.  Well done, writers.  Church and his men strike again.  This time, Oliver is preoccupied on his mission to break Diggle out of prison, and Felicty doesn’t want to send the team into such a deadly situation. 

Photo Courtesy of Forbes.

Photo Courtesy of Forbes.

Mayor Queen – Oliver says that he will be taking some time off.  With Quentin Lance as the Deputy Mayor, Oliver can afford to take an absence.  This was a smart move for Oliver.  Lance was the perfect pick for the role for his experience on the police force, and his knowledge of Oliver and his team.  I wasn’t sure how the writers were going to balance having Oliver as the mayor and Green Arrow, but using Lance as the middle man was a great solution.

Photo Courtesy of CW/WB.

Photo Courtesy of CW/WB.

Diggle – Lyla comes to speak with Oliver concerning breaking Diggle out of prison.  Felicity does not agree, but Oliver says that he will take care of it as he doesn’t want John Jr. to have both parents behind bars if Lyla was to it upon herself to break him out.  Oliver and Lyla gain entrance to the prison Diggle is being held in.  Does any think Oliver’s mask resembles Slade’s from the flashbacks in Season 1?  Nice nod.  Viewers find out that Diggle was moved into gen. pop., which completely changes their plan.  Lyla tells Oliver to abort the mission, but he causes a diversion which sends the prisoners back to their cells.  Oliver finally gets Diggle in his cell, and even though Diggle wants Oliver to leave, he ends up realizing how true Oliver’s motives are to help him and decides to escape.  Oliver and Diggle make it outside of the prison building, but are surrounded by guards.  Just when it seems that they won’t make it out, Lyla flies a plane overhead, attaching a cable to a harness Oliver and Diggle have on, ala The Dark Knight movie.  Oliver and Lyla keep Diggle in the Hive headquarters until the situation can calm down.  This has helped calm some of the tension between Diggle and Oliver.  I think Diggle will slowly come back into the Team Arrow fold.  Pictures of a new helmet for Spartan were seen last year, but he has yet to don the new equipment.  Diggle could serve as a great mentor for the new team, and help train them while Oliver tends to the city.

Photo Courtesy of Bettina Strauss/The CW

Photo Courtesy of Bettina Strauss/The CW

Flashbacks –  Anatoly has Oliver get arrested in order to speak with an individual in a Russian jail in order to find inside information.  Oliver has begun to embrace the Bratva brotherhood.  Oliver learns through the Bratva how to hold leverage over individuals.  He knows the background of the person he is trying to get information from in the jail, and threatens to hurt his wife.  He then breaks the individual’s neck after he receives the information he was looking for. I am enjoying the flashbacks again.  I know most people want them to be over, but when they make sense, and give the viewer some type of anticipation, they play well in the plot of the episode.  Oliver’s time with the Bratva helps connect how he came back to the city with such a lack of remorse, which was seen during Season 1.  When Oliver gets out of jail, he tells Anatoly he didn’t agree with killing the man because he wasn’t a threat, but he did it because he was told to.  This earns him the trust of Bratva, and has concluded the third, and final, test from the gang.  I am still waiting for the entrance of Dolph Lundgren’s character.  Hopefully he will be Oliver’s nemesis in the flashbacks sooner rather than later!

 

Another solid episode of Arrow!  What do you think will happen to Wild Dog?  Are you enjoying Season 5?  We didn’t see Prometheus in this episode.  Will he reappear again soon? Leave your thoughts in the usual spot, and thanks for reading!

 

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