Arrow: Season 3, Episode 22: This Is Your Sword
Things are starting to get freakin’ intense around here! Oliver has been so convincing that I was beginning to doubt he was faking and I’m crazy skeptical when it comes to everything! The team up with Malcolm was awesome yet again. He is definitely one of the best and most complex characters on the show. I particularly like how he doesn’t even bother arguing with the group most of the time and just does what he must. Of course he was (and possibly still is) a monster, but he’s clearly getting tired of their whining. His love for Thea and his debt to Oliver are driving him now, so their opinions are more or less just annoyances now. He barely even seems to feel the guilt of his “Undertaking” anymore.
Diggle’s anger is pretty extreme now. Laurel is raging a bit too, but he is much father along. I can’t blame him though, Oliver kidnapped his wife and left his infant daughter alone. Putting a man’s family in danger like that will get this kind of reaction. Oliver may have truly lost his best friend and closest ally in his fight to save Starling City.
Laurel seems to be a much more effective fighter. It’s a little sudden though. She was just failing at stopping a mugger with a knife and now she can take on multiple members of the League of Assassins. I am tired of seeing her suck so much in battle, so I’ll accept it, but they are kind of pushing it here. I do like the Canary Cry though, definitely comes in handy. My biggest issue is the lack of story development with her. She has things to say here and there, but she has definitely become a background character at this point. Her romantic feelings for Oliver must be completely gone at this point too. She didn’t even bat an eye when Felicity called him “her Oliver,” or when he mentioned his marriage to Nyssa.
Felicity is becoming too much of a crybaby at this point. She’s always been one of my favorites, possibly my definite favorite because of her contrast to the rest of the characters. She’s always been that one humorous light in the middle of a bunch of Grumpy Gusses. I imagine that’s why all of the superheroes (Arrow, Flash and Atom) have fallen for her at some point. Lately she’s been a big bag of tears, still very useful, but definitely a big bag of tears. I’m missing the happy, goofy Felicity of old. Now that seems to be Ray Palmer’s exclusive role, but hopefully we’ll get her back.
Speaking of Ray, they’ve definitely made him more like Iron Man than the Atom, but I’m finding it really hard to complain after his fight with the plane. I like that he still loves Felicity and even though she hurt him, he’s still there for her. He’s a very likable character and possibly the most pure hearted the show has seen so far.
I’m glad that the flashbacks got somewhere interesting this week. The source of Maseo’s pain has been implied and hinted at this whole season, but it was finally shown in full this week. Akio died and his parents were completely broken by it. Maseo joined the League and became Sarab and Tatsu has officially become Katana, mask and all. Hopefully that means she’ll be part of Team Arrow for a while. It was pretty cool to hear her story about her sword being ancient and passed down. Her killing her former husband with it was a nice nod to the comics, where Maseo is the soul that lives inside of her “Soultaker” sword.
I’m pretty amped up for next week and more than a little excited about what could possibly happen next. As of the end of this episode: Roy left Thea so she could grow and possibly become Speedy, Oliver is at the alter on his wedding day and the rest of the gang, including Ray Palmer, are being poisoned by a deadly virus. I’m curious to see how all of these issues will be resolved in next week’s finale!
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
