Arrow - S6E11 - We Fall

Previously on Arrow, “Divided”

This week’s Arrow was a mixed bag; with some good character moments sprinkled into your run-of-the-mill absurd ‘hacker causes chaos by turning our technology against us’ plot line. It’s 2018, surely we’ve moved past the idea that a touchscreen can be hacked into electrocuting people.

The Good

Arrow is usually pretty reliable with their fight choreography, but seeing people fistfight in dark factories can get a bit repetitive, so it was great to see them trying something new with Dinah’s powers, having her stop a train from crashing using her sonic scream.

When Oliver and Felicity are allowed to just exist as a team without the drama, I remember exactly what drew people to Olicity in the first place. (As long as I avoid thinking about Westallen’s Kanye’d wedding vows, obviously.) Felicity’s conversation with William about what it means to watch someone you love go into battle was surprisingly moving, and showed a maturity that often gets obscured in the writers’ love of overloading Felicity with quirky dialogue.

The Bad

This episode saw the demise of Frank Pike, aka the vaguely familiar black cop who has been on the fringes of the show since the first season. He may not have been a major character, but as the chief of police and Lance’s former partner, he was certainly recognizable enough to deserve a more momentous death than being electrocuted in an elevator and then hardly mentioned after the first ten minutes of the episode.

When Cayden James told Oliver that his son had been killed in the crossfire of an Arrow mission, I had hoped that it might lead to an interesting plot line about the collateral damage that must arise from 5 years of violent battles on city streets. Unfortunately, it was immediately revealed that James’ son was killed at a time when Oliver was out of town and couldn’t have possibly been involved, without letting Oliver, or the audience, stew on the possibility at all.

I see what they were going for with William taking charge of his classmates in a very Oliver-esque manner to help them escape the attack on the tunnel, but good lord, that scene was cheesy.

As much as I love Thea and Lance, and think that Willa Holland and Paul Blackthorne are the best actors of the lot, there comes a time where they have to either use the characters or let them go. And that time was two seasons ago.

Quotes of the Week

Felicity: “I think we’ve reached maximum level domesticity.”
Oliver: “God, I hope not!”

Rene: “Because your balls never malfunction?”

Cayden James describing Arrow Oliver: “So predictable, almost takes the fun out of it.”

Curtis: “You think this T on my face stands for gullible?”