Arrow S5 Ep. 19 Quick Thoughts

"Dangerous Liaisons"

After about a month-long hiatus, Arrow finally returns to the small screen following up on a pretty intense episode cliffhanger involving Chase's escape. So, how does the currently successful season continue with this notably engaging villain on the loose story? Well, an episode dedicated to Felicity and her hacker buddies of course. That's right, the majority of this episode (give or take a few emotional moments between Wild Dog and Quentin as well as Diggle and Lila) is centered on Felicity's partnership with Helix having a conflict of interest with the team. Get the counter ready for how many times the word "darkness" will be mentioned. Oh right, this isn't Season 4. [Cue the sigh of relief]

Was I bored out of my mind watching this episode? No, there's definitely enough in here to warrant the term "watchable" when describing the overall quality being offered up. However, as a fan of the current major story thread regarding Prometheus, was there enough shown to get me excited for the future of the season? Well, this is where I feel this week's installment slightly crosses the line towards the "just another filler episode" corner of television.

Yes, it is interesting to see Felicity being shown as an antagonistic figure of an episode being that I personally feel that any comic book TV property such as this should explore that concept at least once with their cast of heroes. Unfortunately, aside from a few cool confrontational moments pitting hacking skills against our beloved band of vigilantes, I couldn't honestly say that I was having as much fun as the show wanted me to. Although, after seeing the team struggle through a couple of hacking related weapon defenses, there was a small part of me that briefly entertained the idea of how powerful Felicity would be as a villain. Just an interesting thought to keep in mind.

We've already seen this dance plenty of times involving trust issues on the team or characters having a difference of opinions resulting in catastrophic relationship issues. So again, there really wasn't much presented here that was worth getting invested in. Although, I will say that I do like the idea of having the hero's team of sidekicks be motivated by their leader to push themselves to dangerous extents in order to catch a criminal. It speaks volumes to how much Oliver has deeply influence his friends and partners during his crusade to save the city. This concept is well realized during his conversation with Felicity as it shows how much she has drastically changed over the years. 

With only a few episodes left in the season, I was hoping for the remaining entries to be primarily focused on our heroes hunting down one of the most personally close to the chest and dangerous enemies that they've ever faced yet. This whole situation regarding Helix could've easily been cut down to a much smaller portion of the episode. This can also be stated about some of the other character plot points which could've perhaps be rearranged to spread across the season in order to allow for more interesting elements to shine. Keep in mind, as I've already emphasized, this is definitely not a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination. It's just one that simply didn't make much of an impact for me me with its juggling of character development considering where we are in the Arrow Vs. Prometheus arc.

However, if the cliffhanger showing Prometheus's attack on the Arrow cave is any indication, we just might be setting ourselves up for one highly climatic episode next week. Depending on how next week's follow up stacks up, I'd immediately be able to look back at this episode as a great set up for something hopefully amazing. My fingers are still crossed for an epic showdown between Oliver and Prometheus before the season ends in a similiar fashion to the Ra's Al Ghul cliff fight in Season 3 or the fight with Deathstroke during the Season 2 finale. Guess we'll just have to wait.

Bonus Content

1. Clever Visual Storytelling?

During the scene where Felicity confronts Oliver using the laser grid to separate the two, I wasn't entirely sure if the writers used this imagery as a way to show how Felicity's intellect places them both on two different playing fields. This is something that has been previously highlighted in past seasons, so if it was intentional, kudos to the writers.

2. T-Spheres In Action

Anytime we get to see Mr. Terrific utilize his T-Spheres in some way, shape, or form is always a welcomed sight. It would appear that he's somewhat mastered them now and uses it to non lethally take down enemies alongside other tactical uses.

3. Prometheus Shows Up In An Arcade Game? Seriously?

The CW's DC TV franchise is no stranger to cheesy moments. However, having Prometheus show up on an old arcade cabinet game screen with a "Game Over"tag has got to be the worst entry yet. Honestly, this may be pushing it even for a show like this. Did Adrian take the time to create those visuals? What if the team didn't see it? It's...it's ridiculous. 

4. Felicity The Vigilante

Fans of Legends of Tomorrow might've picked up on the whole "vigilante Felicity" concept being a pretty cool (although completely indirect) callback to the Legion of Doom's alternate reality version of the character.

5. Awesome Surprise Character Twist? Guess Not.

I just know I couldn't have been the only one hoping that the person inside of the Argus cell was someone unexpected due to them making the wrong container choice. Perhaps a newly teased villain or previously captured metahuman. Alright, maybe not King Shark as shown in my pic, but a nerd can dream.

Episode Rating: 7/10