Arrow returned from its winter break with an oddly one-off villain of the week who was pissed off and running amok with explosives.
It didn’t tie back to the whole Blood/Slade arc of the last episode from the fall, which was sort of strange disconnect, but it gave the show a chance to look at Oliver and Felicity’s relationship as she spent time at a comatose Barry’s bedside and Oliver blew a fuse about not being her number one priority.
Thankfully, Felicity calls him out for being a jackass and gets him to admit out loud that he relies on her and she’s not his employee, she’s his partner. Nowhere in there does he say they’re friends or family but I like to think that was implied.
After getting the tip about Sin’s dead blood donor friend, Laurel realizes something isn’t right with Blood and she turns over a few things in her own research that lead her to a mental hospital. The woman her dad ID’d as an aunt turns out to be Blood’s mother. Laurel learns from her that as a boy (I think–timing is unclear), Blood killed his own father, and then later institutionalized her to keep her quiet. Of course Laurel finds out all of this after Oliver throws a mayoral rally for Blood where the two proclaim their friendship. So that’s going to be complicated.
Roy shows signs of being superhuman but he pushes back on Thea’s attempts to find out what’s really going with him.
The flashbacks follow the early days after Shado’s death as Slade figured out his reanimation came with super strength and Oliver and Sarah realized that means he’s a loose cannon and possibly very dangerous. Ivo also resurfaces.
I liked that this was a breather/housekeeping episode before what’s surely going to be a massive, angsty arc. Call me old school, but I kind of miss the monster-of-the-week stories in my shows so I’m glad when they throw us a bone now and again.
Tonight, Laurel’s detective work bites her in the ass. Here are a couple of sneak peeks at “Blind Spot.”
Photo courtesy of Diyah Pera/The CW.