Review: Arrow ‘The Undertaking”

This week on Arrow, ‘The Undertaking’ brings us, albeit a bit heavy-handedly, some of the back-story that has been withheld for so long.  Nothing amazingly game-changing happens this time around (aside from, perhaps, at the very end), but we do at least get the chance to fill in some of those holes that have been left for the last 20 episodes.  While this week doesn't go beyond the typical expectations, it does set up for the final two episodes.

We start with Arrow doing one of his usual visits, putting arrows into people and beating on the bad guys.  This time around, our hero happens to steal a laptop with some potentially vital information on it.  Felicity hacks away and comes up with a lead on where the long-missing Walter may be.  But this is just the beginning of the trail and to get more information Felicity must put herself into the game and play the part of a high-stakes gambler at an illegal casino.  Things get a bit too deep for her and Arrow inevitably has to come to the rescue.

The end result is a statement from a bad guy that Walter has bit the dust.  So Oliver, pretending he got his info from some more legit sources, tells mommy Moira that her husband is a goner.  She freaks out and, as Oliver was hoping, heads to Malcolm Merlyn to confront him about it.  Arrow follows her and bugs the conversation and learns once and for all that his mother and Merlyn are both involved in a dangerous and destructive plan known as “The Undertaking”.  Luckily for all involved, Arrow also learns where Walter is located and he immediately heads off and rescues him.

Meanwhile, in the past, we don’t actually go back to the island again.  This time around the flashbacks revolve around Merlyn, Moira and Oliver’s father (along with their allies).  We get a glimpse into what motivated The Undertaking in the first place and find out that Merlyn intends to take it to the next level by destroying the crime-infested Glades once and for all.

In the background, we get more of the annoying Laurel and Oliver story arc, see a little more of Tommy, and Oliver and Diggle kiss and make-up once Ollie tells his buddy about the level of crap that’s going down with Merlyn and his plan to make things really bad for Glades residents.

The best thing about this episode is that we actually do get to see a bit of what has caused The Undertaking and find out some motivations. The bad part about that is the way it’s executed is very heavy-handed. And the actor that plays Oliver’s father needs to seriously go back to acting school.  I mean really, he delivers his lines like a less talented version of Keanu Reeves. 

We also get some insight into the Laurel and Oliver past romance story arc, but that’s pretty annoying.  Another great thing is that Felicity actually gets used as a character instead of just a generic tool to hack things and advance the various plotlines. I really hope they make more use of her in the future.

So, nothing amazing this week, but we are getting set for the last two episodes, so I’ll forgive them this time.  If you can’t wait and really must get a taste of episode 22 before it airs, check out a preview at this site.  Or just wait until next Wednesday and watch it with the rest of us.

The Undertaking still courtesy of screencrush.com