Review: Arrow ‘Blind Spot’

Though there have been some mixed reactions about this week’s episode of Arrow, to me ‘Blind Spot’ was one of the series highest points, bringing in some steady character development that was both well-written and well-executed by the cast. Instead of the usual fare of Arrow action scenes and villain-of-the-week distractions, we’re getting a more complex approach to the show, an approach that I hope will continue in future episodes (side-by-side with the action, of course). Read on for more.

With so much going on this week, it’s hard to give a brief recap, but I shall try. Laurel is still investigating Sebastian Blood, though Blood and Slade are working hard to cover up his past and make sure that she is discredited. Her pill-popping habits come to light and cause her even more problems, including the loss of her job as Assistant DA. Luckily, she manages to get cleared of the worst of it, but Laurel has hard times ahead.

In Roy’s corner, we see the usually annoying side-character coming into his own now that he has super powers. He heads out with Sin to try his hand at a little super-heroing in the manner of his hero, but the whole thing ends up going bad. Roy was injected with Mirakuru, after all, and we all know what that did to poor Slade. So Arrow is forced to come to his rescue, offering to train Roy to be something better and to help him take control of his newfound aggression.

Those are just the two main story arcs, but we see Oliver running around and trying to figure out whether he should trust Blood or not. We also see him doing typical Arrow stuff, shooting bad guys and beating people up and the like. The rest of the characters take a back seat for this one, though it’s not for the worse. And in the past, nothing much happens other than Sara deciding which side she prefers to be on.

The one thing that struck me about this episode was the steady pacing. It didn’t meander about with useless side-plots. Everything that happened was concise and helped to develop either one of the characters or one of the many story arcs. This is writing at its finest with no wasted space. Even though the two main characters this time around were Roy and Laurel (both of whom I hate with a passion), I found myself enthralled, wanting to know what was happening with them. I may regret my interest when they become useless background characters again, but for now I’ll remain intrigued as to where their arcs could end up going.

The biggest problem I saw with ‘Blind Spot’ was the editing. It’s a failing of many action-oriented TV shows that they have people conveniently show up wherever they’re needed regardless of the actual amount of time it would take them to move from point A to point B. This week was particularly bad. I think I counted at least a half-dozen points where I felt as if the show had chopped out a minute of development, forcing the viewer to close their eyes and ignore the inconsistency for the sake of the story. The worst part of this is that the problem is so easily fixable, but they just don’t bother. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

Next week on Arrow, ‘Tremors’ has Oliver starting in on his training for Roy, thus paving the way for The Red Arrow (or whatever they’ll choose to cal him in the series). Check out a preview of that one at this site.

Photo Credits -           

Blind Spot courtesy of cwtv.com