Review: Arrow ‘The Scientist’

Well, my worries about Arrow returning to its previous pattern of up and down are finally coming to an end.  While there have been definite high points and low points with the latest season, it’s been consistently better than almost anything the writers put together for season 1.  And with the first half of the mid-season finale, ‘The Scientist’, they’ve proven that they can make it even better.

The story begins with Brother Blood’s super-strong minion breaking in to one of Queen Consolidated’s buildings (is there anything they don’t own?) and stealing away with a centrifuge.  While the cops are trying to figure out what happened, in comes an out-of-town CSI guy by the name of Barry Allen (soon-to-be The Flash!).  He seems to think, and rightly so, that one guy with lots of muscles walked away with the giant object, along with punching a hole in a huge metal door.  While normally this wouldn’t fly with anyone, Oliver knows from his time on the island that such super powers are indeed possible.

So Allen teams up with Team Ollie and they set out to find their enemy.  Along the way, they figure out what his plan is, that he’s jacked up on the Miracle drug and has plans to mass produce a lot more of it.  So off Arrow goes to put the smack-down on the big baddie.  Unfortunately, this baddie is way meaner than Ollie could ever be.  He tosses Arrow around like a sack of potatoes and makes off with his prize.  A second showdown ends much the same way, this time with Oliver in need of some serious medical help.  It’s up to Felicity and Diggle to find a way to save him without compromising his secret identity.  Re-enter Barry Allen, the newest person to be let in on the Oliver/Arrow connection.

In the background, we see a showdown between Moira and Merlyn over the fate of daughter Thea.  Roy tries to help Arrow take down the bad guys and receives an arrow in his leg for his troubles (from Oliver no less!).  Felicity and Barry get on like no one’s business and a little romance is born - one that doesn’t feel like the forced soap opera rubbish that’s been happening between her and Oliver.  And in the past, Ollie, Shado and Sara try to save Slade by injecting him with the super-serum.

The awesomeness of this episode comes from the fact that they managed to juggle so many plotlines, each one of them interesting enough to carry an episode on its own, and cut them all together so that the viewer is never left enough time to pause for breath.  The wind-up is a little slow as they take the time to introduce Barry, but from there the balls keep rolling in all sorts of directions.  There’s tension in the board room, tension in the Arrow-cave and a seemingly endless supply of obstacles.

As far as the characters go, the Oliver we see this time around looks tired and very, very rough.  It’s almost like they forgot to put the make-up on the poor guy or he was really sick while shooting.  The end result is perfect, creating a hero that looks war-torn, his back finally bending beneath the weight of all the crazy crap he has to deal with every day.  The chemistry between Felicity and Barry was brilliant as well.  Though it may be blasphemy, I’m hoping we see Felicity make the move over to The Flash when that series pops up.  They work so much better together on-screen than her and Oliver.  Even the actress that plays Moira, usually a painful creature to watch when she shows up, did a decent job during her brief time.

All-in-all, if felt like everyone was spot-on with this installment of Arrow.  Writers, director, cast and whomever else was lurking in the background seemed to have pulled together to create what is by-far one of my favorite episodes of the series so far.  Let’s just hope that next week’s mid-season finale, ‘Three Ghosts’ holds up and leaves us wanting more when the show returns come January 15^th.  For a quick look at ‘Three Ghosts’ head to this site and check out the trailer.

Photo Credits -           

The Scientist courtesy of cwtv.com