Review: Arrow ‘Three Ghosts’

After sitting down and being incredibly disappointed with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. mid-season finale, I was all-the-more eager to get on to Arrow and what it had to offer.  After last week’s amazing episode, I could only hold my breath in anticipation for ‘Three Ghosts’, praying that the writers wouldn’t drop the ball on this one.  As it turns out, I had no reason to worry.  My skepticism has reigned during the entirety of season 2 thus far, but I think I may be cured.  Arrow is, in my opinion, one of the best shows on television right now, a state it continues to prove as well as improve.

This week’s episode begins with Oliver laid out, victim of some accidental injection that appears to be killing him.  So Felicity made the hard call and brought in Barry Allen to have a look at Ollie.  Using some (questionable) science, Barry saves Arrow’s life.  But does Ollie say thanks?  Nope, he’s the same pissed-off guy he’s always been and poor Barry is left worrying that he’ll receive a punch to the face for his efforts.

Continuing the war against evil, a now-hallucinating Arrow sets off to find super-strong-guy Cyrus and end his reign of terror.  In the meantime, he has to deal with Roy’s leg (the one he put an arrow in last episode) and the three ghosts (hence the title) that are plaguing him.  Slade, Shado and Tommy all show up to give their opinions on whether Oliver needs to retire or not.  Luckily, our hero makes the right decision.  He heads off to rescue Roy, who has been captured by Brother Blood and Cyrus and is now a subject of their experiments.  Arrow saves the day, but Brother Blood gets away and Roy is now under threat of becoming a super-hero (oh God, please let him take acting lessons between now and next month…).

In the end, we get a reveal on the man behind all this Mirakuru trouble - none-other-than a still-living Slade, complete with eye-patch and looking a bit more like Deathstroke.  In the past, Shado gets killed because Oliver decides to save Sara and Slade wakes up from his Mirakuru-induced coma and murders people with super-strength.

Once again, the cast and crew of Arrow shine.  The actors are now so much better than they ever were during season 1 and we can believe the complexities and dilemmas that plague their lives simply because they display their emotion better.  The stories are more interesting, the villains more vicious and the correlation between past and present has been refined enough that we don’t feel like we’re watching two separate series.  Arrow is what a super-hero television show should be.  And Barry’s final scene (the Flash origin), was so simple yet brilliant that I literally bounced with glee when it happened.

Good job Team Arrow.  Now just keep up the good work for the next half of the season (and The Flash as well, of course!) and I will have found my new favorite show.  If you’d like to get a sneak tease at what January 15^th’s return to Arrow has in store for us, head over to this site and check out the trailer.

Photo Credits -           

Three Ghosts courtesy of screencrush.com