Review: Arrow ‘Time of Death’

Once again (and I know I say this every damn week), Arrow has proven that it only gets better and better. Though this week was a dose of the villain-of-the-week format, it was, by far, the most well-structured and relevant villain-of-the-week episode that they’ve done so far. The bad guy was wicked, the action solid if not omni-present and the rest of the episode’s material was progressive and intriguing. ‘Time of Death’ proves that the writers of Arrow have become masters of their craft, offering up excellent stories with regularity.

We begin with a bank robbery. Two generic thugs break their way into a high-security complex to steal something. Meanwhile, a much smarter individual is working behind the scenes. So it’s up to Arrow and his gang to find out who this bad guy is and try to stop him. Unfortunately, he proves to be their equal in many regards, the most devastating of them being his ability to match Felicity hack-for-hack.

So Team Arrow begins a game of strike and counter-strike with the villain known as The Clock King. Every time they think they have him, he manages to outsmart them. Only when Felicity takes a risk and puts herself in danger do things start to turn in their favor.

In the meanwhile, Oliver has to deal with his mother, Laurel and Sara have to deal with each other and, perhaps the best part of this week’s episode, Felicity becomes emotional over Sara being there and starts to feel like she might no longer be needed. Thus her rushing into the line of fire to get the job done. And at the very end of the episode, a reveal that is perhaps one of the best surprise moments of the show’s entire run.

There are many praises I’d like to bestow on this week’s episode, but I will try to limit my gushing to a few of the best moments. The development of Felicity’s character was probably my favorite part. She starts to feel insecure over her position and begins to try to evolve herself to become better. She may not know how to fight yet, but I can see her training with Sara in the future and learning to kick some butt.

Also, the development of Oliver’s character as it relates to Laurel was very strong. We get to see Oliver pushed to his limits. When combined with his reaction to his mother’s continued lying, it seems like Ollie is about to have a crisis of some sort. Will we see him getting harder and less trusting? Or will something else happen to surprise us?

And finally, the Clock King was amazing. Robert Knepper (who you may remember as the chief baddie during the last season of Heroes) does an amazing job of portraying someone with a cold, calculating manner that is smarter than any of the Arrow team. It’s the first time the crew has had to face someone who can outthink them so easily and it was a pleasure to watch. More villains like this please, Arrow writers! Of course, he doesn’t die at the end, so maybe we’ll see him come back?

Next week’s episode, ‘The Promise’, looks to be opening the can of worms that we’ve all been waiting to see explode. Oliver and Slade have looked each other in the eye and now they’ll likely be bashing some heads to get to one another. Check out the preview of what promises to be another great episode here.

Photo Credits -           

Time of Death courtesy of cinemeblend.com