Arrow Review: “The Man Under the Hood”

The conflict with Deathstroke builds– can they keep this going for four more episodes?

Title: “The Man Under the Hood”

Cast and Crew

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow
Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke
Katie Cassidy as Dinah “Laurel” Lance
Caity Lotz as Sara Lance / Black Canary
Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen
David Ramsay as John “Dig” Diggle
Willa Holland as Thea Queen
Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance
Summar Glau as Isabel Rochev
Colton Haynes as Roy Harper
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramen
David Nykl as Anatoli Knyazev
Adrian Holmes as Frank Pike
Dylan Neal as Anthony Ivo
Chelah Horsdal as Kate Spencer
Douglas Chapman as Baker
Barry Allen and Iris West as references to promote the forthcoming Flash series

Full cast and crew may be found here.

Premise

Team Arrow confronts Deathstroke as his army awakes.

Secrets are revealed—including the fact that Slade’s powers can be reversed.

A major character dies—perhaps.

High Points

The use of Roy Harper by Slade, and the possibilities it raises.

Low Point

I have no specific low point, except to repeat what I’ve written before: If you’re going to make a big deal about characters learning their loved ones are superheroes, you need to make the comic-book disguises a little more credible.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6 Does Lance’s explanation of the Arrow as a symbol play tribute to or simply steal from The Dark Knight? I know the idea predates Batman, but the similarities in the language and approach to the topic bear a strong resemblance to this recent, famous iteration of them.

Effects: 5/6

Acting: 5/6 I liked the appearance of some of Flash’s supporting characters, though their banter might have felt a little off-tone for this fairly dark episode.

Story: 5/6 We have a stronger sense of the arc that will conclude this season. I just hope they can maintain this story for the length of time they appear to be giving it.

Emotional Response: 4/6

Production: 6/6 This episode features some effectively-staged action.

Overall: 5/6

In total, “The Man Under the Hood” receives 32/42

One reply

  1. Re: Originality — I think it was sort of an Homage to TDK. Not original, but common in this universe.
    Re: Acting — I figured they were Flash spin-off characters from (a) The fact that one of them was a Panabaker and (b) they specifically mentioned each others names, which is uncommon for run-of-the-mill extras. Then we confirmed via IMDb that they were both also listed in the Flash pilot. I get why they did all that, but it felt forced/awkward to me.

    They do seem to be building up awful fast to the end. I’m forced to wonder if they’ll either spend a couple episodes having to hunt down that new army, or at least having to use Summer Glau as a Mirakuru reversal guinea pig.

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