Arrow Review: “Sara”

Our heroes keep Sara’s body on ice and hunt her killer; no time is a good time for goodbye.

Title: “Sara”

Cast and Crew
Director: Wendey Stanzler
Writers: Jake Coburn, Keto Shimizu

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow
Katie Cassidy as Dinah “Laurel” Lance
Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
David Ramsay as John “Dig” Diggle
Colton Haynes as Roy Harper / Arsenal
Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer
Karl Yune as Maseo Yamashiro
Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance
Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels
Brandon Nomura as Akio Yamashiro
Willa Holland as Thea Queen
Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn
Matt Ward as Komodo

Full cast and crew may be found here.

Premise

The cast come to terms with Sara’s death while hunting her killer.

High Point

Some of the acting is strong. Stephen Amell has developed since the first season, and is carrying his weight emotionally as well as physically. Matt Ward, playing a different, more limited role as Komodo, isn’t dragging.

However….

Low Point

This cast has the square-jawed, rip-muscled, action team stuff down. They’re believable (in context) and engaging as vigilante heroes. This week’s script requires a good deal of serious emotion, however, and the actors are not consistently up to the task.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6 This show has killed major characters before and explored the consequences, but this episode took a more personal approach. Even those not especially close to Sara felt the effects of her death.

Effects: 5/6

Acting: 4/6

Story: 5/6 The story is fine, driven effectively by the events of the season premiere. The flashbacks don’t feel as connected to the main story as they do in the better episodes.

Emotional Response: 5/6 The script did a decent job of balancing the human element with the super-heroic.

Production: 6/6

Overall: 5/6 This episode gives more evidence that Dinah “Laurel” Lance is on the road to becoming the new Canary. And while I accept vigilantism as– obviously– a central series premise, I could do without them making the case for torture as an interrogation technique.

In total, “Sara” receives 32/42

3 replies on “Arrow Review: “Sara””

  1. Special Guest Star: Oliver’s Bad Wig

    Update: I still don’t like Brandon Routh/Ray Palmer, but on a hate scale of Fish Mooney (severe hate) to Dr. Rush (severe irritation), he’s closer to Dr. Rush. I usually like the Ray Palmer type of character, but not in his case.

  2. I dunno, a lot of this and the previous episodes seemed a bit forced. Sara’s death in particular. That was just… weird. Oliver’s fight with this episode’s bad guy was also a bit off. Eh.

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