Arrow Review: “Corto Maltese”

The Arrow and his associates fly to Corto Maltese in order to retrieve Thea and a missing agent. Laurel’s first attempts at being the Canary don’t fly very well, while Thea proves a speedy learner.

Felicity begins working for a remarkably understanding Ray Palmer, and a character from last year shows her head.

Title: “Corto Maltese”

Cast and Crew
Director: Stephen Surjik
Writers: Erik Oleson, Beth Schwartz

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
Willa Holland as Thea Queen
John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn
Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels
Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance
David Cubitt as Mark Shaw
J. R. Ramirez as Ted Grant
Katrina Law as Nyssa al Ghul

Full cast and crew may be found here.

High Point

The episode featured both some strong drama—nicely understated, by this show’s standards—and an excellent action sequence.

Low Point

The individual stories were generally fine, but as an episode, this one felt disjointed.

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6

Effects: 5/6

Acting: 5/6 I again note that Amell, in particular, has come a long way with his ability to handle heavy emotional scenes.

The scenes with Thea and Malcolm were creepy in places, but obviously intended to be.

Story: 4/6:

Emotional Response: 5/6

Production: 6/6

Overall: 5/6

In total, “Corto Maltese” receives 33/42

DC TVerse Tie-ins

1. Felicity reads Iris’s posts about the Streak, and will apparently be visiting Barry Allen next week.

2. Corto Maltese is one of a handful of fictional countries in the DCU’s version of earth.

3. I don’t know if this Ted Grant has ever been or will ever be the Wildcat, but he’s definitely a part of DC history.

5. Mark Shaw is one of a handful of DC characters who have used the alias, Manhunter.

Did I miss any?

One reply

  1. Emily Bett Rickards still makes the show for me. Which is good because that character is written fairly badly, but she manages to salvage it.

    I also am in favour of more Katrina Law.

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