Arrow Review: “My Name is Oliver Queen”

Can the Arrow, aided by his associates (and some special guest superheroes) stop Ra’s al Ghul from unleashing a plague on Starling City? And will STAR Labs learn from Palmer Technologies and install a security system?

Title: “My Name is Oliver Queen”

Cast and Crew
Director: John Behring
Writers: Jake Coburn, Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow
Katie Cassidy as Dinah “Laurel” Lance / Black Canary
David Ramsay as John “Dig” Diggle
Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
Willa Holland as Thea Queen / Speedy / Red Arrow
Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance
John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn /
Rila Fukushima as Tatsu Yamashiro / Katana
Matt Nable as Ra’s al Ghul
Katrina Law as Nyssa Raatko
Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer / Atom
Karl Yune as Maseo Yamashiro
Marc Singer as General Matthew Shrieve
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash

Premise

The Arrow and his associates attempt to stop Ra’s al Ghul from wiping out the Starling City.

High Point

For all of its excesses and Epic Music, I rather enjoyed the fight between the Arrow and the Demon’s Head.

In his special guest appearance, the Flash shows the kind of ability we should expect from the Fastest Man Alive. But if he can wrap up the League of Assassins this easily, why does he so often fail when faced with the Legion of Second-Rate Thugs back in Central City?

Low Points

Forced writing:

Flying Felicity can operate the Atom suit with a precision not even Palmer could manage on his initial tries? Really?

Fickle Felicity develops a relationship with Ray Palmer… and then does an about-face and runs off with Ollie “Mind Games” Queen?

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6

Effects: 5/6 The plane crash looks pretty good; the Atom suit’s flight and the explosion damage at Palmer Technologies look like CGI.

Acting: 4/6

Story: 4/6

Emotional Response: 4/6 This has been an uneven season, and the finale follows the trend. However, we’re seeing a number of developments that may work out for the show and, in its increasing resemblance to comic-book canon, there’s a wee bit of the sense conveyed at the end of Skyfall.

Just a bit. The biggest problem with Arrow remains the unwieldy balancing of superheroics with soap opera histrionics. The handling of Felicity, meanwhile, mars the opportunity to use relationships to reveal and develop characters.

Production: 5/6

Overall: 4/6

In total, “My Name is Oliver Queen” receives 28/42

Lingering Questions

Will Diggle get himself a suit? Will he, for a time, become the Arrow? And will his “You better go go go” line be autotuned into a club hit?

So Ollie can’t be the Arrow anymore. Can he be the Green Arrow?

Can we have some small talk about the results of that cliffhanger explosion?

5 replies on “Arrow Review: “My Name is Oliver Queen””

  1. Felicity broke up with Ray and slept with Oliver several episodes ago, so that one was hardly surprising. And perhaps she’s been practicing on the ATOM suit?… I dunno

    I did not see the Malcolm thing coming.

    I didn’t really like Rila Fukushima as Tatsu when they introduced her, but I think I’ve realised she’s actually a very good actress. They should give her and Emily Bett Rickards a spin-off.

  2. Well I must say, it’s going to be an interesting Fall with that setup. The flight between Oliver and Ra’s was good, but was it just me or did it look like Ra’s wasn’t giving it everything he had?

    My wife and I both sort of figured Malcom would end up in that role if Nyssa didn’t. Somethings tells me there may be even more tension there. I really hope we get more of Tatsu and Nyssa next season.

    Re: Flash vs LoA — I’d think most of that is they had no idea he was coming and they were not metahuman nor in possession of technology that could be a problem for him… Also probably a plot device to let him say ‘hi’ and be gone without much screen time.

    Re: Felicity in the suit, I’m thinking that’s just showing how bungling/inept Ray is more than anything. Even more evident in the Legends of Tomorrow trailer. They’re playing him as a chump (“More tech than he knows what to do with”) – Felicity has gained some street smarts/practical skills over the years, and she did help develop portions of the suit. And for all we know they did some role playing with it. *cough*

    Re: Felicity running off with Oliver, she always wanted Oliver and it showed over the course of the season how she (reluctantly) tried to have a relationship with Ray and then realized she didn’t really care for him and broke things off and then pined over Oliver some more. Was a good turn to see them run off together, at least for now. Perhaps she also realized that even though Oliver kept pushing her away he was doing that to protect her, at least in his mind.

    As for the explosion at the end, that was explained in the Legends of Tomorrow promo as well. Though they don’t explain exactly how a certain other character came back or why she changed her color scheme… :-)

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