Arrow Review: “Legacy”

Arrow returns, with Ollie in office, new vigilantes on the street, and a new villain in town.

Title: “Legacy”

Cast and Crew
Director: James Bamford
Writers: Marc Guggenheim, Wendy Mericle, and Greg Berlanti

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
Willa Holland as Thea Queen / Speedy
Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt / Mr. Terrific
Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance
Chad L. Coleman as Tobias Church
Alexander Calvert as Lonnie Machin
Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez / Wild Dog
Tyler Ritter as Detective Malone
Mike Dopud as Viktor
David Nykl as Anatoly Knyazev
Adrian Holmes as Lt. Frank Pike
Emy Aneke as Untouchable
Karen Holness as Untouchable
Aaron Pearl as Untouchable
Katie Cassidy as Dinah Lance / Black Canary
David Ramsay as John “Dig” Diggle

Premise

As Oliver comes to terms with the basic impossibility of being an effective mayor and a costumed vigilante, a new villain arrives in town, and interrupts the dedication of the Black Canary Statue. Their actions lead to a troubling decision by the Arrow.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Team Arrow consider taking on some new members, possibly hiring from an emerging pool of masked vigilantes. With the help of Quentin Lance, meanwhile, the police assemble a sort of Star City Untouchables.

Perhaps they should take some pointers from Phoenix Jones.

The flashbacks continue, this time to Ollie’s time in the Russian underworld.

In a shorter flashback, we learn that Dinah Lance wants the Canary’s legacy to continue.

High Points

This episode features some strong action-movie effects, especially given the limits of series television. They’re plausible enough to suit the more serious tone of Arrow, but comic-book enough to keep us clearly in a superheroic world.

Low Points

People wrestle with moral issues all of our lives, but Ollie’s eternal see-saw over vigilante ethics and killing grows tired, and it undercuts our investment in his development as a character.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6

Oliver experiences moral issues while flashing back to his difficult Arrow-forming years, and looks to take on new partners. A new villain arrives in town with a Big Plan. Nobody can determine the Arrow’s secret identity, despite it now being painfully, ludicrously obvious.

The character who appears in the epilogue feels a little too much like Zoom, but he may diverge significantly when we get to know him.

Effects: 5/6

Acting: 5/6 Tobias Church thus far seems a fairly generic villain, but Chad L. Coleman’s performance invests him with power and menace.

Story: 4/6

Emotional Response: 5/6

Production: 5/6 We get a few minutes in sunny Star City, before we return to dark and glum. You know, Star City in bright daylight looks uncannily like Central City.

Overall: 5/6 Arrow tries to play it dark and a little more realistic, perhaps to reestablish its contrast with its three, more obviously comic-book sister shows.

In total, “Legacy” receives 31/42

3 replies on “Arrow Review: “Legacy””

  1. Oliver’s return to killing seemed to be out of desperation due to a lack of a team to work with. Though doing so in the service of keeping his identity a secret would really cheapen that guy’s death if Oliver ever decides to out himself in public.

    I love that Lance doesn’t seem to know where he fits in, either with the police or with Arrow, but he’s working them both for the moment. They’ve really beat his character up a lot over the years I hope he gets a chance to recover.

    I am not usually fond of the flashbacks but any excuse for more David Nykl is a good one.

    Having just watched Luke Cage over the weekend, Church reminded me a little of of Diamondback with his tactics. I wonder if he’s in for the whole season or just a short arc.

    Arrow seems to attract archers like Flash attracts speedsters (And Supergirl attracts Kryptonians). They need to spice it up a bit more with some variety!

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