Arrow S1 E16 - 'Dead to Rights' Review

So... Who Needs Two Bullets in the Chest?
'Dead to Rights' is a solid episode in Arrow's first season. The episode chooses to refocus upon the Undertaking and the overall running arc of the series, and it is all the better for it. We see fractures in the List organisation, as Moira and Frank turn on Malcolm. Similarly, we see Malcolm struggling to maintain the lie of his identity from his son Tommy, and this conflict plays out well across the 42 minute run time. He kills in front of Tommy and almost reveals his Dark Archer outfit to his son, before Lawton interrupts by shooting Malcolm.
Lawton's reintroduction as Deadshot is another excellent move by the showrunners. Deadshot, now missing an eye thanks to his last encounter with the Hood, is a great foe and I'm glad he's back in action and likely to return in the future of the Arrowverse. His new robotic eye is bad-ass, as was the fight scenes between Oliver, the Triad and China White.
In the past, little develops apart from the discovery of Fyers' doomsday weapon, which seems a bit too on-the-nose and stereotypical. I wish they had chosen smaller scale stakes for the island flashbacks, as it doesn't require Armageddon level threat in order to be interesting.
Overall, 'Dead to Rights' is effective in moving the series-spanning Undertaking arc forwards in a good way. The viewer is left wondering whether Malcolm will discover Moira's involvement, whether McKenna will work out that Oliver is the Hood and whether Tommy is going to find out the truth about his father. A brilliant set up for the home stretch of Arrow season one.

STARRING: Deadshot (Floyd Lawton), China White

EASTER EGGS:
- Laurel speaks of the canary in the picture that her father gave to her sister. In the DC Comic Universe, Dinah 'Laurel' Lance is known as the Black Canary
- In this episode we learn that Oliver Queen became fluent in Chinese while stranded on the island and speaks it with a "perfect accent."
- First appearance of Dinah Lance, Laurel's mother
- Laurel talks about and shows a picture of Sara with a Canary. Sara later returns as the Canary
- Assuming the episode takes place in real time, McKenna's line that Fall Out Boy "broke up" may or may not have been true. At the time of filming (January 17 – January 28), the band had been dispersed for over 3 years. However, on February 4, Fall Out Boy announced they would begin to form again as a whole, 23 days before the episode aired (February 27)
- Malcolm reveals to Tommy that after Rebecca's death, he left the city to train at Nanda Parbat. In the DC comics, Nanda Parbat is a fictional city in the Himalayas home to the goddess Rama Kushna, who gave the superhero Deadman his powers
-- In the third season, it was revealed that Nanda Parbat is the home of the League of Assassins
- Deadshot is holed up in the Bludhaven apartments, another reference to Nightwing’s former home in the comics
- As referenced in his conversation with China White, Deadshot has an established deathwish in the comics, stemming from his parents’ hatred for one another.  Deadshot hopes to die in a blaze of glory, which leads him to taking on high risk missions and joining the government sanctioned Suicide Squad
- Guillermo Barrera – The assassin Ollie fought at the beginning of the episode is a minor DC villain named Brutale.  Barrera was a secret police officer in the fictional Latin American country of Hasaragua who specialized in torturing captives.  After the communist government fell, Barrera fled to Bludhaven, where he joined Blockbuster’s criminal organization. Brutale’s specialty is throwing knives, and he’s fought against both Nightwing and Red Robin in the comics. In the New 52, Brutale was shown as a member of La Dama’s criminal organization and fought against Blue Beetle

RATING: 7.9/10