Arrow S1 E20 - 'Home Invasion' Review


Your Time on this Island Is At An End.
The twentieth episode of this first season of Arrow drives a serious rift between Oliver and Diggle, after the former prioritises the List over Dig's own vengeance. It's nice to see these characters finally clashing, as there has been little friction between them so far in season one, so it will be interesting to see how bad the fallout is after this argument.
Deadshot was criminally underused once again in this episode, which is a shame as the character is brilliant. The main plot revolved around a hired killer taking out his targets for Rasmus, this week's corporate baddie, which felt a bit clunky and weirdly focused on the paper thing performance of the assassin.
The island scenes this week saw Shado and Oliver kiss, which felt a bit rushed and unnecessary. I mean they only met two episodes ago and they have barely got to know each other, so pushing the romance between the characters feels unnatural. In hindsight, I really thought that Shado and Oliver grew closer after a long time, but clearly I was wrong.
Overall, this episode is good fun but a tad underwhelming. Not enough focus on Deadshot damages its potential, but at least the one-eyed killer had a few cool scenes. With just 3 episodes left, this episode could've benefited from some sort of connection to the overall plot, which fingers crossed will be brought to the forefront starting from the next episode.

 STARRING: Deadshot (Floyd Lawton), Marcus Rasmus

 EASTER EGGS:
- At one point when Detective Quentin Lance is talking to Thea Queen and Roy Harper he sarcastically calls them "wonder twins". The Wonder Twins are teenage super-powered siblings who are part of the DC Universe, the same fictional universe in which Green Arrow also exists
- Al Sapienza who played Edward Rasmus in this episode also played Joe West's partner in the pilot episode of The Flash which is part of the same universe
- J. August Richards who plays Mr. Blank in this episode also played Deathlok in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013), a show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
- When Roy and Thea discuss searching for the vigilante, a question mark can be seen on the stairs, a nod to the Batman villain, The Riddler
-----This could also be a nod to the vigilante The Question.
- When communicating with other A.R.G.U.S. agents to look for Floyd Lawton, Lyla uses her codename "Harbringer" which is her superhero name from the comics
- Diggle is wearing a Starling City Rockets hat during the sting operation against Deadshot

 RATING: 7.8/10

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