Arrow S2 E21 - 'City of Blood' Review

The Essence of Heroism.
Slade's army is finally unleashed in a dramatic and emotional episode, in which Oliver is forced to pick himself up after the death of his mother and Brother Blood's identity is revealed to Team Arrow.
This episode came off the back of the dramatic ending of 'Seeing Red', when Slade executed Moira. The episode begins with a smart and powerful sequence in which Moira's funeral is juxtaposed with Blood's inauguration as Starling City mayor, with a sombre track playing behind both events. It's a strong start and one which does justice to Moira's legacy in the show. It was great seeing how this event had impacted the Queen family as well, with both Willa Holland and Stephen Amell putting in excellent performances as the emotionally exhausted and broken children. We saw in particular how hard it hit Ollie, with him retreating to his secondary facility (very cool concept) to mourn in peace. We get to see our hero at his very lowest here, something I thought had happened in 'Deathstroke', but now Oliver truly has given up.
At least until Laurel convinces him to fight back via attacking Blood. Laurel and Oliver's heartfelt confrontation was very well done and justifiably picked Ollie back up from the brink. It was great watching him confront Blood with his newfound rage and bluntness, a conversation which was tense and well-scripted.
This all led into the dramatic ending, when Brother Blood donned his mask and addressed Slade's army, instructing them to take Starling City. Although the army looked small, the show-runners did an impressive job of making the threat appear city-wide and give a sense of scope to the finale. The simultaneous attack on the police station aided this cause, and I have to drop a mention of that poor IT guy (who we have seen repeatedly this series) getting brutally dispatched by the mirakuru soldier. RIP, gone but not forgotten.
The flashbacks didn't quite reach the same climax that the present-day story has reached, but the final wheels are in motion as we witnessed the dramatic sacrifice of Peter in the torpedo (still not sure I'm fully on-board with the idea of a suicide torpedo, but it served its purpose plot-wise). It looks like Slade and Ollie are nearing blows in both past and present.
Overall, this episode was brilliant and I'm so excited that the show-runners decided to stretch the final showdown into a three episode event, as it really creates a sense of scope and size and allows our characters to play out their final battle without being rushed by episode run-times.

STARRING: Deathstroke, Brother Blood, The Canary, Ravager

AWESOME MOMENTS:

• Liked the idea that Laurel exposes Blood because she discovers a press release about Moira's death written before she died. Smart writing.
• Blood and Oliver's stand-off in the restaurant was awesome, so well done!!
• I liked that Ollie encouraged Thea to go, shows just how broken and defeated he is
• "I understand he made you a promise too" - !!!!!!!!
• That moment where Blood addresses his army is just so cool, highlight for Brother Blood character!
• Isabel Rochev is revealed to be alive.... and donning the Ravager outfit!!! It looks kinda weird with the big head and open mouth, but still cool nod to the comics!
• Army marching on Starling! Holy sh*t here we go!

EASTER EGGS:

- When Oliver is talking to Thea about getting out of the city all the moving boxes in the room have right side up arrows on them

- Cisco Ramon, aka Vibe, calls Felicity at the end of the episode.  You'll recall that Cisco made an appearance a couple of weeks ago in "The Man Under The Hood"

- The Verdant sign has changed to the colour red during the day, this is a hint to Thea's future superhero identity Red Arrow/Speedy, who will be introduced properly in season 4

- This marks the seventh and final appearance of CSI Tech Kelton.  Kelton had appeared in past episodes, bugging Laurel's phone to record her conversations with the Hood, helping the SCPD track Felicity's hacks, and assisting in the SCPD's investigation of Cyrus Gold's break in of a Queen Consolidated building

- Blood's bodyguard is named Clinton Hogue.  In the comics, Hogue is the leader of a group of animal/human hybrids called the Splinterfolk.  Hogue and the other Splinterfolk mutated themselves in order to access the Red, a primordial force that connects all animal life.  It was later revealed that the Splinterfolk allied themselves with Brother Blood, who was trying to replace Animal Man as the Avatar of the Red.    Hogue was created by Jeff Lemire, current writer of Green Arrow, and Steve Hugh. Hogue, who's played by Roark Critchlow, also appeared in last week's episode but was not named

- When Felicity pulls up a map of Starling City on her computer, there are several street and place names, including Velox St. The Velox Valhallians are a Vancouver area rugby club.  Since Arrow's production is based out of Vancouver, I'm guessing someone on the production team is a fan.

- According to a picture posted by Marc Guggenheim, several members of Arrow's writing staff were soldiers for Blood's Mirakuru army

- Isabel Rochev's new costume is similar to that of Ravager's, Slade Wilson's daughter.  In the comics, Rose Wilson is the illegitimate daughter of Slade Wilson, and was hidden from Slade by her mother in order to protect her.  Unfortunately, Slade's half-brother Wade learns of her existence and kidnaps her.  During a rescue attempt by Bill Wintergreen and her mother, Rose's mother is killed and Slade discovers that he has another child.  Rose also discovers that she has precognitive abilities, and briefly assists the Teen Titans. After Slade's half-brother attacks her again, Deathstroke rescues her and offers to train her.  Rose takes the name Ravager (which was first used by Slade's eldest son Grant, and then used by Slade's half-brother to mock him) and is injected with the same serum that gave Slade his enhanced abilities.  Ravager becomes inflicted with psychosis as a result of the serum and gouges out her eye in order to be more like her father.  Nightwing eventually rehabilitates Rose and helps her join the Teen Titans.   She becomes an intermittent member of the team until DC rebooted its universe in 2011. In the New 52, Rose is a member of NOWHERE, and briefly assists in training Superboy during his early days.  

RATING: 9/10