Arrow S2 E5 - 'League of Assassins' Review


Guns are a Coward's Weapon.
Episode five of Arrow's second season brings a sense of climax to the events of the last few weeks, as the League of Assassin's finally have their showdown with the Canary in explosive style.
Heading the group of black-clad ninja mercenaries is the one-note villain Al-Owal, a.k.a. "The First", who at first carries intrigue via his connection to Sara and Malcolm Merlyn, claiming to have trained the Dark Archer himself. He and the League's threat is made abundantly clear in the brilliant fight sequence in the abandoned warehouse, thus it is disappointing how easily the warriors were dispatched in the final (albeit extremely cool) fight in the clock tower. The only positive was seeing Sara brutally dispatch the assassin in front of her father, showing her strength and survivor instincts she picked up during her time with the nefarious group.
Sara and Quentin were the driving force behind this week's episode and their interactions were great. After an emotional reunion, I really enjoyed how Sara revealed much more about herself to her father than I was expecting. It made the stakes feel much more real and I'm just glad that for once the lovable cop isn't being left in the dark! His roller-coaster of emotions throughout the episode are powerfully conveyed by Paul Blackthorne and I liked how accepting he was of his daughter - he clearly saw that she could protect herself and was capable of much more than before and embraced this fact.
Whilst the League story-line unfolded, we learned a brief bit more about Sara's past, witnessing her first encounter with the Amazo and this season's big-bad in the past is revealed to be comic character Anthony Ivo! Ivo is portrayed in his debut as a nice man, who garners sympathy from the viewer - a nice change from Fyers, who was just straight up cruel. Ivo is convinced he is going to save the world and already we get the sense he feels much more righteous about his cause and has more depth to his character than last season's mercenary leader.
Elsewhere, Moira continued to pursue a death penalty for flimsy reasons which are frustratingly still kept under wraps. This story-line is extremely underwhelming and just plain annoying, as it makes little sense for Moira not to just be open with her kids after everything that has happened. Hopefully the pay-off for all of this will be worth it and some big plot point will be revealed.
Overall, this episode nicely wraps up the first act of Sara's story and with her character leaving at the end, it looks like we will be returning to the Arrow's campaign 2.0 from next week.

 AWESOME MOMENTS:

  • Was very bad-ass how Al-Owal smirked before catching Oliver's arrow just centimetres from his head
  • That final clock tower battle was awesome, particularly the Arrow's entry via smashing through the clock face!
    • On a side note however, the whole Home-Alone styled traps felt a bit much and amateurish 
  • "I need a drink" - loved that whole bit! Finally, Oliver tells Dig about the island and it feels like their friendship can actually move forward now the truth is out
EASTER EGGS:
- Sara Lance says to a League assassin, "you should be mindful of your surroundings". Ra's Al Ghul, leader of the League of Assassins, says this to Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins (2005)
- In a flashback, while marooned on a piece of the Queen's Gambit wreck, Sara watches a yellow bird fly away. The bird is a reference to Sara's League name "Ta-er al-Sahfer", which translates to "Yellow Bird", as well as her vigilante identity as the Canary
- Ron Selmour plays "The Butcher" here. He also appeared in Smallville episode 'Smallville: Toxic' (2008) in which he played the villain on the island where Oliver Queen was marooned
- First episode to show flashbacks following the Queen's Gambit sinking, from anyone's perspective other than Oliver's
- The biggest reveal in the episode was Professor Anthony Ivo, a long running villain in DC Comics. His deadliest creation in the books was the robot Amazo, which had the power to mimic the powers of the entire Justice League
- Sara mentions that she assassinated a Guyanian diplomat named Suarez.  During the 2008 election season, DC released a 4 part miniseries named DC Universe: Decisions, which featured a fictional presidential election involving four candidates.  The winner of that election was named Martin Suarez

RATING: 7.8/10

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