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Finally, A Fair Fight. Deathstroke makes his triumphant return in #10 of Arrow: Season 2.5, in the first of two stories called 'Promises', whilst in 'The Gift' we see Quentin return to work and Green targets Laurel to get to Oliver. 'Promises' is without a doubt the better of the two chapters, as Oliver and Roy travel to Lian Yu to visit Slade Wilson! I loved the whole interaction between Oliver and Roy, as I could practically hear Manu Bennett calling Oliver 'kid' and undermining him repeatedly. The fight was cool as well, and proved that Slade is still a major threat even without mirakuru flowing through his veins. One of the coolest parts of this story also was the mention of Oliver's time in both Hong Kong and Russia, elements which I didn't realise were mentioned prior to season 3. The second chapter, 'The Gift', is a more straightforward and dull affair. I loved seeing Quentin return to work and get a promotion (he bloody dese...

The Fun Is About To Begin. Arrow's Season 2.5  comic series continues with two more chapters in the 'Blood' arc; 'Haunted' sees Oliver face off against figures from his past as he trips on vertigo, whilst in 'Awakenings' Sara returns to rescue Oliver and Team Arrow vow to fight back. In 'Crisis in Khandaq', Ravan Nassar is recruited to the Squad whilst Deadshot and Bronze Tiger train at ARGUS. 'Haunted' is an emotional chapter, where Oliver is forced to contend with his demons after Werner Zytle injects him with vertigo. I liked how Zytle popped up here as I know he is going to reappear as the first antagonist of season 3. Also, it was nice seeing the return of familiar faces including Robert, Moira, Tommy and Slade. We learn about Oliver's self doubts, as his ghosts speak his greatest fears and his failures. Whilst this emotion-driven chapter is interesting, it ultimately doesn't move the story forward in any meaningful way. In...

Whatever It Takes. Arrow  season 2 reached its dramatic conclusion in undoubtedly one of the best Arrowverse episodes ever. The episode was relentless from the start. The team healed Roy, who joined the Arrow in an tight fight scene in the clock tower. You know it's going to be a great episode when within 5 minutes, Team Arrow have zip-lined out of a clock tower whilst Lyla, hanging off the side of a helicopter, has fired a rocket launcher into said tower to destroy a group of mirakuru soldiers. What an entrance! We then got a great suiting up scene, where Roy got his mask and the League of Assassins joined forces with Team Arrow. Their subsequent battle against Deathstroke, Ravager and his army was well choreographed and claustrophobic, albeit a bit too short. Ravager's execution also felt rushed, as the character had little time to develop post-rebirth. The real battle took place later in the tunnel, as the Arrow marched to war alongside Roy (who has now become Arsena...

Not Done Fighting. The SCPD teamed up with the Arrow this week as Starling City descended into chaos and ARGUS prepared for war. The action and spectacle were ramped up in the penultimate episode of season 2 of Arrow  this week, as Slade's goons tore apart Starling City. It was great to watch the level of destruction and it shows just how far this series has come in terms of scope and CGI. I particularly loved seeing the ragtag group of SCPD officers making their war plans in a destroyed police station. Quentin taking the lead was bad-ass, particularly the way he convinced Pike to side with the Arrow in order to save the city. The ARGUS inclusion was also appreciated, as it makes sense that a secret organisation with influence as widespread as theirs would be taking interest in the events unfolding in Starling. The plot device of the missiles which would blow up the city may feel to some like one too many things happening in the finale, but it further increased the pace of the...

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...

Anything For Your Children. Arrow  upped the ante once more this week with an emotional episode. What started off as a simple catch-the-out-of-control-Roy story took a turn in the last five minutes as Slade forced Oliver to make a choice. The Roy focus played out across the first two thirds of the episode, with the main conflict being Sara wanting to kill him, whilst Oliver wanted to save him. The two realise that they are still very different and ultimately Sara decides that Ollie deserves better and leaves. Her dialogue is a bit cliche and over-the-top, but there is still emotional weight to the conversation considering all that the pair have been through together. In terms of Roy, the group face off in a great battle in the clock tower, before the Arrow ultimately takes him down non-lethally. This relatively straight-forward plot is peppered with flashbacks to Oliver's playboy days, when he accidentally got a girl pregnant. We see Moira's motherly instincts kick in as ...

What This City Needs Him To Be. Arrow builds on the momentum of 'Deathstroke' as Slade continues to move forward with his plans. This episode also focuses on Laurel's newly obtained knowledge of the vigilante's identity and how she chooses to deal with it, largely succeeding to push the character through another small arc. The major plot-line here is Team Arrow's attempts to derail Slade's mission. The heist to blow up the QC property at the start of the episode set the tone for an eventful 40 mins, the highlight of which could well have been the epic surprise showdown with Deathstroke in the Arrowcave! I loved this shock twist and particularly how the merc dismantled the team like they were amateurs. By doing this, Slade made a place as secure as the Arrowcave appear unsafe, which again emphasises the threat he poses to both Oliver and Starling City. The other big showdown in this episode involved Isabel Rochev and Slade taking on Dig and the Arrow after ...

Not One To Hold A Grudge. Slade finally starts putting his plans into action in a standout episode of Arrow . As the pieces of the puzzle come together before Oliver's eyes, Deathstroke brings his world crashing down around him in a powerful display of strength. The main plot this week follows Slade attacking every aspect of Ollie's life and relationships, particularly with Thea and Laurel. Having kidnapped Thea at the end of the last episode, Slade wastes no time releasing a hostage video to send Oliver into a frenzy. Meanwhile Roy leaves Starling after turning on Oliver, Isabel Rochev reveals herself to be working with Slade and steals Queen Consolidated from Ollie and Slade drops in on Laurel to tell her the truth about her ex-boyfriend - that he is secretly the Arrow. All of this chaos unfolds over the 40 minute run-time in spectacular fashion, and it is genuinely harrowing watching our hero be broken down meticulously by his arch nemesis.  The final nail in the coffi...

No One Dies Tonight. Although the name is misleading, 'Birds of Prey' doesn't feature the iconic DC heroine group. In fact, the only time the Huntress and the Canary share the screen are when they are entwined in battle. Unfortunately, the plot is unable to save this filler episode, which will hopefully be the last we see of the Huntress for a long time. Helena Bertinelli's return was as disappointing as expected, considering Jessica De Gouw's bland and cheesy take on the character. Once again, her sole blind purpose is to kill her father and once again she fails in her quest, although at least this time Frank is finally dead so that crusade is over. Side plots involved the Canary saving Laurel, with the latter almost resorting to alcoholism before Sara convinces her otherwise. Laurel being used as a pawn for a sting operation mixed up the formula a bit, but Katie Cassidy was forced to return to her 'look shocked and slightly angry' face rather then ge...

What, OJ and Charles Manson Weren't Available? Arrow  brought back a number of villains in the Arrowverse's debut of the Suicide Squad, a fun episode with plenty of heart but lacking in execution despite its best endeavours.  Diggle once again took centre stage this week, as Amanda Waller recruited him into Task Force-X, alongside returning rogues Bronze Tiger, Shrapnel and Deadshot. I always love seeing Dig take the reigns and this week was no exception, with his relationship with Lyla being explored much more thoroughly and his complex friendship/rivalry with Deadshot becoming more amicable as we learned about Lawton's daughter. The assassin was in dire need of some humanising and 'Suicide Squad' provided this, giving the character much more depth and better dialogue to suit, which resulted in a fitting arc for the infamous sniper. The mission itself was dull however, using familiar tropes to frame a bad guy buying bad things but posing as a good man. Gholem...

To Friendship. Arrow delivers once again in its flashbacks oriented episode of the season, as we finally learn what drove Slade and Oliver apart all those years ago and the promise the mercenary made to the archer. Watching the culmination of the flashback story-line so far was a treat, particularly when we got to see the close bond between Ollie and Slade. These intimate moments created a sense of foreboding as we closed in on the fateful events which would lead to the tense confrontation between the two brothers in the present. Anchoring the flashbacks with the tense exchange between Slade, Oliver and Moira was a smart move which kept the narrative tight and exciting. Most importantly, the momentum of the flashbacks wasn't broken up by present day affairs, as it has been for most of this season so far. The episode itself was action-packed, with some brilliant scenes including a gun fight on the deck of the Amazo, which featured some cool moments including Anatoly proving hi...

Welcome to Lian Yu. The seventh issue of Arrow 's comic series is an excellent entry in the series made up of 'Wintergreen', 'Make it Rain' and 'Detour'; 'Wintergreen' fleshes out Slade and Billy's backstory and how Wintergreen turned on his lifelong friend; 'Make it Rain' explores how Oliver would react to a Robin Hood copycat; and 'Detour' is a fun jaunt around Starling City which sees Oliver and Dig get carjacked at gunpoint. 'Wintergreen' is by far the best story in this issue, benefiting from the great characters of Slade Wilson and Billy Wintergreen. This is the only time we get to see Billy's face and admittedly I was disappointed how similar he looked to Slade, so much so that I struggled to tell who was who throughout the comic. However, the backstory is emotional and brutal, and helps fill in the blanks that the TV show didn't fully cover. A great story with a heart wrenching ending, this story was o...

Nothing is Bred that is Weaker than Man. 'The Odyssey' serves in large part as an extended flashback episode and the series benefits from it. As Oliver lies dying after being shot by his mother, we learn about how he and Slade became friends five years before. The training montage is fun and makes the viewer feel like they are finally seeing some progression in the Hood's origin story. The action in this episode is also worth mentioning, as the clearing of the runway shows Slade's brutality and fighting style, whilst the climactic showdown between Wilson and his old partner Billy Wintergreen is a brilliantly choreographed battle and a satisfying ending to the episode, as Slade finally gets his revenge for being betrayed. Oliver also faces a change of heart in this episode - he resolves to help people, as he feels he owes it to Yao Fei and thus should stop being so selfish. We can see the beginnings of his journey into becoming Starling City's vigilante. Thanks ...

Moira Queen, You Have Failed This City. 'Betrayal' is a needed injection of adrenaline in the middle of Arrow 's first season. In this episode, Oliver finally learns the truth about his mother's deception and his dramatic final line is a great cliffhanger as the Hood confronts Moira. Moira's sneaking around had grown stale, so it is nice to finally move forward in the Undertaking story line. In the past, we are introduced to Slade Wilson for the first time, an excellent character who will go on to play a big part in the Hood's origin. We see him begin to train Oliver and the seeds of Deathstroke are sown in Slade's own origin story. Back in the present day, it was a nice twist to see the Hood teaming up with Quentin to take down Cyrus Vanch. Vanch himself was a very dull villain-of-the-week who posed little to no threat, proving the low point of the episode. Apart from that, 'Betrayal' is a generally interesting mid-season episode that finally...