Episode Title: Broken Hearts
Original Airdate: 3-23-2016
Arrow’s fourth season has been largely inconsistent so there’s no better way to provide some much needed stability than to have someone getting hitched … or not.
With the teaser of Oliver and Felicity getting married it seemed like we could be in for a much further down the road flash forward. Actually it was just an overly complicated scheme to lure in Cupid (Amy Gumenick), who finished her work release program with ARGUS and ready to get back to killing for fun.
Cupid is one of the more fun villains in the Arrow rogue gallery, but she was largely wasted here as a villain of the moment to help draw Oliver and Felicity together. It didn’t work as Felicity decided she needed more time and a break from Team Arrow.
It’s just as well considering how big a drag the whole Olicity deal has been to the momentum of the show. Happy Oliver is not nearly as entertaining as brooding, conflicted Oliver. It doesn’t help that Oliver’s clear soul mate in this Arrow-verse is Sara, not Felicity or Laurel, but she’s traveling through time seducing young nurses.
Cupid felt more like an afterthought than a serious threat this time and was treated like a nuisance by Team Arrow, who was busy sorting out their feelings on Oliver and Felicity ending their engagement.
While the Cupid plot was largely ineffective, the trial of Damien Darhk proved much more engaging. Laurel got to put on her Foggy Nelson/Matt Murdoch hat and tried to keep Darhk from getting released on bond. With most of the witnesses to his crimes opting not to place a target on themselves, Quentin decided it was worth the career suicide to ensure Darhk stays imprisoned and outed his earlier collaboration with the HIVE mastermind. Quentin quickly gets put on probation, but his plan worked and the judged denied bond on the strength of his testimony.
The island flashbacks continue to get so shortchanged it’s hard to get invested in them. Baron Reiter taps into a force on the island via a totem that reacts when he kills someone, but Oliver prevents him from using it again. Oliver and Taiana go on the run in the caves, but Reiter assures them they’ve got to come back to him in order to escape. Considering the island was deserted besides Oliver, the odds of everyone surviving are very low.
I’d really love the show to give me something to get me really engaged with it again. This season has felt somewhat by the numbers and the plodding pace of the island subplot, the endless Olicity romance drama at the expense of a very fun villain has made this season uneven. Hopefully there’s still enough time to get things back on track.
Channel: Superhero 