ARROW Goes Underground and a Little Off the Rails
Episode 118 “Salvation”
[photos: Jack Rowand/CW]
Uhm. OK. I’ve watched it twice now, and … well, the general consensus out there seems to be that this episode is lacking in the logic department, and I have to agree to a certain extent.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
So, diving off the cliff from last week, we have Laurel’s mother showing up to swear up and down, that Sarah’s still alive, and she’s going to prove it, by gum! Which is the b-story this week, but it sets off a whole chain of responses and back-&-forth between Laurel and Detective Lance that make for pretty good family drama.
In the meantime, the main plot has Ollie going after a vigilante calling himself “The Savior” because he’s on a mission to save everyone in the Glades, which seems to be Starling City’s only neighborhood where any crime happens? I’m from Dallas, and I can tell you: major cities have more than one urban blight zone, high crime areas, and the various & sundry etc. For Arrow to focus only on the Glades as the armpit of the city every time we have crime happening — it’s like we’re being beat over the head with the significance of the Glades.
We get it.
The Savior is one step ahead of the Team Hood, as Felicity tracks his GPS signal — using exactly what technology? — and pinpointing his location. Ollie roars to the rescue on his motorcycle, tossing Dig a line about not suiting up during the day (reminiscent of Batman’s same mindset). Only when Oliver gets to the building — and searches every single office on six floors in something like a minute and a half — he doesn’t find anyone.
That’s because the Savior is actually underground, using the forgotten/abandoned subway system. Now, Felicity is able to put a couple of scraps of intel together to figure out who this guy is, but it’s not important because really the show’s not about the Savior. It’s about the fact that Roy Harper is his third victim, and Oliver now has a really important ticking clock instead of the just slightly important ticking clocks from the first two victims — who are now dead.
Now, the breakdown in logic happened a few stops back, but let’s examine for a moment the idea of an abandoned subway system in a major metropolitan area like Starling City. Are we supposed to believe that one single guy can go into a subway system that’s been shut down long enough for an entire generation to not know about it, power up a train that’s been sitting idle for — what? — twenty years? More? — and this one guy can move that train around an abandoned and neglected subway system that has absolutely nothing wrong with the tracks?
OK. Whatever.
Because really, it’s not about that either. This whole episode is simply a setup to get Roy Harper in a position to become Speedy. After Thea gives him grief about being a thug in the Glades, and he could be so much more, and then getting kidnapped and almost killed by a vigilante — well, you know… the bad kind of vigilante — Roy now is being placed in a position where he’s going to want to learn more about the guy who saved his life.
By the way, it’s probably not a good idea for shirtless billionaire to be heaving pull-ups directly over his IT wizard. It’s not like she’s spotting him or anything. Although she is watching a bit closer than she probably should…
And can we please lose the opening narration element? Please? Or at least update it. And maybe we can watch another TV channel in Starling City, or is there just one?
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[Official Show Site at CW] [Previous Recap: “The Huntress Returns”]
So … a TV show based on a comic book isn’t realistic? Are you the same guy that counts how many times a cowboy shoots in Westerns? Pist off much? I’d hate to be you and just get annoyed by every little thing.
Not that it’s not realistic, but that it’s not following its own logic. The show’s producers are going the direction of the Nolan productions — trying to be relatively realistic compared to “real life” — grounded in some sense of logic. The “forgotten subway” is stretching that a little too thin. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. If you look around the web, you’ll see a number of sites had logic issues with this episode. One of the basics in good storytelling is that you don’t blow your audience out of the story with something that doesn’t make sense.
And nowadays, you’ll find a lot of people who count the gunshots. Audiences are smarter now, and they expect more from the entertainment they consume. Believability is a big factor — not that it’s “real” but that you can believe it while you’re in the moment. It has to make sense within the context of the show. Sometimes it misses the mark. And the audience notices.
My point was, Captain Cynicism, that you are being overly critical just to appear intelligent in an albeit snarky way. “A number of sites had logic issues” because sarcasm is the easiest form of entertainment. I’m not surprised you can find a number of sites that say just about anything on every possible position to have an opinion on. You can nitpick every show on TV from CSI, and NCIS to House and Star Trek. (and people have) There’s no real reason to keep visiting a site that just apes “a number of other sites” is there?
A number of sites that review/recap “Arrow” had problems with the internal logic of this particular episode, because it was flawed. And pointing out the flaws doesn’t make us ‘appear intelligent’ or give us any feeling of superiority. It shows that, as fans, we care about the quality of the entertainment product we consume. And as journalists/reviewers/etc, we have the opportunity to share our opinions with others. You don’t have to agree. You don’t even have to like what we say. And in some cases, you won’t, obviously.
I look at other sites to a) make sure I didn’t miss something; and b) make sure I’m saying something unique that doesn’t ‘ape’ other sites. Otherwise, you’re right. What would be the point? But in this case, the critique of this episode was overwhelmingly unanimous.
This episode bases its entire premise on the fact that an entire subway system has gone unused and forgotten for a generation, and that no one would notice the spike in power when this guy started using it. You also have to consider just how difficult it would be for one man to restore that kind of system into working order. The flaws in logic fly against the show’s attempt to be as realistic as possible. Now, if this was in space, or if the writers were obviously engaged in winking at the audience, that would be a different thing altogether, but it’s not.
As an audience, we have the right to hold the show to the standards it sets for itself. You don’t want to think too much about it, that’s fine. Some people like meat and potatoes. Some people like whipped cream.
Also: I’d say I’m more of an Admiral than a Captain. And I’m working toward Fearless Leader.
Your entire critique is based on a flawed premise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Subway
Bam! An entire subway system abandoned. In a major city. In the USA.
Power being noticed? You only need 600 volts (if that, you can likely chop off subsystems and use braking power on a feedback). A noticeable power spike? Maybe, but apparently it is not that big a deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djxNgS6mw2I
So there you go. An abandoned subway with 600 volts. And we could go on about independent supplies of power that could certainly power one car (most subways are several cars long).
Did you check either of those sites when you were railing on about ‘flawed logic’? Do you do your own research or just take some other bloggers word as the real deal?
And here is a diesel generator capable of producing 600 volts with absolutely NO noticeable power spike in a city grid … being as it is it’s own generator:
http://www.cat.com/cda/files/2896801/7/C32%201000%20ekW%20Standby%20Tier2%20600%20V_%20EMCP4_Dim.pdf
That generator is 14′ x 6′ x 7′ which is admittedly big but certainly not too big a subway car couldn’t be braced to carry it.
yeah… think he proved ya wrong there Jason =P
I’m always open to learning more about how things work. And I’m never one to assume I know everything.
It would be nice to have a mention of this in the script, however. Wouldn’t take much. Even a shot of the generator in the rail car would have been enough, and that would be the end of it.
If we wanted a science show or a show on how things work, we go to the syfy channel or go back and watch Bill Nye, not everything in tv shows have to have reason behind them or show the reasoning of some kind, I mean its the reason the internet exists too, have a question go look it up, the internet is a wonderful thing, if they showed us Every single little detail people would get bored, leaving unanswered questions as small as what is powering this thing, or what if this where to happen, or how does this work leaves for imagination til you go look it up, so use your interwebs and imagination and enjoy instead of picking at everything =)
Before people jump on a bloggers bandwagon it would be nice to see a little more research into a subject. It took me less the five minutes to google a major cities abandoned subway system and a generator. All I needed was an inquisitive non-conformist mindset. That’s probably what upsets me more then an honest “This show isn’t for me” opinion is that you (and all theses other bloggers) just decide how the world works. A sci-fi fan in particular should be more open and imaginative then an EW writer.
Joel, you make an excellent point that we shouldn’t take things at face value.
It should be noted, though, that your comparison to the abandoned Cincinnati subway is not quite perfect, as that system was never completed and has really been out of commission since the 1960s. In this episode, Diggle makes the comment that he remembers being on (or near) the train, hearing it operate. That’s much different from a system that was never completed and has lain dormant for over 40 years.
Still, I’ll make a point of making sure my examination of episodes is a little more thorough. And I can count on other readers to keep me on my toes.