ARROW Lukewarms Up
Episode 110 “Burned”
[photos: Jack Rowand/CW]
The show’s back after a break, and this time Oliver isn’t the big bad arrogant vigilante anymore, having been broken by the Dark Archer. Diggle really wants Ollie to get back on the horse, getting after him to step up and get over himself.
io9 rightly pointed out that this episode just refreshes everyone’s memory on where the characters are at this point. The one thing it accomplishes: getting Dinah closer to becoming Black Canary.
Wait. What? How does it do that? Stick with me.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
The main part of this episode is the appearance of Firefly, the not-really-dead firefighter Garfield Lynns, who’s back for revenge because he was left in a burning building that was about to collapse. Let’s ignore the fact that he was probably in error staying in there when everyone else had sense enough to get out. Let’s ignore the fact that as soon as he woke up from his coma, the hospital staff would have asked “John Doe” for his name, thus eliminating the whole dead thing…
The writers are using this version of Firefly for one purpose: to get Oliver back on the horse and connected with Laurel. The first firefighter killed is the brother of Laurel’s co-worker, Joanna, and when things get a little sticky in the investigation, Laurel swipes Dad’s ArrowPhone to contact the Hood. (I really wish they’d get around to calling him Green Arrow. “The Hood” is almost as inane as “The Blur”…)
Laurel convinces Oliver to get back in the game, and his investigation turns up enough that Oliver confronts the fire chief during a fundraiser for the firemen’s relief fund. At Oliver’s not-quite nightclub. Where he makes a point of making sure Laurel is there when he asks the chief point blank about Lynns and the fire that supposedly killed him. Laurel’s reaction is mind-blowingly understated here. Oliver just revealed to her that he’s Green Arrow, and she didn’t really pick up on it.
Granted, there’s the whole “building on fire and collapsing around us” thing, but as soon as they were out of there and in the clear, she should have been a berserker looking for Oliver. She’s smarter than this, writers. Or she should be.
The other gripe I have on this episode is that Oliver spent way too much time crawling on the roof support beams when he should have been cold-cocking Firefly and saving the second firefighter. But he was doing that Spider-Man bit, or something. Not sure what that was supposed to accomplish. And the flashbacks to the island weren’t much to write home about.
Anyway, my theory. Laurel, who’s ever so slowly realizing that sometimes the law is a little rigid when you want to actually get something done, now has a way to get in touch with Green Arrow whenever she needs a hero. How long before this connection gets upgraded to Laurel wanting to help Oliver? Or even more likely, Laurel discovering Oliver’s secret just at the point where it will be the most awkward for her relationship with Tommy.
And of course Detective Lance is going to bug the phone. Doesn’t mean it’s going to do much good, but he’ll at least be able to monitor. And when Laurel finds out, that will take her one step closer to being an “outside the law” kind of woman just to spite Dad.
Might see her in fishnets by the end of the season yet…
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