ARROW Doesn't Trust John Crichton
Episode 111 “Trust But Verify”
[photos: CW.com]
This week’s theme: nobody is really who they appear to be.
Several plot lines in this one, all centered around the idea that our characters (both regulars and guest cast) are putting up false fronts. This includes Moira, Malcolm, Oliver, Thea — even Yao Fei — and the “list name of the week” Ted Gaynor (Ben Browder).
So, the main plot: a bunch of ex-military has gotten into hijacking armored trucks. Oliver, knowing Gaynor’s background and the fact that his name is on the list, puts two and two together and figures that the Blackhawk bodyguard service is up to no good. (And I doubt the name of the company is an accident.) Diggle, having served with Gaynor, has a personal blind spot and refuses to believe Gaynor has anything to do with the hijacking.
Naturally, Diggle is wrong. Gaynor’s at the top of the food chain for the hijack team, and goes so far as kidnapping Carly to force Diggle to help after Oliver foils an earlier heist. The best moment during all of this — Diggle reminding everyone that he’s got the grenade launcher, just before he uses it on the bad guys.
A gripe I have about this one: for anyone paying attention, the show telegraphed Gaynor’s involvement from the get-go, as Oliver grabs the encrypted thumb drive Gaynor had in his office. Now, I don’t think for a second that we were ever supposed to doubt Gaynor’s involvement, so it really serves only to give us some Felicity Smoak/Oracle time.
Plot B: Malcolm trying to “make nice” with Tommy, having dinner with him and Laurel, only to pull out paperwork for Tommy to sign — paperwork that would shut down the clinic Tommy’s mother built. I’m not sure where they’re going with the father/son alienation line, mainly because it’s difficult to reconcile with Tommy eventually becoming Merlyn the Archer. Unless this is building toward Black Canary and Green Arrow taking out Malcolm, thus driving Tommy’s sense of betrayal to overcome his hatred of his father. But that’s a story line that’s going to take a while to resolve.
Plot C: Thea’s suspicion of Moira. Granted, her assumption that Mom’s having an affair with Malcolm is wrong, but she’s at least figured out that they’re working on something together, and her suspicions — while they lead her to a wrong conclusion — are going to take her down the road to Speedy, I think. Her sense of betrayal, that her mother is once again sneaking around, will lead to Thea going to a dark place. The question will be how she makes it over to taking up a bow and arrow. Unless she figures out Malcolm is the archer and decides to fight fire with fire…? That would be an interesting twist.
We also get an introduction to the Vertigo drug, setting up the next episode that focuses on a new iteration of the character as a drug kingpin of sorts. And the drug is being used in the Glades, which is where Carl Ballard wants to do some “gentrification” — something Malcolm wants Moira to stop, because it’s not part of “the plan”.
And in keeping with the theme of the night, we learn that Yao Fei actually is in cahoots with Edward Fryers on the island? How exactly is that going to play out?
Good to see Ben Browder, but the fact that he’s not a regular on a show anymore is starting to show a bit… Somebody give him a series.
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