ARROW Gets Made

Episode 107 “Muse of Fire”

[photos: Jack Rowand/CW]

So… Detective Lance and his partner are the only homicide detectives in Starling City. Got it. And we find out who John Barrowman’s character is!

[BIG SPOILERS AHEAD]

This week! Huntress! Well… Helena Bertinelli, anyway. Out for revenge on her father for having her fiancée killed. So she’s taking down members of her father’s mob organization, and Oliver’s mother gets caught in the cross-fire, although she scrapes out of it with only a concussion. And Oliver can run fast enough to keep up with a motorcycle? Clearly, Helena is not using T-Mobile…

So, Oliver figures out the mob boss Bertinelli is the ultimate target (is he in the book), so he figures the only way to figure out who’s gunning for the guy is to get inside. Diggle calls BS on this tactic. Ollie’s used it before (remember the Russian mafia?), and Dig thinks Ollie needs to process what happened to his mother a little more constructively. Say… oh, by actually being there for the family? Nah…

Oliver makes his way into the Bertinelli home, only to be foisted off onto the kingpin’s daughter so he can take another meeting. Neither Ollie nor Helena are happy about it, until they are. Helena has some insight into the mind of Oliver Queen, having experienced a “crucible” of her own and come out the other side a changed person bent on revenge. So, they just happen to both be nearby when Bertinelli’s enforcer drone (Tahmoh Penikett snarling while he chews scenery) comes to the restaurant to pick up the protection money.

Enforcer drone, by the way, is coming back from Bertinelli’s meeting with China White, who tells them that the Triad has nothing to do with the attacks on Bertinelli’s people. This is one of several scenes that tries really hard to make us aware that there could be a big mob war brewing if this killer isn’t stopped. Between the Russian mob, the Triad, whatever Moira’s group is, and now Bertinelli’s outfit… how many mobs are in Starling City?

Enforcer takes Helena and Ollie prisoner, having figured out she’s the one taking out all the Bertinelli crime lords because she dropped her cross while attacking them at the restaurant. (Nice touch, the cross on the plum colored dress.) So, in the melee that ensues, Helena figures out Oliver’s secret, and he’s got her number because he pulled her helmet off at the restaurant after everyone was down for the count.

[See, now the title of this post makes total sense, because Ollie went “undercover” as a Made Man (mob) and Helena “made” him when she figures out his secret. Love double entendres. Don’t you?]

Speaking of dates… Tommy manages to get Laurel to agree to one. And it’s a nice little counterpoint to the whole angsty fighting bad guys thing Ollie’s got going on. And it helps to set up the inevitable confrontation between Ollie and Merlyn. You know where this is going, right? For the record, I’m making the prediction: Tommy, having figured out Ollie’s secret and spurned by Laurel when she becomes Black Canary and joins Ollie, takes up archery (and he might already know it?) and becomes Green Arrow’s mortal enemy. Over a girl.

There. I said it.

And the big reveal this week… (wait for it)… The Well Dressed Man is Merlyn Senior! Who cuts off all of Tommy’s finances because Tommy’s a disappointment. Reckless, aimless, irresponsible… so this is probably going to add to the whole “angsty bad guy” thing when Tommy finally turns. I just hope it doesn’t turn him into Anakin Skywalker along the way…

For the record, I’m really tired of seeing the montage of overlapping “camera circles the actors while they kiss” bit. It’s tired cinematography.

Helena’s line about always returning home (quoting the Latin first), for some reason, made me immediately think about that other famous phrase about traveling: “No matter where you go, there you are.”

And just how is it that Lance and his partner are listening to the conversation Bertinelli has with his henchman? Hmm?

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[Official Show Site at CW]     [Previous Recap: “Legacies”]

And check out the annotations over here. Some interesting notes about the Easter eggs.