My TV week revolves around The CW’s (aired on Direct TV) Arrow, and I find myself waiting patiently for Wednesday nights. This week’s episode introduced a bunch of new folks–most with direct ties to DC Comics–and set up tons of exciting stuff going forward. And with major things coming up, based on the previews, Arrow continues to fly (yeah, I went there). Here are the 6 Qs of episode #202, ‘Identity.’
1. What is it?
Arrow Season 2, episode 202, titled ‘Identity.’
2. Who’s in it?
Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen/The Vigilante; Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance; David Ramsey as John Diggle; Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak; Willa Holland as Thea Queen; Colton Haynes as Roy Harper; Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson; Guest stars this week include Celina Jade as Shado; Michael Jai White as Bronze Tiger; Kelly Hu as China White; and Kevin Alejandro as Sebastian Blood.
3. Who made it?
‘Identity’ was written by Beth Schwartz and Ben Sokolowski. The episode was directed by Nick Copus.
4. What is it about? (**spoilers galore**)
‘Identity’ opens with a FEMA truck being hijacked by China White (Hu) and the triads, and Roy Harper (Haynes) trying to stop it. He crashes his car as the thieves get away and he is taken into custody.
Oliver and Felicity are both trying to adjust with their dual identities (hence the episode’s title), and Oliver is trying to figure out how he can go on without the guidance of crossing names out of a book. After bailing out–or at least picking up Roy Harper from jail, as Laurel refuses to charge him with a crime–Ollie learns that the Glades memorial hospital is not getting the crucial FEMA supplies because of the triads.
This puts Ollie on course to investigate, which means he crosses paths with Glades Alderman, Sebastian Blood (Alejandro). Blood lays the blame of the Glades tragedy on the Queen family and a crowd of residents attacks Oliver’s car as he and Diggle (Ramsey) speed away.
That night, The Hood (I can’t wait until he takes a formal name) investigates another FEMA shipment and comes face to face with China White and her new ally, Bronze Tiger (White). The cops–and Laurel–arrive and Ollie takes a bullet to the ankle as he escapes.
Oliver then reaches out to Blood to help raise money for the Glades rebuilding project, which Blood reluctantly accepts.
The Hood confronts Laurel in her office to try and explain that he’s trying to help, and she tells him that she knows that The Hood is responsible for Tommy’s death and to never contact her again.
On the night of the big Glades fundraiser, Felicity informs Ollie that FEMA is moving another shipment at that moment, and Ollie makes the choice to help the Glades with The Hood and Bow, and not with his charm and checkbook, which angers Blood in irreparable ways.
The Hood confronts the triad once again, and with Diggle’s help, they are able to stop China White and Bronze Tiger, with White getting arrested and Bronze Tiger escaping, but with wounds to lick. China White, strung up on a wooden pole by a trick arrow, tells The Hood that he’ll never be a hero, to which The Hood replies, “As long as this city is safe, it doesn’t matter.”
The Hood confronts Roy in a dark alley and tells him that he needs to stop, that he hasn’t trained for the type of work needed to save Starling City. The Hood asks Roy for another kind of help.
The episode ends with The Hood once again trying to talk sense into Laurel in her office, and in return she springs a trap that puts The Hood–and Ollie–in the crosshairs of most of Starling City Police Department’s SWAT team.
The island subplot features Ollie coming to grips that the island has changed him, and he and Shado (Jade) getting even cozier, much to the dismay of Slade Wilson (Bennett). Together, all three are able to track down what the pirates from last episode were looking for on the island as they find a cave filled with the mutated skeletons of World War II era Japanese soldiers. Oliver finds the stone that he gave Thea last season around the necks of one of the soldiers. The stone plays another role in the episode, as Thea, in her attempts to keep Roy from going out and fighting crime each night, gives him the stone and his final check from the club, and asks him to choose his path: Keep the stone and be with her, or keep the severance check, and his crime fighting, but lose his job and Thea.
5. Any revelations, tie-ins, easter eggs, etc.?
Not as much as easter eggs or tie-is, but this is the first episode with Bronze Tiger (White) and Sebastian “Brother” Blood (Alejandro), both of which will have reoccurring roles in the show going forward.
6. Will we watch next week?
Arrow does so many things very well in regards to comic book TV programming. There is plenty of action, and with the story moving forward in both present time and on the island five years prior, it is a high mark of this genre. Plus, this episode ends with a huge cliffhanger, so hell yeah I’m going to watch next week!
