Arrow: Fighting Fire With Fire

March 2, 2017 4:36 AM - Season 5, Episode 15

Oliver faces his biggest challenge yet as mayor when Vigilante attacks him; Felicity continues down her dark path with Helix; Diggle leads the team in a mission to stop Vigilante once and for all.

Den of Geek - Review: The identity of Prometheus is revealed in a genuinely surprising twist on the latest episode of Arrow and Prometheus Reveal Post-Mortem Interview with Showrunner Wendy Mericle and the actor who plays Prometheus

CBR - Recap: Oliver Makes a Startling Choice As He Faces Impeachment and Interview: Arrow's Prometheus Speaks Out About His Stunning Identity Reveal

AV Club recap - Arrow swerves the audience even as its subplots stumble

posted by oh yeah! (10 comments total)

I have no idea how this episode came across to non-comics readers, but it made me feel like I've been suckered by a bait-and-switch scheme with the reveal of Prometheus' identity.

Okay, look, I get it. These shows are never going to strictly follow the canon, which is why we have Oliver playing Batman with the League of Assassins. Fine. I can go along with that. But when you bring in a civilian character and what has traditionally been that character's super hero alter ego, and then you casually tell the viewers, 'hey, despite everything you know, these two aren't the same person,' it just feels like a cheap trick done for shock value.

What makes matters worse, is that consequences of this revelation make it highly likely that Captain Pike is the Vigilante, which I find kind of depressing. I thought we'd finally be able to have a cop character that isn't either completely corrupt or intimately linked to Team Arrow. I think a character like that could offer up a range of storytelling possibilities--sometimes he could be on Oliver's side, sometimes on GA's side and sometimes at odds with both of them, depending on the situation. At this point there are no regulars who aren't part of the team (or aware of the team's secrets) with the exception of Felicity's hacker friend, and we know she's going to wind up on the foe side of the friends-or-foes equation.

I'm not sure where the writers are going with Thea's morally corrupt plot line. I guess they're just looking for an easy way to write her out for a few episodes as the number of characters is starting to get a bit on the heavy side.

Curtis' husband asking for a divorce was a complete given. Apparently the show creators have decided it's impossible for anybody to live the vigilante lifestyle and have a happy home life. (Maybe John and Lyla are the exception to the rule, but I'm sure if it becomes convenient for John to suffer a tragedy, Lyla and junior could be easily cast aside.)

Okay, maybe I'm a bit grumpy, but I figure that there is a certain amount of trust or respect between that goes both ways between the viewers and the producers. We've been treated to a certain style and approach since day one, so we figure we can rely on that to continue. Now with this plot, it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under with no warning. Somehow it doesn't feel fair. I guess I look at it this way: if I wanted something that played that fast and loose with the canon, I'd be watching Gotham. I don't, so I don't.

Beyond that, I'm really annoyed by the way the writers think Adrian can just drop his official duties to defend Oliver or Oliver's friends in ways that just scream conflict of interest. That's just poor, sloppy storytelling and there is absolutely no excuse for it.
posted by sardonyx at 5:27 PM on March 2, 2017

To be fair, I liked the way Oliver and Susan resolved things. (That's two instances of adults in a relationship acting like adults this week in the DCCW-verse, which means there is something seriously unbalanced in The Force.) Of course, because this has happened, I can only suspect bad, bad things are going to happen to Susan. I'm guessing that somebody is going to need a new fridge in Star City very shortly.
posted by sardonyx at 5:32 PM on March 2, 2017

I mean, I know nothing about the comics and I clocked Adrian Chase as Prometheus in like episode three? Mostly because he reminds me a lot of Sebastian Blood, like, a lot, like, I thought it was the same actor at first. And he's the same narrative pattern as Blood. (this show likes to secretly introduce friendly characters and later reveal that omg they've been evil all along.) And, there's a few actions he's taken that didn't make sense unless he knew Oliver was the Arrow. I wasn't really sure until he decided to cover up Malone's death.

I'm disappointed, I was hoping I was wrong, because there was this silly fan theory about a resurrected soulless Tommy Merlyn being Prometheus and I thought that would be much more compelling.

what bugged me the most about this episode is how much I just don't fucking care about Susan Williams
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:48 PM on March 2, 2017

Susan is having a baby on Suits next season, so perhaps they're going to kill her off in this show.

I made the mistake of looking up who Adrian Chase was when it was clear he was going to stick around so I kept waiting for a reveal. But the bait-and-switch felt just like a stunt. The reveal as Prometheus was so hamfisted into the episode. Like there couldn't be a better scene for that? It would've worked so much better if they did it at the end where Prometheus approaches Susan, take his hood off, and was like "I have an exclusive for you." then credits. He was clearly going to tell Susan who he was and then kidnaps her anyway.
posted by numaner at 12:08 PM on March 3, 2017

(a) Do mayors get impeached? Is that a thing?
(b) I find it irritating that Oliver can get impeached while Someone Else can't.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:22 PM on March 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Beyond that, I'm really annoyed by the way the writers think Adrian can just drop his official duties to defend Oliver or Oliver's friends in ways that just scream conflict of interest. That's just poor, sloppy storytelling and there is absolutely no excuse for it.

If Laurel Lance's stint as a DA like four seasons ago didn't convince you that this show gives absolutely zero shits about the ethics of being a lawyer, I don't know what to tell you...
posted by mstokes650 at 10:14 AM on March 6, 2017

Oh, I know Laurel Lance's stint was bad beyond words, but this is exponentially worse. Even though I swear I'm the furthest thing from an optimist, there is some teeny, tiny part of me that keeps hoping that stuff will eventually improve and not get worse. As I said, there is no reason for this to be so bad. It just doesn't have to be this way.

I finally caught up on this past season of Suits (after having skipped most of of last season). If anybody wants to enlighten me on how Susan and Louis got together, I wouldn't say no to hearing it. Although I guess it's really not that important given how they left that relationship in season finale.
posted by sardonyx at 12:17 PM on March 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

omg I just watched the Suits season finale and Susan might be alive in Arrow!
posted by numaner at 7:21 PM on March 6, 2017

If anybody wants to enlighten me on how Susan and Louis got together, I wouldn't say no to hearing it.

It took one and a half episodes, and it turns out they have sooo much in common, and even though Louis basically spent a ton of money to set up some crazy backstory to woo her and then came clean about it anyway, she was like "omg that's the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me, even though it was creepy af"

I have a high bar for Carly Pope ever since Popular, which was a weird show for a 90's teenage boy to be obsessed with but not surprising if you know me now. Her recent work has been not as captivating but I muuuch prefer Tara to Susan, mostly because Suits has such better writing.
/derail
posted by numaner at 7:31 PM on March 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've actually kind of grown to care about Susan on Arrow. I didn't think much of her at first, but let's just say I've got a lot of sympathy for what Thea and Felicity put her character through and I thought she handled herself well in the outcome. (Wow, I can't believe I said something nice about a characterization on Arrow this season!)
posted by sardonyx at 7:57 PM on March 6, 2017 [1 favorite]