Arrow 1.21, "The Undertaking" Review

arrow the undertaking

rating: 5

In a break from tradition, this episode of Arrow added a few new things, and has completely turned the format on it's head. While there were none of Oliver's flashback scenes from the Island, they exchanged it instead for Robert Queen's, Oliver's father, flashbacks. The episode also marked an increasing of screen time for Felicity Smoak, Oliver's wisecracking sidekick, who is sent in the field for the first time with a great impact and often it is Felicity, played by Emily Bett Rickards, who steals the scenes from her boss. This episode also marked a return to the Oliver and Laurel relationship, with some of the flashback scenes showing what the relationship was before Oliver boarded the boat, as being in a committed relationship, which contrasted with how he was initially portrayed at the start of the series as a party boy who had slept with most of the women in Starling City. This epsiode also builds up the tension between Malcolm and Oliver, which should fan the flames for an exciting end to the season. Firstly, the Robert Queen flashbacks, added a new element as it provides an interesting prelude to the events that no only have occurred since Oliver's return, but also why the boat was sabotaged. While, the writers could have used a bit more subtlety in the writing of the flashback with Malcolm Merlyn essentially explaining word for word what exactly the Undertaking was, and how Unideck Industries was involved (the company that was involved in a bidding war in an earlier industry), which probably could have done with a bit more teasing out. However, seeing the way it all came together made sense, and the motives each had, Malcolm's being revealed to us earlier through the murder of Tommy's mother, however, the way Malcolm explains it in this episode makes it so much colder to watch, and for Robert the death of the local council member weighing heavily on his mind as an inspiration to right the wrongs, a trait he clearly passed on to Oliver. The flashbacks also put Moira as the devoted housewife who supports her husband, with no tension at all between her and Walter Steele in the one scene they have together in the flashback. It then becomes obvious that Robert and Malcolm, while friendly, are at logger heads, explaining the events that set a path to Robert's death and Malcolm's continuation of his plans to see "The Undertaking" fulfilled. Malcolm, both present and past, provides an excellent foil against both Robert and Oliver's "do-good" attitude in which they believe in rehabilitation and second chances on the road to salvation as opposed to Malcolm's God-complex, which he believes the idea of destruction and re-building is the only way to move forward. While typically, superhero motives in television shows have never really been deeper than greed or for the sheer sake of being a bad guy. Arrow has changed this, believing villains to be more intelligent than they have been given credit for, adding complexity and genuine motives to Malcolm's back story, and while many of the henchman variety of bad guys have been mainly motivated by greed and wanting to get rich, finally in Malcolm we have a villain who is compelling, and he is still the villain, and his plan is evil, his motives and intentions are while not justified, at the very least they are understandable. Felicity's addition to the cast, and the subsequent growth of her character from a small time player to being heavily invested in Oliver's crime fighting activity, is also very refreshing as a comic relief character in an otherwise very serious show. The fact that Felicity can go line for line with Oliver, and still make light of a scene when she walks in on Oliver and Laurel having a conversation. The elevation of Felicity to field work, in replacement for Diggle, is a welcome change as she brings a great cunning and intelligence on top of her funny one liners that she delivers with a great zing, even her lines in the midst of a very serious scene as she gets interrogated by Dominic Alonso, the owner of an underground casino and the person who was paid to have Walter kidnapped. Even with Diggle and Oliver re-uniting at the end of the episode, fans of the series, are sure to be hoping that this example of Felicity in the field is a taste of things to come, rather than a teaser of what may have been. Though seeing how the series has progressed and the growth of certain characters, we can expect to see more of Felicity, as the series progresses as she has entrenched herself as a part of the "team" with Oliver and Diggle. Oliver and Laurel's relationship also gets a re-evaluation this episode, with the two of them getting closer and closer, with Oliver seeming to regret his treatment of her before the boat trip, and while this was shown in previous episodes, we weren't sure of how serious their relationship was until we see the flashback in this episode which shows them discussing moving in together, which seems to frighten Oliver off. However, back in the present, the tension between Oliver and Laurel is played extremely well by both Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy. In this episode, as Laurel confronts Oliver to talk to Tommy about their relationship, Oliver once again stuns Laurel by admitting that he still has feelings for her, and admitting anything else to Tommy would be a lie. The way this plays out is very much up in the air and will be fun to see how the writers play with this relationship in the coming episodes, especially with the placement of Tommy with his father, and already having built a disdain for Tommy's father by Laurel. If Oliver and Laurel's relationship is to escalate, it would certainly further entrench Tommy further by his father's side, but it seems that Laurel still has residual feelings for Tommy, and could try and pry him away from his father, but it does appear that either way Tommy is likely to end up siding with his father, putting Laurel squarely in the middle. Finally, with Oliver realizing that his mother lied to him in their earlier conversation and after tracking her to see Malcolm Merlyn, the tension between Malcolm and Oliver is incredibly evident in the last scene of the episode as Walter is hospitalized after being rescued by the Hood. Walter's return also makes Moira's position against Malcolm interesting, as she was rebelling against him due to Walter's kidnapping, but now that Walter is back will she still be subservient to Malcolm for fear that he'll take Thea or Oliver away from her, or will Walter's return steel her resolve and vow to end Merlyn once and for all for taking Walter in the first place. Regardless of the outcome, this episode has not only set a great pace for the home stretch of the season but provides viewers with an equal amount of questions and answers that brings a very nice balance to the episode which is one of the best in the season, and subsequently the series, to date.
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While Edan has predominantly studied History and Politics, he also has a deep affection for all things sports, and has been a fan of the wrestling since he was a child, and often had several of the professional wrestlers moves tried out on him by his older brother. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, Edan is a passionate supporter of the Carlton Football Club in the AFL, and is a fan of Kane in the WWF/WWE. Edan also watches The Newsroom, Game of Thrones, Community, How I Met Your Mother, The League, Big Bang Theory, and Arrow.