Arrow: 10 Best Episodes So Far

10. Public Enemy (Season 3, Episode 18)

Written By: Marc Guggenheim & Wendy Mericle

Directed By: Dwight Little

In contrast to the excellent second half of Season 2, the latter part of Season 3 was perhaps the weakest Arrow has ever been, yet Public Enemy nearly pulled the show out of its rut. Perhaps that's because it was the first episode in a while where there was a palpable feeling of danger for Oliver.

With Ra’s al Ghul telling Detective Lance that Oliver is the Arrow, he quickly becomes hunted on every front. Lance is often the heart of the show so seeing him lead a manhunt against Oliver really speaks to how betrayed he felt.

But even though Paul Blackthorne killed every scene he was in, the episode really belongs to Roy. After spending a huge amount of time on the sidelines, it’s ultimately Roy who steps up to rescue Oliver, surrendering himself in the Arrow costume. Even before that climactic moment he grabbed the spotlight as he took charge of Team Arrow, escaped the cops with his patented parkour and even took out a League member.

On top of all that, the soap opera-like flashback involving Shado’s twin sister Mei was just poignant enough to make us look past how ridiculous it was. At least it was a nice change of pace from Oliver running back and forth through a market.