Arrow Season 4: 9 Ups And 6 Downs From 'Eleven-Fifty-Nine'

3. Tortured Father

In an episode that featured a hard-hitting, kick-in-the-balls final 15 minutes, it could be argued that there was nothing finer than seeing Paul Blackthorne’s Quentin Lance react to the news that the Black Canary was in a bad way.

When one of his officers informs him that a vigilante has been seriously hurt, that the vigilante is Black Canary, you can see the instant pain and torment on the face of Detective Lance. To make this an even more impactful moment, obviously he has to make his excuses to leave whilst not giving the game away that it’s his very own daughter who parades around the streets of Star City as the Black Canary.

Blackthorne is always mesmerising when given anything of note to do, and seeing his tortured father act here was absolutely sensational. Whilst he’d sadly not make it to Laurel in time, depriving viewers of another Paul Blackthorne masterclass, it was still painfully brilliant in how we saw Quentin battling with the news of the likely death of his eldest offspring.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 9th Apr 2016

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