Arrow 2.2, "Identity" Review
rating: 3.5
On this weeks episode of Arrow, we are introduced to another new villain in the Bronze Tiger, we have progress on the story line on the Island, we have more troubles in the Glades for Oliver and the Vigilante and Roy gets to meet the vigilante. While all these are well and good, the episodes are still being held back by their lack of action. At it's peak at the end of the first season, episodes were crammed full of action sequences, that I have no doubt this season is building up to, but the progress is slow and it feels like we've gone two steps forward, one step backwards. While Isabel Rochev, the villain introduced to us last week, has disappeared, we are introduced to Ben Turner, aka the Bronze Tiger. This episode continues Roy Harper's transition from small time vigilante to the Hoods sidekick. Almost half the episode was dedicated to events on the Island, including more romance scenes between Shado and Oliver, as well as having the trio discover a mysterious cave with soldiers from the Japanese Imperial Army. Further from Oliver's love life with Shado on the Island, large amounts of this episode are dedicated to the various romantic relationships on the show. The episode starts with a FEMA truck being intercepted by two motorcycle bandit, after a small clip of Oliver's training session, but they are interrupted by Roy, who is clearly stepping up his own vigilante actions. After taking out one of the motorcycle bandits, Roy crashes the car and is discovered by the police, while the truck is stopped by China White from the Triads and the drivers are summarily killed. In the aftermath, Roy is interrogated by Laurel regarding the Hood after it was discovered that he had an arrow with him during the crash. This continues Roy's progressions towards a meeting with the hood, that eventually happens at the end of the episode. The meeting, with Green Arrow bringing Roy on board as his "eyes and ears in the Glades" will please fans of the original comic book series as it continues Roy Harper's progression into being "Red Arrow", the young sidekick to Green Arrow. The Island also gets more attention in the episode than it has since the end of the first season, with large amounts of the time spent dedicated to Oliver dealing with what he believes to being corrupted. Shade explains to him that inside each person there is a killer and a hero, and that we must decide which one we want to be. The point is poignant and reflects well on Oliver's struggle to re-establish the Vigilante as a hero as opposed to the murderer that Laurel believes he is. When the Island scenes weren't dedicated to Oliver and Shado's romance, or alternatively Oliver trying to get over having just brutally killed a man while saving Shado, the three try to discover why the new people appeared on the Island. It appears that the soldiers were searching for a "graveyard" or secret area on the Island, which Slade manages to find. After Oliver discovers the cave, they discover the misshapen skeletons of soldiers from the Japanese Imperial Army. They certainly built a large amount of intrigue to get to this point in the story line, and kept the cliff hanger alive for at least another week. However, seeing how much time they dedicated to this story line, and to the Island plot in this episode, hopefully it will be something that is worthwhile.
Throughout the episode there seemed to be an emphasis on relationships in this episode, as seen not just in the Island scenes, but also back in Starling City. Firstly, we discover that Diggle has broken up with Carly, his former sister-in-law due to his hunger for revenge against Deadshot, his brothers killer. Despite the awkward tension of Deadshots last appearance in the series, in which Oliver abandoned Diggle in order to help Laurel, this seems to be forgotten, but the conversation was a not so subtle hint dropped by the writers that fans can expect Deadshot to re-appear sometime soon, and that Diggle may just get that shot at revenge he has been hoping for. The other relationship featured prominently in the episode is the tenuous relationship between Roy Harper and Thea Queen, with Thea delivering yet another ultimatum to Roy, either he gives up his dangerous night activities, or they are over and he gets fired from the club. Roy returns promising Thea to give up his crime fighting ways, despite having made a promise to Green Arrow to be his eyes and ears in the Glades. The subsequent fall out from this will be seen in the coming weeks, with the episode resulting in several cliff hangers. Episode Highlights Roy finally meeting Green Arrow The introduction of The Bronze Tiger, and his fight scenes The Secret Identity scene (Hilarious)