'Arrow' Recap: Four Times the Arrows, Four Times the Action

Warning: Spoilers ahead for this week’s episode of Arrow.

First and foremost, Arrow is an action show. Sure, it’s based on a comic book and, yes, there are procedural elements. But the core of the series is about physicality, and this season, it’s been nailing it hard. Throw in a couple big plot-forwarding surprises and some fun new faces, and it makes for a great episode.

The Plot

An old family friend, Jessica Danforth (Jeri Ryan), asks Oliver and Thea for their support as she runs for mayor. Damien Darhk hires Lonnie Machin (Alexander Calvert) to convince her otherwise. After a botched assassination attempt, Lonnie kidnaps Jessica’s daughter. Darhk, who likes to keep things classy, gives his location to Captain Lance, who gives it to Green Arrow. Thea goes nuts and sets him on fire, finally convincing her that the Lazarus Pit may have had some negative side effects.

Meanwhile, Felicity returns to Palmer Tech and meets Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum), who helps her avoid having to fire dozens of employees.

Related: Get Caught Up With Our ‘Arrow’ Recaps

Giving Stephen Amell a Break

Arrow really stepped up the action this episode — the treatment plant fight, the chase at the press conference, Thea vs. Ollie, Green and Speedy vs. Machin, and everything on Lian Yu — and it comes down to simple math.

The show used to be Oliver versus the bad guys; now it’s all of Team Arrow: Green Arrow, Speedy, Black Canary, and Diggle versus the bad guys. Not only does that mean fewer bruises for Stephen Amell, it also makes for larger set pieces featuring bigger fight choreography. If it’s not the best action show on TV now, it’s definitely top-three.

Ugh, More Secrets

At least Diggle was willing to tell Laurel about his brother. Even still, he’s been complaining for seasons about Oliver keeping secrets, and people keeping secrets from each other is the least enjoyable part of Arrow. The sooner we move past this part of the story and get to the part where everybody’s chipping in to help, the better.

Shocker! Double Shocker!

Ollie deciding to run for mayor is an interesting twist, but barely sixty seconds later, Laurel cracks open the dug-up coffin of her sister?! Which story are you most looking forward to: Oliver Queen, inspirational politician in a suit, or witchy sisters using dark magic to resurrect Sara Lance? Before you answer, don’t forget the zombie story will eventually involve John Constantine, so factor Matt Ryan and his trenchcoat into your decision.

New Faces

Jeri Ryan left us too soon — she would make a great recurring character for the show. Hopefully, Lonnie Machin returns soon; his “flair for the dramatic” and his “bad taste” in kidnapping Madison is a great counterpoint to Damien Darhk’s button-down evil.

Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt is the big winner of this episode, though. Tag team geeks are vital for any successful comic book show, and he makes a fantastic replacement for Brandon Routh so that Felicity has someone to bounce her nerdery off of. You can tell they work well together because he made her responsible for the line of the night: “Let’s get one thing straight: The only person who is allowed to talk in sentence fragments around here is me!”

The Loss of a Dear Friend

Earlier in the day, Amell posted this cryptic tweet.

And what was the vile enemy that was defeated?

A moment of silence, please.

Inside Comics Moment

Lonnie Machin is the Batman villain, Anarky, who, true to his namesake, looks to be injecting an element of chaos into this season. Curtis Holt is Mr. Terrific, and he looks to be progressing down the same season-long path to superhero-dom that Ray Palmer took last year. Like Palmer, the comic book Mr. Terrific is a normal human (albeit one who is an Olympic decathlete and the third-smartest man in the world) who uses technology to fight crime. Maybe Felicity wasn’t so wrong to promise that he had tech that would “change the world.”

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.