ARROW - Season 7.8

REVIEW:  ARROW - SEASON 7, EP. 8: "Unmasked"

As we head into the holiday break, our midseason finale of the Emerald Archer brought us some more action, a mystery revealed, yet more questions in the future, and just what are Lyla and Diggle doing with Diaz?  

We see a woman waking up, and begin a serious training regimen.  She finishes up, and grabs a smoothie as she watches the news about Ollie being released and holding a press conference about prison reform.  The woman then suits up, and we see SHE is the new Green Arrow!

Ollie is showering and cleaning up for the press conference.  Him and Felicity share a moment, and she reminds him that they’ll think of him as a hero for all the times he saved the city.  They wish each other Happy Anniversary.

Flash forward, and William, Zoe, and Dinah are on the hunt for someone called Blackstar in a fight club type arena. Roy is not with them.  They inquire about her, and the bartender points them to the cage, where she’s putting the beatdown on a guy. 

Back to the present, we see Team Arrow at the party to welcome back Ollie.  Dinah and Rene talk shop about the prison reform.  Rene gets on his soapbox, and Dinah wonders if he should run for office.

Ollie and Felicity bump into Maxwell Fuller.  Fuller and Ollie go back a ways when Ollie was younger.  He gives off a bad vibe to Felicity.  The team chats about what’s next.  Rene asks if Ollie feels like being Green Arrow again, but he’s not interested.  He wants to find a new way to help the city, like everyone else has.  Felicity brings up the fact she’s developing a new security system, and then Laurel shows up.  Lila is surprised, but Felicity reminds them that Ollie wouldn’t be free without her help.  Ollie gives her his thanks, and he goes to give his speech.  As he is giving his speech, and being asked a question about whether or not he’ll suit up as the Arrow again, an arrow itself flies through the air and  hits a man named Ford, and kills him.  Ollie is in disbelief.

Rene and Ollie are going over the info about the new Green Arrow.  They have some evidence to see that the Arrow that’s been helping out the Glades seems to be the one who made the hit.  Ollie and Dinah asks Rene to contact the new Arrow to see what’s up.

At ARGUS, Lyla is working the computer, trying to decode the painting they got.  She and Diggle talk about several terrorist organizations…KOBRA being one of them….traced back to an account in the name of Dante.  Several transactions have been made recently to it, and they discover the connection to the Longbow Hunters.

Ollie, Dinah, and Rene meet up with the new Green Arrow, who is upset Rene did not come alone.  Ollie urges---from one Arrow to another---to cooperate, because people in the city think of them as a killer.  The new Arrow bolts, and they give chase.  The new Arrow gets away.

At the police station, the press is all over Ollie, and Dinah wards them off.  They find out the new Arrow is innocent of the killngs.  The mayor shows up and craps all over Dinah, and says that if she can’t capture the vigilante, she’ll be replaced.  Ollie said he knows some old college mates he can talk to that were part of a secret society called Scroll and Key.

Flashing forward once again, and the group talks to Blackstar, who says she’s a broker.  For the right price, she gets things for people.  She got a couple of electrical charge things that would make a bomb.  She says that pursuing Felicity will only end badly.

Ollie chats with Maxwell about Ford, and they talk about the secret society, and how some of them were connected to the Triads and other criminal elements.  Max figures out that Ollie’s working with the cops on the case, and wonders WHY Ollie would do what he’s doing, considering he got sent to prison while trying to save the city.

Back at home, Ollie came in the front door, which surprises Felicity, because he didn’t trip the alarm.  Suddenly, they’re attacked by this rogue Arrow, and Ollie manages to get him down, before Felicity pulls she had a gun on him.  She tells him to stay down, and he starts to get up, and she shoots him.  Ollie is shocked to see Felicity with a gun.

Back at Ollie and Felicity’s, Dinah checks up on them, and will keep them informed once she gets any info.  Ollie and Felicity argue, and Ollie doesn’t like what he sees.  Felicity argues that it’s HIS fault, because he gave himself up, and it forced her to adapt and survive, or die by Diaz’s hands.  He says she’s not the person he fell in love with.  She said THAT Felicity is gone.

Back to the future, Dinah and William chat, and he feels it’s time to give up the chase.  Dinah shows him the Mark of Four, which represents the loyalty all of the team made to each other.  When one is in trouble, the other’s rally around them.  Dinah says they found the mark in his Dad’s bow…and that she sees his Dad in him.  They decide to keep the search for answers.

At the SCPD, Dinah and Rene talk about how Dinah is being undercut at every turn, and thinks it’s time to bring back Black Canary.  Rene was hoping for that.  Ollie arrives, and they find out that the rogue Arrow who attacked Ollie is named Frank Cassidy, who is a hired hitman.  When they see something they got off Frank, Ollie recognizes it, and realizes that Fuller put Cassidy up to it.  Fuller is at a club with a ton of hired hitmen.  Dinah decides to get a SWAT team ready, and Ollie decides it’s time to suit up again.  While getting his Arrow gear, Diggle shows up, and asks Ollie if he needs help.  Ollie doesn’t want William burned because of what he’s about to do.  As he heads out, Diggle asks him if he needs the mask----Ollie replies “nope”, and walks off.

Action time, as Ollie arrives at the club.  Inside the club, Fuller is wondering just where Cassidy is, and puts his guards on alert.  Ollie is inside the club, and Dinah stands at the ready.  Ollie takes out the lights, and starts picking off the guards.  Fuller works his way through the floor of the club, Ollie is on his tail.  Ollie catches up to him, and Fuller forces a standoff by grabbing a hostage.  Ollie easily shoots the gun out of Fuller’s hands.  Fuller says Ollie is a vigilante, and doesn’t have the authority to arrest him, but Fuller says that Ollie doesn’t have the authority, but Dinah does, as she shows up to arrest Fuller.

Dinah brings Fuller in, and the Mayor is ready to arrest Ollie, but Dinah says “no”, and says that as of today, Ollie is a part of the SCPD.  The Mayor isn’t happy about it, and says that this is not over.

Lyla and Diggle head to Slabside to enlist Diaz’s help in taking down the Longbow Hunters….and they plan on keeping it on the downlow from Ollie and Felicity.

Flashing forward one last time, we see the group searching for more clues as to what Felicity had planned with those bombs.  William suggests the cops, but Zoe says the cops are a joke.  Dinah says the only way to go forward is to check the Glades.  Zoe’s against it at first, but says it’s time to pay her Dad a visit.

Ollie and Felicity at home, discussing her changes.  They do some reconciling.  At the end, we see the new Arrow talking about how lucky Ollie is, but feels her crusade is far from over.  We see the grave, and it’s Ollie’s Dad’s.  Meet Emiko Queen---Ollie’s sister!

We go to Earth 90 again, and the same clip that aired on Supergirl, airs again tonight to end the show.

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This show packed A LOT in, and there were quite a couple of surprises, and some minor twists and turns to discuss here, plus a nice Easter Egg or two:

First of all...we FINALLY get to see who the new Green Arrow is:  Emiko Queen.  Apparently, the long, lost daughter of Oliver's father.  Where she came from, who knows?  I'm not up to date on the comics, so I'm not familiar with Emiko or her past.  But it puts yet another character on the canvas with some issues of her own to resolve, and how that will directly come into Oliver's orbit will be fun to see.  But I also look forward to finding how just HOW she was able to become as skilled as she is.  

Lyla and Diggle's ARGUS mission to find out more about this "Dante" painting led them to an account that had ties to various terrorist organizations like KOBRA.  For those who've read the comics, KOBRA is one of the big thorns in the side of the DC heroes, much in the same way The HIVE are.  On top of all that, the connection to the Longbow Hunters means that, in order to shut this mess down, they have to double deal with the LAST person they want to:  Ricardo Diaz.  So much for his story being over.  And what will happen if this gets back to Ollie and Felicity?  

It's also interesting to note how the dynamic between Dinah and Rene have altered a little.  Rene feeling like he should speak up more, be a bigger voice, and Dinah suggesting he'd make a good mayor?  Can smell the plot twist there.  Also, Dinah feeling the frustration of having her hands tied by the Mayor, and thinking that maybe it's time for Black Canary to return shows that even SHE believes that due process can sometimes hinder justice.  

Curtis was pretty much relegated to the background again.  But right now, plot wise...not much for him to do.  But I thought him and Felicity were business partners?  You'd think we'd some kind of interaction between THOSE two at least.

Speaking of Felicity....it's certainly strange to see her and Ollie's relationship make a 180 degree turn.  Felicity owning a gun, and Ollie being surprised at the lengths Felicity will go through to protect her family have sent her down the dark path.  One that, if this future we've been seeing holds true, she becomes the very villain she fought against.  To see Ollie have to watch her become this different woman is a fascinating dynamic.  She's now the character we're all keeping an eye on, and wondering when that light switch flips off, and down the dark rabbit hole she goes.  As for Ollie...working hand in hand with the Star City PD presents an new challenge for not only HIM, but a new side of the character we haven't seen.  How well will he be able to play ball with law enforcement?  Will this mean we start getting the Ollie that's more grounded to the people like the one we see in the comics?  I've been waiting for that day---maybe it's finally come.  There IS a way to have fun with it---and hey---why not start to introduce the trick arrows into his arsenal now?  I won't be satisfied until I see the boxing glove arrow at work!

Finally, our future gave us more on what Felicity's plans were, and we meet one of the new characters that she had been dealing with:  Blackstar.  She had the tattoo of the Scroll and Key on her arm, so I'm curious as to how she ties into that.  Also, we have Zoe and Rene estranged from one another?  Dinah giving William the pep talk, and also giving us the clue to the Sign of Four was a good clue to finally have resolved.

I WAS bummed, however, that DC decided to drop the ball on the Elseworlds crossover, and not give us a little more tantalizing morsels to drool on.  But, as a friend of mine pointed out...and it brought up an interesting point:  This world that is destroyed by the Monitor is called Earth-90, with the only surviving being, so it seems, is Barry Allen, the Flash of that world.  It's a nice way to pay homage to the 1990 show, and it makes me wonder...does the Smallville also exist in this Elseworlds deal?  Just a thought....

Okay guys, that does it for me.  This was the midseason finale, so next week will be ALL about Elseworlds, then we're at recess until January 21st.  But I appreciate you reading the  blog, and I hope you subscribe to it, and pass it around so others can as well.  And don't be afraid to leave a comment.  I'm grateful to all of ya who stick around and read this little spot in the internet universe!

NEXT WEEK:  Crossover begins!  Until then...keep your sights on the bullseye!