ARROW - Season 7.10

REVIEW:  ARROW – SEASON 7, EP. 10:  “My Name Is Emiko Queen”

The Emerald Archer returns after our holiday break with a brand new installment.  Tonight, Ollie’s out of prison, and now working with the Star City PD.  Meanwhile, we have his half-sister running around as the new Green Arrow, dishing out justice on HER terms.  What will happen when their paths cross?  We also have that tiny bit of plot that revolves around Lyla and Diggle enlisting the recently captured Ricardo Diaz to stop the Longbow Hunters.  We also get Emiko’s origins…just what motivated her to take up the mantle of her half-brother?

Show begins with a guy being chased by the new Arrow down a back alley.  He screams as she administers justice.  We then see her writing in a journal, while a voice over of her talks about people deserving justice.  During this montage, we see her battling criminals, training, and more writing in her journal.  Then she takes off and heads to a bar, where a news report talks about Ollie joining the SCPD.  She’s having a meet with an informant, who gives her information on Glen Morgan, apparently someone with ties to the criminal underworld.  He hands her a flash drive that will give her information how to get to this Morgan person.  She enters a highly secure building, avoiding the guards, and taking a couple of them out with gas.  They give chase once they awake, and catch her downloading some information.  They tell her to freeze, but she makes a break for it.  They shoot at her as she escapes.  She returns to the warehouse, where she’s met by Rene, who asks for his help as she was shot.

We see Dinah and Ollie enter the premesis that Emiko had raided last night.  As Ollie and Dinah survey the scene, Ollie notices a piece of glass with blood on it.  As Ollie goes to reach it, the young CSI chides him for touching evidence.  Apparently, not everyone is happy with Ollie working with the police department.  Ollie knows that his resources would be more efficient than the departments….so Dinah hands Ollie the evidence.

Emiko has been stitched up at Rene’s, and he says he can give her a helping hand, but she regrets coming.  He says he understands the mission, reminding her that Ollie said that you can’t save a city alone.  Emiko reminds him that SHE is not Oliver Queen.

We are in the future, where Zoe heads into the newly renovated Glades to see a press conference where we see Rene as Mayor, who was responsible for saving the Glades.  She’s there to have a talk with him about saving Star City, and Felicity’s plans to blow the city up.

Ollie returns home to give Felicity the evidence they found.  Felicity runs a check, and tells Ollie that not only is the new Green Arrow a woman…but his sister.

ARGUS is where we head next, and see Lyla interrogating Diaz.  They want to know more about Dante and the Longbow Hunters, but he refuses, and taunts Diggle.  Lyla says that she can make it difficult for him.  He still balks. 

The new Arrow is downloading the information she obtained on her phone to plan her next attack.  We then see her on stakeout, when she’s discovered.  A fight breaks out, and she’s on the defense and outnumbered until Wild Dog comes to her aid.  He says that she’s dealing with trained assassins and Navy Seals, and he could help watch her back.  She says she’s doing this solo, and warns Rene to back off, or she’ll put an arrow through him the next time he interferes.

Ollie and Felicity talk about his sister, and there’s no info on her, it’s as if she doesn’t exist.  Ollie knows that his father kept things from him.  They talk about what her motivation is.  They find out that his Dad left a paper trail, and find a storage unit registered in his mother’s name.  It’s there that they find a letter and other information about his dad’s extracurricular activities from Moira Queen that he doesn’t seem ready to dive into.

At ARGUS once again, and Diggle comes to talk to Diaz and makes him a deal.  He helps them get Dante, he goes free.  As this conversation is going on, the Deputy Director comes in, questioning Lyla’s motives with Diaz.  She talks about reviving The “Ghost Program” (Task Force X, and reigniting the Suicide Squad for you out there who need an idea), He backs off and says that’s a good idea.  Diggle and Lyla hope their plan works.

Rene and Zoe are leaving home, when and Arrow hits a fence post.  A note is on it, and it Zoe says that the new Arrow needs Wild Dog.  Rene is reluctant to leave Zoe, but she says he’ll be fine.  When then jump to the future, where we see the older Zoe at her dad’s office, informing him about the bombs that are going to go off and destroy the city.  She talks about sing the Arrow Initiative to help save the city, but he’s against doing it, for risk of the Glades.  She reminds him that he used to be a hero, and walks out.  We return to the present, and we see Rene meeting up with Emiko, and they talk about their motives.  He says that when the team broke up, he’s been lost.  So, they head to her lair, where he finds out what her mission is. Killing William Glenmorgan…who she feels killed her mother, Kazumi Adachi.

Ollie and Felicity read a letter from his father to his friend, telling him that he met a woman, and had a child, but abandoned them because of his mother. Ollie is visibly upset that his father did this to his sister.  Meanwhile, Rene and Emiko talk about her Mom being killed by the man she’s been tracking.  Rene agrees to help her nail him, since he knows some of the players on the board.

We cut to the future again, and we see Dinah and Rene having a chat.  Dinah wants the codes he has to help save the city.  But as Mayor of the Glades, he refuses, and is upset that she involved Zoe, but Dinah reminds him that she’s an adult.  He says that he’s doing REAL help now as Mayor, and not running around in a hockey mask.  Dinah said that those days mattered, and shows him the Mark of Four, which was the oath they made to each other.  Rene says she needs to leave, and if she comes back, he’ll arrest her, and to stay away from his daughter.  Dinah says that the last time she tangled, it didn’t end well for Rene.  And she’s getting the codes whether he likes it or not.  And she brings out her staff just to make a point.

Back to the present, and Emiko and Rene are going over a plan to get to Glenmorgan.  Rene enlists the help of Curtis to aid in the technical side of the mission.  Emiko is reluctant, but Rene reminds her that they need all the help they can get.  She agrees, and they’re ready to go.

We see Lyla and Diggle argue at ARGUS, as she’s upset that Diggle made the deal with Diaz, and forced her hand to restart the Ghost Program.  Diggle felt he did a good job, and got Diaz to help, but she is still upset with him.  She says that she thought SHE was worried about becoming the next Amanda Waller, and walks off.

Mission time, and Curtis is running things from Emiko’s.  The Arrow and Wild Dog are ready to pounce, as Curtis cuts all the systems at the mansion that Glenmorgan is at.  They’re on the attack, and their teamwork begins to work.  Emiko finally finds Glenmorgan, and a battle ensues.  She finally takes him down, and finds out that he didn’t kill her Mom, but he says he just back into the country, and was working undercover.  She knocks him out, but just as Rene says she got him, she tells him that he didn’t kill her Mom.  She failed her mission.

Back at Emiko’s, she still looking at the journal.  She knows that Glemorgan was in Santa Prisca at the time her Mom was killed.  She feels she’s back at square one and being led on a wild goose chase.  Rene offers her help.  She says that he needs to go to his daughter.  He tells her it was Zoe’s idea to come there to help her.  He says she needs a partner.  She agrees, and they begin to get to work.

In the future once more, we see Dinah give Zoe the codes to the Arrow Initiative.  Zoe starts working on activating it.  At the same time, a man and Rene start talking, and Rene reminds him that the Canarys asked for the Archer codes.  It turns out THEY were the ones that planned on taking Star City down.  Rene wasn’t aware that blowing up Star City was the main plan, but the man said that Star City is a cancer and needs to be wiped out.  Rene also inquires about Felicity being killed, and the man says that she was a thorn in the side of their plans.  He hopes that Rene isn’t backing down and see it as a problem.  Rene feigns ambivalence, and the man walks out, leaving Rene to think.

Felicity and Ollie are at home still talking about Emiko, and how his father ruined everything not only for him and Thea, but for Emiko and her mother as well.  He thought he was doing good, but also doesn’t want to interfere in Emiko’s life and make it worse.  Felicity says he won’t…and for him to reach out to her. 

Over at ARGUS, we see Diaz getting a bomb implanted into his skull, ensuring he doesn’t stray from the plan.  Lyla reminds him that if he does..boom.  Diaz hopes the bomb goes off, because if it doesn’t, he’s coming after them. 

We get a montage and voice over from Emiko as she suits up again, saying that sometimes you need to embrace the darkness to seek justice, as we see her and Wild Dog ready to go.  At the end of the montage, we see her at her mother’s grave, as Ollie shows up.  Brother and sister finally meet.

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This episode was rapid fire!  There was A LOT going on in an hour that was flowing at a pretty solid pace.  There really was no “down” moments.  Even the scenes between Ollie and Felicity had weight and importance, and helped carry the show through.  It was an episode full of emotion, action, and some very interesting plot developments.

Ollie finding out that he has a sister---yet another in a long string of secrets the Queen family has harbored---really hits home for him.  It puts into focus that his Dad was A LOT worse than he made himself out to be.  He pretty much spends this entire episode mulling over all the new secrets he and Felicity uncovered, the further disappointment in his father for abandoning Emiko and her mother.  He also feels that if he confronts her, he’ll only make things worse.  Felicity plays a great role in this episode as the supportive wife.  It was nice to see them on the same page, and for her to let Ollie vent, and just BE there for him.  This is what their marriage SHOULD be.  Hopefully, the events from ELSEWORLDS regarding their relationship has helped hear their temporary rift.  This was good for them.  It was also pretty interesting that while Ollie was in the episode, he was only a small part of it.  He also realizes that he didn’t have the warm welcoming when he started with the Star City PD.  While Dinah assures him they’ll come around, the snotty little CSI bit was a tad funny.  I kept hoping Ollie would make a Barry Allen reference, just for a laugh.  Oh well. 

Emiko’s story was the main focus of the episode.  The montages of her training, squaring off against the bad guys, and obtaining information on the man who killed her Mom showed that she is just as relentless as Ollie is,as well as moody. She is his polar opposite, only I feel she doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with Ollie.  Her only quest is revenge for her Mom, and she’s less trusting of ANYONE…including Rene.  While Ollie was (and is), about righting the wrongs, and actual justice.  But Rene, to his credit, is relentless in offering help---knowing that he understands her pain.  Her finally meeting Ollie at the end of the episode sets up an interesting future between the two.  Will she let Ollie in, or take her anger out of her abandonment by their father out on HIM?

The future scenes had an interesting flow to them, focusing on a specific character---mostly Rene and Zoe---and the morphing cuts from real time to the future scenes was better than what we’ve had the last few episodes with this arc.  We see that the Glades has gotten a major upgrade since Rene has taken power as the Mayor.  We also see that him and Zoe are on opposite sides in the issue regarding the destruction of Star City.  Also, it’s later revealed that HE is the one in bed with a mysterious man who is the one REALLY responsible for wanting to destroy the Glades.  He also finds out this man had Felicity killed.  He also is at odds with Dinah.  It’s something very reminiscent to the Undertaking that Moira Queen was involved in during Season 1.  History seems to be ready to repeat itself.  It will be interesting to see if Rene is playing this mysterious man, or is he really in bed with him, and willing to commit to this Undertaking.

Lyla and Diggle’s story gets more intense, as Diggle undermines Lyla’s authority by offering Diaz a deal in order to get this Dante guy who backed the Longbow Hunters.  Diggle basically is willing to restart the “Ghost Program” that Lyla has dubbed it, and put her in a tight spot with the Deputy Director, who thinks it’s a good idea.  (For those that need a tidbit of info, “Ghost Program” is the name they’re using in the TV show that’s a different way of saying “Task Force X” and “Suicide Squad”, which is what they’re essentially doing.  DC and Warner Bros. are still against using them in the Arrowverse, saving them for the DCEU).  It puts Dig and Lyla at odds, because he’s basically becoming Amanda Waller in his approach to nailing the bad guy.  And just when we thought Diaz’s story was done being told.  He’s now got a bomb in his head, and he’s going to be used for ARGUS’ purposes.  

Emiko, when finding out that Glenmorgan didn’t kill her mom, found out that he was in Santa Prisca at the time.  For those with comics knowledge---Santa Prisca is a country that houses one of the harshest prisons on Earth, and it’s where one of the biggest Batman villains of all came from….BANE.

They also did a great job of foreshadowing Zoe’s story.  Seeing the arrow shot from Emiko midway through the show, trying to contact Rene, Zoe realized that her dad was needed.  It’s fascinating how encouraging she is of his other life as a vigilante.  When we see her looking at the arrow left behind, they did a jump to her in the future.  We can see the path she will eventually go on. 

That’s it for this week, gang!  As always, leave a comment, subscribe, and pass the word around about this blog.  I would greatly appreciate it, and appreciate all of you who read it!

Until next week….keep your sights on the bullseye.