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The W - Movies & TV - Arrow 1x23 - "Sacrifice"
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John Orquiola
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Since: 28.2.02
From: Boston

Since last post: 3560 days
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#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.45
When last we saw Oliver Queen, he was beaten into unconsciousness and un-hooded by Malcolm Merlyn. Malcolm wasted no time in disrobing Oliver, stringing him up in chains and getting him wet. Oliver dreamed of how his father killed himself (and that guy on the raft minding his own business) but Malcolm tells the awakened Oliver that he misses his friend Robert. Oliver: "You'll be seeing him soon." Oliver's referring to Hell, right? Because that's where Robert is, and where Malcolm is going. Malcolm taunts Oliver, accurately pointing out the fact that they've battled twice yet despite his youth and speed, Malcolm always beats him to a quiver. Then Malcolm fully assumes the role of James Bond villain by leaving Oliver alone instead of just killing him. Oliver does the most ridiculously painful looking chain climb imaginable to free himself and then starts snapping Merlyn guard necks, just in time for Diggle to arrive with helpful exposition that Oliver has a tracker in his boot.

Meanwhile, Felicity is trying to enter Queen Consolidated and is picked up by the po-po like the perp that she is. Detective Lance references several episodes from the season of Felicity's hacking skills helping the Hood but a timely phone call from that very Hood informing Lance of the Undertaking to destroy the Glades gets Felicity off the hook. Lance now has bigger fish to fry than grilling this geeky girl. Felicity gives Lance a "The Vigilante must be a hero if he's willing to sacrifice himself to save others" speech straight from The Chloe Sullivan Diaries. Lance now has to beg his superiors for help to stop the Undertaking and naturally, his Lieutenant isn't pleased to hear Lance has been communicating with and tacitly helping the very vigilante he's supposed to be apprehending. Lance gets suspended. He's actually lucky he's in Starling City and not in The Wire's Baltimore. Lieutanant Rawls would have a field day with humiliating Lance.

With no time table of when the Undertaking will happen and not knowing where the Unidac device is, Oliver decides to check in with his ancillary cast, see how they're holding up. First up is Tommy, who's conveniently drunk in Verdant, and tells Oliver he caught him kissing Laurel the night before after Oliver told Tommy to go and fight for Laurel. Only kissing? Because Oliver did a lot more than that with her. Oliver didn't actually say that, but Tommy took a drunken swing at him anyway. Oliver clues Tommy in that his daddy is going to destroy the Glades and Tommy can't believe the cold, distant billionaire who ignored him for a decade would ever do that. Oliver heads on home to Stately Queen Manor to finally have that frank heart to heart with Moira about the Undertaking as she's packing up all her clothes to go... somewhere. Oliver finally tells Moira how Robert really died, that he shot himself (leaving out how Robert also shot that guy in the raft minding his own business.) Oliver pleads with his mother to help him stop the Undertaking right when Malcolm calls her with the new time table for the Undertaking - it's tonight! And wouldn't you know it, Laurel shows up at Stately Queen Manor to have their relationship heart to heart. That Laurel sure does get around. Oliver doesn't tell her anything about himself being the Hood or the Undertaking, just warning her to stay out of the Glades, but the impressive thing about the writing is Oliver telling her that she's the only one of his friends who isn't hiding anything, which is actually true. That's Laurel's great virtue; she's not messed up or living a secret life. Laurel Lance has always been straight up, now tell me, Oliver, are you gonna love me forever? Or am I caught in a hit and run?

Back at Merlyn Global, the Merlyns have the best dramatic scene in the episode. Tommy, who has had an incredibly hard time reconciling all the secrets he keeps learning from all his loved ones, really doesn't take this biggest doozy well: Malcolm reveals everything to his baby boy: Yes, he is going to destroy the Glades. Malcolm plays him the recording of Tommy's mom being murdered and dying on the phone. Malcolm hates everyone in the Glades so much! (He doesn't know Roy Harper, but if he did, he'd hate him, because he's from the Glades!) Malcolm also shows Tommy his secret panic room where he keeps his Dark Archer suit and weaponry, but doesn't explain the awkward details that, no, he's not the Vigilante. He's the Copycat Vigilante. It must be underscored how incredibly awesome John Barrowman is, has been all season, and especially is in this finale. He's an amazing actor and a fantastic villain, never one note, always complex and making you simultaneously feel his anguish for his loss, his hatred for his enemies but his genuine compassion for his loved ones. Tommy and I both nearly pissed our pants when Malcolm lost it: "YES! THEY DESERVE TO DIE! ALL OF THEM! THE WAY SHE DIED!" Pardon me while I change my underpants.

Back at the Arrow Cave, The Hoodies of Justice finally figured out what they already knew from several episodes ago, that the Unidac device is being hidden in the abandoned subway tunnels beneath the Glades (the symbol on the Book of the List, remember? Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle somehow didn't). Then everyone is totally stunned to watch the news from Stately Queen Manor where Moira calls a press conference to confess her complicity in the Undertaking to destroy the Glades - and she points the finger right at Malcolm Merlyn. Thea is stunned to hear all of this; she was totally in the dark. Moira tells her everything she did was to protect her loved ones. Thea: "I love Roy! He's in the Glades!" Before Moira can ask who the hell Roy is, Thea is off to save her boyfriend who dumped her last week. Malcolm, meanwhile, did not enjoy being named as a super villain on television, and Tommy even pulls a gun on him. In one of the speediest displays of police work ever, moments after Moira's press conference, a full SWAT team is busting into Malcolm Merlyn's office. Malcolm wipes them all out and lays the smack down on his son. Poor Tommy. He'll never, ever win a fight.

Team Arrow consolidates their efforts to stop the Undertaking: Diggle and Oliver will team up together to fight Malcolm since Oliver has definitively proven he can't win a straight up one on one fight. Oliver recruits Detective Lance to do the legwork of physically disarming the Unidac device while Felicity runs intel and support from the Arrow Cave. It's a hell of a plan. Best they can muster, really. And thus, the Undertaking (Batman) begins.

With the Glades in chaos from the threat of imminent destruction and the League of Shadows probably nodding with approval, Roy Harper is busy performing do goodery, stopping muggings and nearly getting himself shot to death. Luckily, Thea is there to hurl a bottle with pinpoint accuracy and saves his life. She has "wicked good aim". Foreshadowing. They steal a car to escape the Glades but the call of selfless heroism like his role model the Hood displays is too strong and Roy can't leave the Glades unless he saves every single person in trouble he sees. Thea is flummoxed at her boy toy lummox and Roy actually allows her to kiss him before sending her off.

Laurel ignored both Oliver's warnings and Moira's press conference and went to her law office to gather up files that must be important enough to risk dying in a man-made earthquake for. Hey, her friend Annie Ilonzeh is there for some reason! I thought she left the show. As that's going on, Felicity talks Detective Lance into how to disarm the Unidac device, which comes complete with a digital countdown clock as all such devices in movies and television shows do for some reason. Detective Lance somehow accelerates the countdown and totally panics. He calls Laurel and wishes his daughter a tearful goodbye; even though they're not in the scene together, it's a fine moment between them. Katie Cassidy's best dramatic moments on the show have always been opposite Paul Blackthorne and that's the case here as well. But Felicity is awesome and remotely disarms the bomb. The Glades is saved! Or is it?

Oliver (not wearing his painted mask or any guyliner at all) and Diggle arrive at Merlyn Global to find both Tommy alive and Malcolm waiting for them. They take on Malcolm together Lethal Weapon 4 style and do about as well as Riggs and Murtaugh did against Jet Li. I almost quit watching the show when Diggle is stabbed and the possibility arose Arrow would kill Dig off. But it was just a plot device to take Diggle out of the fight so that Oliver and Malcolm could have their rematch on the rooftop. It's a great fight, which includes Oliver busting out a hurricanara and Malcolm locking him up in a dragon sleeper. An injured Diggle crawls to the roof to watch the last moments of the fight as Oliver finally finds a way to beat Malcolm, by stabbing him in the heart with an arrow. How poetic. A dying Malcolm makes one final taunt about "redundancy". For a moment, I thought he was referring to Diggle not being needed anymore since Roy is "destined" to be Oliver's sidekick and somehow Diggle would be killed but no, Malcolm meant... a second Unidac machine!

Half an Undertaking is better than no Undertaking at all. Oliver and Diggle watch from the roof of Merlyn Global as the second Unidac machine destroys the East Side of the Glades... which is where Laurel's law firm is. As Oliver races there on his Arrow Cycle, Laurel is trapped in her building as it collapses. Laurel needs a hero, and Tommy arrives to save the day, somehow lifting the debris pinning Laurel down but he doesn't drop it and run out of the building after her. As Laurel gets to the safety of the street and into the arms of her father, the CNRI building collapses on top of Tommy. Oliver somehow find a back way in to find Tommy speared through the chest. Oh no, not Tommy! Tommy Merlyn is the sacrifice? (And it's for real. Colin Donnell has left the show.) Oliver tearfully says goodbye to his best friend, who did a far, far better thing than Oliver Queen has ever done. Tommy Merlyn died a hero, before he could live long enough to see himself become the villain. But what will season 2 be without the Merlyns? Losing both Merlyn men is a profound loss for Arrow.

Five years ago on the Island, a lot of action ends the season-long saga of Edward Fyers launching a missile at a Ferris airliner. Oliver manages to free himself from his bonds, frees Slade and Shado, and the three of them mount a big killing fight to stop Fyers' men. Shado and Oliver make their way to the missile launcher where Oliver manages to reprogram the guidance system to the missile just misses the airplane and changes course to destroy Fyers' base in a gigantic explosion. Luckily, Slade wasn't killed, but unfortunately, neither was Fyers, who has Shado hostage. Fyers makes one last attempt to offer Oliver a boat off the Island, but it is at this moment Oliver, fresh from murdering a lot of soldiers, finds his Arrow mojo and shoots an arrow right in Fyers' throat. And thus Oliver Queen has taken his first big step in becoming the Hood we all know and love.

A heroic, bad ass, action-packed, breakneck finale for Arrow, concluding a first season that was braver and bolder than a Green Arrow show on The CW had any expectations of being. Just a tremendous roller coaster ride with quite a few questions going into season 2. Bravo, everyone at Arrow. See you in September.

Finally, a fun DC Comics reference for the sharp-eyed during the Undertaking:





"Cody, I mustache you a question." - The Miz
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It's False
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Since: 20.6.02
From: I am the Tag Team Champions!

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#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.37
It's been a while since I've weighed in on Arrow and I was very pleased with the way the finale unfolded. Had the show not gotten a second season, I would have been very satisfied with this ending.

When we first heard about this show and the characters, we all assumed we knew exactly how things would unfold. Ollie would become the hero, Tommy Merlyn would slowly morph into the villain (not unlike Lex in Smallville), Laurel would show hints of becoming Black Canary, and for the most part...we haven't gotten that. Malcom Merlyn swooped in out of nowhere and became the best villain I could have possibly asked for. Diggle and Felicity became two great supporting characters. Even Roy's arc was really fun to keep up with.

One gripe that I had was that this show started to feel a lot less like Green Arrow and more like Spider-Man. Let's look at the characters:

Ollie = Peter Parker
Laurel = Mary-Jane Watson
Tommy = Harry Osborn
Malcolm = Norman Osborn
Detective Lance = Captain George Stacy
Moira = Aunt May (Ok, this one's a bit of a stretch)

And they were playing on a lot of those classic Spidey storylines. Ollie, Laurel, and Tommy shared the exact same love triangle. Tommy had that same "I can never satisfy my father" dynamic. Detective Lance came THIS CLOSE to sharing Captain Stacy's heroic sacrifice. And of course, Malcolm is the maniacal businessman who feels that he's the hero the world needs. A question I have is, who does that make Diggle in this analogy?

I'm really excited to see where we go for Season 2. Obviously, Deadshot's still roaming around, so he's going to be a major presence. Malcolm's going to be rotting in prison, but it definitely won't be the last we see of him. The family dynamic is going to be turned upside-down with Moira in prison, since Ollie will have to take over the family business and act as Thea's guardian. Is next season the one where we see Roy become Arsenal? And is it necessarily set in stone that Ollie and Laurel get back together or do they pull any sort of trigger on Ollie and Felicity?

I'm really enjoying this show and it's going to be a long wait until September. So many questions, some of which will probably be answered at Comic-Con.



John Orquiola
Scrapple








Since: 28.2.02
From: Boston

Since last post: 3560 days
Last activity: 3560 days
#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.45
I received some Conan-like fan corrections elsewhere that Felicity was actually leaving Queen Consolidated when Detective Lance met her on the street and that Moira was packing Walter's clothes when Oliver had his scene with her. That said...

    Originally posted by It's False
    Malcolm's going to be rotting in prison, but it definitely won't be the last we see of him.


Seems like your latter statement is correct but the former is not. Writer Marc Guggenheim says Malcolm Merlyn Must Die (and did). (insidetv.ew.com)



"Cody, I mustache you a question." - The Miz
Millerek
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Since: 12.10.12
From: USA

Since last post: 3173 days
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#4 Posted on
Lucky for us that CW isn't worried about toy sales. This show has to have been the best surprise I've had as a tv fan. I was worried they would make it all talk no action like Smallville was at times. I actually originally wondered why they switched Ollie Queen from Justin Hartley...good thing I'm not a TV exec I guess.



Ma'am, there is only one God, and I don't think He dresses like that.
lotjx
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Since: 5.9.08

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#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.12
This is the Anti-Smallville. Action packed, good acting minus Laurel, plots and a hero in a suit. I loved this finale. The Ferris airplane was a mark out moment. I am seeing Barrowman later this month, I'll double check if he is dead.



The Wee Baby Sheamus.Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
SchippeWreck
Banger








Since: 26.3.03
From: Glendale, CA

Since last post: 2106 days
Last activity: 176 days
#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.84
1. Take a drink every time a character says "sacrifice."
2. Die of alcohol poisoning.

That aside, it was a hell of a finale. They have a tough task finding another villain that can live up to and/or top Malcolm Merlyn.



"It's magic! We don't need to explain it!"
Cerebus
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Since: 17.11.02

Since last post: 2460 days
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#7 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.41
How about a season where he gets caught and is sent to DC's Supermax prison. Tons of villains could be introduced through there every week.

This really played out like a one season series. It was very well mapped out and ended at a point that could easily be a series finale.



Forget it Josh... it's Cerebustown.
SchippeWreck
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Since: 26.3.03
From: Glendale, CA

Since last post: 2106 days
Last activity: 176 days
#8 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.84
    Originally posted by Cerebus
    How about a season where he gets caught and is sent to DC's Supermax prison. Tons of villains could be introduced through there every week.

Like the Goyer-penned Green Arrow movie that never happened?



"It's magic! We don't need to explain it!"
Cerebus
Scrapple








Since: 17.11.02

Since last post: 2460 days
Last activity: 2182 days
#9 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.41
Yes, exactly like that.



Forget it Josh... it's Cerebustown.
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Excuse me while I pick my jaw off the floor. "New Year's Day" does pick up "a minute" after season one ended. Who else was wondering when Robin had time to get a haircut and a new costume? And grow... taller? Then the kicker:
Related threads: Arrow 1x22 - "Darkness on the Edge of Town" - Arrow 1x21 - "The Undertaking" - Arrow 1x20 - "Home Invasion" - More...
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