‘Arrow’ 2.12 Episode Recap and Review: Tremors

Merlyn’s out of town, but his legacy remains on this episode of Arrow!

Someone has a rather painful scheme to get Ben Turner (aka the Bronze Tiger) out of prison and into his employ. We aren’t sure who it is yet, but he’s willing to kill a flunky to make sure that Bronze Tiger gets his fancy Wolverine claw back, and that can’t be a good thing.

Over in the Glades, the Arrow is trying to train Roy using the same techniques that he learned on the island. Roy isn’t loving the time-honored technique of slapping water and wants to take his skills out on the road where he can work out a few aggressions on the random scum of the city. Ollie’s not down, but he’s overruled by an emergency call about the Bronze Tiger, who has stolen the plans to Malcolm Merlyn’s place. The two head over to investigate and finds the Bronze Tiger and a couple of minions in the garage, stealing the prototype of the earthquake device that previously decimated the Glades. Because Roy is too busy working out his anger issues on the driver, the Tiger is able to get away with the device. Ollie is not amused.

Roy storms out of the Arrow-cave after Oliver won’t let him go after the device alone. Fortunately, he gets over his tantrum in time to help out when the Arrow’s ambush on the Bronze Tiger goes south. The Tiger had been in the process of handing the earthquake device over to the man responsible for his prison break, an arms dealer named Milo Armitage. Armitage starts the countdown on the device and flees for his villainous life, while Roy goes back into his rage state. The only way to stop the machine is to rip into the innards and blow it up from the inside, but the only one strong enough to break through the casing is Roy, who’s still laying a rather frantic beat-down on the now-unconscious Bronze Tiger. Oliver takes a gamble and reveals his identity to Roy in order to get him back in the game. It works, and the two are able to shut down the device in time. Ollie takes Roy back to the Arrow-cave and welcomes him to the team, but warns him that Thea can never know.

In the B-plot for the episode, Mo and Walter are having a lovely dinner in which Walter and a business colleague with political leanings decide to make a proposal to Mo. They think that she would be a perfect candidate for the upcoming mayoral election. Mo thinks that it’s a ridiculous idea, but Walter says that there’s nothing voters love more than a redemption story. Mo is still against it until she has a chat with Thea. She points out that the best way to make up for what Mo was part of is to start saving the city. Moira goes to Walter and agrees to run, but says that there’s one problem left. In the process of campaigning, it’s almost certain that the issue of Thea’s parentage would come out. The two of them have to “deal” with Mo’s GYN before she can formally announce her candidacy.

Across the city, Laurel’s not handling her time between jobs very well. Papa Lance tries desperately to reach out to her, but Laurel is definitely wearing her b*tch face this week. He attempts to bring her to an AA meeting, but she will none. She falls even deeper into the spiral when her interview at a friend’s law firm falls through because of Laurel’s pending disciplinary hearing with the Bar Association regarding her substance abuse issues. Laurel shows up at Verdant already several sheets to the wind, prompting Thea to call Ollie, who calls a mysterious someone. When she stumbles through her front door, she can just blearily make out Sarah’s concerned face looking back at her.

Okay, so I’m a little on the fence on this episode. I think it set up a lot of really interesting things, but I feel the need to wait for the potential payoff before I decide whether or not I actually liked this one. The change in the dynamic between Oliver and Roy was pretty brilliant, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s going to change “Team Arrow.” Largely because Roy is the first one to potentially become a permanent team member who isn’t directly on Oliver Queen’s payroll. Digg and Felicity will both give Ollie their opinions, but ultimately tend to back down when he sticks to his guns. I’m hoping that Roy will introduce a voice who has no reason to let Ollie go when he’s being stupid. We’ll see.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Mo’s run for Mayor develops. My current hypothesis is that she’ll win, either outright or by default when the Arrow reveals that Blood is a bad guy, but then something will happen to put her back into Malcolm Merlyn’s pocket. I’d love to see that play out, and not just because John Barrowman is all the awesome things.

Finally, you may feel free to skip this last bit, but I’d like to get it out there anyway. I would be utterly fine with Arrow consisting entirely of Felicity snark and scenes in which Stephen Amell delivers all of his lines whilst hanging shirtless from a salmon ladder. Granted, it would make these recap/reviews considerably more difficult to write, as I can only assume the plot would suffer for the change. Regardless, I enjoyed that scene far more than I care to admit.

Best Quotes:

Roy: “I can’t wait get attacked by a dog dish.”

Felicity: “I’m not trying to Monday morning Quarterback here. It’s Wednesday.”

Things to Ponder:

  • Is Sarah’s reappearance going to pull Laurel back from the brink or push her over the edge?
  • What do we think is the likelihood of Arrow making Armitage a recurring character and bringing in the comic book subplot of Ollie having banged his wife?
  • Did anyone else catch the weird time skip in which the “tomorrow night” of Laurel and Quentin’s dinner was the same “tonight” as Mo and Walter’s dinner?

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