Last week’s cliffhanger was a big one, and last night we learned how Oliver got out of his mess. It was all thanks to the mysterious blond woman, aka Black Canary, and in just a brief scene, the writers of this show convinced me immediately that the Canary’s famous sonic noise can work as a mechanical tool.
I’m sure that by the end of this series, when Laurel is actually the Canary, that it will be done differently, but for now, I feel satisfied with the first version of the famous canary cry.
Caity Lotz gave a fine performance as the female vigilante and her performance was just great because she feels like Black Canary even though she isn’t the real one. James Bamford and his stunt team are truly bringing the action aspect from these comic book characters to life in every episode. I’m excited to learn more about this character and even though I know who is behind that mask (I won’t spoil here for those who don’t know), it’s still something to look forward to.
The biggest thing to come out of this aspect of “Broken Dolls” was obviously the mentioning of Ra’s al Ghul and we know that episode 5 is titled “League of Assassins” (which will not feature him, however), so I think fans should really be excited for what is to come this season.
Along with extended introduction to the Canary, we also get to see the character of Sin (Bex Taylor-Klaus) who I was hoping to see more of in this episode. She was fun and I completely the chase scene when Roy was running after her through all those cars.
Hopefully we will learn about this character in her next episode and what her connection to the Canary is because reading what she was like in the comics made me excited to see what Arrow‘s take would be.
The character of Quentin Lance has evolved so much since the first season. At the beginning of last season, I didn’t really like this character, but as he started to develop, he became a much better character. “Broken Dolls” is officially Paul Blackthorne’s best outing and my favorite Quentin episode because we see the relationship between him and the Arrow in the way that I have always wanted it to be. It’s very similar to the one that Commissioner Gordon and Batman have and that works for me.
To see how Quentin viewed the vigilante from last year to the point where he is now has been a great payoff for me as a viewer. I’m hoping that we will see more team-up episodes between these two because that’s a strong, enjoyable relationship on the show.
The island scenes were limited but they definitely took things to a whole new level with Oliver and Slade (supposedly) being captured by a mysterious group. Slade and Oliver’s relationship seems to starting to head slowly into the direction that their relationship will be like in a few years when they won’t be comrades anymore.
I’m not familiar with the villain Dollmaker from the DC Comics and after seeing his live-action debut last night; I’m glad I didn’t because this character was terrifying the whole time. I think that was what they were going for, but this character was done so creepy that he almost came off as a rapist and I suppose that is some extremely good writing as well as acting.
The Moira story is continuing along at a good clip, and we saw the first appearance of Jean Loring who was played by the amazing Teryl Rothery. I’m still not sure how this is going to end, but I hope that Moira won’t be sentenced to death. I love Susanna Thompson as an actress and what she brings to the role so hopefully at the very least she will just end up in prison.
The writers of this episode, Marc Guggenheim and Keto Shmizu did a fantastic job of taking several story elements in this series to a new chapter. I love whenever Glen Winter gets to direct; some of the things that I love with his way of directing is his way of doing the lighting/cinematography (which is his job on the show) and his transitional shots.
“Broken Dolls” was overall a solid episode that continues the great start that season 2 of Arrow has begun with. We had, as always, great performances by the cast that had a strong script that included several twists and teasers for what is in store of this season.
Arrow airs every Wednesday night, 8/7c on The CW.
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