Last night’s Arrow ended was one of the strongest episodes of not just Season 4 but the series as a whole. “Beyond Redemption” featured the introduction of a great new DC villain (well, sort of villain) and phenomenal character development stories for not just the Green Arrow but also the character of Quentin Lance.
While I was never familiar with Liza Warner from the comic books, or the actress who plays her (True Blood alum Rutina Wesley), I enjoyed the introduction of this character who acted both very well as a villain and good guy. Liza and the members of the former Anti-Vigilante Task-Force made for some strong foes that Team Arrow had to battle against. While I would have appreciated more background on the Liza character, Wesley is a force to be reckoned with and so is her character, both from a physical and mental perspective.
Arrow also continued exploring Sara’s return to the world of the living, and as predicted, it’s not going well at all, as Sara is mentally lost while Laurel does everything she can to help her sister come back. One of Laurel’s many awesome moments in this episode was when she just simply told her father that Sara was back, as she mentions that the time for keeping secrets from one another in this family is over. Quentin, however, does not take Sara’s return well, and it becomes something that tortures him throughout the remainder of the episode. As he struggles with that, he also tries to get some help from Damien, who advises him to kill Sara as he explains that she isn’t the same daughter that died; she doesn’t have Sara’s soul, and she would be better off dead.
I have to give it to Paul Blackthorne; whenever he cries, we are crying with him, and the scene where Quentin has his major breakdown after Laurel stops him from killing Sara was heartbreaking in more ways than I thought possible. I also can’t stress enough how phenomenal Quentin’s scene with Oliver was at the apartment; Stephen Amell gave one of his best performances after Oliver finds out that Quentin has been working with Damien. While I’m used to seeing Oliver and Quentin just arguing and bickering, this time they took it to the next level and it was so good because Oliver’s words were 100% accurate. Their conversation served as a wake-up call for Quentin, one he desperately needed, and the way it played into the end of the episode, with his inspiring words and his agreeing to Oliver’s request to be a double agent, redeemed Quentin so much for me.
This is becoming a thing, but sadly it has to be said: Arrow‘s flashbacks aren’t working for me. There is no enjoyment to them, and they really don’t seem to have a point anymore as much as they did back in the first two seasons, which is disappointing. I don’t know how many we had this week, but I think all those scenes were worth at least eight minutes or more of screentime, which could have been used for better things like dealing with Sara’s struggles or more awesome Team Green Arrow fight scenes. At this point, there needs to be a big reveal in that flashback story in order for me to have any interest at all, because right now, Arrow is making it so hard for me to care.
Arrow airs on Wednesday nights, 8/7c on The CW.
[Photo credit: Dean Buscher/The CW]
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