Saturday, May 6, 2017

Arrow - Dangerous Liaisons / Underneath


The last two episodes of Arrow get down to basics as they deal primarily with the relationship between Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards). While "Dangerous Liaisons" put Ollie and Felicity on opposite sides as she continues down a dangerous path in helping Helix break out an A.R.G.U.S. prisoner who can help them find Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra), "Underneath" traps the pair in the Arrow Cave forcing them to work together and deal with their emotional baggage to make it out alive. Mirroring the tension between the pair is that of Diggle (David Ramsey) and Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) as the Green Arrow's sidekick gets more than one suprise about what his wife has been up to since taking over A.R.G.U.S.

While Felicity has a solid point about Oliver not trusting her, her argument about the ends justifying the means would have far more weight if her recent actions didn't have a severe super-villain slant to them ("borrowing" government drones, breaking a terrorist out of A.R.G.U.S. - and that's just what we know about). The flashback to the pair's last romantic encounter has a melancholy feel, but also helps us remember where they came from and how they ended up here. I'm not sure the emotional catharsis of surviving Chase's death trap solves the pair's problems, and you've also got to wonder what the return of a major character next season means for them, but it does get Ollie and Felicity back on the same page as the show heads ever closer to the season finale.

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