Arrow 3.11 “Midnight City”

Here’s what you need to know after Arrow 3.11 “Midnight City”:

• Tatsu and Maseo apparently have parted ways, and their son appears to be out of the picture.
• Tatsu apparently can make a tea that revives the dead. It apparently tastes like penicillin.
• Oliver is very much alive, but very weak and wounded.
• Laurel has taken over the mantle of Canary to carry on in the wake of Sara’s death and Oliver’s disappearance. (She’s not very good at it though)
• Felicity is back with Team Arrow, and she’s helping Ray.
• Roy has stepped up to fill the void left by Oliver. (With mixed results.)

I think a hallmark of the third season has been how much focus has been shifted to the other characters on the show.  There have been at least three, possibly more, episodes that I can recall in which Oliver wasn’t the focus.  Overall, I feel like doing so has worked really well.  It’s been a nice change to see some of the other folks come to the fore, and more importantly, be able to carry the show.

Honestly, at this point, I can’t be the only one who secretly hoping for a spin-off starring Dig. Right??  Make it happen, CW!

“Midnight City” marks the reformation of Team Arrow.  Roy is doing his best to continue the work that Oliver started, and Dig is doing yeoman’s work to keep things running smoothly.  But, at best, Dig and Roy were hobbling.  In some ways, a fractured Team Arrow was almost worse than having no Team Arrow. Toss in Laurel’s misguided attempts to take over for Sara, and things get messy (or deadly if you’re an alderman).

I know that I have given Katie Cassidy endless amounts of grief for how Laurel has been portrayed. But, I feel like she has really come into her own as a character this season. I was also relieved to see that Laurel didn’t manage to take a handful of boxing lessons and magically turn into a kick-ass vigilante hero. She was clumsy, awkward, and often more of a liability (particularly to the aforementioned alderman). Her heart is in the right place, but she’s very much out of her depth.

Roy, for all of his training and history, is barely walking on his own at this point. Oliver has the relative luxury of years of focused training. In many cases Oliver’s response is a matter of muscle memory, whereas Roy is still learning to be able to think quickly on his feet.  He can be effective as a lone-wolf or teamed with an experienced soldier like Diggle. But he’s clearly still a pupil. And, honestly, for as much as Oliver has taught Roy, Oliver is still very much learning how to be a teacher himself.   Expecting Roy to lead Team Arrow is not unlike asking a 1st grade student to teach college-level math.

The lynchpin to the team’s success seems to be Felicity. Things seemed to gel almost immediately upon her return. I think it’s really interesting that Felicity, the one member of the team without field training and works mostly behind the scenes, would be the cornerstone.  We’ve seen her act as a representation of Oliver’s lost humanity; she has frequently walked him back on the fine line between hero and killer. As it turns out, she seems to be more than just a conscience or love interest. Arguably, Felicity is more important to the success of the team than Oliver (that’s a loaded statement if I’ve ever made one). I’m inclined to make a statement about Ray’s magic shrinking chip being a metaphor for the role she plays on Team Arrow. But, that might be a bit of a stretch. Maybe…??

The Good:

• Roy seems to have really become Red Arrow. He’s not Oliver, but he’s doing his best to fill a void that is much larger than him. The fact that he’s succeeding at all is nothing short of miraculous.
• Up to this point the flashbacks to Hong Kong have been little more than interesting asides, sprinkled with some character building. However, the tension between Maseo and Tatsu, and the fate of their son, suddenly makes Hong Kong much more relevant to the modern day.
• Ray saying “See, that’s why I need a techno-suit,” is the best line ever delivered on this show.
• Diggle sharing the vodka ritual with Roy was a nice, and subtle, acceptance of Roy as an equal. Although, apparently they both have no problem drinking vodka like water, which makes me wonder how often they drink vodka in the Arrow cave.

The Might Be Good:

• I still can’t quite get a handle on Merlyn’s machinations. On one hand, I feel like he was baiting Thea and pretending to fear The League. On the other hand, it’s The League, everyone should be afraid and Merlyn in particular.
• Laurel needs training. She’s masquerading now, and it’s making things more dangerous for everyone. Her “on the job” training should be interesting to watch, so long as it doesn’t turn into some kind of Karate Kid montage moment.

The Bad:

• I still think the Roy flip count was too low. I actually can’t recall seeing any in this episode.