Arrow Review: Sins of the Father (Season 4 Episode 13)

Arrow gives us a double dose of daddy drama on this week’s episode, aptly titled “Sins of the Father.”

The first dose involves the mystery everyone has been dying to see unravel this scene: Felicity’s father. From the first time she mentioned her father’s abandonment back in Season 2, Felicity’s family history — or lack thereof — in the Arrow-verse has been a topic for much debate. Who is Felicity’s father? Why did he leave? How will he return? How will Felicity take it?

Well, we get… 1½ answers on this episode. He’s returned as the Calculator, we all know that, but why exactly he’s come back into Felicity’s life and why he left in the first place are still murky.

Could he really have left to protect Felicity and her mother from a life on the run? That seems a little too altruistic for a guy who was going to technologically level an entire city. And what exactly does he want?

I’m going to get a little critical here because Arrow has fallen into the trap that many fast-paced dramas fall into in the middle of their season; they’re trying to power through story too quickly, making it feel like a race to the finish line rather than a carefully thought out narrative.

The best example of this rushed feeling is the coffee date Felicity has with her father. Rather than draw out the perfectly set up suspense of Papa Smoak secretly being the villain Felicity battled last week, the cards are all put out on the table right away. There’s something to be said for avoiding the old song and dance of “she doesn’t know that he knows she knows,” but to cut the legs out from under that potential plot so quickly feels a little ham-fisted.

Similarly, splitting time between the A-plot of Merlyn’s power struggle with the League of Assassins to save Thea’s life and the much smaller B-plot of Felicity’s daddy debacle didn’t quite work. We don’t see Felicity’s father leave whatever tech bomb she supposedly found in her office, nor do we see her find it. She simply tells Oliver about it later. Half of the story that leads to Felicity’s gargantuan decision to turn her father in to the police takes place off screen. Not the best use of time or a new character.

Felicity: I don’t even know why I’m so upset. Doesn’t every long-awaited father-daughter reunion end with the father being taken away in handcuffs?

For all of that critique, the other side of the board with Oliver and Merlyn evolved perfectly, with just the right amount of power struggled and family drama to go around.

After Nyssa blackmails Team Arrow with Thea’s cure, Malcolm must choose between being Ra’s Al Ghul and saving his precious daughter. Predictably, he chooses being Ra’s with a side helping of trying to have his cake and eat it too, which nearly gets Thea killed. At some point, Oliver is just going to have to kill this guy. He’s way more trouble than he’s worth.

At least the theme of fatherhood — and father’s who can never change — tied the episode together nicely. Ra’s, Merlyn, and Noah could never (and possibly never can) get out of their own ways and bad habits, so it’s up to their daughters to be better people in spite of their heritage and let their fathers’ legacy go.

All that being said, you have to wonder if Oliver’s fatherhood will run the same course or not.

Other Thoughts:

• OLICITY WEDDING!
• Where is Curtis? I want him to get a centric episode.
• Darhk now knows about William — that kid we haven’t seen or heard from in 2 months — which can only mean bad things for Oliver!
• Who else lost track of the number of times Nyssa reminded us Oliver is her husband?
• If Oliver doesn’t tell Felicity about his son before walking down the aisle, then I’ve got a pretty good idea why she’s not wearing her ring in the flash forwards..

What did you think of this episode of Arrow? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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