Arrow Review: Broken Hearts (Season 4 Episode 16)
There are sides in every war, and there are sides in every breakup, as Arrow proves this week.
Surprisingly enough, considering Felicity’s the one who’s right, everyone seems to be Team Oliver these days. Diggle is all about the hope, Thea is all about the sass and Laurel, well …she’s just focused on Darhk. She’s got no time to worry about other people’s love lives. Which makes for a very disjointed and, frankly, unbelievable episode.
Oliver is heartbroken and not afraid to show it. Felicity’s repressing so bad that we’re sure she’s going to crack sooner rather than later. And the rest of them? Well, they just got zero empathy. Zero original ideas and/or coherent thought too, because it took us two seconds to come up with the same plan Team Arrow needed a good thirty minutes for. No wonder Darhk and the ghosts were beating them again and again.
At least Felicity and Oliver are believable. At least the breakup feels like a real breakup. At least, after conjuring up the silliest excuse in the book to make the couple they’d crafted into an adult, mature pair who would never get into this situation, break up; Arrow is taking the fixing it part to heart.
Even if that means they have to break out heart into tiny little pieces.
Felicity is right, and she’s wrong. She did mean every word she said in that room, the same as Oliver. It’s just that right now, she can’t believe in his words and worst of all, she can’t believe in hers. He broke not only her trust, but her belief in what she was doing, in the team. And there’s no easy fix for that. There are no words that can make Felicity trust Oliver again. If he’s going to get the love of his life back this time, Oliver Queen is going to have to work for it.
And that’s good. That’s what this show needs. So often we hear that Arrow should be more about stunts and being faithful to the comics, but the people who say that often miss the real point of entertainment. The weakest parts of this episode, of this season, have been the parts that have focused only on the physical aspects and ignored the relationships. We don’t care about Superman because he’s from Krypton and he can fly, we care because he’s Clark, and he wears glasses, acts like a dork and loves Lois. We don’t care about Batman because he’s got all the cool toys, we care because of his parents, and Alfred, Dick and Barbara. It’s the connections that make us care, not the powers or the gadgets.
Superhero stories are not just about the superheroes. Superhero journeys are about the people they chose to surround themselves with. Oliver Queen’s story is not just about how he becomes a better man, it’s about how he affects the people around him and how those people affect him. It’s about the sister he would sacrifice everything for, the friend he views as a role model, the woman that, as he said today, is the best part of his life. This is Oliver’s journey, yes, but it’s not about just him.
This season has been about our hero learning that he could be both the Green Arrow and Oliver Queen. This episode proves that he gets it. He’s there. Now it just happens to be his turn to show the woman that showed him the way that she can also be Felicity Smoak and Overwatch. She doesn’t have to choose. They can be more than a group of people standing together, fighting for a common goal. They can be a team. They can be partners.
All they have to do is get through this. And they will. It just won’t be easy. But that’s okay, we didn’t want easy. We want real. And, in that regard, at least, it seems Arrow is ready to deliver.
Other things to note:
- Thea needs her attitude adjusted, fast. She seems to have zero sympathy for her brother and -10 for Felicity. What’s up with that? There’s a time for sass and there’s a time for empathy, girl.
- We know Oliver looked like he needed it most, but some comfort for Felicity would have been good. (Psssst, Diggle, we’re talking to YOU)
- TV trials are almost sci-fi, that’s how unbelievable they are. No one objects every two seconds in a real trial, and trust us, lawyers never stand there with nothing to say. They specifically tell you not to in law school.
- On that note, though, we were glad to see Lawyer-Laurel back. That was always our favorite side of hers, and it’s a shame the show didn’t spend enough time developing how a bad-ass career woman CAN make a difference without putting on a leather suit.
- But just the fact that we’re seeing Lawyer-Laurel is ominous. She looks more and more certain to be the one in the grave with every second.
- Arrow, and for that matter, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, need to realize that women ALSO watch these shows. And we want strong female relationships, like yesterday.
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.
Lissete Lanuza Sáenz
Lawyer. Writer. Columnist. Geek. Falls in madly in love with fictional characters. Hates the color yellow, misogyny, and people who are late. Can always be found with a book. Watches an absurd amount of TV every week, often, while eating coffee ice cream. She has no regrets. You can check out her blog here: Absurday. Lissete is a senior writer for Tell-Tale TV. Follow @lizziethat