Arrow Review: Checkmate (Season 5 Episode 16)

I haven’t exactly been praising Arrow left and right, but before this episode aired, I briefly wondered how much I really meant what I was saying. Did I really not care about Oliver Queen anymore? Was I just being a drama queen?

Arrow Season 5 Episode 16 “Checkmate” provides an answer, by ending in the kind of cliffhanger that’s supposed to keep you on the edge of your seat for an entire week.

Except, all I feel now is a vague sense of exhilaration. Can you keep him, Prometheus?

Please?

We really, really don’t want him back. Barry could surely provide us with an Oliver Queen from another Earth. That sort of idiocy is right up Barry’s alley, and, to be honest, any Oliver at this point would be better than the one we have.

After all, if the show is going to reboot, they might as well go for it, because the soft reboot they did this year is clearly not working in any way, shape or form.

Nor was this episode – though the saddest thing I can say is that this is not even the worst the show has done this season. In fact, in comparison, it’s actually pretty …decent.

“Checkmate” attempts to up the stakes by confronting the titular hero with the villain of the year, all while a life hangs in the balance. But, we’ve been there, done that, and to be quite honest, Slade did it much better.

The result is an anti-climactic showdown where, for long periods of time, we are actually rooting for Prometheus to get the best of Oliver. Because hey, maybe this is what he needs – someone to remind him of who he is.

Of what he used to stand for.

Just as what we need is what it looks like we’ll get next episode – more Felicity Smoak, less Susan Williams.

The character of Susan Williams – the reporter, the love interest, was brought in for this particular moment, to be dangled in front of Oliver, to be saved by him. We are supposed to feel something for her – anything, really. And the fact that we don’t just underscores what the problem with Arrow Season 5 has been.

Not enough Felicity Smoak. Not enough Olicity. Too much of the new, superfluous characters.

And I don’t even mean Olicity in the romantic sense – I just mean Oliver and Felicity as two people who used to talk to each other, who used to connect, who brought out the best in each other.

When this show was at its best, it had those two at the center. It had Diggle, And yes, there were other characters in the periphery: Roy, Thea, Laurel, but they were better, more interesting characters than the newbies will ever be.

Maybe we can’t go back. We have to keep moving forward. But that doesn’t mean the show needs to abandon its heart.

Oliver and Felicity are the heart of this show. OTA is the heart of this show. Tonight, in an episode where I was supposed to root for Oliver, worry that his girlfriend was missing and hope he beat Prometheus, I found myself actively rooting for the bad guy to take him.

And that is on the writing. They’ve lost track of what’s important. They’ve lost track of what viewers care about.

Susan Williams was never going to be someone we cared about. The newbies will never carry this show. If Arrow really wants its viewers to look forward to Season 6 in the same way they looked forward to Season 5, they have to prove that they’re willing to put the focus back on the people we actually care about.

That, and they have to finally settle on a journey for Oliver. This whole flip-flopping on lessons he’d supposedly already learned is getting old, Arrow. Really, really old.

Either he’s a hero, or he’s an anti-hero, or he’s just a flawed guy who’s trying his best. It’s time to make up your mind. Because the uncertainty is killing the character.

And, worst of all, we don’t even care if he goes.

Other things to note:

• Talia was sure easy to find.
• “I die, she dies” – I really don’t see the problem here. This sounds like a winning scenario.
• Prometheus is the serial killer? Because, from where I’m standing, Oliver looks like he fits that description to the tee.
• Oliver, self-awareness is a really good look on you.
• I legit only like this man when he’s talking to Felicity Smoak. The scene between the two of them, where Oliver confronts her, is already one of the best of the season. Yes, I said season. It’s not like it has much competition.
• Curtis, sweetheart, let’s talk about the white leather jacket. Very conspicuous. Also, that stuff stains like crazy.
• “Me and my team” translates to Felicity. If Felicity is not around, no one else can find anything.
• Susan Williams shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as Tommy, Shado, Oliver’s parents or Laurel.
• It’s funny how Team Arrow members develop morals when it suits the story.
• I like how, even now, Oliver has limits. He trashed the place, but he didn’t touch Felicity’s computers.
• He knows who the boss is.
• Oliver trying to push people away for their own good! Now, where have I seen that before? Maybe in …Season 3?
• We spend the first half of the episode with Oliver getting increasingly worried about Susan, and then when he sees her he’s like: okay, you’re fine, now bye Felicia?
• Like, if this is the last we ever see of her (not that I want more, please, spare me) then she goes down in history as one of the most useless characters ever written.
• Trying to kill yourself has REALLY worked for you in the past, hasn’t it Oliver?
• Wow, Prometheus is a bad guy who’ll stop at nothing. Who could have seen that coming? I mean, it’s not like you’ve ever faced a worse villain than …wait. I take that back.
• Diggle, lightly covering the wound with your hands DOES NOT HELP. No wonder the woman died.
• Ra’s honorable? Thanks for the laugh.

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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