Arrow: So It Begins (Review)

By: Ashley Binion (@ashleybinion)
 
Prometheus has been Arrow’s large mystery this season. “So It Begins” took steps at unmasking the motives and the identity behind the villainous archer.
 
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
 
First, I want to address the end of the episode. I’m not buying the alleged twist – there is no way that Lance is Prometheus; it has to be a fake-out. If anything, the villain broke into his house, cut his arm, and left the throwing star to frame him.
 
Arrow has had a difficult time knowing what to do with Lance. The series continues to cycle through three tropes for the character: grieving father, alcoholic, and police officer. Beyond these three quality traits, Lance has had little else to do on the canvas. I was thrilled that this season gave him the deputy mayor job. It was something completely different from what he has done in the past. It made the character feel a little fresher despite relapsing into his alcoholic past. But Lance as Prometheus? No thank you. By an off chance that he is indeed the villainous archer, that would be Arrow’s shark jumping moment.
 
After Church’s death last week, I was worried that the series would once again fall flat on a villain. But, so far, Prometheus is proving to be an exciting, ruthless, and imposing villain. It’s fantastic to see the show return to a villain that is personally connected to Oliver. However, it bothers me that this person is an archer. How many evil archers are there in the world? And in Star City? It’s too much. I have the same problem with The Flash’s speedster dilemma. He has way too many villains who are speedsters. Give me some variety. This could be why I enjoyed Church so much. However, Prometheus’ serial killer ways and fashioning throwing stars out of Oliver’s old arrows is too enticing of a villain to criticize yet.
 
I continue to adore Thea and Lance’s blossoming father/daughter relationship. Even though it seems like Lance needs this relationship more than Thea, in actuality, they both need it. Lance needs it to keep his head above water and Thea needs to have a good father figure in her life. It’s symbiotic. Thea has been burned by her real father, Malcolm, over and over. It’s a relationship that has been toxic and it’s courageous of her to move on from it.
 
The way Arrow handled the team this episode was much different than they have in the past. The youngsters carried a scene all by themselves. For the most part, I’ve been somewhat apathetic to them as a whole, so I was surprised at how well they kept my attention in their standalone scene. I still believe that Rory, aka Ragman, is the strongest of all of the newbies.
 
This episode gave Evelyn Sharp a turn to have more character development. She and Curtis needed the least development out of the four new Team Arrow 2.0 members as we know them from the previous season. Much like Oliver, revenge runs deep in her veins. Having them connect over that shared part of their personality did a lot to help her develop as a character. Last season, she was so determined on seeking revenge. To see Oliver help her try and move past that emotion was a strong character moment for him.
 
Here are a couple random notes that didn’t really fit anywhere but I had to include. I loved: the callback to the pilot of Oliver shooting tennis balls, Dolph Lundgren, Douche Oliver, and parachute arrow FTW!
 
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Matt Goodman
via The Nerd Machine

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