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Review of Arrow 3.07 ‘Draw back your Bow’ (Spoilers)

TV SHOW: Arrow

SEASON/EPISODE: 3.07 ‘Draw back your Bow’

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Wendy Mericle, Beth Schwartz/Rob Hardy

PLOT:

A Serial-Killer with an Arrow obsession starts killing criminals in Starling City, hoping that she will catch Oliver’s attention. But he has other things on his mind as Felicity starts working more closely with Ray Palmer.

VERDICT:

So after two average episodes, Arrow is back with a more stronger effort in the form of ‘Draw back your Bow’ and though it is not even close to the dizzying heights of the previous season, it is still a solid instalment.

First we have the new enemy of the episode, Carrie Cutter (or Cupid as she is known in DC Comics) and she was played very well by Amy Gumenick. She brought just the right amount of the bunny-boiler mentality to the character and was entertaining to watch (though of course she would not be able to hold her own against Arrow after just a few months training), as well as highlighting a rather glaring weakness to the Good guys (with the fact it was easy to find his hideout).

It was a good move to tie her origin in with the events of last season’s finale with Slade’s Army (with Arrow saving her from his Mirakuru enhanced soldiers), building on that to show the effect it had on people other than just from our heroes point of view. But it would have been even better to have a little more insight into how Cupid ended up the way she is (there was a throwaway sequence with her Shrink that, but it was rather underdeveloped), then again she is now with the Suicide Squad so there is always the chance we will see her again (I did like Diggle’s reference to Harley Quinn, that was a nice touch).

We also got more of Ray Palmer which is always a good thing (considering how dark and dour things can get on Arrow), as the brainiac scientist continued to woo Felicity. And she obviously likes him back, which Oliver isn’t helping by continually pushing her away (his speech to Cupid about being alone was a poignant moment, but also helped push Felicity away as she overheard it) and into the arms of Palmer. Both Brandon Routh and Emily Bett Rickards have great chemistry (not only comedic which we have seen a lot of this season either) and they are always a joy to watch. And I do really like the moment we saw Ray staring at the holo-image of the A.T.O.M. exo-suit (showing that he will become the DC Hero very soon).

The Flashbacks were interesting in this episode as they further fleshed out Oliver’s developing friendship with Tatsu (who is also very good with a katana, very interesting), but I guess the time when flashbacks to Oliver’s five years away had meaning with the series modern-day events doesn’t exist any more, which is a pity (but it was obviously something that the writers couldn’t do any more).

Thea’s story this week about reopening the club felt disturbingly like her season one/two story-lines, which is a shame as I would rather see the younger Queen being a bad-ass and training with her Father (I wish Merlyn would stop skulking in the shadows and get back to that, he’s a main character now). And poor Roy was once again blindsided by the bad-guy again, though he does have the excuse of being distracted at the moment (but he is clearly being treated like Robin at the moment, always getting captured or knocked out).

Review Overview

Overall

A solid, entertaining episode.

A more solid effort from Arrow this week, one that had a villain that despite not being a big threat was still entertaining. And we also got more development with Ray Palmer.

User Rating: 3.95 ( 1 votes)
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