"Arrow" has a big challenge in front of it. With its revamped status quo and expanded cast, the show till now, seem to be struggling to find a sense of focus. It was when "Penance' was telecasted that the show seems make pieces fall into place.
"Penance" was more or less able to juggle between the overcrowded cast of the series. It is now clear that the conflict in "Arrow" was split along two main fronts this week. On one side we saw Ollie and Lyla working to bust Diggle out of military prison. On the other side, the rest of Team Arrow are dealing with the return of Tobias Church. Now it seems that there isn't much that will create a scenario where there will be confusion. These main events will be coupled with few flashbacks and some minor subplots involving Felicity and Rory.
Chase is an important character to watch out for in "Arrow." It is speculated that the show seems to be focusing on Chase in a very Harvey Dent kind of way. This is not the first time that the show drew inspiration from the Batman franchise. The prison exfiltration involving Heck and Ollie is definitely a small page stolen from the Dark Knight. It is already visible that Chase will become a Vigilante. It is also widely speculated that in "Arrow," Chase is secretly Prometheus. It becomes more convincing after the current episodes of "Arrow," reported IGN.
Ollie's jailbreak mission was sheer entertainment. Chiefly because it brought together a Harbinger/Green Arrow team-up. The recent episode of "Arrow" shows that the brotherly bond between Ollie and Diggle has strengthened. Felicity suspected Ollie to be selfish and this wasn't true, reported Entertainment Weekly.
Last week was lacking a punch in action sequences. It was fun to watch Ollie inside the prison but that line of story isn't very promising. Fight scenes were shallow. The soldiers weren't exactly up to the challenge. When the rest of Team Arrow came through, we got to see some great action sequences with the Tobias Church conflict. However, we got to see Ragman in action in "Arrow" and that was something really good.
"Arrow" seems to be slowly evolving the new team Arrow. They're working together as a more effective fighting unit. They have a long way to go as both Wild Dog and Mister Terrific took beatings this week.
The scenes between Felicity and Rory contrasted the shooting and chaos and brought in some quiet character drama in "Arrow." The subplot subtly hinted that Rory is a far better developed and more compelling character than either Wild Dog or Artemis at the moment.
The flashbacks also seem to have gained steam in the past week. The scenes were full of substance than before and that the script wasn't so blatant about trying to mirror the past and present. It also gave another perspective of Ollie's infiltration of the prison. It also means that there will be a shift in focus in the flashbacks over the coming weeks in "Arrow."
It is felt for the first time in this season that "Arrow" has finally delivered its first truly solid installment. The recent episode addressed some issues and it divided the huge cast two equally compelling and action-packed conflicts. The limelight on Adrian Chase is a very good story angle. "Penance" might be the actual sneak peek into the whole season 5 of "Arrow."
