How will Oliver deal with things when the villain of the week is an Arrow obsessed stalker?
There’s a new archer in town. Cupid is re-introduced in the introduction sequence that takes us back to the events of the season 2 finale. During this, we see that Arrow rescued her from some of Slade’s minions. Fast-forward to the now, and Carrie Cutter is leaving a love trail for Oliver to find. The meat of this episode focuses around that. In flashbacks, Oliver and Maseo’s wife go looking for Maseo when he’s late back from a job.
So, yeah. Stalker with a crush. That hasn’t been done before. Having said that, there’s rarely any true new ground. The story here feels a little tired though. We know Oliver isn’t going to succumb to the crazy Cupid’s attempts at wooing him, and the only way this can turn out wuld theoretically be bad. It doesn’t help that Oliver’s head isn’t in the game due to Felicity being on a ‘business’ date with Ray Palmer. Roy is having similar troubles focusing, only his problems stem from thinking about the police officer he killed last season.
Cupid herself is rather archetypal of this particular character type. There’s something of a Cat Woman vibe in that Arrow is stern while she is playful and flirtatious. There isn’t really much to her character beyond that though, It feels a little lazy to have her described by her psychiatrist as having ‘attachment disorder’. There’s little explanation given for her skills at archery and fighting, and these are all things that might have proved better. There’s also the bit where apparently she missed the memo that Arrow doesn’t kill people anymore, so what she is trying to accomplish with her method is hazy at best.
Ray Palmer isn’t doing so well on the subtle this week either. Getting Felicity an incredibly (incredibly) expensive dress and renting out a similarly expensive necklace for her to wear to a business dinner is odd. Though there is some humour to be had when Felicity finds him using the salmon bars (everyone else is doing archery, so the salmon bars thing is less irritating). Unfortunately there’s that odd point where money apparently isn’t his interest, yet he clearly has no problem splashing out for stuff. I’m not sure about what the exo-suit design he looks over means, but I’m sure we’ll find out.
Thea features in a vague subplot where she tries to find a new DJ for the club. We are introduced to a nameless, rather arrogant fellow who winds up with the job and kiss for it. This may be because I don’t go clubbing, but all he does is put one pop song on and suddenly everyone starts dancing… Colour me confused?
So between love drama, archery fights, Robin Hood references (Sherwood Florist?), we have a mixed bag of an episode that has an air of filler about it. The thread of who killed Sara is brushed off in moments as Oliver quickly establishes that the M.O is different, so really there was no reason for Cupid to be an archer (besides the name). The choreography in the fights is fun, and the humorous moments are just so, but the whole thing still feels a bit limp.
As mentioned in my Flash review for this week, the cross-over is just around the corner so it could well be the anticipation and the semi-familiar ground of Arrow chasing down a villain of the week just seems stale. Granted, Cupid is also the newest member of the Suicide Squad, but whether we’ll see her again this season remains to be seen.
Are you getting tired of archer villains? Do you think Roy needs more screen time? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
