This week’s Arrow kept with the mythos building while keeping the mystery of Sara’s killer moving forward. This episode was basically billled as Roy-centric. To my (slight) dismay, this was not entirely true. The focus was split with one other character, who, to my personal joy, was Ted Grant. These two haven’t gotten enough of a spotlight in season three so it was great to get more this week.
We got a decent amount of backstory on Ted this week, as we learned that not only did he have a partner back in the day, but he used to be a vigilante. He and his partner split up after their Glades vigilantism led to the death of a drug dealer. Now, someone is back and calling him guilty. Hopefully, this will lead to some future teaming up with Team Arrow.
Roy is dealing with the thought that he might have killed Sara this week. He is deeply worried when he decides to share his nightmares with Felicity to find out the forensics says it is possible he could have done it. Dealing with Oliver’s potential reaction was a present threat in his mind.
Easter Egg Check:
No major ones that I caught, but Cupid did pop up in the episode twice before the finale.
Positives
Boxing Glove Arrow.
Yes, that deserved its own line. It is the grand daddy of the trick arrow kingdom. Roy had some great material to work with this week, from his confession to the truth coming out. His line to Oliver saying “Don’t abandon me,” cut me deep. I was worried this would put a rift between the two of them, but they used this as an opportunity to bring them a bit closer. Plus, Roy got to show off his characteristic acrobatic style in the final fight in a fun way.
Ted’s material was great. It was excellent to finally see the often said “The Arrow was not the first vigilante” line finally get some payoff. I loved that he tried to protect his former partner, even when he was at risk. The material between him and his partner was a great parallel to the material going on between Oliver and Roy. Laurel also was fun to watch this week. She is finally getting back to the strong and confident Laurel we met in season one, which is excellent.
The flashbacks had solid relevance this week. While it was great to get more interaction with Katana (who is just as tough-as-nails as you’d expect), it was also awesome to see her memory meditation come into play in the future.
It was great to catch glimpses of Cupid throughout the episode. Really cool setup for the next episode.
Also, boxing glove arrow.
Negatives
Ted’s partner was rather…stone faced. He was very unexpressive and boring in his acting. Kind of killed the momentum of the hostage taking scene.
Also there was some uncharacteristic harshness this week. While Oliver’s jealously of Ted made for some humorous line, his incessant “he murdered someone” absolutely screamed hypocrite. And Diggle was a bit unnecessarily harsh on Roy.
The Verdict
“Guilty” was one of the most well-tied together episodes of Arrow we’ve ever had, effectively binding both plot lines and the flashback material. We got some fun action and some great world-building. Great installment.
