‘Arrow’ season 3, episode 10 review: ‘Left Behind’ addresses Oliver Queen’s ‘death’
Have we really seen the last of Oliver Queen on “Arrow“? We do not think that it takes much of a TV genius to answer that question with a “no.” This is a character who is essential to the series, and of course there is zero chance that he was going to be killed off.
We suppose that, for now, the larger question is how exactly he is being brought back. Tatsu was present, and after Maseo rescued him off of the side of that mountain, it seems like she is the one responsible for the revival. Did she use the Lazarus Pits, some sort of special herb, magic, or is Zombie Oliver on the loose? We suppose that at least a couple of these are real possibilities, and this is something the show has to do right. It’s hard to judge this twist without knowing the rules. If this is something where Oliver was brought back and is now just normal, it’s one thing; however, we’re not going to be so thrilled if there is some other twist here that turns him into the next Ra’s al Ghul. We prefer Oliver with his humanity intact.
What “Left Behind” Wednesday night did so well is that it established completely the relationship between Maseo and Oliver in the present, and really justified why we are seeing so much of Hong Kong in the story. So far, the dots had not entirely aligned, and this making-us-wait strategy is something that the show also did with the island back during season 1 before we really started to understand it.
While Oliver is recovering, the Team Arrow that we know is wilting. Diggle and Roy are now seemingly on their own, after Felicity decided to leave over being questioned for trying to save them from a precarious situation. She also left Ray Palmer, who is somewhat delusional in his attempts to be a hero just because he has the money and technology to build a suit or armor. She no longer wants any part of it after finally accepting that Oliver is dead.
The man who Felicity tried to save her friends from is Brick (Vinnie Jones), who is assembled an army of prisoners to conquer the Glades. While we hope that he is further connected to a larger story, we do appreciate his presence. He’s a nice bridge villain of sorts, since Ra’s no longer has a reason to attack Starling, and Malcolm Merlyn is busy trying to convince Thea to get the hell out of Dodge. We thought for a time that he could have been the one to save Oliver, mostly because there is nothing good that comes from him being dead. Merlyn is now at the top of Ra’s hit list, and he knows it. That is why he continues to be a horrible person by lying to Thea about whether or not her brother is actually alive.
Finally, Black Canary. That happened … sort of. We had such a tiny taste of Laurel in this role that it’s hard to judge her. She also got extremely lucky, going after two guys who had their guard down.
“Left Behind” was a slight step back from “The Climb,” but we expected that. There was no way to really match the epic scope of that episode, and not all of the stories this time came completely together. This is the first of a trilogy of sorts, so we expect those answers to come soon. Grade: B-.
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