Arrow season 5 episode 16 review: Josh Segarra crushes in best episode in years
On Wednesday night’s “Checkmate,” we got a further sense of just how much power Prometheus had over Oliver Queen as he anticipated almost every one of his moves. It began with Oliver tracking down Talia, where he learned that Chase was in fact the man behind the mask the entire season. From there, he also learned that Talia’s last name was “al Ghul,” and that wasn’t good news for him to hear. Basically, she had a significant ax to grind against him over the death of her father. This came to roost when in the midst of an epic battle later, and she proved herself to be on Team Prometheus rather than Team Green Arrow. She brought Oliver to Prometheus’ lair, and while there we got a little more insight into what exactly Adrian wants: He doesn’t want to kill Oliver so much as make him discover “who he really is.” Vague, right?
What made the story of Prometheus all the more effective was the fact that Adrian was still strutting around in City Hall, doing his job and acting like nothing ever happened. Not only that, but there was nothing that Quentin, Rene, or anyone else could do about it given that he first had Susan Williams hostage, and from there, he had Oliver once she was freed. If you wanted to make an argument as to the episode’s weakness, it was nobody thinking that Susan dying was better than many other people dying if Chase continued to live. Still, that’s a lot to ask of anyone, especially when it goes against Oliver’s wishes.
Still, Segarra was fantastic in every single season, from the joy he took in the secret coming out to the utter heartlessness in which Adrian killed his own wife when Oliver brought her to the scene, the one thing he maybe didn’t see coming after he previously tried to target her and failed.
Felicity’s hacker problems
Felicity managed to get a lot of valuable intel courtesy of her work with Helix, including the location of where Susan could be. Unfortunately, in the process they’ve started to want her to do things for them … illegal things. While we haven’t reached a peak with this story yet, she’s keeping secrets from Oliver and Diggle while also getting herself in a deeper hole.
In a sense, we admire Felicity for trying to help Oliver under any circumstance. We just feel like she’s playing with fire, and eventually, the burn on the other side will be pretty severe.
Overall
Easily the best episode of Arrow season 5, and maybe the best episode since Arrow season 2. This was intense, well-written, and legitimately scary at times since Prometheus is not your average villain. The main mystery now is how the show can unravel this mousetrap and have it make sense. Grade: A.
Next time on Arrow season 5 episode 17
If you want to see a preview for what’s coming up, be sure to head over to the link here!
What’s your personal Arrow season 5 episode 16 review, and do you agree that Prometheus as a villain keeps on getting better? Share below! (Photo: The CW.)