‘Arrow’ season 3, episode 17 review: A Deadshot dilemma
“Arrow,” what are we going to do with you? “Suicidal Tendencies” was a very strong episode for the most part, but we cannot help but feel like this episode also had the disembodied presence of DC Comics hovering over it from start to finish.
Our feeling after watching it is this: DC has a “Suicide Squad” movie coming out, and Deadshot, other than Amanda Waller,is the only character on the show still that is also planning to be a major component of the movie. In getting rid of the character here, you free up the property a little for Will Smith. Note that we’re merely speculating, but it feels strange to otherwise lose both Floyd Lawton and Harley Quinn (who, granted, was barely a part of the show) in the same season. We’ll talk more about this in the upcoming podcast.
Now that we’ve woven our grand conspiracy theory, let’s remind ourselves that Floyd may not actually be dead. We never saw that body after the explosion, even if things are not looking great for him. In many ways, he had a heroic death helping the Suicide Squad escape, even if it was a mission that they received no acclaim for whatsoever. They may have rescued hostages, but a powerful Senator stole the glory despite orchestrating the entire thing. The Deadshot flashbacks in here were lovely, anchored by the always-great Michael Rowe. It’s just a bummer that it was easy to tell the writing was on the wall here.
This mission, at least for Diggle and Lyla, was big in how it reminded the two of them that they have more responsibility beyond just being heroes; they’re also parents, and Floyd in a way reminded them of that. This all prompted her to quit her post with ARGUS, feeling that if one of them was going to do this line of work, it should be with the most noble of organizations. Great stuff from these two this week, and the wedding ceremony at the beginning was also rather sweet.
Elsewhere, we finally had Ray Palmer versus Oliver Queen! Sure, this was stuffed full of relationship angst, but it played out almost exactly as it should. Oliver wanted to ensure that Ray trusted Felicity when she said that the real Arrow was not a killer. This episode provided a way to prove that. The quick battle between the Arrow and the Atom (following Ray learning the truth, of course) was fun and much-needed. It was also Oliver conceding that, at least for now, he does not have Felicity’s heart. We still think he will end up with her eventually, but these things take time and this is just a part of the journey.
Despite our DC qualms, this was a very strong episode to us, and we enjoyed it even more than we thought that we would going in. Grade: B+.
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