Arrow season 5 episode 19 review: Helix’s big play; Rene’s reunion
Rick Gonzalez in general may be one of the biggest and most welcome surprises of the entire season. Going into season 5, we had no idea that he was going to be such a major player, or give such a wonderful performance every time you give him great material.
Through most of the story tonight, Rene refused to listen to Quentin’s advice that he should try and reconnect with his daughter, mostly because of his own guilt. Before she was taken, he hurt her on accident when he was drunk and she burned herself when he passed out while trying to make her a meal. He couldn’t let go of that.
Yet, Quentin arranged a meeting and a chance for him to see his little girl, and this moment was as touching as they come. This forced Rene to realize that he was making a grave mistake, and a friend of Curtis’ is now looking to help him get his daughter back. We really hope this works out, but we’re already worried about Prometheus looking to use both the child and potentially Oliver’s own son William for the sake of causing some chaos. (For the time being, Adrian Chase is in the wind — he did not appear tonight.)
The story of Oliver and Felicity
Felicity refused to sever her ties with Helix over the course of the episode, thinking that she could use the organization in order to ensure that Adrian Chase was taken down. Did that work out in her favor? Not exactly. We admire her gumption, and we do believe that she was operated with the best of intentions. She also is very much like Oliver in her refusal to back down from what she thought was right.
Now that we’ve said all of this, we should still say that everything that she did ended up still causing her some terrible misfortune in terms of conflict. Diggle found himself torn between Team Arrow and ARGUS, given that Lyla had her own plans and felt like Helix was a major thorn in the side of everyone. Oliver, meanwhile, also thought that Helix was too aggressive and too dangerous with their use of force and wide-scale illegal activity. Oliver didn’t punish Felicity for her actions — he understood them. Unfortunately, something, whether it was Helix ruining Felicity or Adrian Chase striking, has led to both her and Oliver getting seemingly stuck down in the Arrowcave.
We do think eventually, these two are going to need their alone time. Based on the preview for this episode (which you can see over at the link here), the two are going to have a lot of time to spend together.
Our final verdict
Overall, Arrow season 5 episode 19 probably suffered from no Adrian Chase, but was strong thanks to Gonzalez’s performance. This episode put some of the chess pieces on the board for the episodes to come, and it did a good job of setting a good foundation.
What did you think about tonight’s new episode of the show? Sound off now in the comments below. (Photo: The CW.)