Arrow Season 7 Episode 19: 'Spartan' Review

petermarie (57)in #review • 5 years ago

[SPOILER ALERT! Watch out for spoilers from the episode!]

First off, I hated this episode. I can't say why exactly. Am I just getting tired of Arrow? Maybe. Possibly. All I know is, it took me 2 whole weeks to get from the beginning to the ending of a single-40 minute show, and I didn't even realise I'd never finished it until I tried going on to the next one! To me, what that says is either the storyline at this point is not compelling enough or we the viewers have not been made to care enough the characters in their arcs. And I can say why.

First reason: The whole evil sibling thing? We've done that already! We went through it with Thea (who turned out alright) and Andy (who had to be killed). Emiko? Nah. She should just be put down quickly please. I'm not invested in that. Even the fact that Oliver and Dig have figured out that Dante killed her mother is only mildly interesting.

Second reason: Felicity and Archer? We already know somehow it's going to be up and running in the future. The present day back and forth with it is NOT creating any good suspense. Get over that already!

Third reason: Who on earth is General Stewart? That just seems like fanservice to we comicbook geeks. Yeah he seemed like a good guy, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't really care either way. Also, suddenly everybody knows about the Knight Circle? The same organization that was so uber secret? Come on, guys!

On a positive note, the fight between Oliver and his sister was cool though. Her killing of Dante would have been a cool twist if it wasn't so abrupt. And perhaps I shouldn't say this, but how the hell does Felicity manaage to produce cool tech in minutes? The whole booster thingies? Tech like that should need days to assemble components, even if she can program them in seconds, being the genius that she is. Oh well. I've overlooked that in previous seasons. Shouldn't be an issue now.

And the future timeline? Bleh! I'm tired already. If we had gotten to see J.J., it might've been better. I mean, John Junior the rebel? That's something! Instead, we are treated to a weak scene of his men trying to kill his brother, followed by what was meant to be romantic tension between Connor and Mia, but lacked everything such a scene should have. Bleh!!!

Okay, okay! I'm ranting, I know. Very unlike me. Perhaps it wasn't that bad. Perhaps I'm only feeling this way because I just read @redpossum's GOT rant. Perhaps I'm only reeling from the effects of the food poisoning I suffered a couple of days back and am not fully recovered from. Anyways, I'm going on to watch the next episode right now. If it still isn't good... if at least the Knight Circle don't have a cliché plan for the deadly bacteria they stole... well, I guess we have only a dozen episodes until Arrow is gone forever. I can wait.

Expect my review of episode 20 soon!