ARROW Review: “Confessions”

Arrow — “Confessions” — Pictured: Colton Haynes as Roy Harper — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW

ARROW REVIEW: “CONFESSIONS”

BY JUSTIN CARTER

Do you remember the ending of The Dark Knight?

Do you remember how strange it was that instead of pinning the blame for multiple murders and the death of Harvey Dent on the Joker, all of it fell on Batman’s shoulders? And how kind of shaky it was for them to do that years after the fact?

I bring this up because “Confessions” reminded me of that particular scene. For as much as Team Arrow fails to use common sense sometimes — and they certainly have — they do the smartest thing possible when accused of murdering two cops in the middle of a mission: pin it on Emiko, the woman who has actively been killing for weeks. Even if it didn’t end up being her, it would still be the most logical choice instead of one of their own fessing up to a mistake. For it to turn out to be a returning Roy who did the deed isn’t entirely surprising; recall that some episodes back in a flashforward, he was more aggro than usual and beat a Star City cop senseless. The revelation here comes twofold: he got killed while blowing up Lazarus Pits with Thea and Nyssa, was resurrected, and had a case of bloodlust rage pop up after being hit by a goon.

As far as ways to justify a murder mystery goes, it’s not a bad one. It’s long been established on the show that Roy’s had anger issues since his Mirakuru encounter, just as it’s been established that he and Oliver would do anything for each other. The episode’s strongest moment comes when Roy looks at Oliver with a look of fear that makes him look less like an amazing parkour archer and more like a kid who just broke something. Being so long since we’ve seen them together, it does mean a lot when Oliver says that Roy will never have to ask for help.

How one feels about this episode is going to really depend on how they feel about a scenario where everyone is clearly lying. That’s not a complaint against the acting, just more an observation that this all hinges on one’s tolerance for a drawn out mystery. Each member of Team Arrow’s story are all individually fine, even if it still seems the show is maybe overselling the relationship brewing between Emiko and Rene.

But then, maybe it could be argued that’s the point of this week’s episode? Oliver talks about how one has to take responsibility for their choices. While Roy doesn’t, Emiko certainly does when she admits she knew about the Queen’s Gambit being sabotaged. And she turns that responsibility on Team Arrow when footage of Roy’s murdering is sent to the SCPD. Responsible, Team Arrow is not.

Additional Notes

• Our explanation for why Thea isn’t with Roy is incredibly flimsy. I can buy not keeping her in on the loop re: Emiko, but by now she’s probably used to shocking Queen family revelations.
• As the season winds down to its conclusion, I’m positive that we’ll end with the forming of the Mark of Four from earlier in the year.
• Next week, the team has to make it out of a collapsing building, something that has actually not really happened to them before!