TV REVIEW: Arrow’s “Guilty” Fails to Give Roy His Due

By Justin Carter

Memory is the key.

It’s a line from an online series called Red vs. Blue, where a character in the sixth season uses that to kickstart a plotline. In some ways, that same saying applies to “Guilty” this week’s episode of Arrow. Last week’s final minute revelation that Roy killed Sara was shocking, but after watching the episode, you’ll realize that there’s no way that could have been an actual thing. The show pulls a serious thread out of its ass here with Roy’s dreams about killing her merging with suppressed memories of his Mirakuru haze in which he murdered a cop with an arrow. You’d have to have a pretty good memory to remember that he killed a cop with an arrow when last year had more significant things happen over its 23-episode run. Of course, this revelation of the dream and his memories merging together comes at the end once Roy has gotten tested by Felicity and tells the others that he killed Sara.

Before we get to those points, though, we have to deal with Team Arrow investigating a murder mystery that involves Laurel’s trainer Ted Grant. Comic fans will know that his boxer nickname “Wildcat” is also his vigilante persona, and the episode uses that. Grant stuck primarily to the Glades and had an apprentice, Isaac, who went overboard and killed a gang member. Grant cut Isaac loose, and he ended up being tortured for months by the gang whose members he’s now killing and stringing up in Grant’s gym and old hideout.

Here’s where the episode kind of loses me. Rather than use the ‘Roy Killed Sara’ mystery as a chance to really develop the relationship between Roy and Oliver, which honestly hasn’t seen a lot of that since Roy first learned Oliver was the Arrow last year, the show uses Ted and Isaac to tell their story. The show wants you to pay attention and notice the symbolic ties, even though they’re incredibly blatant and on the nose. But we don’t have any real emotional connection to Isaac and Grant, so the reflection is wasted aside from some clever wordplay about Roy’s comic book alter ego.

Even more perplexing is how Oliver gets all high and mighty about Grant taking the fall for Isaac killing that gangster, when he himself has killed at least 60 people according to this unofficial counter. He just seems so determined that Grant’s killing all those gangsters despite the fact that two weeks ago he walked up and stabbed a man in broad daylight in his own flashbacks. This is where Arrow’s aspirations to be Batman come into play, because he’s full of himself and still tries to act like he’s got the moral high ground.

Ultimately, this episode of Arrow is a step back. While the action is still fun and there are some nice developments, particularly with Laurel of all people, Roy gets pushed to the side in what originally seemed like an episode about his coping with killing Sara. The only other significant thing that happens is the constant appearances of next week’s villain Cupid, and the fact that that sentence was just typed says a lot about this episode.

Additional Notes

• The thing that saves this episode from feeling like a waste of time: the boxing glove arrow. It finally happens, and in a way that fits with the show’s grounded tone.

• “Mine’s bigger.” Oliver Queen, given the power of overcompensation!

• “How do you know this guy?” “We used to date.” Okay, that line made me laugh. Hats off to Katie Cassidy for her delivery.

• Laurel will be Black Canary officially by episode 10. There are screenshots of her in the costume and everything, and it’s not half bad, except for all the black leather.