Arrow ‘So It Begins’ Review
The age of Prometheus is here.
Warning: Spoilers are everywhere in this review.
Prometheus is wasting no time making Oliver’s life a living hell. We’ve been getting small doses of the mysterious, murderous Green Arrow impostor since the season’s premiere. Each startling appearance made it clear who ever this person was, he meant business. After he wiped out an entire police convoy just to kill Tobias Church last week, the message was clear: Sh*t just got very real for Team Arrow.
It was always clear Prometheus had some sinister plans for the Green Arrow. Here in this episode, it becomes even more clearer Prometheus is tied to Oliver Queen’s past. Not only is he intent on causing havoc by murdering people with ninja throwing stars which causes panic within Star City, but he very much intends to play mind games with Team Arrow. Once it’s revealed Prometheus has been killing innocent people based off an algorithm from Oliver’s kill list that originates from his father’s book of names, it gives us a big clue that Prometheus may be out for revenge based off the events of season one. The season has been doing very well by slowly revealing small bits of information about Prometheus. Which makes this episode’s shocking bombshell reveal at the end seem kind of sudden, rather suspicious, and quite possibly a load of deceptive bullsh*t.
I honestly don’t believe for a second Quentin Lance could be Prometheus. In what possible way does that really make sense? What, revenge for Laurel? Not likely. Besides, it seemed like he blamed himself for his daughter’s death and not Oliver. Plus, how sh*t-faced drunk do you have to be to blackout and become a master killer with ninja skills? No, it makes far more sense for Prometheus to set Lance up as a diversionary tactic. We have two likely suspects in this matter, and both are new to the show, and we really don’t know a whole lot on either of the two. Adrian Chase, the new District Attorney. He’s a somebody. He has access to whatever information he needs on Oliver Queen, I’m sure. He could possibly be a relative of someone in that book. Plus, even though I don’t not know much about his comic book counterpart, I believe he becomes so sort of vigilante. This show may be based off the DC Comics, but they’ve already shown they can take liberties with the characters. So anything and anyone is fair game and changes can be made. My other suspect is Felicity’s new beau, Billy Malone, a detective in the police force. Again, he has access to info and crime scenes. When it’s revealed the ninja throwing stars were made from melted material coming from Oliver’s arrows, it kind of opened the idea that Malone – who was probably at plenty of crime scenes from Oliver’s season one adventures – might have been taking a few Arrows here and there. Up until this point, they’ve kept this character on the sidelines. We don’t know a lot about him. Now he happens to be dating the Green Arrow’s ex and fellow crime fighter? He seemed a little too understanding when Felicity stole evidence and confessed to being a part of Team Arrow. I got my eye on both of these guys. Whoever Prometheus ends up being, this villain has been quite fascinating. I just hope the payoff Is worth it.
Touching on the Bratva flashbacks for a moment, this was what I’ve been waiting for. It was reported a while back that Dolph Lundgren signed on to play a Russian gangster. Can you say “typecast”? I’ve been so anxious to see him appear in the show since then, and he was finally introduced as Konstantin Kovar, Oliver’s main target in Bratva. His introduction was rather good in that typical villainy way. He tried to intimidate Oliver and he murdered somebody right in front of him. His accent and voice seemed kind of odd though. It’s not like I’d imagine it. Still, I love knowing he’s playing a villainous part, and I look forward to seeing him being that story’s big baddie. Who knows? Maybe Oliver doesn’t successfully kill him and he ends up being Prometheus.
I am so on board with this current season having ties to season one. Sometimes when a series tries to reinvent itself, it needs to delve into the past so it can create a working path for the future. It also helps when the main character’s past exploits affect the new people he’s working with. In this case, Evelyn. Yes, finally Evelyn gets the spotlight over the rest of the other Team Arrow rookies. Evelyn is still trying to find her place in the group and make sense of it. So her angry reaction was fair when she realizes Oliver’s crusade stemmed from vengeance. Especially since he talked her out of killing the people responsible for her parent’s deaths. The conflict Oliver had from excluding the group from the main mission was interesting enough, but adding a deeper conflict between Evelyn and Oliver added just the right emotional lift and value to the Evelyn Sharp character that was needed. The conflict also allowed Oliver to reevaluate his crusade and his method of killing. And as it should be, there’s good ol’ Diggle guiding him through his crisis. Damn, I’m so glad he’s back by Ollie’s side. Kudos to Madison McLaughin for handling the material well, and thanks to the producers and writers for allowing her to shine. Her confrontation with Prometheus on the train was great. The entire train sequence was a lot of fun.
If there was one major scene that was kind of off this week, it would be the riot Team Arrow had to stop during a fair. This played off the city’s paranoia following the news coverage of Prometheus’ killing spree. There were people trampling over each other in a panic due to aimed citizens firing up in the sky, thinking Prometheus was among them. The scene had a good concept, but it came off as very over the top, over dramatic, and not exactly well directed. Plus, and I apologize is this makes me sound like a dick, but there was a kid crying “make it stop” while his mother was holding him. I’m sorry but that kid’s acting sucked. It would have been better if there were not dialogue. The coolest part of the sequence was when Oliver shot an arrow into someone’s revolver to get him to stop shooting it wildly.
Prometheus took a chunk of the spotlight this week, but we still had plenty of time to enjoy members of the cast, even if they were sidelined a bit. Curtis took part in the crime fighting but also helped Felicity with some computer stuff, making him an all purpose character. Yay. Stephen Amell was really good in this episode as he expressed so many different emotions between the flashbacks and the current storyline. We had yet more scenes with Thea looking out for Lance, which you know I enjoy. It’s kind of sad but not surprising knowing Lance never stopped drinking. Pretty much, everyone had a moment to shine, even if it was brief for some.
The tone of “So It Begins” was satisfyingly gritty and a bit cryptic, minus the Felicity humor of course. It touched on a lot of themes that have been a big part of Oliver Queen’s time as the Green Arrow. Prometheus certainly made a chilling impact on our heroes, and going forward, there’s going to be some dramatic confrontations. I am really hoping he becomes one of the show’s best villains. Thus far, he’s left a shocking impression. With Prometheus in the present time, and Kovar in the past, this could be the season for truly terrifying villains. I’m also curious to see if Oliver will tone back on the killing. Personally, I’ve never had a problem with him killing bad guys. In conclusion, this was a solid, intense episode, handled very well, even though the riot sequence missed the mark.
