TV Review: Arrow 3×12 – “Uprising”

“Why are people calling 911? Don’t they know the police pulled out of The Glades?”

Uprising is the final draw for Danny Brickwell. Surely he knew that his “ownership” of The Glades wasn’t going to last forever. I find it awfully hard to believe that the police gave up the entire area and stood down to him. But this is Arrow and things are different. Brick’s time was coming to an end but there was just one thing missing: Oliver. While recovering in the mountains, Oliver slowly tries to make his way back to Starling City.

The episode is all about Team Arrow taking back The Glades and dealing with life in Oliver’s absence. Though they have frequent struggles, they seem to be getting along pretty well. Laurel and Roy are beginning to make a good team while Diggle and Felicity handle the logistics back in the Arrow Cave.

“Look, I’ve seen you wearing a red hoodie, Seen you shooting arrows at people, you think I don’t recognize you with a little extra leather and lace?”

Can we all just go ahead and agree that Captain Lance has to know who the Arrow is? He could so easily identify Roy Harper in his arrow suit, but not Oliver in the dozens of times the two have come face-to-face? Except maybe Lance does know that it is Oliver but is choosing to simply ignore it. This way he has at-least some form of plausible deniability in the matter.

I’ve grown to love almost all of the characters on Arrow; from the early Roy Harper to the auspicious Isabel Rochev. Aside from the main characters, there is one who I always enjoy seeing: Sin. Sin was able to play a more prominent part in Uprising. Not only did she help fight Brick and his army, but she also told Captain Lance her observations of the canary during the fight. I think the time to finally tell Lance about Sara is long overdue.

The Battle for The Glades

The battle for the glades makes you think back to the British invasion of The United States. Two armies, weapons in hand, charging each other in a fierce battle to the death. It’s poetic, really. However, this entire battle seemed kind of ridiculous. It just didn’t seem like a plausible scenario. But this is Arrow and almost nothing is very plausible.

For years, decades even, Malcom Merlyn has been stewing over the loss of his wife. It is the only thing driving him on his path of murder. Up until now, he thought he avenged her death by killing the man responsible. It seems this action was ultimately premature. It wasn’t the common street thug who killed her, it was Brick.

In the final moments of the battle, Malcom decided against killing Brick. He had all of the opportunities to do so, but Oliver, now back to Starling City, convinced him that the justice he seeks wouldn’t be fulfilled by yet another murder.

Only The Student Has Hope of Defeating The Master

Oliver’s homecoming was cut short when he revealed to the team that he would begin working with Merlyn in order to defeat the League of Assassins. Personally, I think this arrangement is a pretty good one. However, Felicity seems to think otherwise. In the final moments of the episode, she exclaimed to Oliver that she didn’t want to be the woman he loves. She didn’t want to be the one left behind if things with the League go awry. Is it wrong to be sympathetic to her opinion? Absolutely not. She already had to endure several days thinking that Oliver was dead, so how could this be any different?

Tune in next week on The CW for the thirteenth episode of the season, “Canaries.”