TV Review: Arrow (3×11) – “Midnight City”

My hopes that Oliver would be blissfully re-united with Team Arrow were ceremoniously crushed in the latest episode, Midnight City.

When we found out that Oliver was, in fact, going to live, I was nothing but elated. (Thank you, CW, for leaving me in a perilous state of mind for four weeks during your winter hiatus.) It would, of course, be very outlandish for The CW to willingly sacrifice the main character to pursue a better story line. Well… with Arrow, there is no better story line than Oliver Queen.

In Midnight City, it doesn’t seem like much is going in Starling City. There are a few kidnappings, Oliver is continuing to heal, and Palmer is getting uncomfortably close to taking Oliver’s place as head-vigilante.

Speaking of Palmer and Queen Consolida… I mean Palmer Technologies, what is going on there, exactly? When Felicity initially took the job as Vice President of the company, I thought it was Oliver’s interesting version of a hostile takeover from the inside. A real coup d’etat. But it appears that is not the case. How does Oliver feel about Felicity being such a huge part of his former company? I can’t imagine he’s totally happy about it, but it seems like he gave up on trying to keep the company and, subsequently, all of his wealth.

“I was wrong when I said Oliver’s mission was over because it’s not just Oliver’s mission anymore. It’s ours. It’s our home that is under attack.”

Our latest bad guy, Danny Brickwell, is taking over The Glades by storm! I have to admit, Brick is one of the smarter criminals to make an appearance in Arrow. Not only is he freakishly large and strong, but he is amazing at getting away—alive—from Roy and the gang. In Brick’s latest feud with Team Arrow (and the police), he storms the mayor’s office and kidnaps the city’s alderman! How he, and his gang, were able to get past all of the security and police, is beyond me.

The deal was simple: the alderman is returned if the mayor orders an evacuation of all the police located inside The Glades. No big feat. To me, it is hard to see how a criminal of that type would think this plan would work. Sure, the police could evacuate for a while. But sometime down the line, the police will call in reinforcements. As badass as I think Brick is, I don’t think he and his crew of criminals can overtake The United States Military.

I couldn’t help but notice how painfully bad Laurel (a.k.a. The new Canary) is at being a vigilante. After Arsenal saves her from a thug on the streets, he and Diggle hold an impromptu intervention on Laurel to knock some sense into her. Except she is following in her sister’s path, so she won’t be stopped. It is understandable due to her lack of training at being a vigilante, but she is really not doing well. She did manage to save Roy (Arsenal) once in the episode, so that’s good, at least.

Meanwhile, in the mountains, Oliver is beginning to come back around. Maseo’s wife surprisingly saved his life in the last episode (thank God) and, with their help, is getting him ready for a return to the troubled Starling City.

The flashbacks in the past few episodes are starting to make me miss Oliver’s life on the island. Sure, I knew the time when he leaves the island was approaching, but I also found myself more immersed in the flashbacks when he wasn’t running through the streets of China.

All in all, Midnight City was an alright episode. I loved Diggle and Roy’s semi-bonding moment in The Arrow Cave when they drank to a not-so-fruitful night. Roy is easily one of my favorite characters and I don’t think he has been able to forge a real connection with the entire team until these past few episodes. With him being the primary vigilante, he has the spotlight to show his true feelings and I think that becomes him very well. Speaking of Oliver’s absence, the time for his return to the team should have been in this episode, but I can see why the writers felt like pushing it back more. I feel like the longer he is away, the more dramatic and emotional his inevitable return will be. I know it will be for Felicity. It looks like he will return next week, so here’s to hoping for an emotion packed reunion with my girl Felicity.

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

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