- Title: Arrow – Tremors
- wiki: link
While working with Diggle (David Ramsey) and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) to track down Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White) who was broken out of prison to retrieve Malcolm Merlyn‘s (John Barrowman) earthquake machine, Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) struggles to train an angry and impatient Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) who is spiraling further and further out of control since his exposure to Brother Blood‘s (Kevin Alejandro) super-soldier serum.
In the episodes B-stories Detective Lance (Paul Blackthorne) struggles to get Laurel (Katie Cassidy) to admit to get help for her pill addiction as the State Bar begins investigating her for misconduct and possible disbarment, and Moira (Susanna Thompson) is surprised to learn that Walter (Colin Salmon) wants her to run in opposition to Sebastian Blood’s mayoral campaign. And flashbacks to the island focus on an out-of-control Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett), still despondent over Shado‘s (Celina Jade) death, re-purposing Fyers’ missile launcher to target Dr. Ivo’s (Dylan Neal) freighter.
“Tremors” includes several key moments not only to the season but to the series as well. Needing Roy’s help to disable the earthquake machine, Oliver is forced to expose his secret and introduce his protege to both Felicity and Diggle. The episode also ends with a pair of teasers as Oliver reaches out to the only one he believes can pull Laurel back from the brink – her sister Sara (Caity Lotz). And Bronze Tiger gets his second get out of jail free card with the introduction of Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and the first mention of a very hush-hush black-ops Squad.
I appreciate the show taking time to show Oliver’s struggle with teaching his knowledge to Roy (as it’s a skill Ollie has never had to master), and hope that the partnership continues to have its ups and downs. Although I like Addai-Robinson, I would have preferred the show to stay with the classic version of Waller rather than the rebooted New 52 slimmed down version. And though Oliver doesn’t reveal the truth to Slade about Shado’s death, “Tremors” produces two big reveals (Roy learning Ollie’s secret and Laurel learning her sister is alive) leading into next week’s return of the League of Assassins and the introduction of Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law).
