I also found it hard to swallow the idea that Detective Lance wouldn't leap at the chance to throw Ollie behind bars once McKenna revealed that she had placed him at the scene of the drug bust. Several references were made to a confidential informant, but no resolution was given there. And despite having almost nothing in their file on The Count, the police seemed strangely adept at showing up whenever Ollie was clashing with the villain. Hopefully that will change in her follow-up appearances. She didn't seem to serve any purpose in this episode that another character couldn't have filled. Janina Gavankar (True Blood) made her debut as vice cop McKenna Hall. One is that the role of the SCPD characters seemed really weird. But to what end? Two other nagging problems brought down this episode a bit. These scenes also confirmed what I'm sure many suspected last week - that Yao Fei is still Ollie's ally and is running some sort of elaborate con job. I look forward to seeing Manu Bennett finally make his debut as the man beneath the one-eyed mask. If nothing else, seeing Deathstroke obliterate a man in a one-on-one duel was enjoyable. The flashback scenes weren't as well integrated into the episode thematically as they have been in most episodes, but they offered some interesting new material to mull over. Diggle himself pointed out how ridiculous Ollie's cover stories are becoming, and at this point I'd rather see him let Felicity into his world than keep pretending like these errands are innocent little projects. I'm also curious to see where Felicity and Ollie go from here. And with Ollie discovering the existence of her own book of names, it should be interesting to see how their relationship is affected in the coming weeks. Though I can now sympathize with Moira and her delicate situation, it's still refreshing to see her kids call her out on some of her crap. The Queen family drama was also handled nicely without taking up an inordinate amount of screen time. It helped that the choreography was particularly strong in both the present and the flashback scenes, avoiding the quick cuts and choppy camera work that have often ruined the fisticuffs in past episodes. I enjoyed the change of pace for his fight sequences. Ollie's lingering battle with the Vertigo side effects had the added benefit of forcing him to rely on his fists rather than his bow. We've seen that, while Ollie isn't a Punisher-style vigilante, he will kill when he deems it necessary. Like Diggle, part of me expected him to actually kill the guy. The fact that Ollie was willing to arrange a drug deal and stage a man's death was a nice illustration of just how much he cares for his sister. It was a tense showdown that did a lot more to showcase Starling City's dark underbelly than most scenes involving the city's criminals. I especially enjoyed Ollie's meeting with his Russian mob informant. The rest of the episode generally fared better than the Count-centric scenes. ![]() Or maybe he'll just be even crazier and more prone to overacting next time. That slightly stilted scene in the hospital as the doctor explained the damage to the Count's nervous system suggests that he may have developed some Arrow equivalent to super-powers thanks to Ollie's attack. That said, I'm curious to see how the villain will fare in his inevitable second appearance. Sadly, The Count never evolved beyond his poor first impression. Scott's loopy, high-pitched take on Moriarty was initially off-putting, but after a few minutes you grow to adore the villain's gleeful psychosis. ![]() I kept hoping that Gabel would eventually win me over in the same way Andrew Scott's Moriarty did on Sherlock. The fact that he dressed like a like a Twilight vampire spoof from the Scary Movie series didn't help either. Gabel badly overacted the role, playing him like the sort of cartoon super-villain this show ostensibly tries to avoid. The Count fell flat as a villain because of the poor performance of Seth Gabel (Fringe). And the idea of his "powers" being based on a chemical rather than a goofy monocle or some other mad scientist weapon worked well too. But recasting Vertigo from European nobility to twisted drug lord was a nice way of maintaining the show's steadfastly grounded approach to the DC Universe. Yes, all the name really does is remind you of Sesame Street. ![]() The problem with The Count wasn't so much in the conception as the execution. Vertigo's introduction as "The Count did nothing to change that. Unfortunately, outside of the Merlyn family and the silent but oh so deadly Deathstroke, the villains have regularly been the weak link on this show. So it is that Arrow finally introduced this villain into Ollie's rogues gallery after so many weeks of forgettable, one-off baddies.
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