Season 7 Episode 17. ” Laurel learns about some damaging information that affects Emiko; Oliver invites Laurel to help investigate, which makes Felicity happy, as her friend is now working with the team; Felicity is forced to make a choice between the team and Laurel.”
The Good & The Bad
The Good
1. Inheritance is a heavily focused episode on Emiko Queen. This week shows how she came to be, and what her past was like. James Patrick Sheridan returns to the role of Robert Queen in the flashbacks to Emi’s life as a child. We later see her running errands for Frank Bertinelli, when she stumbles across Dante who teaches her how to defend herself, also bringing her into the Ninth Circle. Overall I found the backstory was enough for Emi’s character to go on with full strength going forward. The story gave insightful details on why she does what she does, and why she’s the way that she is. After all, Robert Queen left her at age 11 to hide her from the spotlight that was over the Queen family at the time.
2. The twists and turns that come with Emi. Since she was cast on the show, anybody who reads the comics will know she’s got a nasty dark side. We see this. Her manipulation to Laurel, bribing her, all the way to her plan to infiltrate the Team Arrow bunker. It’s nice to see her wearing her own suit, instead of the Green Arrow suit. She’s evil, and it was the plan all along. However some questions are raised on the back of this. Why was she using the Green Arrow mantle for so long? Why did she help Rene? Why did she “kill” Ricardo Diaz? So many questions, but I like this a lot. It brings that intriguing side of the character, that just begs for these questions to be answered. You kind of sympathize with Emi a lot. Her father left her at 11, and her mothers dead. All while the Queen family are living in complete luxury. Keep going to my holy shit moment, it really was a holy shit moment.
3. Seeing Team Arrow out in full force again brings me joy. I’ve missed it this season. Although it’s been a very strong season since the first episode, I’ve missed Oliver going full Green Arrow, more so with his team behind him. We got that this episode. I loved it. No SCPD looming over the group as they do what they need to do to get done. On top of that, John Diggle was back in his OG suit. That warmed me up inside. I hope the bunker and the team go for longer, I love seeing them all working together. It reminds me of season 2 so much.
4. Emi once again manipulates Team Arrow into thinking Dante is ready to kill her. This sends the team to try and help her, which they do. When I watched this, I knew deep down something wasn’t right with the whole thing. My partner even said that it was a set up. She was right. But that’s what makes this ark with Emiko so great. It’s unpredictable, and you really don’t know what’s going to happen next.
5. This is both a good, and a bad. When Laurel warns Oliver at the beginning of the episode that Emiko isn’t who she says she is, I got a sense of, “this is going to drag on for ages”. I’m glad it never. Oliver quickly found out the truth as he followed Emiko and Dante to a plant, where they set C4 off. Oliver realizes quickly that Laurel was telling the truth about her. I prefer this, instead of it dragging on for episodes, like we’ve seen in the past when it comes to family on the show.
6. No flash forwards this week, which I am glad about. Don’t get me wrong, I am kind of enjoying the flash forwards. It was just nice to see them focus on the present time, and Emi’s backstory for an entire episode. I’m sure these will return next episode as we dig deeper into what happened with Star City, and the Glades.
The Bad
1. Okay, this Laurel thing is just confusing me. If anybody can help with this in the comments, please do. What is happening? She redeemed herself on the finale of last season, yet it still doesn’t feel like it. Dinah once again bringing up Black Siren and Vincent’s “execution”. Truth be told, I don’t want to see Black Siren return. I would rather she take up the mantle of Black Canary, as it is in the comics. Dinah has lost her cry, so this would set up beautifully for Laurel to once again, carry the mantle but they drag it on. I feel like we’re heading down the Black Siren path again, as Emi outs her at the end. She sent pictures of her and Diaz working together to the media, which in turn prompts an angry response from Laurel, but I feel like it’s Black Siren. I begged last season that she would redeem herself, as I miss her as the Canary. We will go from there for now, but I don’t like Laurel’s future. I feel like Dinah is making matters worse, as is Team Arrow because there’s no trust there for her.
2. As it was in the good, it’s here too. Oliver. He’s so gullible it’s amazing. We’ve been through this family story many times before. It was even mentioned when it was happening between John and Andy in season 4. Yet this whole “save her” stuff gets old real quick. He also held back when they fought in the bunker after Oliver found a hacking device which stopped Felicity’s Archer AI system from working. I enjoyed the fight, that I did but this whole redemption ark for her I think is long gone. Especially after the reveal at the end of the episode.
3. Another break! They love the breaks. Arrow will not be back on until April 15th, titled “Lost Canary” which goes off my previous points about Laurel. Will she finally be redeemed once and for all. I hope so. I guess we all have to wait 3 weeks for the next episode.
Holy Shit Moment
TWO HOLY SHIT MOMENTS, ONE AFTER THE OTHER!
1. Emiko reveals to Dante that if he disobeys a direct order again, she will kill him. I was like, “WHAT”. It turns out Emiko is the leader of the Ninth Circle. This reveal was something I never saw coming. It comes across so natural that Dante trained Emi, that he would be the leader. This blew me away.
2. EMIKO PAID FOR MALCOLM TO PLANT THE BOMB ON THE QUEENS GAMBIT! This shocked me. It really did. I always assumed Malcolm did it himself, not that he was paid to. It does raise a plot hole after all the interactions Moira and Malcolm had, but this twist was a welcomed one. What a cliffhanger to end it on, especially now it’s on a break!
The Verdict
Emiko’s backstory, the twists, the turns, I loved it. A strong episode with the exception of how Laurel is handled again. Team Arrow once again being a proper team was a nice touch, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I’m a sucker for the pep talks that happen all to often on Arrow, the John and Oliver talk was nice to see. Also nice to hear them reference stuff that happened a couple seasons ago. Overall, fantastic episode. My overall rating falls down from 10 to this because of Oliver, and Laurel. However, besides that. Incredible episode.