Arrow Season 1 Countdown: Ranking Episodes 4-8

It’s premiere week for the heavily-anticipated Season 2 of Arrow, and as we get anxious for the first episode back by hearing from series star Stephen Amell from the set, as well as an on-set interview with Moira Queen herself, Susanna Thompson, we thought we’d offer fun little coverage of the freshman year in recap. In addition to the results of our 2013 GreenArrowTV Awards celebrating the first season, over the past week GATV reviewer Matt Tucker offers his countdown ranking of each of the 23 episodes of the inaugural season.

The next five on our list help fill in the top 10 and break the barrier into the top 5 episodes of the year…

Your “Arrow: Year One” countdown:

• Wed 10/2 – Episodes 23-19: Honor Thy Father, Muse of Fire, Trust But Verify, Damaged, Pilot
• Thurs 10/3 – Episodes 18-14: Vendetta, Legacies, Vertigo, An Innocent Man, Lone Gunmen
• Fri 10/4 – Episodes 13-9: Burned, The Huntress Returns, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Home Invasion, Dodger
• Today – Episodes 8-4
• Tues 10/8 – Season 1 Top 3 Episodes

Agree or disagree? Have your own rankings? As always, we welcome your feedback and discussion. Tell us what you think in the comment section below or over on the forums.

Number 8: “Betrayal”

Episode: 1.13
Original Airdate: February 6, 2013
Synopsis: Lance uses Laurel and the bugged Arrowphone to capture the Hood when the vigilante and his daughter plan a meeting, but Oliver manages to escape. Devastated at the betrayal, Laurel wants nothing to do with her father. Oliver shows Diggle the copy of the list book that Felicity got from Walter, revealing that it was Moira’s. He’s not convinced his mother has anything to do with his father’s associates, but Diggle isn’t so sure. Oliver asks Moira about the list and she tells him the people on it owed Robert favors before tossing it into a burning fire. Though Oliver is reluctant, he agrees to Diggle keeping tabs on his mother. When Diggle drives her to an appointment, he records a conversation between her and a concealed Malcolm Merlyn that all but confirms her involvement and that the yacht sinking was no accident. Meanwhile, a dangerous criminal, Cyrus Vanch, is released from prison on a technicality. Wanting to take out the vigilante to get back on top, Vanch abducts Laurel. Though he is quite loath to do so, Lance turns to the Hood to help rescue Laurel when he learns that there is a mole in the police and can’t trust anyone. Lance and Oliver attack Vanch’s mansion, and when the Hood is caught off guard and nearly killed by Vanch, Lance saves him. Lance nearly kills Vanch but Oliver convinces him it isn’t worth compromising himself. Later, an angry Oliver confronts Moira as the vigilante. On the island, Oliver finds a crashed plane with supplies and butts heads with a member of the Australian Special Forces named Slade Wilson.

Two negatives stand out about “Betrayal;” the bluster of Cyrus Vanch and reputation that proceeds him doesn’t exactly live out on-screen, which undercuts guest star David Anders’ performance, and the logistical limitations of television don’t always support the scope for which a story is going. Vanch boasts that the vigilante will have to get through a “veritable army” of men to get into the mansion, but it turns out to be about five guys. Still, Oliver’s raid on the mansion is one of the most impressive of the stunt sequences on the season. The episode itself is strongly built on its theme of betrayal, with Lance’s odious use of his daughter to catch the Hood coming to light, and the revelations about Moira. This was when the series really began to pick up steam in its second half.

For more on “Betrayal”: Derek B. Gayle’s Review • Episode Guide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL3jf2vt8KM

Number 7: “Unfinished Business”

Episode: 1.19
Original Airdate: April 3, 2013
Synopsis: When a young woman who was partying at the Verdant nightclub is killed by walking in front of a car on a Vertigo overdose, Lance focuses his attention on Tommy and his nefarious past. A payoff to an official to overlook an inspection of the club in order to protect the sub-basement/Arrowcave makes it appear Tommy is dealing the drug out of the club. Oliver visits the Count in the mental hospital to learn about the drug’s reemergence and finds him in no mental conditional to be behind it. Soon after, the Count appears to escape the hospital and a new, more powerful version of Vertigo floods the streets. Felicity tracks money movement to find the Count and also information on Floyd Lawton for Diggle without Oliver’s knowledge, which he turns over to a friend at the A.R.G.U.S. organization to take Deadshot down. Oliver makes an anti-Vertigo serum with island herbs to subdue an addict holding hostages at the aquarium, but fights with Felicity over having not chosen a lethal way to take out the Count originally. Oliver needs Diggle’s help but he’s busy with his Lawton pursuit, which leads to a disagreement. After Lance raids the nightclub and finds the sub-basement, which has been disguised by Tommy, Oliver and Tommy argue about their perceptions of each other. Tommy quits Verdant and goes to work for his father. Discovering a component of the new Vertigo that would be found at the mental hospital in the volumes needed to make it, Oliver goes to confront the Count but finds that the doctor is actually behind it. Oliver is captured and dosed with the drug, but Diggle shows up to help him. Oliver injects himself with the herbal serum and goes after the doctor, using three arrows with his impared perception to take out the doctor. With another opportunity to kill the Count, Oliver once again decides against it. Oliver turns his attentions to help Diggle apprehend Lawton. On the island, Shado uses a special technique to train Oliver in the patience and precision to properly use a bow.

A fine episode tightly wound around the relationships of the characters and how, as they’re barreling towards the Undertaking, things begin to crack with those most important to Oliver. There is a theme of perception that plays in both the present and in the island past. Shado using that age-old trope of a menial task to train and hone the body and mind for something more plays off well with the struggle between Oliver and Tommy over how the two look at each other. Tommy can’t see past the tactics to see any good Oliver might be doing, an honest reaction that sadly leads him astray. The Oliver-Diggle tension gets its own attention, bubbling up into a calling out that only previews what’s to come. The twist with the doctor being behind the new Vertigo is a nice one, but it once again pulls away from the effectiveness of the Count, an enigma of a character who doesn’t quite feel like the threat they’d like him to be.

For more on “Unfinished Business”: Derek’s Review • Episode Guide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSTahZvPaw8

Number 6: “Salvation”

Episode: 1.18
Original Airdate: March 27, 2013
Synopsis: Another vigilante calling himself “the Savior” targets individuals in the Glades who he feels are harmful to the people. His tactics involve abducting the person, then transmitting a live broadcast of the admission of their guilt and their execution as punishment. When he claims to be inspired by the Hood’s mission, a disgusted Oliver chooses to stop him. When an attorney from the DA’s office is the next victim, Felicity tries tracking the broadcast signal to find the Savior in time for Oliver. They are too late, and Felicity blames herself. Oliver assures her that’s not the case. Roy Harper becomes the next victim abducted and Oliver is incentivized to find him for Thea. Felicity filters out audio on the Savior’s video and hears a subway car. Realizing he’s in the old subway system, Oliver tracks down the Savior and saves Roy, who now becomes fixated on the vigilante. Meanwhile, concerned with her parents becoming close again while searching for Sarah, Laurel discovers the woman in a photo believed to be Sarah and a big part of Dinah’s evidence is not her. Dinah is devastated, but Laurel comforts her. Moira turns Frank Chen in to Malcolm as the one behind his attempted murder and Malcolm kills him as the Dark Archer. With the subway now on their radar, Oliver realizes that the symbol in his father’s list book is actually a map of the old subway system in the Glades. On the island, Fyers plays Oliver and Slade about getting them transport off the island and steals the missile launcher circuit board back from them.

They’d already played at the effects of the vigilante being present with the pseudo-copycat facet of the Dark Archer’s first appearance, but they really begin here to delve into the concept of others holding him up as the template to follow their own views on justice. Sadly, the methods of the Savior don’t seem that far-fetched in our own reality, particularly the use of media to get his message across. It also speaks strongly to Oliver’s need to reassess his own methods if he wishes to continues, a theme that continues to build on the season. Felicity being shaken leads to a fine moment of connection between Team Arrow that serves to punctuate the later fracturing of the crew. The Lance family story comes to a ignominous end, and yet seems more honest and true than any of it that has preceded. And in a way, the Savior proves to actually be that for Roy, the experience offering him a way to look beyond the Glades and his normal actions.

For more on “Salvation”: Matt’s Review • Episode Guide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdK5hLxdoLo

Number 5: “Year’s End”

Episode: 1.9
Original Airdate: December 12, 2012
Synopsis: In the five years following the disappearance of Oliver and Robert, Moira and Thea haven’t celebrated Christmas. Oliver decides to host a family party in the fashion of his father. Tommy asks Laurel to spend Christmas with him, but Laurel says she has to be with her father because Sara’s death hits them both hard at that time of year. At a dinner party at the Queen mansion, Walter, Moira, and Oliver discuss the vigilante with the Police Commissioner and Malcolm Merlyn. Meanwhile, Adam Hunt, the first person Oliver took down as the Hood, is found killed by arrows. The police want to blame the vigilante, but Lance believes there is a copycat. Oliver sends Lance a cellphone as a direct line to the vigilante and calls to tell him that he was not responsible for Hunt’s death and needs his help to catch the second archer. Felicity discovers the head of Applied Sciences at Queen Consolidated is on the list and assumes he’s the vigilante’s next target. Walter places him under tighter security. Now, aware that Walter is getting to close, Malcolm arranges for his kidnapping. The Dark Archer takes out another man on the list and Oliver has Felicity trace the origins of his black arrows to an address. Investigating, Oliver finds a bomb left for him and barely escapes. The Dark Archer than holds people hostage in a warehouse. When the police are prevented from enter the building, the Hood arrives and breaks in. He frees the hostages and gets them out of the building. Left to confront the Dark Archer, Oliver is soundly beaten. Back at his lair to revel in his victory, it’s revealed that archer is none other than Malcolm Merlyn. At the hospital, Oliver resolves to find the author of the list. On the island, Yao Fei has captured Fyers and plans to use him to get to his private plane to escape. As Yao and Oliver take Fyers through the forest, they are attacked by “Deathstroke” and Fyers men. Yao is captured but Oliver escapes.

The highlight of the first run of the season. This was a game-changer in terms of energy, approach, and feel of the series, finally seeming like they had built their foundations on which to grow the show. Oliver having a direct antagonist, and one who was actually better than him, provided just the challenge and high stakes the character needed to move forward and open up to the audience. He needed to be broken and that’s exactly what happened. Coming so soon after the Helena debacle, it all gave human color to Oliver’s plight and made he — and the show — better to watch. That Malcolm was revealed to be the Dark Archer actually came off anti-climactic, if only because he was the most obvious person for it and the most fitting. And when you have John Barrowman, you’ve got to give him some quality meat. The only real groaner about this chapter is thoroughly unnecessary and ill-fitting anvil-dropping of the Green Arrow name.

For more on “Year’s End”: Derek’s Review • Episode Guide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LroI0VuhwMg

Number 4: “The Undertaking”

Episode: 1.21
Original Airdate: May 1, 2013
Synopsis: Stealing a laptop from one of the men on the list, Oliver has Felicity hack it to drain the man’s bank accounts and redistribute the money to people he stole it from. Felicity discovers evidence related to Walter’s abduction on the laptop that leads the team to an underground casino. The owner was the man hired to kidnap Walter and he states that Walter was killed. Oliver shares the news with his family, and Moira confronts Malcolm. Malcolm assures her that he is alive. Oliver has bugged Moira and overhears the entire conversation, discovering that Malcolm is the man behind the group. Felicity hacks Malcolm’s phone and is able to find that Walter is being held in Blüdhaven. Oliver flies to Blüdhaven and raids the tenement compound where Walter is beind held. After a daring rescue, Oliver returns Walter to Starling City and his family. In flashback, Malcolm reveals a plan to level the Glades using a seismic device developed at Unidac Industries by a Dr. Brion Markov in response to the violence that took his wife’s life. Robert Queen opposes the plan. Deciding to get out of town on a business trip to China to let things settle, Robert opts to go by boat. After Oliver and Laurel discuss moving in together, he freaks out and invites himself onto the boat trip, sneaking Laurel’s sister Sara on with him. In the present, Oliver seeks out Diggle to make peace and ask for his help in stopping Malcolm and Moira.

The first of the three-part season finale kicks off the final act on the season in stellar fashion. Oliver finally accepting that his mother is part of the group planning the Undertaking is one disappointment, but discovering that his best friend’s father is the man behind it all is a gut punch. It’s the flashbacks to the time just prior to Oliver and Robert’s boat trip that really sell the episode. Malcolm gets the proper shading to offer reason behind his madness, but it also doesn’t detract from the deviousness and despicablility of the entire plan, the over-reaction of a man with problems beyond just overwhelming grief. The reveal of the plan for the Undertaking at first seems a bit underwhelming until seen in context of the final execution. One wishes, though, that they could’ve spent a bit more time in the past to really flesh out Robert, Malcolm, and the others more. But not if it would’ve taken away from one of the finest setpieces of the series in the Hood’s raid to rescue Walter.

For more on “The Undertaking”: Derek’s Review • Episode Guide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufXW2T8roU4

Join us tomorrow as we close out our countdown with the Top 3 episodes of Season 1. And make sure to stay tuned with GreenArrowTV as we bring you more goodies as the new season arrives this Wednesday!