S05.E07: Vigilante

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

When the bodies of two criminals are dropped at SCPD, Oliver realizes there is a new vigilante in Star City and the team becomes divided over whether they should stop someone who is helping keep the city safe. Meanwhile, Diggle gets frustrated with his new situation; and Thea fights for Lance who confesses a shocking secret. In flashbacks, Oliver finally sits down with Konstantin Kovar.

[janeta]

That last bank needs to demand a refund on that "bullet proof" glass.

[Sunshine]

What was that?!!!

[apinknightmare]

I only watched the last minute (an accidental channel flip) and wow. The show surprised me in a good way for the first time in a while. 

[Jediknight]

Artemis and Oliver have to be setting Prometheus up right?  Like when Prometheus fought her, he offered to work with her, she told Oliver, and they devised this plan.  That's got to happen right?

[Sunshine]

The last minute was the only good thing about the episode IMO.  Thea and Lance were decent. He's gone to rehab but the rest was just meh.

[jay741982]

Man fuck this show for making the female newbie evil. Can't be precious overrated Wild Dong.  It just pisses me off Artemis isn't evil

[catrox14]

So Baby!Canary is a traitor? She is such a terrible actor.

[jay741982]

Just now, Jediknight said:

Artemis and Oliver have to be setting Prometheus up right?  Like when Prometheus fought her, he offered to work with her, she told Oliver, and they devised this plan.  That's got to happen right?

I wish but with these writers a

[ladylaw99]

The last few were decent. That hour was long.

[catrox14]

3 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

Artemis and Oliver have to be setting Prometheus up right?  Like when Prometheus fought her, he offered to work with her, she told Oliver, and they devised this plan.  That's got to happen right?

I'm not convinced. She's been pissy all along. Maybe she's just decided well fuck it, I'm gonna go with this dude who pays attention to me. It's so weird. OR she's been working with Prometheus all along.

[Morrigan2575]

Things I liked:

I liked Thea and Lance stuff. They can't seem to figure out what to do with Thea. However the acting really good in their scenes so I'm OK with it.

I liked DA Chase in the interrogation scene.

I liked Felicity in the field what little we saw. I liked the OTA scene.

I really liked the Flashbacks. I really did not expect Dolph to be that good.

The end with Artemis being a mole working for Prometheus really surprised me.

Things i didn't like:

OMG the dialogue between Vigilante and GA when they first interact was so horribly cheesy

I Hate Curtis. I really hated that he named himself Mr. Terrific.

I don't like the reporter she's shady and pushy and I don't like that they seems to have her coming onto Oliver and being all pushy for her "job" or whatever

Edited November 17, 2016 by Morrigan2575

[popgoesculture]

Okay, I was intrigued by the twist everyone was mentioning online, so I saw the last minute... 

Is the rest of the episode even worth it? Do any of the original cast have a good solid storyline that isn't about Oliver and his penis making terrible decisions all over again?

That one minute twist made me go "meh." Mainly because I don't care about Prometheus, and I don't care about Artemis... 

[mtlchick]

The rage I have over no more Baby Sara has been somewhat tempered by JJ's lispy "You're sweaty."  

[statsgirl]

Whelmed.

The Evelyn thing at the end was a shock but I'm wondering what they're going to do for the mid season finale to get us to tune back in in February. 

Nothing much happened, which was a good thing in terms of Oliver/Evelyn but this was pure filler.

I like the Thea/Quentin stuff but they're really struggling to find something for those two characters to do.  Wild Dog had a good moment

Not impressed with Vigilante and his murderous rage.  Dunne's speech about how he went bad in prison is supposed to tell us how much better Oliver is I guess.

Flashbacks are interesting though.

[Mellowyellow]

How much airtime did Felicity get in this ep?

[Morrigan2575]

Not much. This episode was all about Oliver trying to determine if he should go back to the Hood or be the GA. Vigilante was supposed to be a dark mirror

[ladylaw99]

6 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Things I liked:

I liked Thea and Lance stuff. They can't seem to figure out what to do with Thea. However the acting really good in their scenes so I'm OK with it.

I liked DA Chase in the interrogation scene.

I liked Felicity in the field what little we saw. I liked the OTA scene.

I really liked the Flashbacks. I really did not expect Dolph to be that good.

The end with Artemis being a mole working for Prometheus really surprised me.

Things i didn't like:

OMG the dialogue between Vigilante and GA when they first interact was so horribly cheesy

I Hate Curtis. I really hated that he named himself Mr. Terrific.

I don't like the reporter she's shady and pushy and I don't like that they seems to have her coming onto Oliver and being all pushy for her "job" or whatever

I agree with you.

There was a lot of cheesy horrible dialogue.

Oliver seems to be OK with being so open with imo a stranger especially someone he knows is not so trustworthy. I actually would love for her to pull a fast one on him.

[apinknightmare]

1 minute ago, Morrigan2575 said:

This episode was all about Oliver trying to determine if he should go back to the Hood or be the GA.

Has he not basically been The Hood in the GA costume most of this season?

[Morrigan2575]

Just now, apinknightmare said:

Has he not basically been The Hood in the GA costume most of this season?

He was in 501 then seemed to dial it back a bit. It's a stupid repetitive storyline but, I think this was supposed to show that GA/Viglante are two sides of the same coin.

I'm also tired of Oliver needing pep talks and to be told he's doing the right thing.

[popgoesculture]

11 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I'm also tired of Oliver needing pep talks and to be told he's doing the right thing.

The Flash also suffers from this. Sigh. 

(I'm glad Supergirl stopped so far this season.)

I don't know what Arrow is trying to do... everything feels like a retread plot-wise, and a lesser one at that. And Oliver's motivations/thoughts are somehow more opaque than ever. 

[statsgirl]

Since Evelyn said "Who gets to say who is the vigilante and who is the serial killer", are we supposed to believe that she could have picked Prometheus' side since Oliver is not better than he is?

3 minutes ago, popgoesculture said:

I don't know what Arrow is trying to do... everything feels like a retread plot-wise, and a lesser one at that. And Oliver's motivations/thoughts are somehow more opaque than ever. 

Well put.

Maybe they do need to stop after this season.

[Lady Calypso]

I almost stopped watching at the badly acted first scene.

I'm almost glad I didn't because watching Rory on the sidelines with his arms crossed, watch the others fight was pretty funny. Ragman doesn't need training with his magic rags! Plus, Rory's still great. 

I did watch SA's Nope look as he avoided eye contact with Susan in the first scene. He could barely get through his "Thank You" line. It's actually really funny once you notice it. 

The flashbacks are great.

I guess other stuff happened? At least I watched part of this week's episode? I still haven't watched last week's. 

[benteen]

Definitely wasn't expecting that ending.  Very cool.

Really enjoyed this episode.

[statsgirl]

Susan bribed someone on Oliver's staff to tell her when he was leaving work so she could intercept him.  Am I supposed to think that's romantic or creepy?

[Chaser]

Seriously?!

Im going to start calling her Reporter Ray.

[apinknightmare]

1 minute ago, Chaser said:

Seriously?!

Im going to start calling her Reporter Ray.

Nevermind. This was a raisin joke that worked better in my head, haha.

Edited November 17, 2016 by apinknightmare

[ladylaw99]

2 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Susan bribed someone on Oliver's staff to tell her when he was leaving work so she could intercept him.  Am I supposed to think that's romantic or creepy?

It's the same thing as Ray pinging Felicity's phone. For me it's desperate.

[Lantern7]

Interesting episode, though the next one will probably be a lot more fun with the crossover.

Any other people hating being well-versed in comics lore? Totally know who Vigilante is, so the drama is muted. At least Prometheus is unknown for now.

Kovar punching . . . heh. "If he dies . . . he dies." Seriously, how do you not go there?

Keep forgetting how jacked Diggle is. The sweat is probably gross, though.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Evelyn cleans up nice.  Damn girl !!  That red dress was all kinds of hot.

Was there a pool on how many times the phrase "five point five six millimeter" was going to be said in this episode ?  Was the commercial sponsor of this episode a weapons manufacturer ?  This very special episode of 'Arrow' brought to you tonight by Smith and Wesson.

During the big battle with Prometheus, no one thought to pick up Prometheus' gun ?  Nobody, really ?  And no one was watching to see where he went after the explosion.  What the hell were they doing ?

Sure, he called himself  the Vigilante, all I could think of was 'Master Chief' from Halo.

The Russian mob stuff was snooze-worthy.  As was yet again Quentin and the drunkenness -- we get it, he's a drunk, move along to something else plot-wise.

Ollie's relationship with the reporter is SOOOO going to come back and bite him in the ass.  Is Ollie unaware of the long con ?

How long does it take 'Mr. Terrific' to do his hair while 'suiting up' ?  Curtis is awesome, but I can't stand that he calls himself 'Mr. Terrific' -- anything else would be better.  His mask is also kind of dumb.  And every time I see Fair Play on his sleeves it makes him seem more like a wrestler.

[SmallScreenDiva]

So Oliver being teased by WD and Curtis about his date and no reaction shot from Felicity? I guess it doesn't matter

[Hiveminder]

So assuming Evelyn is a dirty double crosser and this isn't some kind of double agent thing, how will this impact Oliver's trust issues?

[apinknightmare]

9 minutes ago, SmallScreenDiva said:

So Oliver being teased by WD and Curtis about his date and no reaction shot from Felicity? I guess it doesn't matter

No, they're super cool platonic never-been-engaged, not in love frands now. 

[way2interested]

So with getting back to my new par for Arrow, this episode was fine, if not with a few plot twists (no sex, Evelyn twist).

I was surprised that I actually did like Wild Dog in that last scene with Diggle and his family, ignoring the baby Sara of it all. Also, I continue to like the Thea/Lance scenes despite their little connection with the plot.

Mega annoyed that they're going to drag out the Vigilante mystery out even though everyone already knows it's Chase. 

Also, how many sets were in this episode? I don't have a clear eye as some, but was that bar set new or re-purposed from Supergirl? 

[ladylaw99]

I hate the fact that Lyla didn't think to bring their son to see Diggle for the kids b-day but had WD organize it instead or did I get that wrong- I started to zone out a bit.

[lexicon]

6 minutes ago, Hiveminder said:

So assuming Evelyn is a dirty double crosser and this isn't some kind of double agent thing, how will this impact Oliver's trust issues?

This season or next when we rehash the whole thing and his trust issues surface again?

[calliope1975]

1 minute ago, lexicon said:

This season or next when we rehash the whole thing and his trust issues surface again?

Should I send TPTB the dead horse gif?

[statsgirl]

8 minutes ago, way2interested said:

Also, how many sets were in this episode? I don't have a clear eye as some, but was that bar set new or re-purposed from Supergirl? 

I wonder if they have a member of the crew whose sole job it is to repurpose sets across the four shows.

[Lady Calypso]

44 minutes ago, Chaser said:

Seriously?!

Im going to start calling her Reporter Ray.

I'm gonna call her Rayporter.

I'm just slowly working my way through the episode. That hit that Vigilante delivered to Curtis' back? So, so bad. It looked so bad. 

[Chaser]

Caught a clip of Reporter and Oliver at the bar. Icky.

She was petting him and fluffing his ego and he was eating it up.

I just don't get it. 

[KirkB]

The ending legitimately surprised me.

That said, it was one of the only interesting things about this episode.

Some of the others:

Vigilante's costume was a surprisingly faithful representation of the comics version.

Rory continues to be the best of the newbies by far. The only reason I can see Oliver even needing the others at all is the fact he and Rory can only be in so many places at once.

Quentin was able to make the most of his limited screen time. Paul Blackthorne is impressive.

Then there are questionable things.

Diggle's scene with his family had half pleased by the cuteness of that kid and half annoyed by the fact they wiped Sara out of existence to get him and didn't seem to think anyone would care.

Is there anyone in Star City who doesn't know Oliver is going to bang the reporter?

I've got nothing else.

[Jediknight]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

I'm almost glad I didn't because watching Rory on the sidelines with his arms crossed, watch the others fight was pretty funny. Ragman doesn't need training with his magic rags! Plus, Rory's still great.

 

3 minutes ago, KirkB said:

Rory continues to be the best of the newbies by far. The only reason I can see Oliver even needing the others at all is the fact he and Rory can only be in so many places at once.

Is it sad that when I read these 2 lines, my first thought was "Wait, how did I miss Mick?"

[KirkB]

2 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

Is it sad that when I read these 2 lines, my first thought was "Wait, how did I miss Mick?"

:)  Not at all. I didn't even realize Ragman's real name was Rory at first so I was confused when people kept using the name because I had the same thought.

[dtissagirl]

That's why I still call the LoT dude Ogre Prison Break.

Cos Wentworth is Pretty Prison Break.

[insomniadreams88]

Some quick thoughts:

Oliver should not be talking to Susan. Be smarter, Oliver. She's a reporter. I kind of hope she turns on him because, seriously? It's just stupid. Why isn't he at least talking to Diggle? (Remember Diggle, Oliver? Your friend who has no one to really talk to right now because you broke him out of prison and made him a fugitive? Have a drink with him.) They apparently don't want Oliver talking to Felicity. (That conversation about his time in Russia may be the best thing we get, at least in 5A, for their talks.) Why is he opening up to Susan? Is this supposed to be showing signs of growth, that he can talk to some random reporter after he didn't talk to Felicity last season? And leaving in the middle of everything going on to go get a drink with her? And that last scene with the two of them. My only reaction is "ugh." 

They really don't want to give Felicity a POV. Not even a quick cut to her after Oliver mentions drinks with Susan. This episode kind of made me lose any hope about what they might have planned for Felicity in 5B. 

Why wasn't it Oliver or Felicity who worked with Lyla so Diggle could have time with his son? WD is the one who had to come up with that? Really? I feel like I have to make a sacrifice to the TV gods to get a good Felicity/Diggle scene these days.

Evelyn meeting with Prometheus? Meh. Don't really care how that's going to turn out actually. (But I do have to say, dressing Evelyn the way they did to lure the guy into the alley? Just no. I really wonder how anyone thought that was a good idea. Maybe they forgot she's 17 because they didn't care as long as they could write in that scene?) 

And poor Thea and Lance, stuck on their own island of a storyline. I kinda wish they had both showed up long enough in Oliver's office to reiterate how bad an idea this whole Susan thing is. Both WH and PB have been very good in their scenes together this season. 

Oh, and Vigilante, the name of the episode, right. Uh, they made it really obvious who he is (even if it hadn't been announced in the casting) and I just didn't care. Yay for Felicity in the field again, but also, again, I wonder, is there anything Rory's rags can't do? Are they just going to have everyone hide behind him during fights all the time? 

[jay741982]

Can anyone clarify for me if Artemis was ever evil in the comics and she looks like a huge hypocrite working for a serial killer and being pissed at Oliver last week. Plus she's spitting on her parents graves if shes really in league with Prometheus. I'm hoping she's a double agent cause I don't know the thought of the female newbie being the traitor pisses me off cause god forbid it would be a male newbie 

[dtissagirl]

3 minutes ago, jay741982 said:

Can anyone clarify for me if Artemis was ever evil in the comics and she looks like a huge hypocrite working for a serial killer and being pissed at Oliver last week. Plus she's spitting on her parents graves if shes really in league with Prometheus. I'm hoping she's a double agent cause I don't know the thought of the female newbie being the traitor pisses me off cause god forbid it would be a male newbie 

The first comics Artemis was sorta evil, but then, her actual name was Artemis, and her codename was Tigress.

The second Artemis from Young Justice came from a family of villains but was a hero. Then she pretended to be evil [codename Tigress] to infiltrate an evil league of evil douches.

[thuganomics85]

I rarely go all in on predictions, but I totally think DA Chase is Vigilante.  He was the one that found out the hotel room the bank robber was in, he showed he has a bit of a dark side to him with the way he interrogated the other robber, and I thought Vigilante's voice sounded a lot like the actor who plays Chase.  So, that's my current theory about him.  Still have no clue about Prometheus though.

Speaking of which, so Evelyn/Artemis is working for Prometheus, huh?  Unless it is one elaborate con cooked up by Oliver and herself.  If not, I wonder how that all came about, and what she gets out of going against Oliver and the rest.  Interesting twist, but hopefully this will actually go somewhere, and not be a twist for the sake of one.

Hey, Rene/Wild Dog was actually tolerable and even did a good thing by helping Diggle celebrate with his son (although, why didn't Lyla find of a way to do it herself?)  Now, if he would only quit calling Felicity "Blondie".....

Oliver is so falling for Susan hard.  That's not going to end well, I suspect.

Rory continues to be awesome.

I don't know if it was on purpose, but I thought the beginning training montage with the sticks felt very off and awkward.  Not sure if it was just the actors uncomfortable with it or, again, it was showing that the newbies don't have a handle on it.  Certainly not anywhere close to the ballpark of the time Oliver, Diggle, and Sara were doing it way back in season two (ah, memories!)

Willa Holland and Paul Blackthorne are doing great work in their stuff, even if it feels a bit slow.

So, the Bratva is actually working with Kovar?  I couldn't understand that part exactly, but whatever.  Dolph Lundgren gets to beat the crap out of Oliver, so all is good.  Sorry, Oliver, but it will take more then that to take out Ivan Drogo!

[BkWurm1]

First impressions.  Mostly meh.  Not enjoying Oliver making new friends.  Don't like how studious the show was in avoiding showing Felicity's reaction to Oliver having a date.  I mean show, she's RIGHT THERE as EVERYONE else has a reaction/pokes fun.  Not showing a reaction is super awkward, even if her reaction was only to not have a reaction, show it, but as long as they are trying to set Oliver up with a LI, it's exactly what I'd expect them to pull.  Not reading anything long term into it, just finding it irritating.  As was how little Felicity really had to do in the episode.  Way to dangle that carrot of Felicity being out in the field.  If that wasn't a deliberate ploy to make me tune in I'll eat the hat.  They didn't have her do anything that she hasn't done a hundred times remotely.  

Was happy no one bought into Quentin being Prometheus.  Speaking of, didn't see Evelyn being a double agent coming, makes sense, wonder how long she has been and now I'm fine with how much I disliked her as of last week.  

The flashbacks were pretty good for Kovar.  Dolf did good.  Didn't really service Oliver's story much - he was mostly the punching bag and the reason for showing off Kovar.  Meh.

Diggle is basically leading his own platoon while Oliver gets to be lone wolf in the field.  The separation works for me. Keeps GA from feeling like just another mask. That said, I wasn't feeling all the fighting tonight.  Kind of bored by it all.

Still don't like Wild Dog.  Why woud it take his interference for Lyla to decide to bring their child to where Dig was for a private celebration?  Sorry, won't accept the dumbing down of other characters to lift his up.  No points to the Dong.  

Still hate that we don't have Baby Sara. And no, the new kid can't act.  He could barely stand to be picked up by DR. :(  

Again, did not enjoy Oliver making new friends.  Resented like hell the existence of those scenes.  He already has friends.  I want those conversations where he is seeking advice saved for the ones that actually know him.  It could have been something great and meaningful and instead, I could barely stand to watch my screen.

 At least I didn't have to see them roll around.  Small mercies.  

Ready for a bit of an Arrow break and a palate cleanser that will come in the form of a big flashy crossover after that.  

[catrox14]

So Vigilante is Adrian Chase, right?