S01.E10: Burned

[formerlyfreedom]

Oliver’s confidence is shaken after being beaten by the Dark Archer and he takes a break from being Arrow. However, when Laurel calls Arrow for help investigating a firefighter’s suspicious death, he reluctantly agrees but his hesitance while fighting almost costs him his life. Meanwhile, Tommy throws a benefit for the firefighters and Thea tries to lift Moira out of her depressive state.

 

[BkWurm1]

I don't remember much about this episode. Ok, I don't remember anything about this episode.

[Starfish35]

Oh good I'm not the only one. I don't remember this one either. :/

[icandigit]

Loved this ep. Oliver loses that thing in him that makes him jump off rooftops and chase bad guys per Diggle.

[BkWurm1]

Why?

[icandigit]

He fought  the dark archer got hurt up real bad, it put him in the hospital in the previous ep.. So this ep he's recovered physically not emotionally from it. He lets some mere non-badass take him down with barely a fight. Fear that his family could lose him again because of the life he leads. He spends time being Oliver and not the hood and helps Laurel with an investigation. Joanna's brother was a firefighter who died. This is one of my many favorite episodes. Diggle was so on point and Oliver was well Oliver.

 

And his story parallels i think Moira who's all depressed caused Walter's missing and  won't get out the mansion, hang with her kids or become CEO of QC. Very underrated episode because  but one of my favorites. And Oliver's all adorable in it. I love adorable Oliver.

Edited June 27, 2014 by icandigit

[MsSchadenfreude]

I did like seeing Oliver being unsure of whether he still had what it took to be the vigilante.  He got beat pretty bad by the Dark Archer, so it makes sense he would start to doubt himself.  Lucky for Oliver, Diggle was there.  "You can face death with something to live for or not.  Something to live for is better."

 

Every time Oliver annoys me in the present day, I should flashback to his first year on the island because he really did go through hell.  Poor guy!

 

I might feel more sympathy for Moira, if you know, she wasn't partially responsible for Walter's disappearance.

[quarks]

This episode was blocked and written after episode four had aired. This is after the showrunners realized that the general audience had pretty much the same tepid to hostile response to Laurel (and, to a lesser extent, Tommy,

who, it's difficult to remember now, didn't really become popular until later in the season)

that the San Diego audience did, and after the initial, positive response to Felicity, but before the showrunners knew how the audience would respond to Helena, or how the audience would respond to the "Felicity, you're remarkable" scene from the previous episode.

 

By this time, the showrunners knew they had a minor cult hit on their hands. And they knew that the CW was already negotiating a spinoff for CW's other cult hit, The Vampire Diaries.

 

So, after four episodes of increasingly sidelining Laurel to the point where she had little to no involvement in the main action of the last four episodes (Legacies through Year's End) and where her screentime had been drastically reduced from about 18 minutes in the second and third episodes to 3 minutes in Year's End, here we have our first attempt to rehabilitate Laurel.

 The pattern of trying to rehabilitate Laurel starting in episode 10 would repeat in the second season.

 

How'd it go, apart from creating an episode that apparently most of you can't remember? Let's see. But first:

 

1. This is probably just me and my phobia about dying in a fire, but bad guys who kill firefighters? THE WORST.

 

2. Thank you, show, for returning to shirtless Oliver. Let's make sure we have our priorities straight from now on, ok?

 

3. I like the reminder of Diggle's Interpol and other connections.

 

4. This has nothing to do with Arrow, but the guy playing the fire chief in this episode was also in The Booth at the End, a little webseries I liked.  Also, IMDB tells me, Titanic. I feel there's some meta statement to be made here but I'm missing it.

 

5. Nice, quiet scene between Oliver and Thea here, with Oliver trying to catch up on movies and Thea offering the Bora Bora explanation for Walter's disappearance. 

 

6. Awww, the irony of finally getting public recognition and kudos just as Oliver chooses to take a bit of a break.

 

7.  Oliver, if you wore a mask instead of just the hood and the eyeshadow, you wouldn't have to turn all the lights off in such a dramatic, dramatic fashion, since Laurel will NEVER recognize you that way!  

Really.

 

8. Diggle's arms the size of bowling balls. Yes, yes, show, we noticed. Make sure we keep noticing, thanks.

 

9.  You know, until the attorney pointed it out, I really hadn't realized just how unlucky the job of CEO of Queen Consolidated is.  

And it's only going to get worse. So far I count at least two murdered CEOs (three if you count Moira), one kidnapped CEO, and one CEO who hates the job so much he's always late and prefers to run around at night shooting arrows at people. Sure you really want your company back, Oliver?  

 

10.  "What did that prove?"  "That this is one sturdy desk." I like that Oliver has invested in office furniture that's not just practical, but strong enough to withhold two fighting men!

 

11. I forgot: Tommy has a nice heroic moment here, along with Diggle, getting everyone out of the burning building. 

 

12. More outside acknowledgements that the Hood/vigilante can do some good. Oliver cheers up.

 

13. And yay, island Oliver has new clothes now. Good for you, Oliver - no, wait, didn't I want to see you shirtless? Oh, show.

 

Overall a good episode.

 

And now, Laurel:

 

Laurel does have her hands down best moment in the series up til this point, when she comforts Joanna.  Also, I like her admission that she's not exactly the best example for healthy grieving.  And - for once - Diggle actually supports helping her, or at least not leaving her to face a killer alone. It's definitely her best, most likeable episode so far; it helps that she's part of the plot instead of distracting from it, and that for the most part she's actually thinking about other people.

 

That said:

 

Number of times Laurel fails as a lawyer, this episode alone, five:  1. Listening to Joanna's continuance story and failing to offer any legal advice. 2, Asking the vigilante what she should do with the information he just gave her about the pickup, the tattoo, and so on. I don't know, Laurel. You're the one who is supposed to be an attorney.  Maybe point out that you can only use evidence gathered more or less under Fourth Amendment rules? 3, During her interrogation, managing to irritate the fire chief so much that he takes off before providing any useful information, which 4, Immediately means that once again, Laurel is unable to solve this on her own and needs Oliver to step in. 4, Needing Oliver to point out to her that, whoops, not all the bodies could be identified., 5, Not asking why the hell Oliver Queen,  who didn't even know about the previous huge fire, suddenly knows that the one firefighter isn't dead. (If the Hood were doing the confrontation here, that would make sense, but this is a freaking club owner going, hey, did you know that dead firefighter? So not dead.  How Laurel does not figure things out from this episode alone is beyond me.)

 

Number of times Laurel fails as a human being, this episode, four:  1. Tommy tells her (correctly) that he wants to table the drawer conversation for a less tragedy filled day, and how does Laurel respond?  "Yeah, no. No drawer." You haven't even heard his reasons yet, Laurel! 2, Immediately telling Joanna, based on no evidence whatsoever, that her brother's death was an accident, instead of asking Joanna why she thinks it's murder. 3, Stealing the vigilante phone. It's EVIDENCE, LAUREL! Also, it's the only way the vigilante has to reach your father! Did you not think that maybe this might be important? Also, while I'm squawking, I should point out that you'd still be in touch with the vigilante if you hadn't loudly called him a killer and said you saw this in his eyes (which is probably one reason, along with her bolting out of the room post their kiss, that Oliver's all, you know, the Laurel/Tommy thing? I'm good with it. Really.). 4, Lying to Tommy. Ok, granted, they aren't at drawer stage yet, but Tommy is aware that Laurel has agreed to help out Joanna, and as far as we know Tommy is neutral on the whole vigilante thing.

 

Number of times Laurel is wrong even when she's not trying to be wrong: 1. Her comment to Joanna about how she needed to believe that Sara's death wasn't just an accident. Actually, Laurel, it wasn't - the boat was sabotaged. And you never figured that out, so - actually this probably belonged in the Number of times Laurel fails as a lawyer column, but I'll leave it here. 

 

Number of people who comment negatively on the Laurel/Oliver relationship, two: 1, Quentin correctly pointing out that stealing a phone just so you can talk to a guy, not the best way to go, 2, Laurel, more seriously, explaining that she and Oliver spooked each other, and why.  

 

(Also, Oliver's all like, "Give Tommy a drawer!" So. Er. I suppose we could wank this by saying that Oliver is asking because he's hoping Laurel will hint - again - that she doesn't want to give Tommy a drawer because she's still interested in Oliver or the Hood, but it didn't really play out that way for me.)

 

(Also, Sara continually referenced throughout this episode, as a reminder of the issues here.)

 

Having said that, this is one of their best episodes as a couple - Oliver even mentions her - after his family - as someone he's let in after his return from the island. They have a couple of decent moments together, and actually more or less work together to solve the crime.

 

More or less - because on closer look, Laurel doesn't actually solve anything or provide any new information to help solve the case.  The only thing she does is serve to get initial information from Joanna over to Oliver. Otherwise, she fails to recognize that the deaths could be murder to begin with (that's Joanna); fails to find information leading to the killer (that's Oliver); fails to find out anything in her "interrogation" (Oliver learns something, but only because he was on the island during that period) and fails to identify the killer until Oliver points the killer out to her.

 

In many ways, this is narratively necessary: after all, the overall point of this episode is to get Oliver back into the vigilante business after Malcolm Merlyn defeated him, and convince Oliver that he isn't a worthless human being.  Having said that, this episode manages to do this while allowing Thea, not Oliver, to get Moira out of her funk. I can't even really give Laurel credit for getting Oliver back on track here - that's mostly Joanna, by bringing this up at all and suggesting the vigilante, and later Diggle. And the episode needs to show Oliver that he's valuable, and us that Oliver can figure things out (that's going to be very necessary later in the season.)

 

But the end result is that even one of Laurel's best episodes, placing her at the center of the episode, still manages to leave her looking marginalized and unnecessary.

 

This may be what the writers are talking about when they say that it's more fun to write for Laurel now that she knows: it's very difficult to allow Laurel to triumph - which is a big problem on a superhero show - when she's only sorta working with the Hood.  Felicity and Diggle can figure things out since they're right next to Oliver and working with him, making this is a team effort that supports Oliver; Laurel's kinda in opposition. We'll see how this goes. 

 

Edited July 4, 2014 by quarks

[formerlyfreedom]

I had two notes after watching this episode;

 

1. Was the kill on the island Oliver's first human kill? I think it was.
2. More shirtless Diggle. (Yes, I'm shallow!)

[statsgirl]

Great bumper sticker on the truck:  Be Safe At Night. Sleep With a Fireman.

 

One of my least favourite episodes, and I hated the conclusion where he walks back into the fire and dies.  What I did like is Diggle pushing Oliver back into his groove. Oliver is so using Walter's disappearance as a way to avoid doing Hood stuff, and Diggle is practically stuffing him into his leathers.  Nice continuity, because that's what Diggle said he would do for him when he signed on.

 

I also like Thea kicking Moira's ass to get back to work. (parallel!)  And I want Moira's suit.

 

And then there's the 'A' story.  sigh.

Why did the fire investigation team not connect the turpentine on the outfit with the lack of turpentine in the warehouse?  Are they as incompetent as the DA's office?

 

The guy playing the fire chief was in an episode of House playing a mob lawyer with a closeted brother.

 

Way to dismiss Joannah's  idea, Laurel.  You told yourself myths when Sara died and so Joanna is too? It's always about you.

 

Laurel calls the Hood and he comes running. But..." I didn't trust that you'd come. Where have you been?"  Social chit-chat before the mission.

How is she going to fit into the team?

  And Oliver is pouting because Laurel thinks he's a killer.  I am so over their completely dysfunctional relationship.

 

"That guy needed a swift kick in his lazy ass."  I love Tommy. 

I wish he had stopped trying to save Laurel from falling apart buildings though.

 

"I am not exactly the best example for healthy living"  Startling self-awareness from Laurel.

 

Oliver tells Laurel what he's found out and she replies "What shall I do with this information?"  Seriously?  What kind of a lawyer and cop's daughter are you?  Are you sure you want to end up with her, Oliver?  And then she does one thing and gives up and ask him for help again.

Hey Oliver, if you need help, I know of a couple of blondes who aren't going to need you to hold their hands before they do some serious investigative work.

 

 

Didn't Laurel tell Oliver that she was moving past him last episode?  How many times do I have to sit through this conversation?  I am so completely over their dysfunctional relationship... oh, I already said that.  Did someone really think this push/pull would make me root for them as a couple?  Also, she's so helpless in terms of solving the puzzle with him that's it's really irritating.

 

Oliver, at least go around the corner so Laurel can't see you when she's talking on the phone to the vigilante.

 

I am so with Quentin bugging the phone and giving it back to Laurel. At least someone in the Lance family thinks.

Edited July 4, 2014 by statsgirl

[VCRTracking]

I was distracted mostly that the fire chief was Jack Dawson's Italian buddy on Titanic.

Edited July 5, 2014 by VCRTracking

[BkWurm1]

Just watched it and this, so much this!

Not asking why the hell Oliver Queen, who didn't even know about the previous huge fire, suddenly knows that the one firefighter isn't dead. (If the Hood were doing the confrontation here, that would make sense, but this is a freaking club owner going, hey, did you know that dead firefighter? So not dead. How Laurel does not figure things out from this episode alone is beyond me.)

I'm watching and suddenly Oliver is flinging all these pointed questions at the Fire Chief right in front of Laurel and as far as Laurel knew, Oliver should know nothing and not have a clue why she's digging. That the Arrow gets credit for figuring this out is beyond me.

Oh and about that. The whole club is going up in flames, the evil firefighter has shown up to confront the Fire Chief, who incidentally really didn't do anything wrong and Oliver takes off, runs down the stairs to the secret lair, takes the time to totally change his whole outfit and the runs back upstairs. Fire Chief should have been toast. I also laugh that the news show later gives credit to the Hood for saving many lives when only the Chief was a risk. Everyone else got out. Well, Tommy and Laurel thought Oliver was still in there but that's never addressed.

It's an interesting episode. Laurel comes off kind of mean to Tommy and not at all appreciative of his fundraiser, but otherwise she's more approachable with the Hood and her friends but her softer personality comes with a big side of Dumb. It's like she didn't know how to do anything without someone else giving specific instructions. Joanna hands the whole case to her. Except for swiping the phone, getting shot down by the Fire Chief, what did she even do? Why did they write her like this?

My other pet peeve with the episode was poor Thea. Yes it's great that Thea got Moira to get out of the house but Thea's speech was a cry to Moira to be her mother again and all Moira did was decide to go to work and put on a good face for the company.

Edited July 28, 2014 by BkWurm1

[hammaboo]

On my first run of this series - not sure how I managed to miss the show before now. 

 

The ending, where the guy walks into the fire - how did he catch fire so fast?  He hadn't sprayed himself with the turpentine as far as I could tell - I thought he'd only sprayed the Chief?  Or are we to assume that because he had the turpentine container on him, he would just catch easily?  Because isn't fireman apparel typically fire retardant at a minimum?  Seemed like an easy out for the show.

[Ottis]

Overall a good episode.

 

 

I am binge watching Season One, and this has been the worst, most awkward episode IMO. Like it came from a different series.

[Wayward Son]

• I thought Stephen Amell did a good job of portraying Oliver’s anxiety and general discomfort throughout the episode. His speech to Diggle about finding it harder to fight now he had something to live for was well delivered and kudos to the writer who wrote it in the first place. 

• Laurel was a delight in this one. Her best scene of the episode was her comforting Joanna and acknowledging she did not have the healthiest coping mechanisms while grieving for Sara. 

• I dislike Laurel’s dad. Using your own daughter like that is a douche move. 

• Are we supposed to feel sorry for Moira because I honestly don’t since she’s involved with shady Barrowman and his shady dealings.

 

Overall, a good episode! The case of the week was a bit meh, but the emotional beats of getting Oliver back in the game saved it from being boring :) 

Edited March 16, 2018 by Wayward Son

[bijoux]

I found this episode to be a let down because things were really getting into the swing of it before and the winter finale went out on such a high note. And then this. Kind of felt like things came to a (boring) halt. I remember liking the rest though pretty much throughout. Not every single storyline, but the episodes felt pretty focused for the remainder of the season to me 

[statsgirl]

12 hours ago, Wayward Son said:

• Are we supposed to feel sorry for Moira because I honestly don’t since she’s involved with shady Barrowman and his shady dealings.

Moira is a very complex, grey character.  I think you're supposed to feel disgusted with her about her involvement with Malcolm and yet she loves Walter and is terrified what's going to happen to him for good reason.  Susanna Thompson is one of the best actors on the show and the more you know about her, the more it's hard to pigeonhole Moira.

[catrox14]

1 hour ago, statsgirl said:

Moira is a very complex, grey character.  I think you're supposed to feel disgusted with her about her involvement with Malcolm and yet she loves Walter and is terrified what's going to happen to him for good reason.  Susanna Thompson is one of the best actors on the show and the more you know about her, the more it's hard to pigeonhole Moira.

My Queen.

[BkWurm1]

Yeah, I remember going through a lot of emotions about Moira through the season and the series.  She was always interesting to be sure.  

[KenyaJ]

21 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

My Queen.

For. Ever.

 

Every time I watch a S1 or S2 episode, I want to weep for what we've lost, especially the Moira/Felicity mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship we'll never get to see.

Edited March 17, 2018 by KenyaJ

[Morrigan2575]

4 hours ago, bijoux said:

I found this episode to be a let down because things were really getting into the swing of it before and the winter finale went out on such a high note. And then this. Kind of felt like things came to a (boring) halt. I remember liking the rest though pretty much throughout. Not every single storyline, but the episodes felt pretty focused for the remainder of the season to me 

Starting a long line of post winter blues ?

[tv echo]

Felicity did not appear in this episode - and I again didn't transcribe much...

110 (Burned) – Oliver Queen’s voiceover intro:
Oliver (voiceover): "My name is Oliver Queen. For five years I was stranded on an island with only one goal... survive. Now I will fulfill my father's dying wish... to use a list of names he left me, to bring down those who are poisoning my city. To do this, I must become someone else. I must become something else."

[tv echo]

110 (Burned) - DELETED SCENE: Oliver takes Diggle to the Queen family's bank vault to get money:
(Female bank teller opens secured pass-coded door to bank vault.)
Oliver: "So, Maureen, how are the dance lessons coming?"
Maureen: "Not bad, though it's so kind of you to remember, Mr. Queen."
Oliver: "Oh, it's completely selfish of me. I'm always looking for somebody to tango with."
Maureen: "Well, here you go. Just call when you're done." 
Oliver: "Will do."
(Maureen leaves the vault.)
Diggle: "So all of this is your cash?"
Oliver: "In this bank." (Throws bank bag to Diggle)
Diggle: "What am I supposed to do with this?"
Oliver: "Fill it."
Diggle: "Okay."
(They start taking stacks of cash bills from the shelves in the vault and putting them into bags.)

Edited February 11, 2020 by tv echo

[bijoux]

Well, that scene certainly wouldn't have harmed this dud of an episode. It was such a disappointment when it came after a string of episodes in which things really started to fall into place. 

[Featherhat]

I've never seen that deleted scene, thank you. 

I watched this episode over the weekend because it's one I don't think I've rewatched much at all and now I remember why. Fire plots make me leary anyway and I remembered it had a lot of Laurel and Oliver/Laurel/Tommy/Hood stuff. 

It's interesting to see Oliver dealing with PTSD from his fight with Malcolm and how that so severely shook his confidence because he's never been beaten like that before. Interesting to see Dig go from "you're crazy ass killer but you need me to be your moral guide" to "get you ass back out their and go do some good, stop moping!" I loved the "whatever's in your heart that lets you jump off buildings....." speech. 

Hah, even The Hood is getting snarky about Laurel blowing hot and cold on whether he's a good guy or a bad guy 3 times an episode. Though in fairness to her, he's at his most trigger happy in 1A and Oliver is also doing a push me pull me thing but it never helped sell me on their connection or relationship. At least Quentin is consistent within an episode. Meanwhile Tommy is doing his best right now to prove he's changed and deserves a drawer and be there for her and Joanna and she's basically, Tommy Who? Not that he should automatically get a drawer or she shouldn't have worries but Oliver had to lobby for Tommy to get one. That should have told them all right there how f'ed up they were being. Laurel claims that she jumps in first and doesn't do slow (like Oliver) which is why she didn't want the drawer to become a life in the blink of an eye and claims that's what "spooked" their relationship. I'd agree she did that about certain legal cases and definitely Insta!Canary but that's the first and last time that could be said about their relationship pre Gambit. Even in the episodes surrounding this one. 

I liked Joanna. She existed solely to be a sounding board for Laurel and this is the only ep she got to do something different and I liked that Laurel (and other characters in general) had friends outside Team Arrow in S1. Annie Ilonzeh was too good to be a longterm tertiary character on this show. But Laurel, you were on the right track about The Gambit, you should have kept digging. Always cracks me up pre Sara's return when they talk about thinking it was deliberate and what they would do to save her given the chance. Laurel brought up Sara's memory more times in S1 than they had conversations when she returned. Over seven seasons and two shows. 

Danny Nucci was in Arrow, I completely forgot this. 

You are trying Flashback Oliver, failing but you are trying.

[tv echo]

(Hermandat)

Edited February 18, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

One more...

110 (Burned) – Oliver and Laurel discuss Tommy’s request for drawer space at Laurel’s apartment:
Oliver: "Speaking of Tommy, he told me that you're being very protective of your drawers. This is not a fancy term for your underwear."
Laurel: "Are you and I seriously having this discussion?"
Oliver: "Well, we're friends."
Laurel: "Yes, Tommy asked for a drawer."
Oliver: "And this is bad?"
Laurel: "No. It's just I'm an all-or-nothing type of girl. First it's a drawer, then it's a closet, half my rent, it's half my life. Am I really ready to do that with Tommy?"
Oliver: "You could take it slow."
Laurel: "I don't take things slow, remember? I close my eyes and I jump. Just like you. I think that's why we spooked each other. Our feelings, our fears, they control us. It's not the other way around. You know?"
Oliver: "Yeah."

Edited March 2, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

110 (Burned) - DELETED SCENE: Oliver takes Diggle to the Queen family's bank vault to get money:

On 2/18/2020 at 9:29 AM, tv echo said:

(Hermandat)

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by tv echo