This week’s episode of Arrow, “The Promise,” was written by the team of Jake Coburn and Ben Sokolowski and directed by Glen Winter. The episode takes place primarily in flashback and contains possibly the most intense action scenes yet on the show. The episode is wonderfully structured and blocked to heighten the tension of the present day plot. The episode marks the first time that Oliver donned the hood in Shado’s memory and Slade the deathstroke mask. It also has Arrow’s first trick arrow – the flaming arrow!
The flashbacks tell the story of how Slade (Manu Bennett) and Oliver (Stephen Amell) became enemies and the promise that Slade made five years ago. This, of course, is the promise of the title. The opening shot on the Island shows how far Oliver has come in his training though he’s still not quite the Arrow we know now. I loved that he missed the first shot to hit the pyre and then blamed it on there being a breeze. Even better was the smile of pure pride on his face when he made the shot the second time. By the time Oliver is fighting his way to the bridge, he is no longer bothered by distraction, he’s focused on survival.
Sara (Caity Lotz) once again used her scientific knowledge in developing the antidote for the truth serum. Clearly this is not going to be the one off that people had feared last week when she was able to help with Tockman’s blood. I admit that I felt a little bad for Slade being lied to but, of course, he lies blatantly to Sara and Oliver about destroying the mirakuru. It was a nice touch to have them toast with the same Rum that he brought to Moira (Susanna Thompson) in the present. There’s a nice juxtaposition of the two trios, Slade and Oliver with Sara/Moira – who are both blondes.
Oliver’s guilt over Shado’s (Celina Jade) is clear to see. Both Ivo (Dylan Neal) and Slade recognize and play on it. It was nice to see the cameo from Jade even if it was just a manifestation of Oliver’s guilt through his dream. In some ways, Sara proves herself to be a much more astute judge of character than Oliver, she recognizes that Slade can no longer be trusted and she knows that Ivo needs to be silenced before he can get in both Oliver and Slade’s heads.
I have to admit that while I hoped it was a ruse, at first I thought that Oliver had actually been captured and subjected to the truth serum and given away the whole plan. And yes, I did wonder where they’d suddenly gotten a raft. I loved the scene in which Sara tells Oliver that he’ll have to act stoned and he replies that it’s a good thing he had lots of practice at that before. My one quibble with this episode is that I thought them dropping that accurately on the deck was pretty implausible – and I do know that parachutes can be that precise, but I don’t believe relying on wind from a cliff would have done it. Regardless, I did love Lotz’s delivery of please tell me you’ve done this before, and Bennett’s reply of no one has. Lotz actually reminded me a lot of Emily Bett Rickard in the first episode this season when Oliver saves her from the mine on the Island.
It’s interesting to see the differing perspectives between the three as they prepare for the fight. When they toast, Sara says, “to taking the freighter” – she wants to neutralize the threat. Oliver says, “to getting off the Island” – he’s focused on getting home. Slade says, “to Shado” – he’s all about revenge. Oliver wants his family to know that he’s grown into a better person. Sara wants her family to remember her as she was and has Oliver promise to tell them she died on the Gambit – a promise we know that he kept. I have to wonder if this is the point at which the two were split up again and whether we won’t see more of Sara with Oliver in flashbacks. Perhaps the saddest moment is when Slade says to Oliver, we started as strangers and now we’re brothers. Oliver, of course, is so choked by guilt that he can’t even respond to Slade and it’s a nicely acted scene.
The fight scenes on the freighter were magnificent. It’s hard to believe that James Bamford’s stunt team managed to out do themselves again, but they did. Of course, it was hard to disguise the fact that their body language somewhat gave away that the stunt team was also have a blast – in the non-explosive way too!
I did have one other small quibble – how did Sara swim all the way back to the Island without once checking that Oliver was in the water with her? She is now in the company of Hendrick (Artine Brown) who tried to kill her, Reverend Thomas Flynn (James Pizzinato) who saved her from Hendrick, and Anatoli (David Nykl) who we last saw in Russia in episode six of this season. I’m going to hope that Abraham, Flynn’s mouse, also managed to get off the freighter – or that Oliver is protecting him.
Oliver is captured by Slade who now blames Oliver for Shado’s death because Oliver chose Sara even though Ivo pulled the trigger. Slade takes over the ship – seemingly not even flinching when he’s shot, and kills Ivo. We do learn that Ivo’s real motivation in wanting the mirakuru was not to save the world, but to save his wife Jessica who has seemingly lost her mind.
Slade does not grant Oliver the mercy of an easy death. Instead he tells Oliver that “you cannot die until you have suffered as I have, til you have known complete despair.” I suspect that the next flashbacks will not be pleasant ones for Oliver.
Amell is terrific in the present scenes as he essentially stalks Slade stalking his family. These were beautifully shot scenes with Oliver alone in the frame with other characters more closely clustered. I loved how Amell’s face once again becomes the shut off one that we were used to seeing in season one. The tension is palpable just from his body language. There is a beautifully framed shot in which Oliver is seated across from Moira and Slade. Oliver is perched on the edge of his seat while they are lounging comfortably in theirs. Bennett is fantastic as he clearly savours every moment that he can discomfit Oliver.
We’ve grown used to seeing a confident Oliver take charge in a number of situations, including as CEO of Queen Consolidated, so it was interesting to watch him act deferentially to Slade and like a younger sibling. Oliver attempts to stab Slade, but Slade easily stops him. I had to feel that at least part of Oliver’s hesitation comes from his on-going guilt over Shado.
I loved Oliver covertly calling the lair and having the whole team mobilize to save him and his family. It was great to see Roy (Colton Haynes) trying to learn to shoot and Sara tell him not to worry, “Ollie makes it look easy” – especially from the perspective of what we now know he went through to get that ease. So, now we also know that Sara and Roy have met officially in the lair. I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t get that scene to be honest.
It was great teamwork for them to piece together exactly what they were hearing – Roy recognizes Thea (Willa Holland) but it’s Sara who recognizes Slade and the danger. Each member then does what they do best. Felicity stays behind to hold down the fort. Sara warns Diggle (David Ramsey) to take the shot if he gets it. She tells them both that “Slade Wilson is dangerous. No chances. No mistakes.” Sara is worried about Roy’s ability to hold it together – and it makes sense that Sara would be brought into the loop with Roy because of her expertise with the mirakuru.
I loved the scene in which Slade slowly finds himself surrounded by Oliver’s team. The handshake between Slade and Roy really rivalled the one between Oliver and Slade. Slade even compliments Roy on his particularly firm handshake. Haynes does a great job letting the pain on his face show after Slade turns his back. Clearly, Slade is a match for Roy.
Slade looked somewhat surprised to see Sara show up, but quickly regained his composure even as he and Sara exchanged looks. He refers to her as the girl who came back from the dead and remarks that it’s hard to find that special someone who means everything to you. This is of course, only one of several veiled references he makes about Shado. When Moira asks if he’s married, he says that the someone special in his life passed away. He tells Thea that it’s an obligation to honor the memory of those we’ve lost. When Slade brings up the death of Robert, seemingly by accident, he comments that Oliver was a brave soul and that the five years on the Island must have been Hell for him. It is clearly a veiled – or not so veiled – threat that that time on the Island is going to seem like nothing compared to the Hell Slade is about to put him through.
However short lived, it was a nice moment to see Oliver surrounded by his team, smile as he got the upper hand for a moment. He asks Slade what he’d like to do next. Slade opts for a tactical retreat, but he knows that he’s safe to leave, having left someone to knock Diggle out to prevent him from taking the shot. Slade delivers his promise again, and we see that his entire mission had been to put cameras all over the Queen mansion.
The final scene with Moira really made me want to hand her over to Slade. Thompson does a brilliant job making Moira completely unlikeable in that final scene. She seems to pick up on Oliver’s somewhat juvenile behavior and scolds him like a child. I can’t wait for her to find out what Slade is really like. Clearly, she is attracted to a type! I also hope that Oliver simply washes his hands of her campaign at this point as well. It would actually be pretty ironic if he threw his support back behind Blood.
What did you think of the episode? Did you like the reveal of Slade’s promise to Oliver? Who do you think will be the first to fall victim to Slade’s plans? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
