Arrow (TV Series) Brotherhood (2015) User Reviews

Light's day.

[martijn-wow · 8/10 · 19 November 2015]

So we start off by saying that this episode was better than the previous one. It felt like I was watching Arrow again and not a random drama series where everyone was whining about everything and nothing.

This episode was focused on following Ghost and try to interrupt any plans they were trying to accomplish. We found out that Diggle's dead brother is not so dead again. That is the only problem I have with this series, nothing stays dead apparently. So Diggle's brother Andy is in Ghost. Probably drugged so he will follow Damian's orders not matter what. We saw that in a scene where Damian gave some random citizens on a dock some yellow pills.

So Diggle knowing now that his brother is alive, he is a bit upset about that. Quite understandable figuring out that your brother is alive after 8 years. Well I would be a bit upset as well, no matter what the excuse is. Team Arrow wants to help Diggle by offering to capture Andy and figure out what really happened. Diggle did not want that all, he gave up on him as he of course also found out the truth about who his brother really is. At the end they did indeed capture Andy and Diggle wanted to know if everything is true about the file that he read about him. A simple 'yes' came out and that was it.

We finally had some Oliver Queen as the Mayor scenes. A few moments after his speech about the Star City Police Department. Damian Darhk came to Oliver. Darhk not knowing that Oliver is the Arrow and was just talking to him as mayor was pretty awesome to see. Of course you saw that Oliver was a little shocked because he was talking to the enemy right now. They had a little talk about the city's future plans and Damian right on top threatened Oliver by not (re)-opening the bay. Oliver did consider that option.

Back to the base of Team Arrow. Diggle and Oliver just came back from a mission together to try and stop Ghost once again/ taking Andy. Oliver almost died. They had an argument together and Diggle came up with a really good idea. If we want to take out Damian we have to do it in light's day. After the last fighting scene Oliver told Diggle that he is going to do that. But he was not telling him how, he'll see. And we saw it. Mayor Queen re-opened the Bay in light's day. Damian was there as well while Queen was giving his speech about that he will not stop fighting for this city. If I were Damian, I would think now that Oliver Queen is The Green Arrow.

So on to Thea. We finally gave her a purpose I guess. Thea's blood lust was a bit boring until Malcolm, her father showed up. He gave her some papers with a name from a pedophile that had to be killed. Thea's answer was a straight no and threatened her father that she will call the police if he he shows up again. So after the last fight in this episode Thea was fighting with some Ghost members (including Andy) she knocked him out. She turned around a corner and there he was, Damian Darhk. The first time in this season where these 2 characters met each other (i think). Damian knows that Malcolm is her father and that Malcolm is the new Ra's Ah Gul. They did not fight, Damian did however grabbed Thea at her throat and then something beautiful happened! Damian released her because apparently when he touched her, something happened to him. You saw him turn around and you saw that was something wrong with him. I can't really explain what I saw, sorry about that. Thea now asked her father to come and help her. She thinks that she found out how to contain her blood lust without killing people.

We also saw a little ATOM action! Two words for it: Freaking Awesome. Can't wait till Legends of Tomorrow where we will see more ATOM Action/ Ray Palmer scenes.

Oh yeah! we also had the flashbacks. Still not interesting in my opinion.

Some + and - points!

+ Diggle emotional scenes.

+ Thea's Bloodlust and Malcolm.

+ ATOM action scenes.

+ Queen as the Mayor speeches.

• The Flashbacks

I will give this episode a 8.2/10

Even Death's Not Permanent

[ThomasDrufke · 7/10 · 18 November 2015]

After a trio of great Arrow episodes the past few weeks, Brotherhood was definitely a bit of a step back, though still an enjoyable episode. Brotherhood was directed by James Bamford, a famous stunt coordinator for many Arrow episodes, including some of my favorites, and plenty of other projects. Normally, that transition between a stunt coordinator and a full on director is a rough one, but it's clear that Bamford had a knack for it along with the likelihood that he had a ton of help.

The important thing is that this episode was fun to watch. The fights were easily the best of the season. Which come to think of it, there haven't been a lot of memorable fights so far. I loved the way Bamford and the camera men moved the camera between and throughout shots. Everything in that area was well handled. Plus, it made for some superhero team ups in the field. There were several fights in which we got to spend time with every hero. Even ATOM joined in on the fun at one point.

But the bulk of the episode was centered upon brotherhood and the different types of brotherly bonds this show offers. It's back to back weeks now that we have had great bonding between Diggle and Oliver. It was interesting to see the roles reversed and have Oliver be the voice of reason for Diggle in giving his brother a second chance. Then of course we had the dynamic between Diggle and surprise surprise his brother Andy, still alive. I have to admit, seeing that the episode description entitled a 'shocking revelation', I was a little let down that it was only his brother being alive. But who knows, perhaps the writers have an interesting story line up their sleeves.

Going after Digs brother meant another HIVE centric episode. I'm obviously intrigued by the presence of Damien Darhk in central city, but I have yet to be blown away by anything he's done. I try not to compare, but it only took a matter of a few scenes for Zoom to impress on The Flash. I think the fact that Darhk is unable to take down Thea presumably because she's been dipped in the pit is interesting, but I just want to know more. Although, the possible history with him and Malcom is definitely something to look forward to. Anything with John Barrowman, I'm in.

Speaking of Thea, is she going to get into legal trouble for beating the crap out of that guy at the bar? I know she mentioned that to the campaign manager but there were plenty of witnesses there to see. To me, it was just another rehash of the same old same old with Thea. At least Thea may be fully cured soon.

Onto the other Queen, Oliver continued his campaign for Mayor giving a few speeches at a few events. I have to say, it was good to see a public event like that not end in gunfire or a mirakuru outrage. Otherwise, it was a nice addition having Oliver and Darhk 'meet' for the first time. Definitely a different dynamic from Queen and Sebastian Blood a few years back.

I guess I should briefly mention the flashbacks and how bland they are. Seriously, I know they are boring and uneventful but does anybody else think all the actors on the island are overcooking it? It just feels like they are in an entirely different show when they go to the island. Plus, I think there's a better way to show Oliver's transition to a cold blooded killer than showing him repeatedly whipping a guy.

In all, not a whole lot happened tonight, but there was still some fun scenes and we got a great performance from David Ramsey, who has always been underutilized in Arrow. The show itself this year has been pretty good, but hasn't really taken that risk or done that WTF moment like they usually do. But with the crossover up next, my expectations will be much higher.

+Ramsey

+Fantastic action/stunts

+Full team in the field, even ATOM

+Potential Malcom vs Darhk

-Island

-Thea material

-Darhk has yet to impress me

7.5/10

New style of combat!

[ryanbrandon57 · 9/10 · 21 November 2015]

I personally feel that season 4 of Arrow (so far) has been a big improvement on season 3. This episode has took Arrow to an all new and more exciting level, especially in terms of the fighting and action scenes. The action/fighting choreography, cinematography and direction within this episode is not only visually and technically superior but also portrays these DC superheroes as the badass's that they are supposed to be. In previous seasons the fighting never really possessed any real flair that we have come to expect and demand from are favourite on screen superheroes, however now Arrows combat is closer to the fighting scenes within Netflix's Daredevil, Kick-ass and to some degree Captain America: Winter soldier. Despite the clear inspiration from the Marvel world it feels unique and original, the good guys get hit more, attacks feel more painful and the way its filmed and edited together all compliment the choreography to create the best action scenes I have seen from a CW TV show.

The episode overall felt fresh and less in the style of 'one tree hill', which some of Arrows earlier episodes are guilty of. In my opinion this is a big step in the right direction and if the creators of Arrow run with this new style the show could reach new heights that many people would not of thought possible considering the fluctuating quality of the TV show overall.

This was a great episode (excluding Oliver's speech. Speeches in this show have always fallen short as they are not long enough or written well enough to seem inspirational, they also seem a tad awkward because the audiences always give an unrealistically over-enthusiastic response).

Nevertheless, with these changes, my excitement and need for more Arrow has multiplied tenfold.

The Opening Sequence

[sam-slipknot · 6/10 · 18 November 2015]

Arrow has gone town the drain. Season 4 episode 5 was one of the best episodes I've seen story wise but the production was really lacking, last episode was boring filler and I'm only one minute into this episode (S4 E7) and the opening fighting sequence is so badly arranged and full of clichés - including ones that the show itself has used before - that there is no suspense, no interest.

*Spoiler Alert*

It starts with Laurel using her 'Canary Cry' and you see some glass break and these 2 guys start overacting the hell out of the pain they supposedly feel. Also, for the first time in this scene a guy points his gun at somebody he has full intentions of killing but hesitated for literally no reason. There's no point whatsoever. Next, Oliver and Thea show up on their bikes but they enter the scene so slowly that you could tell they'd just got on like 5 seconds ago. They did not look heroic, they did not look like they were entering a fight sequence. They actually just looked so damn bored. So this line of bad guys with automatic weaponry start shooting at them and they hide behind their bikes. I usually wouldn't gripe about this because henchmen with bad aim is basically a given these days, but Thea just sort of jogs from behind her cover of the bike to behind some kind of crate. She doesn't run like she's being shot at, she jogs like she was rushing to the kitchen because mum shouted 'dinners ready'. Then we get to Laurels martial arts exchange with a henchman and boy is it a treat. Even setting aside the fact that we know she can best several of these bad guys at once in a matter of seconds, as we've seen it before, yet she takes an entire 10 second to bash this one guy (who you could tell was reacting from the hits before they contacted). Then, for the second time in less than 40 seconds, somebody points a gun at Laurel, and even though he has absolutely no reason not to shoot her instantly, giver just enough time for Dig to back up a car into him and save her. That guy would have shot her instantly given the time. Is it really too hard to have 2 things happen in one shot at the same time? (Also, you can't hear the the vehicle back up or move at all or shot for some reason. That's just poor sound design. And of course Laurel proceeds to tell Dig why they're there, even though as a team they would obviously know why they are there, especially as they're in full costume and obviously planned this in some way. And then to top it all off the first bit of action we see from Thea is tackling a guy who's getting up (after getting hit with a van) and heading for Dig (after getting hit with a van) and Dig even runs right past this guy who's obviously going for him (after getting hit with a van...) when he could have taken him down right there and then without even barely moving an inch to the right. And all of that happens within the first minute of the episode (excluding the "Previously on..." part). Then Thea does the whole bloodlust thing that happens EVERY DAMN TIME that she fights lately. it's not interesting or entertaining to see her wail on somebody for a bit too long before she comes to her senses. Next on the agenda, Oliver shoots some guy in the chest with an arrow. How is his no killing policy successful if he's constantly shooting people in chest with arrows. I mean I know he's meant to be some sort of master of anatomy so he can shoot in the right places to avoid killing or something, but I've seen these shots. He shoots half of them in the lung. Not only that but just before he shoots everybody in the scene is standing there practically standstill, especially Oliver. You can tell the video editor left the shot opening way too long. Then some crap about Hive blowing up the money just so the town didn't have it happens... We already know that they want the city to be helpless, with the whole 'stopping anybody from legitimately running for mayor' play, so this scene it literally pointless except for some action, which I'm all for if it's done well, which this was not.

(This is the first in a series of reviews I will be writing where I will simply be analysing and judging the opening scenes from various television show episodes and films. THE RATING of 6 I HAVE CAST IS IN REVIEW OF THE ENTIRE EPISODE, NOT JUST THE OPENING SEQUENCE.)