The Arrow Crew. (From left) Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Stephen Amell, Collin Donnel, and Katie Cassidy

This week’s episode of Arrow, “Honor Thy Father” brought us a stark reminder of what sets Mister Arrow apart from the Caped Crusader: he’s not afraid to kill some random badguys. In addition to the henchman slaying antics of Green Arrow, we also got: bipolar Ollie! One minute he’s sad, the next he’s a porkymouth, then he’s ice cold! And… mysterious island stuff!

Overall, however, the episode tread a lot of ground that’s been covered by the many versions of Batman in recent years, with occasional sprinkles of new, unique goodness topped on. I, for one, hope the writers feel emboldened enough to break the mold a little more and move away from the traditional superhero shenanigans to focus on the more unique elements of Arrow.

 Spoilers below!

The show opened with several scenes of people griping at Ollie: his mom and bodyguard both telling him to be more careful and his ex-girlfriend Laurel giving him a retaliatory brush off thanks to the brush off he dealt her last week. Later, Ollie takes a brief break to do some superheroing and threatens a local crimelord (who shall henceforth be referred to as SlimeBeard, as he has both a slimy demeanor and a beard). After hanging SlimeBeard upside down and telling him to get out of town, he comes home to his sister, Thea, who tries to get him to open up and, when he doesn’t, she, too jumps on the Hatin’ On Ollie bandwagon. Cut the guy a break, people! He’s been on a deserted island for five years. It may take him a while to adjust back to the real world.

Cut the guy a break, people! He’s been on a deserted island for five years. It may take him a while to adjust back to the real world.

Meanwhile, Laurel the lawyer’s dad, Det. Quentin Lance, tells her to let someone else handle the case against SlimeBeard. Like any good sassy lawyer, she declines, and, like any good dad, Det. Lance worries about her. After Laurel and her pops argue a bit he leaves, and Ollie comes over to apologize for being so cold to her by bringing ice cream. Ice cream, Ollie? Are you guys gonna paint each other’s nails and talk about boys, too? I suppose we’ll never know, because partway through their ice cream/gossipfest they’re attacked by SlimeBeard’s men, headed up by a white-haired assassin lady, whom I shall refer to as Evil Storm. Evil Storm and Ollie’s bodyguard John throw down and Ollie saves bodyguard John from Evil Storm at the last moment. The cops show up, she flees, and Det. Lance takes this as an opportunity to also gripe at Ollie. Man, people just don’t seem to like this guy.

Ollie and Thea bond a bit over Daddy Queen’s headstone, and she tells him of how she used to talk to his headstone when she thought he was dead, and how it was easier talking to him then than it is now that he’s alive. Yowch!

Ollie, Green Arrow-ified.

Furious over SlimeBeard’s henchman’s attack, Ollie gets Green Arrow-ified and heads to SlimeBeard’s hideout to take him down. After slaying a few anonymous henchmen, each of whom probably had an anonymous henchfamily, Ollie gets a confession from SlimeBeard about his criminal activities and then throws down against Evil Storm, but their fight is cut short by the untimely arrival of the police. Det. Lance catches Ollie, but he Batmans out of there, although not before turning over SlimeBeard’s confession.

At the end of the episode, Ollie spends some time at his father’s grave, apologizing to him for the fake, asinine way he has to behave in order for people to keep their distance from him and let him get his Green Arrow on.

Finally, throughout the episode we get several flashbacks of Ollie on the island, dealing with burying his father’s body. At the end of the episode, he finds a mysterious, symbol-laden notebook in his pop’s belongings, and is promptly arrow’d by a hooded figure who looks an awful lot like Ollie’s alter-ego.

Oh, and Momma Queen is in leagues with a shadowy, limo-dwelling person who has the same symbol as Poppa Queen’s mysterious notebook. DUM DUM DUMMM!

Arrow, airing Wednesday nights at 8/7c on the CW.

Oh, and win yourself an Arrow hoodie.