After an uneven third episode, the fifth season of the CW’s Arrow feels like it’s getting back on track again with Penance. It’s easy to say that this is because the superb Chad Coleman is back as supervillain gangster Tobias Church. But he’s actually barely in this episode, so the brunt of carrying this story of John Diggle’s rescue doesn’t fall so squarely on him.
As Oliver (Stephen Amell) prepares to rescue a reluctant Diggle (David Ramsey) from military prison where he is serving time for a crime he did not commit, the rest of his novice team are left fend for themselves when Church launches a surprise attack on Star City’s last few honest cops. There’s some good action in this episode, and some terrific acting from the always-stellar Emily Bett Rickards, who, as Felicity Smoak, is still dealing with the knowledge that thousands of people died at her hand when she redirected a nuclear strike in an effort to save millions more. It still feels like this subplot is being addressed too little, too late, but Rickards’ makes Felicity’s grief believable, along with the way she must perpetually shelve it to serve as the heart of her team.
As is sadly the norm for newer episodes of Arrow this one is not without its flaws. In the flashback timeline, Ollie’s Bratva initiation has been dragged out over three episodes when it could easily have been condensed into one; two at the most. Then there is Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) who still leaves us in the boring cycle of 1) Wild Dog disobeys orders 2) Ollie yells at him for it. 3) Repeat. The episode ends on a cliffhanger with Wild Dog in distress, but after relentlessly making him unlikable for five episodes now, it’s difficult to care. There are also technical quibbles which are hard to ignore, even with the fast-and-loose physics of the super hero world. People who have hand grenades go off two feet away from them don’t survive in real life, and kneeling in a mist of experimental molecular acid seems like it should be fatal. Even just mildly uncomfortable would improve the awkward scene where it happens.
Special effects failures and unlikable Wild Dog aside, Penance is a steady, likable episode in what is turning out to be a steady, likable season. The Team Arrow we know and love is slowly reuniting and it will be satisfying to see them in a proper confrontation with Church’s forces.
