Things continue to close in on Oliver and company on this week’s Arrow. Despite Roy’s “outing” as The Arrow in last week’s cliffhanger, Quentin Lance continues to believe that Oliver is the true person behind the mask and he’s on a warpath to prove his theory. As such, “Broken Arrow” is basically another Arrow episode without The Arrow, as Oliver is not able to make a public appearance as his alter ego without undermining Roy’s sacrifice. At first, this looks to be a thinly veiled attempt at crafting a proof-of-concept for the upcoming Atom spin-off as, naturally, Brandon Routh’s Ray Palmer must step in to battle the bad guy in Oliver’s place. But, with Arrow being Arrow, there’s naturally a lot more to the hour than meets the eye.
Let’s dive into the Ray Palmer area first. Despite having officially become The Atom several weeks back, Palmer has yet to make a real lasting impression with his powered-up super-suit. During his first encounter with Oliver, for instance, his suit was disabled within seconds thanks to a few precise arrow hits. I’ve yet to see how Ray fared in the previous night’s crossover with The Flash, so perhaps that showed some growth on his part. For all intents and purposes, however, “Broken Arrow” seems designed to be his big, coming-out party. He certainly has his hands full since he must deal with what appears to be a meta-human capable of channeling radiation into deadly blasts, a villain more typical of The Flash than Arrow. After getting his butt handed to him in the first round, Oliver tries to impart the importance of instinct. Ray may have a brilliant mind and an advanced suit on his side, but it means nothing if he doesn’t have an innate sense of how to approach his enemies or how to improvise when the time arises.
In an attempt to solve this dilemma, the group outfits Ray’s suit with a neural connection to Oliver. Thus, Oliver can fight Ray’s battle for him. When the neural connection is predictably severed, Ray soon finds the strength within himself to fight his own battle. It’s definetely not the most fleshed-out or subtle execution one could hope for (why is Ray suddenly able to effortlessly block the man’s rays with his hand when he was thrown back by it earlier?) but it works well enough.
If this plotline does anything, it reiterates just how charming a presence Brandon Routh can be when given the chance. He’s certainly a much lighter presence than Oliver and, in a way, almost more geeky and excitable than Barry Allen. One of the episode’s best moments come when he high-fives Oliver in a moment of euphoria and we see the semi-disgusted look on Oliver’s face. Indeed, a good portion of the plotline finds Oliver rolling his eyes at Ray’s Boy Scout-like enthusiasm and his adorable chemistry with Felicity. Of course, Oliver is right on the money when he says they act like siblings and, in a way, that’s probably what may eventually push them apart. No one wants someone too close to themselves.