The Arrow season 2 episode 19 "Man under the hood" (Review)

The Arrow season 2 episode 19

It looks like their might be one other major super villain making their appearance in Arrow, sooner than later, as we finally get to see Olliver and slade wilson go head to head in the present without any stops or holding back. 

 "Man under the hood" 

Review

The arrow and team are making their first move on slade wilson by destroying a queen consolidated science and medical facility, the same exact facility where they first meet Barry, and where we get to see our first appearance of the masked solomon grundy at the beginning of the 2nd season. After a successful attack slade wilson decides to visit the arrow cave,

 or as Harley quinn would cleverly call it, "the quiver." 

Oliver fighting Deathstroke episode 19

The group is caught of guard as they make their ways to the lab, to find a menacing villain standing in their own home base of operations. 

The episode is now kicking into 2nd gear and we finally get to see the beginning of what an ultimate showdown between arrow and deathstroke will look like when we near closer to the finale.

Keep in mind Oliver is not suited up or prepared for the battle, but still puts up a good loosing fight. 

The rest of the team scramble to take their chance at fighting deathstroke, but loose very easily. We do see some fancy pipe swinging between oliver and deathstroke, but oliver goes down by the ways of his old and much more powerful Australian sensei. 

In this episode we also have the family and friend side of the coin, including the lances and the queens,... or perhaps the merlyns... two weeks ago (the last episode of arrow) we see that three big reveals are made

1. Malcom merlyn is theas real father & that oliver knew all along

2. Slade confronts laurel with information that Oliver is the hooded vigilante

3. Isablle Rochev is revealed to work for Slade Wilson and has aspirations of destroying Olivers life because of some unresolved daddy issues

In this episode we get to see all fronts covered, as Thea doesnt want to be bothered by her "half brother." 

Thea definitely has some unresolved inner conflict and a lot to consider after finding out the truth about her father. The real biter it seems like is not entirely the fact that she didnt know, but that her whole entire family did, and decided not to give her valid and important information that malcom merlyn was her biological father. In this episode we see that she doesnt want to be bothered, but that doesnt stop oliver from trying to convince her to come back home. To make matters worse, since Isablle Rochev took over queen consolidated, the Queens must move their money to another secure place, but needs Thea's willing signature as well as their own. Something she isnt going to give easily. 

On the other front we see Laurel conflicted with her father, Larry Lance, going down for aiding the vigilante. Laurel could end it all with the identity of the arrow. After receiving news of the arrows true identity, Laurel has a pretty good starting place, and is able to almost put all the puzzle pieces together. Once Laurel has almost all the pieces in place she decides to stop when she realizes that they might be the people closest to her and that they both serve a higher purpose to the city and to their family and friends.

After the fight between Deathstroke and team, Oliver and Sarah rush to the hospital to get fixed up, with a bogus bike accident excuse. 

while checking up on sarah at the hospital, laurel starts to notice odd parallels between the scar tissue damage Sarah and oliver both share, giving her a very good idea of who the black canary is, but doesnt decide to go with any knowledge of what she thinks she knows to either of them. I believe Laurel has a better understanding now, but also believes its better to be on the outside looking in, than knowing the entire truth. 

Getting back to Deathstroke, the team discover that he was in the lab to steal the skeleton key. Tracking down where he might go next, The arrow and black canary run to Star Labs. The special thing about this episode, or particularly this part is that we get to see two of the four main characters that will be in the flash tv series, doing inventory of equipment for the facility when Deathstroke breaks in and steals some hightech equipment, in the restricted area. 

Felicity notices a ping and sends arrow to his location to stop him. 

What Oliver thinks he'll find isnt what he finds at all, again he is 10 steps behind the game and cant keep up. Isabelle joins the fight as Oliver attempts to foil Deathstrokes fun. Needless to say we some action, Oliver does somewhat of a good deed and both of the villains are injured... or worse.. Either way Deathstroke gets what he wants, Oliver saves a life but still looses the battle. 

Overall 

The episode was well as far as pushing the story down the pipes and is able to also bring into it new elements. Like always the episode is never really boring or slow, if their isnt a touching moment between the lance, or queen family or action going on, its usually filled with despair and the fallout of a family member. Once you think that Oliver and crew has it all figured out theirs always someone their to ruin it for them, which is something these last few episodes have shown perfectly. Something i highlighted during the recap is that even though this is the 1st time weve really seen Oliver and deathstroke go at it, it was never while both of them were suited. I believe this is something the creators and producers are purposely holding back. I for one can see why as I cannot wait for the battle between Arrow and Deathstroke to commence. 

What did you think of the episode or want to see happen in the future of season 2? let us know below!