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Episode 2.11
Writers: Wendy Mericle & Beth Schwartz
Director: Glen Winter

THE VERDICT: Now this would have made for a stronger midseason comeback than last week’s underpowered effort. It starts well with a potently creepy opening in Saint Walker’s asylum, the gloom and the grime of this benighted place conjured with effective use of light and shadow and a tangible sense of decay. It’s beautifully lit, too, like a particularly depressing Vermeer.The moment a skull-masked Blood confronts his trembling, crucifix-clutching mother delivers a genuine old school jolt, not to mention a queasy touch of matricide.

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It’s soon apparent that this is an episode where the supporting cast have meatier material than the show’s hero. Roy deals with the implications of his Mirakuru injection – the show’s been edging towards the fantastic recently but his superstrength still feels slightly jarring in this Nolanised universe – while the writers continue to pump life into Laurel’s arc, a good job given she was in danger of becoming Arrow ’s most superfluous character. She’s certainly more intriguing as a broken figure, and her emotional confrontation with an unforgiving Lance is well-played.

Glen Winter directs with style: there are some particularly slick transitions between the present and Flashback Island and the sequence where Oliver and Laurel escape from the archive is staged with flair.

A word, too, for Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson, now shaping up as a properly heavyweight villain for Arrow , Darth Vadering Blood by the throat and commiting goonicide on his henchmen. Nice to see him in the full Deathstroke clobber, too – a strong visual.

TRIVIA: Saint Walker’s hospital is named for Saint Walker, the founding member of the Blue Lantern Corps in the DC universe. A priest on the planet of Astonia, he’s the creation of Geoff Johns and first appeared in Green Lantern Vol 4 No 27.

DID YOU SPOT?: Sebastian Blood mentions that he was raised in the Zandia Orphanage, a nod to his comic book origins in the fictitious nation of Zandia.

DID YOU SPOT? 2: Laurel mentions Judge Carlin, an homage to Eisner Award-winning former DC Comics editor Mike Carlin.

HMM: Oliver’s confrontation with a masked Blood is perilously close to a battle between Christian Bale impersonators. Strepsils, people!

BEST LINE:
Felicity: “His name’s Blood. That can’t be a good sign.”

Arrow is broadcast in the UK on Sky 1 HD

Nick Setchfield is the Editor-at-Large for SFX Magazine, writing features, reviews, interviews, and more for the monthly issues. However, he is also a freelance journalist and author with Titan Books. His original novels are called The War in the Dark, and The Spider Dance. He's also written a book on James Bond called Mission Statements.