The Mark: ‘Arrow’ Season 01 Episode 09 “Year’s End’
This week “marked” the mid-season finale of The CW’s Arrow, don’t worry it will only be off the air for a month, and we saw quite arguably the most interesting episode of the series yet. Oliver Queen finds himself confronted by a Dark Archer taking some quite deadly measures to get the attention of the character while The Queens hold a Christmas party and we see Moira try to push Walter off his investigation into “the list”.
This is a return to form for the series after a few not-so-great episodes. We get a return to the flashbacks that were missing over the past two episodes and learn more about what really happened on the island. Oh, and does that included more Deathstroke? Oh yes, indeed it does. Did you the Yao Fei versus Deathstroke fight leave you wanting more? Well, you’re getting it! The episode has plenty of action to keep you happy after the last few episodes seemed to really lack in that department.
“Year’s End” brought about some interesting new questions and contained plenty of fantastic action sequences that helped make this one of the best episodes of the series. The implication that the Dark Archer may actually be a family tradition is a pretty interesting reveal. And while it wasn’t a major surprise who was behind that mask, it was still a great reveal learning the true identity of the “Dark Archer”. Well, mostly because of the last name that has implied this character since the first episode. As well as the revelation that there may indeed be someone worse out there that is the true mastermind behind this all. Maxwell Lord? One could only hope!
Minus a few stumbles here and there, the series continues putting together an exciting and intelligent re-imagining of our favorite DC characters. Definitely looking forward to what the rest of the season brings, especially after the reveal that Roy Harper would be joining the cast of the series. “The Mark” will be back in January!
The easter eggs and comic references you may have missed:
– “To see who’s the better archer.”: In the comics Merlyn challenges Green Arrow to a public archery contest and defeats him. Later on Green Arrow and Merlyn meet again and at the end of the confrontation Merlyn tells Green Arrow that he’s become “the better archer.”
– The dinner conversation discussing giving “The Hood” a better name. Not quite an easter egg nor comic reference, but definitely a nod to Christopher Nolan’s Bat-films. There was a quite similar scene involving Bruce Wayne and “the vigilante” featured. The scene where he calls Diggle after being injured is also quite similar to a scene seen in Batman Begins.
