Arrow "Beyond Redemption" (REVIEW)

Written by Jacob Chimilar (@sweetlows)

 Oliver announces to the whole team that he will be running for mayor, they initially laugh, and scrutinize the idea saying he is not exactly a politician. Something he feels can work to his advantage. I think it would be interesting to see a man who not only wants to make his city better but also defends it. I mean, who wouldn't want Batman for a mayor? His campaign will run using Sebastian Blood's old campaign office. Which also doubles as the new lair and man is is pretty. They must have sunk a lot of money into that new set because it is a beautiful super high tech and spacious HQ that, even though Cisco helped build it, STARR Labs would be jealous of . After they revel in the new lab for a bit Oliver heads over to Captain Lance to try and get SCPD on his side politically and Lance too laughs it off at first and complains about the staff budget not even covering the ability to hunt a cop killer or run lab results, something Oliver promises to try and fix if he gets the support, so Lance throws him a bone and a sample to test.

Queen For Mayor!

Laurel has brought Sarah back to Star City and she feels compelled to tell her father about it since it's her daughter after all. He is happy yet scared she is back, she is zombie like in her mood, only really half there, but when Laurel tries to bring her back to reality she uses her chains to try and choke Laurel and Lance quickly pulls her away. There are definitely a few kinks to work out still.

Using the evidence of a GPS enabled SD card left behind at a crime scene Felicity is able to triangulate the signal to a, you guessed it, warehouse where the team suits up and checks it out. What they find is that the people involved in the detective killings are in fact cops. Dirty, drug dealing cops who make drug busts and sell the drugs back to the dealers for profit. So Oliver suggests that they give them what they want, a drug deal that needs busting. Using some old drug connections Thea acquires a very large hook up and Oliver tells Captain Lance about their plan. He, being the Captain, wants to take down whoever has been killing his detectives and make gets them out of his police station.

The New Lair

Waiting to spring their trap, the police show up with tons of fire power and equipment that are far from your standard issue weaponry, they manage to get away with the drugs and Team Arrow is left wondering how they got that much fire power. Oliver brings Lance into the new secret lair because at this point he knows just about everything else anyway. It turns out Lance had the anti-vigilante task force reinstated last year and that came with a lot of higher powered weaponry designed to take down groups like Team Arrow. Not looking so good for the Captain but as a show of good faith though he offers up unrestricted access for the SCPD network to Felicity to help solve the case.

The one in charge of this criminal police force is Liza Warner. Her along with her other cops are starting to think what they are doing is become too risky, Liza however thinks that in a city as messed up as this one you need to do bad things in order to feed your kids. When on member puts it to a vote, Liza shuts him down by saying the only vote that matters is her 9mm, tough words from a tough lady.

Liza Warner

Meanwhile Lance goes and seeks out Damien Dahrk asking him what he should do about Sarah now that she is back and crazy. Dahrk being Darhk which he explains his advice as “father to father” tells Lance to “put her down” because what was left of Sarah is no longer there. He certainly lives up to his name time and time again.

Felicity now with the full power of the SCPD police network was able to do some digging and finds out about Liza Warner and uses police dash cams to monitor everyone's movements. When Oliver is given the run down on the operation he spots something Lance and Dahrk's conversation on video. Oliver gets into Lance's house and confronts him about dealing with Darhk. Lance tried to explain his situation to Oliver, how it started off with good intentions and before he knew what he was getting into it was too late. Oliver has none of that and seems to have lost all respect for Lance, and seemingly all hope for the city. Dark times are truly here in Star City and Oliver knows it.

Lance tries to take Damien's advice and kill Sarah but he couldn't do it and Laurel caught him before he had the chance and comforted him. On the way back to his room he is ambushed by Liza and her squad and taken to the drug incineration facility which he has access to. This alerts Felicity to the activity and Team Arrow goes to respond. Using different techniques they are able to take everyone down and free Lance. But Liza managed to break free and sticks a knife in Oliver threatening to sever his spinal cord. Now is the time for Captain Lance to shine. He talks to her appealing to her true honest cop sensibilities with a really wonderful speech that gets her to back away from Oliver. She is taken in and Oliver regains some trust with Lance and decides to use him to get to Darhk to take him down.

This week's island flashback has Oliver's escapee fake her death so that she can actually escape without suspicion. While the person he tells wants to see a body Oliver agrees to take him to her, and using a technique he learned on the island makes it appear like she is dead and he is convinced. However Oliver was a little lazy and the solider finds Oliver's computer and knows something is up.

It was another great week for Arrow, gangs busted, friendships broken and put back together, Oliver's quest to find Darhk and become mayor get closer, its a good time for Arrow, and it's about time too.