‘Arrow’ Review: Laurel’s World Tumbles Down

Last week’s Arrow ended with Laurel learning the truth about Sebastian Blood and tonight she was determined to prove it. Unfortunately, that was a lot easier said than done, especially once those closest to Laurel discovered just how troubled the lady lawyer has become.

I have to admit that “Blind Spot” was not my favorite episode. There were some fantastic moments (we’ll get to those soon), but there were also frustrating moments. One of the things the official episode description teased was a secret about Laurel that Sara would share with Oliver on the island. That secret turned out to be that Laurel tipped off the police to raid Tommy’s party when she found out that Sara had a crush on Oliver.

Seriously? That was the big secret? Laurel did something petty because her sister liked the same guy that she did? Maybe this wouldn’t have been an issue if it hadn’t been teased as a spoiler, but I was dumbfounded that was the big secret we’d been waiting to learn. I don’t even care that it made Laurel look bad – who hasn’t done something stupid and childish – it just seems so small and lame in the grand scheme of everything that we deal with on this show.

On the other hand, I give the show props for not making Felicity be the one to question whether or not Oliver was blinded by his feelings for Laurel when it came time for Team Arrow to discuss if it was possible that Sebastian is the bad guy. Those of us who spend a lot of time on social media know just how ugly things can get between fandoms and I’m glad the writers didn’t play into that and instead had Dig be the one to wonder if Oliver was putting his feelings for Laurel above the cause.

Anyway, the episode started with Sebastian killing his mother and then Laurel tried to get the DA to investigate, but he didn’t want to go against the mayor (for shame, Hot Paul). So Laurel turned to her dad and he got her in touch with Arrow. Once the team was on the case, they discovered there was a hard copy of the file and Arrow needed Laurel to get him into the secure building while Felicity bought them some time with the security cameras. I really liked these scenes. Arrow and Laurel were both all business, working together toward their common goal. These were fun, uncomplicated action scenes. It wasn’t about their past or their future. It was about doing a job and finding the truth.

But Slade was a step ahead of them. He’d already stolen the file to protect his investment in Sebastian and he warned the politician that he needed to fix things. So Sebastian had his dirty cop arrest Laurel for possession of a prescription that didn’t belong to her, which is a felony. This was followed by a heartbreaking scene between Laurel and Quentin where she begged him to believe that she was telling the truth and he couldn’t because he understands addiction all too well. It was so sad and frustrating because the audience knows Laurel is right, but we also know that she’s messed up so it’s hard to blame people for doubting her.

Oliver took her home and tried to get through to her, but Laurel sent him off to get her water and that was when the man in the skull mask and his goons knocked out Oliver and kidnapped Laurel, leaving behind a blood red message telling him to send the Arrow to the Starling City Cannery (get it, cannery sounds like canary). Arrow headed there to rescue Laurel even though it was totally a trap. He fought with the skull mask guy and when he lost the upper hand, Oliver stabbed him with an arrow and then Laurel came around the corner and shot him multiple times (BAMF move).

She wanted to see who was behind the mask and I’m guessing most people were not too surprised to see that it was not Sebastian, but the cop (Daley?). So obviously this was all just a setup to prove that Laurel was wrong about Sebastian (except she’s not!), but now everyone knows about her drug problem, she’s been fired and Oliver admitted to his friends that he can’t have a blind spot when it comes to Laurel anymore. Again, this is frustrating because Laurel was right, but the writers obviously have more story to tell before she is vindicated (and hopefully given help with her drug problem).

Before we talk about Roy, let’s jump back to the island for a moment. Sara spent the episode chatting with Ivo on the walkie-talkie and he was trying to persuade her to come back and he went into a whole sob story about how she saved him and he needed her. It would have been sweet if we didn’t know that he was a crazy person. Thankfully, Sara wasn’t really interested in going back and told him she’d rather die. He immediately let his true colors show and called her an ungrateful bitch. Sara shut off the radio and turned to Oliver and said they needed to find Slade (by the way, present day Slade killed some guys while wearing his Deathstroke mask and beat Sebastian to remind him who was boss and not to screw up again).

Then there was Roy. He still doesn’t want to tell Thea about his newfound strength so he turned to Sin instead. They decided to test out his powers on a local creep who likes to cut up prostitutes. Roy wants to prove that he doesn’t need the arrow to bring down bad guys and he convinced Sin to be the bait (how much fun is she, by the way?). It worked a little too well. Roy nearly beat him to death and then sent Sin flying when she tried to get him to back off. They took the guy to the hospital and then Sin called Thea, but Roy still didn’t tell her the truth.

I know I rant about this all the time, but it needs to be said. It’s infuriating that Thea is given so little to do and now she’s barely even a supporting character in Roy’s storyline. Why does she have to be kept in the dark? She told him that she wouldn’t judge him and he still walked away from her. Then she confided in Oliver (because her purpose is to be a go between) and Oliver decided that he was going to help Roy so he didn’t turn out like Slade. Roy had attitude for about half a second and then he agreed, which is where the episode will pick up next week.

All in all, this wasn’t a bad episode, but it wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be. Katie Cassidy and Paul Blackthorne won the episode with their scenes. They both hit all the right emotional notes and I’m curious where Laurel is going to go from here and how Sara will fit into the picture. Oliver and Roy’s training should be interesting next week and I also wonder what will happen next with Sebastian since he dodged having his secret exposed.

What did you guys think? Did you enjoy the episode or did it fall flat? What was your favorite part? Were you surprised Sebastian covered his tracks? How do you think Oliver will react when he learns Laurel was right? Hit the comments and share your thoughts and theories with us!