Arrow - Left Behind - Review

Arrow, “Left Behind,” was probably one of the most anticipated winter returns of this television season. The episode was written by the team of Marc Guggenheim and Erik Oleson and was directed by Glen Winter. I was glad to see such a strong writing/directing team on this episode as it is a very important one, and one which, I believe, will mark a turning point in the series. I don’t think anyone believed that Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) could possibly be dead – despite the evidence – because they are hardly going to kill off the titular character of the show. But it was fun to be on pins and needles about the “how” he wasn’t going to die. What this storyline does do is allow us to become closer to some of the other characters and that in turn likely takes some of the burden off of Amell’s shoulders going forward. And a quick shout out to congratulate everyone on the show – actors, writers, crew, stunt-team – for the very, very early and well-deserved pick up for season four!

Once again flashback and present storylines interweave in a meaningful way. Kudos to the writers for still being able to do that so effectively mid-way through the third season. The last episode left us with two characters potentially dead – both Oliver in the present and Tatsu (Rila Fukushima) in the past. I strongly suspected all along that it was going to be Maseo (Karl Yune) who saved Oliver. Of course, why Maseo doesn’t seem to still be with Tatsu is a new burning question, but at least we know that she doesn’t die in the past.

I really liked the flashback storyline as we see why Maseo owes Oliver such a great debt because surely, Maseo is going to be in trouble with Ra’s al Ghul (Matt Nable) for helping Oliver and we’ve already seen that even Malcolm (John Barrowman) fears Ra’s. I liked how the fight scene in the past paralleled the one in the future. It was hilarious when Oliver zip-lined down to the window and it didn’t break! It was a nice parallel to our other heroes who are also just learning their craft in Oliver’s absence. I loved that Oliver planted a tracker on the guy so that they could track Tatsu – a trick we’ve seen him use many times in the present. I thought the first scene with Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) was particularly interesting. She tells Maseo that she’s not ignoring him, but “I’m focusing on the task at hand. Which at the moment is not recovering your wife.” I thought the phrasing was interesting in that it almost sounds like she herself is simply following orders. Is it possible that she’s also being coerced to comply with a superior’s orders?

The episode features some really terrific performances from Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity), David Ramsey (Diggle), and John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn). It’s perhaps natural that Felicity and Diggle should feel being “left behind” more acutely even than the others because they really started down the path to save Starling City with Oliver from the beginning and were both closer to Oliver than the others. I loved how we see the truth slowly insist on being recognized by Felicity and how she begins the episode insisting that Oliver is alive and that they keep the lights on, keep on mission for him and then by the end of the episode, she walks away, symbolically shutting the lights out. But Oliver’s loss has deep ramifications for Felicity and ones that actually tie back into her origin story earlier in the season.

Felicity is now terrified of losing anyone else close to her. This leads to her compromising the mission to stop Brick (the fantastic Vinnie Jones) by shutting the evidence warehouse door, effectively preventing Diggle and Arsenal (Roy/Colton Haynes) from being able to do their jobs, but effectively keeping them safe. In fact, during the fight scene when Brick is beating Diggle and Arsenal is pinned down, Felicity freezes, so terrified that she’s unable to help them. When Diggle insists that they have to trust each other in order to continue to do Oliver’s work, Felicity tells he and Roy, “You don’t get it. There is no this without him. It’s done. I’m done.” And then she leaves them behind.

Rickards has two terrific scenes with Brandon Routh (Ray), and Routh shows us a little more of the character in this episode. Just after finding out that Oliver is dead (or likely dead…) Felicity insists on going to work, trying, no doubt, to distract herself from her grief. When Ray comes to check on how she’s coming with the chip for his suit, it’s the worst possible time and she loses it with him. It’s a nicely paced performance by Rickards as she slowly lets out some of her grief. She tells him that there’s nothing you can do to bring back the dead, and then she goes just that one step too far. Our Felicity never really knows when to shut up. She tells Ray that Anna wouldn’t have wanted him to build the suit to fight crime, to try to find some way to avenge her death.

        Ray, however, is a nice guy at heart and even though he’s angry, he realizes that she is very upset, so he simply tells her that he’s there for her if she wants to talk about why she’s upset, but she is not entitled to tell him want Anna would have wanted. Felicity realizes she’s gone too far and excuses herself. There is a nice parallel here too. Ray has already experienced being left behind by Anna, but Felicity is just now experiencing that with Oliver.

In their second scene, Felicity returns to apologize. She also explains that she’s lost too many people close to her. She doesn’t name either Oliver or Sara, but we clearly see how much their deaths have affected Felicity. She tells him that she can’t stop him from going out and risking his life, but she can refuse to be a part of it, and she gives him back the chip. I wonder how long it will be though before Felicity will return to help her friends because at the end of the day, they are safer with her on their teams than without her.

It’s pretty clear that the rest of the team aren’t simply going to stop trying to do what Oliver wanted – protect Starling City. It was fun watching Roy and Diggle step up – even if they weren’t quite as successful as Oliver. I loved the initial sequence with Diggle wearing the Arrow costume. I also loved his snarking about it being too tight and then ditching it to be able to move and shoot more effectively. I wonder if Oliver will complain that it’s loose when he gets back!

Ramsey also has a couple of really great scenes in this episode. He tries to step in to lead in Oliver’s place and he tries to prepare both himself and Felicity for the worst. Both Ramsey and Barrowman are fantastic in the scene in which Malcolm brings the sword. I loved that Diggle immediately wanted to know if Malcolm had seen Oliver’s body. That’s always the rule, right? No body, no death! Rickards is also excellent in this scene as she lays the responsibility for Oliver’s death at Malcolm’s feet. Diggle accuses him of enjoying it, but Malcolm really isn’t enjoying it. The end result, of course, is that his own debt to Ra’s al Ghul is still outstanding and now he’s gotten his own daughter’s head on the chopping block with him.

I loved when the DNA match comes back and they learn that the blood on the scimitar is Oliver’s and he immediately moves to comfort Felicity. He also tries to get her not to go to work but to take time to grieve. I really liked the scene between Diggle and Laurel (Katie Cassidy). Laurel tries to keep the criminals in jail but without evidence, her hands are tied. I quite liked the scene with her in court – more strong, competent lawyer Laurel, please! I also liked that she was there for Diggle after he told her about Oliver being dead. Like Felicity, she resists even thinking it’s a possibility and there’s a nice moment between the two of them earlier in the episode.

Diggle reveals quite a bit about himself in this scene with Laurel. She asks Diggle if he’s coming back. And we see how much of the mission is also connected to Oliver for Diggle just as it was for Felicity. He tells her, “I don’t know. For the first time since I met Oliver Queen, I don’t know what happens next. I still think of myself as his bodyguard, but I just couldn’t protect him.” Diggle clearly feels guilt over Oliver’s death, and Laurel is there to hug him and give him the comfort that he can’t really turn to Felicity or Roy for when he’s trying to be strong for them. And then Diggle weaves us back into previous episodes early in the season when he reminds us, “It’s funny. He was worried something would happen to me.”

I’ve thought a lot about both Katie Cassidy’s and Colton Haynes’ performances in this episode. Both deliver very restrained performances and reactions to Oliver’s death. It’s painful to watch Thea (Willa Holland) go to Roy to ask the Arrow to look for Oliver. Of course, an actor can only act what they’re given and the climactic moment of Oliver’s death had to belong to Felicity, but I would have liked to have seen more of how this affects Roy – maybe this week’s episode will give us more.

        Laurel’s response is a bit more easily explained. I think to some extent she’s still in shock, but I also think that Laurel is still so caught up in anger over Sara’s death, that she can’t feel the grief of Oliver’s. Certainly, she channels her emotions into taking up the gauntlet of the Black Canary. She is looking good in that leather! I loved her using the Canary-scream bombs and telling the criminals, “I’m the justice you can’t run from!”

Barrowman brings a lot of nuance to the character. He swaggers and enjoys when he feels he’s one up on the team, but it’s also clear when his emotions run deeper. It’s clear that he mourns Oliver’s death because of Oliver as much as for its impact on himself and Thea. I absolutely loved the scene of the two of them sparring. Not sure if that was all Willa Holland or partly an extremely good body double, but regardless it was an impressive sequence very nicely shot, so kudos to the stunt team! In fact, James Bamford tweeted me to say that if you can’t tell for sure whether or not it’s Willa, assume it is!

I also love the shot of Malcolm coming to Thea at the end when she whips the letter opener at him and then worries she could have killed him. He remarks that “it’s cute” that she thinks so. There is always that quiet intensity and physicality beneath the character as Barrowman plays him. I doubt that Thea will agree to leave town without knowing where Oliver is though.

I absolutely loved Vinnie Jones as our new resident bad guy. The scene in which Brick confronts Anton (Billy Wickman) was nicely staged and very reminiscent of Ra’s al Ghul’s duel with Oliver. Like Ra’s, Brick lets his opponent have a weapon and then disarms them. Unlike Ra’s, of course, Brick prefers to kill even more brutally with his hands. I also really liked the fight between Brick and Diggle, especially when Brick complements Diggle for being smart enough to go for a headshot. Of course, how Diggle manages to miss at that range is a good question. Is Brick that fast? Is the gun rigged?

Brick manages to get away with all the evidence on the most vicious criminals awaiting trial for assault and murder – almost all of whom were the end result of the work of the Arrow and the team for the last 8 months. Brick isn’t stupid either. He doesn’t destroy the evidence to use it to maintain control over his new army. His plan is to take over the Glades. Does anybody else wonder why anyone wants to take over the most impoverished area of Starling City? Don’t we keep hearing about how terrible it is there? Maybe I’m missing something or maybe we don’t know the whole plan yet.

We got some answers, but I’m still curious about what has happened between Tatsu and Maseo. What exactly did Tatsu mean by “so she could bring you back to life.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that Oliver was dead, but it sure sounds that way, and if he was, what did she do? What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.