Arrow’s final season continued with “Prochnost” written by the team of Benjamin Raab and Deric A Hughes and directed by Laura Belsey. As seems to be the theme of this season, the show continues its journey down Memory Lane to visit characters we have known and loved. This week it’s Anatoly (David Nykl) and Roy (Colton Haynes). It was terrific to see Nykl and Haynes again even if we got very little of both of them, and the basic story was wanting.
The team has to split up so that Oliver (Stephen Amell) can go to Russia to get the plans to build the weapon to defeat the Monitor, and Diggle (David Ramsey) can get the plutonium to power it. The episode begins with Oliver training Mia (Katherine McNamara) and we all see that she isn’t as perfect as she thinks she is. While taking Mia and William (Ben Lewis) with him and Laurel (Katie Cassidy) to Russia doesn’t seem very smart, Amell/Oliver is rather adorable in that scene.
Meanwhile, Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) tips her hand to Laurel who quickly realizes that she’s working with the Monitor. Lyla insists that the Monitor is trying to save worlds. She also tells Laurel that she’s doing it to protect her loved ones.
Diggle decides that he needs help and goes to find Roy, pulling him out from under a car at the garage he’s working at. Roy’s entire storyline was ill-conceived. He has a truly lame excuse for simply abandoning Thea (Willa Holland). Roy agrees to the one job to help Diggle who then tells Roy the future and that he learns to control the bloodlust by being part of a team…. And wasn’t he a team with Thea?
Diggle and Roy go in after the plutonium and when Roy’s bloodlust kicks in, Diggle brings him back simply by touching him on the shoulder. Really? It’s that easy? Diggle convinces Roy that now that he knows how to control it, he can do it 20 years earlier. In the end, Roy decides to stick around.
In Russia, there’s a nice reunion between Oliver and Anatoly – and a not so nice one between Anatoly and Laurel – who were on the bad guys’ side the last time they teamed up. This was a bit of fun business as Anatoly muses he’s worried that she’s like the snow leopard and might change her spots!
Oliver doesn’t want to reveal his shady past to Mia and William, so when it turns out the Bratva is involved he won’t let them come with him to the fight club that Burov (Barry W Levy) is at. Oliver easily defeats a giant fighter when Burov agrees to give him the plans in exchange for Oliver winning. Oliver is about to collect the plans when Bratva bursts in with Mia – because of course, she stupidly had to stick her nose in.
The two are then tied up and Mia blames Oliver after it was her showing up that caused all the problems! Oliver gets free and frees Mia just as Laurel and Anatoly arrive – based on William finding them via online cameras….
Oliver tells William and Mia that he’s sending them home, and William gets to be the stupid one when he says that they just saved Oliver! Um. No. Oliver had it handled and then had himself and Mia free… all on his own. Mia simply bitches throughout the episode. Laurel has to give her yet another pep talk – because broody-brat, blah, blah, blah. But Laurel is surprised when Mia sees her as a good hero – and that’s a nice moment for Katie Cassidy.
Next we know, William and Mia are staying and Oliver is happy about it. Then Oliver comes up with a stupid plan. He and Mia will fight together and distract everyone so the others can get the plans. Because, of course, no one will know who they are until they are in the ring… again, really?? It is a decent fight sequence anyway. Laurel gets the plans and Anatoly helps them escape. There is a nice scene as Anatoly and Oliver say their goodbyes. I’ve always liked these two together.
Back at home, Laurel meets with Lyla – I loved her calling the Monitor a cosmic fashion disaster! Laurel tells Lyla that she’s not going to work for the Monitor. She tells Lyla to come clean, but Lyla says no, and then Laurel says “this is going to be awkward” as Diggle and Oliver appear. Before Lyla can explain, Diggle, Oliver, and Laurel are dosed with something via neck dart.
Unfortunately, despite the attempts at fan service, this was another disappointing episode. I can’t fault most of the actors. Amell continues to deliver solid performances. Cassidy, Nykl, Lewis, and Haynes are also solid. But the writing? Is it that hard to come up with a plot that makes sense and that characters react logically in? My only hope at this point is that the writers are so distracted with the coming “Crisis” episodes and setting those up that these are not getting a lot of attention. We’ll have 2 episodes after the big crossover event and I’m just hoping that those last two episodes will be solid and satisfying. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
