Arrow Episode 3x14 "The Return" February 18, 2015

ARROW
Air Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Time Slot: 8:00 PM-9:00 PM EST on The CW
Episode Title: (#314) "The Return"

"The Return"

THE RETURN OF DEATHSTROKE AND TOMMY MERLYN - Malcolm (John Barrowman) puts Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Thea (Willa Holland) in a dangerous situation that lands them on Lian Yu with Oliver's former enemy, Deathstroke (guest star Manu Bennett). A flashback reveals when Oliver and Maseo (guest star Karl Yune) returned to Starling City to retrieve the Omega bio weapon, and despite being under strict orders from Amanda Waller (guest star Cynthia Addai-Robinson) not to reveal himself to anyone, Oliver looks in on his family, Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and Tommy (guest star Colin Donnell).

Dermott Downs directed the episode written by Marc Guggenheim & Erik Oleson (#314).

Source: Arrow on The CW | TheFutonCritic

Here are the promo pics for ep 3x14:

Arrow - Episode 3.14 - The Return - 2 Sneak Peeks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw5yzShjT5k

Slade was ok in this one, he didnt seem to me crazy any more.
they should let him out to help fight ras.

I was thinking the same thing, he would come in handy

Well, on the one hand this ep was good because of the return to the island and Thea getting to know the truth about Sara's death.
On the other hand it just reminded me of all the things that I didn't like at all with Arrow. The senseless killing of Shado just to turn Slade into an evil, crazy monster and finally the killing of Sara by Thea while drugged by her "loving" father Merlyn ...
I mean, to be honest, the whole construct of how and why Merlyn had Thea kill Sara is total bullshit and just made up. Doesn't convince at all. And now they repeat that shit again, when Merlyn sets free Slade as a little contest for Ollie and Thea to improve their teamwork. Well, he was so dead-on with betting that Ollie could kill Ras, that there was no need to worry for his daughter this time ... jeez. First they seem to kind of redeem Merlyn and now this ...
Seriously, they showrunners have made quite some bad choices so far and my patience might run short with the next big wrong turn.
Well, now that I'm getting at it ... did we ever talk about how ridiculous this "oh my God, Ollie is killed by Ras" was played out. Of course we all knew, that they never actually would kill the main character, but why even go there, if they only could think of such a lame story. I mean, the so said most terrifying and capable fighter on earth doesn't know how to stab someone to death?? And at least as it was shown Ollie then fell into the deep like 50 metres or more (how convinent there was a ledge!) without broken bones or serious interior injuries?? Just wakes up like from some little blackout?? That imho was incredibly poorly done. It would have been much more convincing, if Ollie just had escaped Ras somehow. But ok, obviously they needed the "death drama" to develop some more whiny "Ollie fan girl" Felicity, which lately was more and more the case. I'm just glad that they seem to have pulled the emergency stop here, when Felicity finally said, she "doesn't want to be a girl loved by Olliver Queen". Hopefully we get back more of our old Felicity now.
Ok, enough for now. Despite my little "reckoning" with Arrow I still will watch ... for now ...

tscc1000 wrote:

Well, on the one hand this ep was good because of the return to the island and Thea getting to know the truth about Sara's death.
On the other hand it just reminded me of all the things that I didn't like at all with Arrow. The senseless killing of Shado just to turn Slade into an evil, crazy monster and finally the killing of Sara by Thea while drugged by her "loving" father Merlyn ...
I mean, to be honest, the whole construct of how and why Merlyn had Thea kill Sara is total bullshit and just made up. Doesn't convince at all. And now they repeat that shit again, when Merlyn sets free Slade as a little contest for Ollie and Thea to improve their teamwork. Well, he was so dead-on with betting that Ollie could kill Ras, that there was no need to worry for his daughter this time ... jeez. First they seem to kind of redeem Merlyn and now this ...
Seriously, they showrunners have made quite some bad choices so far and my patience might run short with the next big wrong turn.
Well, now that I'm getting at it ... did we ever talk about how ridiculous this "oh my God, Ollie is killed by Ras" was played out. Of course we all knew, that they never actually would kill the main character, but why even go there, if they only could think of such a lame story. I mean, the so said most terrifying and capable fighter on earth doesn't know how to stab someone to death?? And at least as it was shown Ollie then fell into the deep like 50 metres or more (how convinent there was a ledge!) without broken bones or serious interior injuries?? Just wakes up like from some little blackout?? That imho was incredibly poorly done. It would have been much more convincing, if Ollie just had escaped Ras somehow. But ok, obviously they needed the "death drama" to develop some more whiny "Ollie fan girl" Felicity, which lately was more and more the case. I'm just glad that they seem to have pulled the emergency stop here, when Felicity finally said, she "doesn't want to be a girl loved by Olliver Queen". Hopefully we get back more of our old Felicity now.
Ok, enough for now. Despite my little "reckoning" with Arrow I still will watch ... for now ...  

Well at least it got a big post out of you!!
 but I agree with you, on pretty much all of it.
The show runners and also you have DC comics that might be a factor in how the show goes.

I think they do things for dramatic effect, like shock or surprise, (JF !!) and it really makes for a bad story and bad continuity.

The whole ollie gets run thru and falls off a cliff landing on a ROCK ledge was a joke , and then he gets healed by the Jap girl
who I guess could make a lot of $ curing people who should die??

Then having thea be the one who killed sara also a joke and made little sense.

Redeeming merlin and then throw him under the bus again, makes no sense.

Then they go to the island to TRAIN FOR 3 DAYS !!  what is 3 days going to do?? Reall they went out had a big talk and a fight with slade and now they are ready to fight RAS ??

I would prefer better writing more adult oriented show, with less splash and dazzle, and not get carried away with super villains who at end of show get real dumb.

I still think you can blame walking dead for making killing characters seem like a good formula for  doing good in ratings.
So now more and more shows will try this formula in their own crude way. Shado and sara were killed for this effect.

Arrow: Paul Blackthorne On Sara Fallout & The Return of Angry Lance

by: Craig Byrne, Editor-In-Chief in Arrow, Interviews, KSiteTV News Feb 18, 2015

Tonight's episode of Arrow is called "The Return," which, like most Arrow titles, represents many different things: There is the return of Manu Bennett's Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke. There is a return to the island of Lian Yu for Oliver. In the flashbacks, there is a return for Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn and a return to Starling City for Oliver Queen.
For Quentin Lance, the character played so well on the series by Paul Blackthorne, there is a return to sadness, as his character recently learned that he has lost his beloved daughter Sara once again. Her death, which happened in the Arrow season premiere, had been kept secret from Lance for most of the season, and now, the character is going to have to push forward.
We spoke with Paul Blackthorne about what's going on for his character, both in the past and the future of the show... and, of course, he offered some teases for tonight's show. Enjoy:

KSITETV's CRAIG BYRNE: Quentin figured out that Roy was Arsenal pretty easily, he knows Laurel is the new Canary… does he still not have a clue as to who Oliver is?
PAUL BLACKTHORNE: It doesn't matter who him who Oliver is, because Oliver is Oliver, but as far as the Arrow is concerned at this point, the Arrow's been doing good things. And while he's doing good things for the city, he doesn't need to know who it is. But of course, as things change in his relationship with the Arrow - because, of course, it wasn't just Laurel who didn't tell him about Sara's death… it was the Arrow too. That's the first step towards breaking up their relationship. There are other things coming down the line that could break down their relationship too, at which point, he'll be a lot more interested as to who the Arrow really is.

How is Quentin going to deal with Sara's death, now that he knows?
That is what was so difficult for him on receipt of the news, what he knows what a terrible effect it had [when it happened] before. On his life, his family, his marriage… it devastated every aspect of his life, and I think that compounded the situation for him. It's not just the news of her death, but "oh my gosh, I've been through this before and it wasn't pretty."
This time, of course, he's sober. There is no more marriage to break up. And on top of that, his relationship with Laurel is going to be seriously affected. He's kind of on his own on this one, and quite frankly, he's dreaded how this is going to feel. But at the same time, he's a stronger man than he was before, and he is desperate to get through it unscathed, and to grow from this, and not be taken down. He's going to do the best he can. He's going to resist that bottle, I promise.

There are some flashbacks in tonight's episode of the show. Can you talk about what goes on there, and did you have to wear a wig?
Yeah, I wore a wig. Everybody wears a wig at some point on this show, don't they, and it was my turn.
What we flash back to is the first time that Lance was dealing with Sara's death, so there's a certain symmetry in terms of him dealing with it in the present day and how he was dealing with it rather poorly in the past, and the effects it has on his relationship with Laurel both times.

It was a lot of fun, actually. It was interesting going back to Angry Lance. It's been a while since I've been there; since Season 1, but Angry Lance is back - he gets the hair on - and it was a lot of fun. That's what it's all about; how we were dealing with it then, and how we're dealing with it now.
Can you talk about having scenes with Colin Donnell in the episode?
Yes, I yell at Colin! Angry Lance has a good yell at everybody, and Colin was one of the recipients of that. It was nice to see Colin back on set, for sure.



Earlier in the series there were some fun interactions between Quentin with Felicity as his contact, and we haven't had many lately. Could more be on the horizon?
Well, I'm more interested in Felicity's mother! [laughs] The day that Lance sees Donna Smoak walking down the street, I think that's going to affect his world slightly. And Felicity? Well, you know, she's a part of this Arrow gang, isn't she? So as Lance's with the Arrow shifts, no doubt his relationship with his accomplices will shift too. So, we'll see where that takes us.


You mentioned Felicity's mom. Is there a chance that they will actually meet sometime in the future?
Lance has been without love, let's face it, for a long time. And I think the man could do with a little loving, and if there's one woman that could provide that, it's gotta be Mama Smoak, right? Charlotte Ross. Fantastic. Lance is hoping for the best on that one. He really is. It would be nice for him.
How do you think Quentin would react if he found out who Sara's killer was?
I think he would be very upset. In some ways, it doesn't really matter who it is.
It's not going to help that it's a member of the Queen family, is it? That wouldn't help the Queen-Lance family relationship.


Is there anyone in particular that you haven't gotten to work with lately that you'd like to work with more?
I'd have to say, David Ramsey is someone I'd love to work with more, but of course, our characters inhabit pretty different worlds. We did have a scene the other day, and we both have this habit that we make each other laugh, so maybe it's better that we don't have scenes together. I always thought that would be fun, to see more stuff with him. They are two very different characters to put in the same room together.
Of course, Felicity as well. It's always great doing a scene with Emily; always much fun.
I had some interesting scenes recently - I crossed over on The Flash, so I got to enjoy some time with Joe West and Cisco. They come over to Starling City for a little help on a case, so myself and Detective West, we had a little bonding moment, with the two of them.
And then, the oddest couple that we've seen so far is Lance in the company of Mr. Ra's al Ghul, soon to be seen in the same room together.
Are we going to seeing any more scenes between Lance and Nyssa (Katrina Law) by the season's end?
I believe we will, yes. She always sort of pops up, doesn't she? Very expertly so, as well. So, yeah. I do hope so. Katrina's great to have around.


What else is coming up for Quentin that you're allowed to talk about?
I mentioned The Flash, and then obviously, there's this huge shift in his relationship now, with Laurel and The Arrow, so there's definitely going to be repercussions from that, which swings them into unknown territory. I'm looking forward to that. It'll be interesting to see how that develops.
Is there anything else you'd like to say about "The Return?"
I hope my wig doesn't steal the show, and I do hope you enjoy the episode. There's more Lance family history, so enjoy that, and watch out for Colin Donnell, who was marvelous to have around!