There’s a difference between being a leader and a politician, and that’s not just a dig at the latter. Many might think that they would make a good politician because in their own lives, they can be a good leader but they’d most likely be wrong because being a politician has sod all to do with leadership. It is first and foremost about taking crap from your opposition, your electorate, the media or any organization big enough to have a Facebook page. No matter what decisions you make, someone will always call you wrong. No matter how much good you do, some will always hate you. You need to be able to take all that without losing your wits or the smile on your face. People will follow a leader but do nothing but object and abuse a politician. With that in mind, you have to wonder why anyone would want the job even with the intent to of doing good but some do. In Star City, the political race for Mayor is hotting up now that Ruve Adams is opposing Oliver Queen as their first debate looms it looks like they’ll be taking crap from each other.
Code of Silence – Oliver Queen and Ruve Adams face off for their first Mayor Campaign debate and Damien Darhk will settle for nothing less than demolishing Oliver. Quentin too finds himself in Darhk’s crosshairs, straining his relationship with Donna. Meanwhile, back on the Island Oliver tries to rally the captives but they demand he proves his intentions.
Following his success in Brotherhood back last November, Code of Silence sees Arrow’s long time fight & stunt co-ordinator James “Bam Bam” Bamford returning to direct another episode. That means we should expect a frantic and fast-paced action fest, and this episode does not disappoint. It was the standout strength of Bamford’s last effort but this time, there’s a clear feeling of growth and development as he’s learned to use his keen eye for an adrenaline surge a bit more sparingly to make sure that the crucial emotional aspects of the episode get their time too. He still lands his blows when he throws them though. Throughout the episode, he makes great use of lengthy continuous camera shots. These are especially good when combined explosive exploits of The Demolition Gang (originally Green Lantern comic villains). When the camera stays tight and unbroken on the characters as they desperately find a way out of a collapsing building, it superbly captures the feelings of panic and chaos surrounding them. Bamford continues to pull little camerawork gems out of his bag of tricks like Speedy’s 3rd person perspective table slide. It really elevates the action above a typical Arrow episode, which in itself is excellent, as the team trade blows with the Demo’s. Diggle verses the big hammer guy is a particular highlight as the two heavyweights hurl themselves through walls with the huge hammer crashing down like someone let Thor sneak on the set. Even the flashbacks chip in some good action as Oliver and Conklin finally get their big showdown in a knife fight.
The escalation of the Mayor Campaign arc is good in what we are given, sadly disappointing in its omission. The subtle underhanded banter between Oliver and Ruve is magnificent as both players make clear they see straight through each other’s facades. Ruve feels intelligent and a worthy adversary for Oliver but for all the build-up towards the debate, it’s such a shame we don’t get to see any of it. Even just an opening exchange to reinforce Oliver’s win would have made for a much better result than cutting straight to the aftermath. Granted, this could well intentional to avoid some later repetition. It’s highly likely they’ll be a final, or least another, debate before the ballet boxes open so the season maybe saving debate sequences for then. However, the most interesting feature of the election story concerns Ruve within the ranks of HIVE. It actually creates some degree of sympathy towards her character as its leadership openly doubts her abilities to win fair and square and as such plan the demolition-based intervention. We might ultimately see her turning her back on the organization. The HIVE scenes confirm that her purpose is more than just demoralising Oliver and the people of Star City. Control of City Hall is required for phase 5 of Project Genesis, which is fast approaching.
Now that we know Oliver’s illegitimate son (hey, it worked for Donnie Creed) is going to be a bigger part of the story, it feels right for the circle of secrecy to be expanded. Thea’s discovering could have very easily felt awkward and patronizing but instead, her understanding approach feels much more in character for both she and Oliver. The episode isn’t creating drama just for the sake of it. Of course, this will blow when Felicity finds out (which according to the trailer will be next episode) but this Oli/Thea exchange starts embeds Oliver’s justifications well (keeping William safe from his enemies) so that next week can focus on Felicity dealing with the news. The price and necessity of secrets is a recurring theme throughout the episodes as Quentin tries some classic protection-based lying on Donna/Felicity’s mom. There are moments when this feels a bit too “daytime drama” but overall, it’s rewarding and later moment of Quentin asking Oliver just how he manages it is a great example of their new found mutual respect this season.
There are a few signs of Curtis coming back into the story in a bigger, hero creation way. Firstly, we hear Oliver become the first person to name check him as “Terrific” following his engagement party present for Felicity. Though the big indicator of certainly a tragedy based story is the presence of his other half at the party. While seeing these gentlemen attend the party is not unusual, it is not a necessity as the purpose of their scene was Curtis giving his gift (and everything it implies). Instead, this plus one presence screams of a reestablishment moment ahead of something bad going down. We’re being reminded of who Curtis cares about so it bares significance when we see them hurt or maybe even killed. That could easily be the final push towards Curtis suiting up as Mr Terrific. John Barrowman also has a curious episode despite his near absence. It would seem that his tip off to Darhk last episode was not just a one of betrayal to Oliver but Malcolm Merlyn appears to be officially in the HIVE VIP club has he sits in on Darhk’s meeting. This really raises some fascinating possibilities over both Darhk and HIVE’s strategy in the coming weeks. Through all their conflict, Merlyn knows and understands Oliver better than anyone, and we could well be seeing him predicting and countering many moves the team makes against HIVE. There’s also a passing confirmation that following Amanda Waller’s death, Lyla is now heading up ARGUS which thankfully means we should be seeing more of them.
The action smashes it, the drama gets in some good blows and the humor (courtesy of a party planning Donna) is hilarious. It has the odd minor failing but this is a really entertaining episode. Next week, Vixen roars into Star City with her live action debut; looks like we’ll be walking on the wild side.