Arrow
Season 5 Episode 3: “A Matter of Trust”
Directed by Gregory Smith
Written by Ben Sokolowski & Emilio Ortega Aldrich
Created by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg
Starring Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Echo Kellum, Paul Blackthorne
The CW
Air Date: Wednesday, October 19th, 2016, 8:00pm

Last week on Arrow, Oliver (Stephen Amell) recruited Team 2.0, hence the name. He was completely brutal to Curtis, Wild Dog, and Evelyn Sharp (Echo Kellum, Rick Gonzalez, Madison McLaughlin), and Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) tried to talk some sense into him (she also had a moment where she looked sick). But Diggle (David Ramsey) is back in the military, but got framed and thrown in jail. Mayor Queen made a deal with AmerTek to fund a free clinic for his broken city. One of the reps got attacked by something with magic tentacles. Turns out that “Ragman” is a good guy and AmerTek is in bed with Tobias Church (Chad Coleman). Secret bankruptcies and what not. Prometheus is the new “Big Bad,” who is bigger and badder than Tobias Church. Who could it be?

Spoilers below.

Arrow 5.3 “A Matter Of Trust” review: The recruits are watching him beat on everyone, looking for Stardust. Squee!!! Cody Rhodes! Felicity is making DVDs of what Oliver did to study like football. They are impatient. Her cop boyfriend lures the Green Arrow out to warn him of the scary guy, Prometheus, that scared Tobias Church.

Diggle is in jail. He tries to talk to Lila, but is taken away. Go. Get. Oliver. How is he in a cell with Deadshot? “I thought you died,” said me and Diggle. I’m glad he’s not. Diggle isn’t.

Rene and Evelyn go to the drug warehouse and get into a shootout with Cody Rhodes. Exciting! No stuntman needed for his fight scenes. He falls into a vat of… Stardust? Turns out he was gonna flip, and now he’s dead by someone in a hockey mask.

Hmmm… I think I just got interested in the Bratva. THIS is where he learned about teams, and got his scars.

Curtis tries to get Felicity to fess up, “Keeping secrets never work out.”

Stardust, I mean Sampson, comes back to life and kills the ME. He and the Green Arrow fight. Rhodes looks delicious. Sampson shows up at the evil playground, channeling his inner Gary Busey.

Diggle wants to stay in jail to pay for Andy’s death. Deadshot… this scene just made my mind explode. What?!?!?!?

Arrow goes to gather the team. They all go to the warehouse – trust is the not so subtle theme. Curtis’s mask is very cool. Another sexy Amell – Rhodes fight, that is… until the brutal tendon slicing. Ouch! Or not ouch since he cannot feel pain.

This is the best episode of the season so far – exciting, superhero-y, lots of fights, minimal brooding.

Evelyn to Rene: “What kind of superhero wears a hockey mask?”

Oliver: “I think it’s cool.” Yes you do, Casey Jones! He takes them to the cave of costumes. Oliver also fixes Thea’s mess, and Lance (Paul Blackthorne) is deputy mayor. I am very happy about this.

Felicity confesses to Rory (Joe Dinicol), and it goes as well as expected.

Next week it’s time to break Diggle out of jail! Yay!

This was an excellent episode. I have been hard on Arrow, thinking it took itself too seriously, when it is perfectly okay to do so. This episode was serious, but Amell had funny moments (which he also displayed on last week’s Legends of Tomorrow). And that just brought the level of the show right up. That, coupled with the surprise of Deadshot (that totally had me fooled), made for a really enjoyable time. Oliver Queen was a definite hero in this.

Arrow airs Wednesday nights at 8:00pm ET on The CW.

And allow me to leave this right here:

The CW’s synopsis:

Arrow
A Matter of Trust (Ep# 503)
WRESTLING STAR CODY RHODES BRINGS THE SMACK DOWN TO STAR CITY –Now that Oliver (Stephen Amell) has his new team, they are ready to hit the streets but Oliver doesn’t feel they are ready. Headstrong Wild Dog (guest star Rick Gonzalez) defies the Green Arrow’s orders and sets out on his own after a new drug dealer, Derek Sampson (guest star Cody Rhodes), who is terrorizing Star City. Sampson proves more powerful than Wild Dog and it is up to the Green Arrow to go head to head with Sampson to save his teammate. Gregory Smith directed the episode written by Ben Sokolowski & Emilio Ortega Aldrich (#503). Original airdate 10/19/2016.

Video

Arrow | A Matter of Trust Scene | The CW