Arrow
Season 5 Episode 21: “Honor Thy Fathers”
Directed by Laura Belsey
Written by Marc Guggenheim & Sarah Tarkoff
Created by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg
Starring Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, Echo Kellum, Paul Blackthorne, Josh Segarra, Rick Gonzalez, Juliana Harkavy
The CW
Air Date: Wednesday, May 10th, 2017, 8:00pm

Last week on Arrow, Felicity and Oliver (Stephen Amell, Emily Bett Rickards) got trapped in the bunker thanks to Chase (Josh Segarra). The team tried to get them out before they ran out of air. The ex-couple was able to finally talk out some of their issues, and we got to see some of the post breakup shenanigans in the flashbacks. After some harrowing leaping and climbing, they escaped the bunker with everyone’s help. Chase introduced himself to Oliver’s son, William.

Spoilers below.

Arrow 5.21 “Honor Thy Fathers” review: Lance (Paul Blackthorne) asks, “Where are we on finding Chase?” The reply from Oliver is “nowhere.”

A strange package is delivered to the Mayor’s office which demands the bomb squad’s attention, or as Oliver hears it, “open box yourself and risk everyone’s life.” No bomb, just a very old dead body; a councilman from the Glades, Andy Goodwin, dead since 2002.

What’s the connection to Chase? Well, we find out the meaning of tonight’s episode title, “Honor Thy Fathers” as Drake (Juliana Harkavy) and Lance (Juliana Harkavy) spoil Thea’s return by revealing the corpse’s killer; their father. Oliver is sure his father is being framed for murder, but Thea (Willa Holland) says the obvious, “our parents weren’t saints.”

In the flashbacks, Oliver and Anatoly (David Nykl) discuss Ollie returning to Starling City to save the city like his father wanted. This includes an eerie shot of him returning to the island, leaving a marked grave for Deathstroke.

Felicity figures out where the body came from, prompting Oliver and Diggle (David Ramsey) to investigate and immediately get trapped in a Bond-style trap locked in a room slowly filling with concrete and Oliver’s reaction is WAY too calm. Meanwhile Dinah and Curtis (Echo Kellum) stake out recently paroled Derek Sampson (Cody “Rhodes” Runnels) and find him back to his old ways, loading a truck filled with assault rifles. They ditch Sampson to save Ollie and Diggle. That left Sampson to steal chemicals from a lab that Chase’s father was using to weaponized TB, 5-years earlier before his death.

Thea interrupts Oliver as the team is trying to take down Sampson. Chase has a flash drive recording of security footage showing their dad pushing Goodwin into concrete. Felicity gives Oliver the best advice –
maybe it’s time to live for himself and not his father. They figure out where Chase is hiding and it’s the Robert Queen Applied Science Center. As Arrow deals with Prometheus, the Team battles Sampson and his lackeys. Sampson gets Rene (Rick Gonzalez) down, but Black Canary uses her scream to knock him out.

Oliver and Chase’s battle goes from physical to psychological, as Oliver tells Chase his father was ready to disown him and his entire plan was based around memorializing a false idol. And just like that Chase KNEELS and SURRENDERS! After everything, that’s it!!! Come on! Chase sits calmly in his cell at the end smiling… I hope it’s part of a diabolical plan but even then, the big moment of stopping Prometheus fell flat in an otherwise good episode.

Lost in the competition for “worst Starling City father” squabble between Chase and Oliver was the truly intriguing storyline of Lance and Rene and Rene’s daughter. Rene was all set to get her back but got nervous about a hearing, and putting Zoe through listening to all the past sordid details. Lance’s emotions when trying desperately to convince Rene to fight for her are legit, and Paul Blackthorne is really fantastic this season.

All in all, a really good episode, especially with Cody Rhodes in it again. The action and the use of fathers and sons as the theme, made this an enjoyable one. Hopefully, Chase’s sly smile means getting captured was part of his plan all along. The only other slight criticism (and was resolved before the end), was Thea being so judgmental about her father, when she has been morally skewed on and off the entire series.

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

The CW’s synopsis:

Arrow
Honor Thy Fathers (Ep# 521)
CHASE CONTINUES TO TORMENT OLIVER — Oliver (Stephen Amell) returns to the mayor’s office and faces one of his most pressing issues yet — the forced release of dozens of violent criminals prosecuted by Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra). Meanwhile, a crate is delivered to Oliver’s office containing a mysterious corpse encased in concrete. Laura Belsey directed the episode written by Marc Guggenheim & Sarah Tarkoff (#521). Original airdate 5/10/2017.

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Videos

Arrow | Honor Thy Fathers Scene | The CW

Arrow | Honor Thy Fathers Trailer | The CW

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