What I’m Watching: Arrow

Arrow: Season 1, Episode 11 “Trust but Verify” (C)

Before I watched this episode, I was considering whether I’d like to continue watching and reviewing this show. It’s just not of the same caliber as so many of the other shows I watch, and while it’s on the not-so-crowded Wednesday, it isn’t entirely worthwhile between busy Tuesday and Thursday nights. This episode didn’t reassure me much, pitting Diggle against Oliver as he went after the latest name on his list. Both men would be well served to have less blind faith in those they admire, since Diggle turned out to be completely wrong and nearly got both himself and his sister-in-law killed, and Oliver is considerably boneheaded about how he selectively goes after certain people and not others. It’s always silly to me to see criminals try to force unwilling participants to commit crimes on their behalf when they could far more easily do it themselves, especially if they’re sitting in a van only a few feet away. It’s equally frustrating to watch Thea parade around reacting however she feels like it to the news of her mother’s apparent affair, taking drugs and crashing a car without any familial implications and an impending legal problem. Malcolm, who, to this point has been extremely subtle, is being considerably more careless than ever before, meeting openly with Moira and bluntly presenting a brutal request to his son. All of the developments that we’re now seeing play out on the island also feel hopelessly irrelevant, and I’m not sure that I’ll be checking back in to follow up with this show.