Arrow Review: The Candidate

Review by Nolan P. Smith

(Victor Valley)—After last week’s season opener, we knew something was coming to the newly christened Star City as city officials dropped like flies. With the second episode, The Candidate, we see someone try to take a step against the violence, but its someone without a mask.

Spoilers ahead in case you haven’t seen it yet.

Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) is back, and is now calling himself the Green Arrow, ready to clean up Star City from the “ghosts” that are dismantling the order. When old Queen family friend Jessica Danforth (Jeri Ryan) comes to visit, she tells the Queen children that she has decided to run for the vacant Mayor position- since, well, the last one was murdered. Of course, local despot Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) can’t have that, so he employs a loose canon of sorts: Lonnie Machin (Alexander Calvert), a violent and deranged man with a range of weapons at his disposal. We also see Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) take charge of Ray Palmer’s company at a very bad time, as she is faced with a myriad of layoffs. However, she does meet fellow brain Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum), who might end up being someone… terrific.

Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) learns of what happened to Thea (Willa Holland) when she was attacked last season, and the wheels begin to turn. Thea continues to go down a wild and savage path, one that is very reminiscent of when Arrow first started out as a vigilante. We see these actions come to a boil as the Queen kids have an altercation of sorts, as Oliver doesn’t want to see his sister go down the murderous path he did.

With the villain this week, Machin, its hinted that he will be back, and most likely back as the yellow masked terror, Anarky. The villain had a flair to him, and a violent streak that goes against the Green Arrow’s new state of mind. We could see a great feud in the episodes to come, and to see a character with a cult following like Anarky on the small screen is a pretty amazing feat. We get a game of cat and mouse, as Danforth’s daughter is abducted by Machin to force her to drop out of the race. Team Arrow attacks in full force and apprehends the villain… for now.

Rating: 4 out of 5. The pace has picked up since last episode, and plots are being laid down to make aftershocks as the season continues. But one major gripe- enough with the flashbacks! We want more of the here and now, not the boring, old stuff.