We left Arrow last week with Oliver in his Hood getup surrounded by police officers in Laurel’s apartment. This was a trap set by Laurel, who now is blaming Tommy Merlyn’s death on the Hood. At the last second, the mysterious Black Canary, ahem, I mean Canary, shows up uses some kind of sonic blast and escapes with Ollie.
While he puts Roy on the case of tracking down this lady, Quentin Lance finds out that a serial killer from an old case has escaped from Iron Heights as a result of the quake. This serial killer, Barton Mathis, also known as The Dollmaker, kidnaps women and kills them by pouring a flexible polymer into their throats. This fires up Quentin to track him down, but he is warned by the police department to stay back. So, Quentin and the Team Arrow find a way to track this guy down and eventually use Felicity as sexy bait.
Alright, let me pause here. Felicity is a very attractive woman who could jump from this show onto any other CW drama if she wanted to. However, she plays the nerd on this show and it just comes across as, “Hey, I wear glasses. I’m a nerd.” Is it how she is written? Maybe. Is it how she looks? Maybe. It is one reason I think we will never see her character jump to the comic book page like Diggle’s. Currently there is a nerdy tech geek helping out Oliver in the Green Arrow books. And she is more believable as an actual nerd than the character played by a person. Ok back to it.
As a result of this, Felicity is put in danger, and both Laurel and Quentin end up being kidnapped by the Dollmaker. Arrow saves them in time and then the Black Canary in return saves him, kills the Dollmaker and runs off. However, Roy finds the Canary and tells Arrow the location of the watchtower where Arrow finds her and her friend Sin. We see a character who looks like the Dark Archer (but is not) and he name drops Ra’s al Ghul!?!?!
In the past, we see Slade and Oliver run around on the island. They see a Japanese boat shooting bombs towards Shado’s location. They run to her, but are ambushed and end up in a prison on a boat called Amazo.
All in all it was a pretty straight forward episode with a bunch of hints dropped….well lets get to it:
Notes/Easter Eggs/ SPOILERS:
Dollmaker: Barton Mathis, the third iteration of the character first appeared in Detective Comics, vol. 2 #1 as a Batman villain. He was created by writer and artist Tony S. Daniel. In this episode Barton’s lawyer is named Tony Daniel as a nod to his creator. The full Dollmaker story is collect in Batman: Detective Comics: Faces of Death.
Metamorpho: This is the name of the factory that the Dollmaker is using. Rex Mason, also known as Metamorpho, the Element Man, is a superhero with the ability to transmutate into a wide variety of elemental compounds. He is mostly associated with Batman and the Outsiders. He first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #57. Rex was an adventurer who was hired by business man Simon Stagg to find a rare Egypian artifact, the Orb of Ra. As a consequence of this adventure Rex obtained his powers from the Orb of Ra. I suppose if he were to be “Arrowized” his origin could possibly start in a chemical factory. If you can track it down there was a pretty good modernization of his origin in the mini-series Metamorpho: Year One.
Quentin Larry Lance: Much like his daughter, his middle name gives a nod to the comic book character he is based on. Detective Larry Lance was created back in 1948 in Flash Comics #92. He was a police officer who would help the Golden Age Black Canary on her cases. The two would fall in love and have a daughter who had the superpower of a sonic scream. She would also take the name Black Canary. Hmmm…..
Amazo: This is the name of the ship that we see Oliver held captive on in the past. Amazo is a super-villain android who first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #30. He was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson as a villain for the Justice League of America. His fictional creator, Professor Ivo, created him to have the power to duplicate superheroes’ abilities. Could this boat be filled with people who have the same abilities as Oliver? A great Amazo story to read would be JLA #27 by Mark Millar (Kick Ass, Wanted).
The Clock Tower: This is the location of a team of mostly female heroes called the Birds of Prey. The team mainly consists of Black Canary, Batgirl/Oracle/Barbra Gordon, and sometimes the Huntress. This is the hiding spot for Black Canary and Sin which is a nod to the Birds of Prey comics. The team also had a short lived TV show on the CW when Smallville was in its second season.
Sin: Is a girl rescued by Black Canary from becoming a martial arts weapon. She first appears in Birds of Prey #92. She was created by Gail Simone.
Ra’s al Ghul: His name is Arabic for “The Demon Head.” He was created by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams in Batman #232 (June 1971). He is almost immortal, gaining long life from a fountain of youth called the Lazarus Pit. He has genius-level intelligence, and is skilled in martial arts. Ra’s al Ghul was the main villain in Batman Begins. I wonder how his portrayal will differ here. It is interesting that his soldiers wear a uniform very similar to the Dark Archer uniform worn by Malcom Merlyn. Could Ra’s al Ghul be behind the plan to wipe out the Glades? It would fit his M.O. His ultimate goal is a world in perfect balance. He believes that the best way to achieve this balance is to eliminate most of humanity. A great Ra’s al Ghul story that doesn’t involve just Batman is JLA: Tower of Babel by Mark Waid and Howard Porter.
Written by Dave Tomko. Check out Dave’s blog, New Earth 2.
