Arrow Season 7 Episode 4 Review: Level Two
Brandon Vieira
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Is this show still called Arrow?
After Arrow Season 7 Episode 4, I'm not so sure because the main focus on "Level Two" wasn't our beloved protagonist Oliver Queen or even Green Arrow 2.0.
Instead, this episode focused one-third of its screen time on Dinah of all people. It could be argued that Dinah is one of the most boring characters on Arrow. No matter how many times they've tried to make us care about her, I just can't seem to find a reason to care.
When she and Laurel looked to be starting a friendship on Arrow Season 7 Episode 2, I saw some potential in Dinah that I hadn't yet seen. However, after this episode, I'm once again super done with her.
She does well when she isn't given so much to handle, but when Dinah is tasked with carrying an episode, it reminds me how much of a snooze she can be.
The storyline she was involved with on "Level 2" had a ton of potential, but the problem was she shouldn't have been the focus. The focus should have been on Green Arrow 2.0. After four episodes, we still have no information on the new vigilante.
Related: Arrow Season 7 Episode 3 Review: Crossing Lines
Who is he? What is his motive? Why is he helping Rene?
If one of these questions were answered, this episode would have gone from mediocre to great. Instead, we know nothing new about him. All we know is that Dinah is conflicted about how to get justice, which we already knew, so there was really no need to have an entire episode dedicated to this issue of hers.
As much as I believed in Team Arrow, I had to move on. I had to be a different kind of hero for this city.
Dinah
Not only did Dinah play a big role in the present timeline, but she also played a major role in the flashforward. Speaking of those flashforwards, they went from zero to a hundred, very quick.
Seriously, we went from knowing absolutely nothing to all of a sudden getting too much information thrown in our faces.
Star City has fallen to the Glades, Dinah's a vigilante again, and Zoe (Rene's daughter) is also a vigilante, a part of some sort of vigilante resistance. Oh, and Felicity is apparently dead.
Unlike the Green Arrow 2.0 storyline which I would like to move a bit quicker, this flashforward has moved way too fast. The pacing of Roy and William's journey was done well up to this point.
It left us with enough information but still kept us intrigued.
Related: Get HBO via Prime Video Channels for Addictive Dramas, Hilarious Comedies & Hit Movies!
However, after the flashback on "Level 2," I'm overwhelmed. Too much was revealed to the point that I can't even fathom what's going on anymore.
Hopefully, this was just a one-time thing for the flashforward because if they keep throwing that much information all at once, it will be impossible to keep track.
Please don't make it any more confusing than it already is!
Roy: This is a waste of time. How much longer are we going to be trapped in here?
Dinah: You used to be a lot more patient.
The disappointment kept on coming, and this time it was with our residential hero. On Arrow Season 7 Episode 3, I declared Oliver to be the Queen (pun intended) of Badassery. The follow up of the super fun action sequences we saw on the last episode, was a good old-fashion ... therapy session?
It was a huge let-down, especially because I was so pumped to learn more about The Demon and who he would turn out to be.
That was stalled so that Oliver could talk about his familial woes. If the therapy session led to more, I could maybe forgive Arrow for its indiscretion, but it led to absolutely nothing. At least that's what it feels like at this moment.
Related: Arrow Season 7 Episode 2 Review: The Longbow Hunters
Dr. Parker didn't really get Oliver to say anything we didn't already know. It was a rehash of his time on the lifeboat with his dad, which has been talked about ad nauseam.
Oliver's vision with William was a nice father/son moment that we haven't seen in a long time, but besides giving me the warm fuzzies, it didn't really make much of a difference to the storyline moving forward.
William: We're going to die here.
Oliver: You're going to make it through this. You're going to get off this raft and you are going to have an amazing life because you are destined for great things.
Arrow Season 7 Episode 5 is titled "The Demon," so I'm hopeful that this was just a minor misstep in an otherwise fantastic story.
The one positive thing that occurred on "Level 2" that almost made up for all the Dinah nonsense was the alliance that formed between Laurel and Felicity.
I got excited when Laurel seemed to be forming a friendship with Dinah, but a friendship with Felicity is so much better! The two share a lot of chemistry.
Even though I was a little disappointed that Rene and Felicity's team-up didn't last long, I'm perfectly fine with Laurel being the person that replaces him.
The two have the potential to form a bond that original Rene and Felicity never had the chance to do. Felicity's kookiness mixed with Laurel's intensity is the perfect combination for a crime-fighting duo.
Laurel: How did you get past by SCPD detail?
Felicity: You know I went to MIT, right? It's like Harvard for computer geeks with a 6.7% acceptance rate. So if I can get in there, I can get in pretty much anywhere. Except for here, which is why I had to resort to saying that we were sorority sisters.
Their plan to kill Diaz together isn't going to work, at least the first time around, since they don't know he took the strength serum. However, if Arrow allows the pairing of Felicity and Laurel to go strong for a while, I might be willing to look past how tiring the Diaz story is becoming.
In fact, pairing these two ladies together may be the element that helps keep Diaz's story fresh.
We didn't see a lot of Curtis and Diggle, but Curtis somehow managed to be the MVP all thanks to Beebo! The true legend of Legends of Tomorrow made a small cameo thanks to Curtis.
I was slightly disappointed, though, that Star City's version of Beebo doesn't talk and isn't worshipped like the god like he was with the Vikings (Only Legends fans will understand what I'm referring to).
Who knows, maybe this isn't the last time we'll see Beebo in Star City...
What did you think of "Level 2"?
Did Dinah play too much of a role in this episode?
Are you disappointed we didn't learn anything new about The Demon?
Which part of the flashforward shocked you the most?
Is a Felicity and Laurel team up the best thing to happen since sliced bread?
On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love Beebo?
Let us know in the comments below and if you need to catch up, make sure to watch Arrow online. right here on TV Fanatic!
Brandon Viera was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He retired in May 2019..
