There are a lot of damaged people on Arrow. In “Honor Thy Fathers,” the latest episode of the Emerald Archer’s CW series, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) works through one last round of daddy issues before finally confronting Adrian Chase. Although Oliver wins the battle, his war with Prometheus rages on.
In “Honor Thy Fathers,” which bears semblance to the Season 4 episode “Sins of the Father,” Thea Queen (Willa Holland) returns to Star City when Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) plays a gruesome, macabre card: He sends the skeletal corpse of a Star City councilman, whom Robert Queen killed by accident, and in secret. With his father’s name getting dragged through the mud, Oliver assembles his team to clear the Queen name. But that’s no easy task, and as Oliver learns, owning up to the past is the only way to move forward.
Also, Derek Sampson (ex-WWE star Cody Rhodes) is back, and he’s the monster-of-the-week, so there’s that, too. But bigger than Cody’s welcome return to Arrow is the anti-climactic capture of Adrian Chase, even though anyone watching could see it was all part of his plan a mile away. In a cramped stairwell, Oliver subdues Adrian Chase, fighting daddy issue fire with fire. While Adrian tried to break Oliver using Robert Queen’s checkered past, Oliver counters with Adrian Chase’s own father, and his sins. Adrian submits, but as members of Team Arrow start to go missing, Arrow shows it might have been Adrian’s play all along.
Derek Sampson (Cody Rhodes) returns as the monster of the week in "Honor Thy Fathers."
But, at least Oliver is the Green Arrow again. Yes, really! After Adrian’s mental and physical torture of Oliver a few months ago, Oliver ceased becoming the Green Arrow. But with his father’s reputation at stake, Oliver felt it right to put on the hood and mask again, permanently. That will come in handy when he clashes with Prometheus, again, and hopefully for real this time.
Speaking of masks, Arrow fans will be pleased to see just how Deathstroke’s mask wound up on Lian Yu. In the episode’s flashbacks, the mask “washed up” on shore, and Oliver — ever the sentimental — makes that incredibly metaphorical epitaph that hardcore Arrow fans have seared in their memory.
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
