My Life. My Choice: Arrow 2x03 Review (Broken Dolls)
For the CW, “Broken Dolls” is actually really creepy. It’s this episode and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “The Gentleman” that give me an absolute wiggins.
Creepiness equals solid bad guy which equals FELICITY IN DANGER and PROTECTIVE OLIVER. This happens to be my sexual identity. Excellent. We also get a very overdue confession from Laurel Lance regarding Tommy’s death.
Source: Paige
Let’s dig in…
Oliver and the Lance Family
We’re kicking off the episode with Oliver surrounded by cops in Laurel’s office. It’s not one of his handy trick arrows that save him however, but the Lady in Black and her sonic thing. A whole bunch of windows explode and everyone collapses except Oliver and the Lady in Black. I don’t think the sonic thing is based in real physics.
With the sonic thing as a clue, Felicity discovers the Lady in Black put five would-be rapists in the hospital and seems to be strictly targeting misogynist criminals. What is not to love about this woman? She’s still not talking to Oliver yet, so he must rely on Roy to find her. He chases Sin to the clock tower where he is subsequently knocked unconscious.
When he wakes, the Lady in Black is standing over him asking, “Are you one of them?” Roy is just as confused as the rest of us. When he gets a call from Thea, the Lady in Black tells Sin to release Roy and she vanishes. Well, that answered absolutely nothing.
When Oliver returns home safely to the bunker, Diggle asks the question everyone is asking, “What were you doing at Laurel’s office in the first place, Oliver?” God bless our logical King. Where would we be without you? Oliver wanted to convince Laurel he was doing things a different way, but acknowledges he was wrong to think he could simply convince her. From now on the Arrow will be steering clear of the Assistant District Attorney. FINALLY.
That’s not to say some of the Lance family can be convinced the Arrow has changed his ways. Detective Lance reaches out to Felicity to contact the Arrow because a serial killer he once arrested is back on the streets. His name is Barton Mathis aka “The Dollmaker.” He suffocates his victims with a flexible polymer he pours down their throats and then dresses them up like dolls (hello to the creepy). He escaped from prison during the earthquake and is killing again.
It’s personal to Lance because Mathis killed eight girls before he caught him. The police department is stretched too thin to stop Mathis before he kills more woman, so Lance is also trying another way and teaming up with the Arrow. YASSS!!
Lance swings by Laurel’s office to check on her and get the name of Mathis’ defense counsel. Laurel is not thrilled her father is digging into this case on his own time because of the way it consumed him the last time.
Laurel: Whatever guilt you’re feeling, you’re just using it to justify a vendetta.
Lance: Well maybe I’m not the only one.
SHOTS FIRED!!!!
Lance stops by the Dollmaker’s defense attorney, but brings the Arrow as backup. Oliver is no longer killing, but that doesn’t mean he’s above torturing.
Lance: I thought you were done killing people!
The Arrow: He’ll live.
Lance: He’s going to report me to my lieutenant.
Source: Paige
Honestly, this is one of the Arrow’s best lines ever. I am cackling. The defense attorney coughs up a possible location – the Bisque Museum. The building reminds him of Germany which is where porcelain dolls was invented. Thanks for nothing, Germany.
Lance and the Arrow track the Dollmaker to the Bisque Museum, but instead of finding Mathis they find a doll, with the article of the Dollmaker’s arrest attached to it, and a phone. Mathis calls to taunt Lance as he kills another woman.
While on a stakeout with Lance, Oliver uses the hood to address his issues with Lance’s daughters once again. He makes a somewhat snide remark about Laurel no longer believing in him. Honestly, I wish Oliver wasn’t so hung up on this thing with Laurel, but apparently he needs someone to explain it to him like a four year old.
Lance: She suffered a loss. Grief’s got a way of shifting a person’s belief. But then you know all about that. You’ve lost people too right?
The Arrow: Why would you say that?
Lance: Why else would you be doing this? My youngest, she died.
The Arrow: I’m sorry.
Lance: Less than a month after it happened, I ended up catching the Dollmaker case. Threw myself into it. I think on some level, with each girl, I was trying to save Sara. And just like with Sara, I couldn’t.
Not that I’m in favor of Oliver using his secret identity to worm his way back into the Lance family, but this was the first time he could really apologize to Quentin and Quentin receive it. He doesn’t blame the Arrow for Sara’s death. He blames Oliver. He’s just too angry with Oliver to hear anything he has to say – even if it’s just expressing remorse. But Lance can accept it from the man in the hood.
I find it actually shocking at this point that Oliver doesn’t understand why Laurel is lashing out at the Arrow. Oliver’s entire mission is fueled by the grief of his father’s death – and every subsequent loss he suffered those five years. He found countless criminals to target his rage and sorrow at. Laurel is just targeting one criminal. Oliver really needs this explained to him? Buy a mirror buddy. Yeesh. Self reflection is not his strong suit in Season 2 apparently.
Lance is arrested for obstruction after attempting to arrest the Dollmaker on his own (with Team Arrow’s help), but having an ADA for a daughter comes in handy and Laurel gets the charges dropped. This leads to a very interesting argument about the Arrow. Do I love that Lance officially renamed him the Arrow? Yes, I do. He came up with the Hood, so it seems only right.
Lance: A guy with a bow and arrow can’t save a guy who’s had a building fall on top of him. What’s going on with you is not about the Arrow.
Finally, someone said it to her face. Lance cannot understand why Laurel feels guilty about Tommy’s death (*COUGH*WE CAN*COUGH*), but targeting the Arrow is not going to bring Tommy back. Lance is genuinely worried about Laurel, but she blows her father off like she’s does to anyone trying to help her lately.
The Dollmaker ups the ante and kidnaps Lance AND LAUREL by the end of the episode. Now, I am not a huge fan of Laurel at the moment. I have my issues with her, but seeing her tied up with a tube shoved down her throat, as her father begs for her life, was sufficiently scary.
Lance: Laurel, sweetheart, close your eyes. I’m here. I’m here, honey.
UGH. A parent telling their child to close their eyes during traumatic events traumatizes me!! Anytime the Arrow would like to show up would be swell.
Source: @dinahlaurellancesource
The Arrow saves Laurel of course, but he’s not the only masked vigilante the Dollmaker must contend with – the Lady in Black has shown up too. Well, this fits her MO since the guy is a freaking SERIAL KILLER OF WOMEN. In fact, now that I mention it, where the hell have YOU been Lady in Black?
Oliver is prepared to bring the Dollmaker back to prison after he immobilizes him with a couple of arrows, but the Lady in Black is not having it and puts a baton through the Dollmaker’s chest. You know, I’m not worked up about this kill. It's fine with her resolution skills.
Laurel cannot understand why the Arrow saved her, particularly since she’s been hunting him like prey.
Laurel: He came… he came to save me.
But this time, Laurel is not talking about the Arrow. She’s talking about Tommy.
Laurel: Oliver, he told to me to stay out of the Glades and he told me to get out of CNRI and I didn’t. Tommy was only there because I was too stubborn. Too stubborn to get out when I had the chance. You were right. I was blaming the Arrow because… Oh, my God. It’s all my fault, Dad. It’s all my fault that Tommy died.
Laurel collapses into her father’s arms and he comforts her as Oliver secretly listens to her heart wrenching confession, hidden away in the dark alley.
It’s a callback to the scene in the pilot when Oliver watched Laurel and Tommy from a distance. It foreshadowed that Oliver and Laurel’s superhero journeys would be linked and the tether was Tommy. It was simply not in the way either of them imagined.
We are not at the end of Laurel Lance’s Season 2 story, but the very beginning. While her confession is necessary, it will not solve all her problems. Acknowledging guilt and grief is one thing. Being ready to deal with it is another.
Did you notice that Quentin didn’t immediately tell Laurel she was wrong? I am not so inhuman that I hold Laurel completely responsible for Tommy’s death. Malcolm Merlyn killed his son. Not Laurel.
But she bears some culpability. If she had listened to Oliver or Quentin – Tommy may have lived. It’s possible he could have died another way, but what we know for certain is he never would’ve been at CNRI. He was there because of Laurel and only Laurel. That is the guilt she must carry for the rest of her life. Laurel doesn’t hate the Arrow. She hates herself.
That is a feeling Oliver Queen knows all too well. He goes to Laurel’s apartment to check on her and Quentin. When Lance thanks the Arrow for saving his daughter (again) Oliver’s response is surprisingly detached.
The Arrow: She needed help.
Just like Quentin. Just like all the other citizens of Starling City the Arrow has sworn to protect. I am not delusional to pretend that Oliver Queen doesn’t care more for Laurel Lance than a stranger on the street, but there is a note of dispassion. Oliver is not there because he’s trying to change Laurel’s mind about him or chase after her forgiveness or use the hood to weasel his way back into her personal life. He’s there because she was a person who needed help. That is all. And that says a lot. It’s quite a shift from the Oliver Queen of Season 1.
Source: @dinahlaurellancesource
You cannot help someone who doesn't want to be helped. I think this pull back is necessary. Oliver cannot always save Laurel - she has to learn to save herself. This her life. These are her choices. The road Laurel is headed toward is one that neither Oliver nor the Arrow can follow her down.
Olicity
After the Dollmaker’s latest victim is discovered, Team Arrow wants a peek at the forensics, but the police have sent everything to a private lab. Felicity can’t hack it because their system is offline. Seems she did too good of a job last season. FIELD TRIP TIME!
Lance and the Arrow break into the lab, so Felicity can download the forensic records. There is a list of chemical ingredients of all the make-up found on the victims. Lance recognizes one of the chemicals - ethyl paraben sodium laureth sulfate, which is found in skim cream. Lance remembers one of the victims was wearing some kind of Mermaid skin cream, which had the same type of formula. Felicity quickly tracks it down, which leaves Lance gobsmacked by her abilities and Oliver smiles with "That's my girl" pride.
The Dollmaker picks his victims by their skin and the skin cream is how he finds them. All the victims use Mermaiden Skin Cream, which is very expensive and only carried at limited boutiques. Felicity volunteers to buy the skin cream at the four boutiques available in Starling City. Both Oliver and Diggle balk at that prospect of Felicity in that much danger.
Source: @smoakgifs
The boys can’t help but be a little awed by her bravery. Slade makes a similar comment about Shado when Oliver worries about leaving her behind in the plane so she can examine the Japanese soldier bones.
Slade: Her life. Her choice.
Oliver is romantically involved with Shado at this point, so it’s extremely telling the writers are drawing a direct parallel from Shado to Felicity. It’s also clear at this point that Team OTA is paralleling Team Flashback. This was such a cool shot:
Lance: Just for the record, I’m not a huge fan of dangling helpless girls in front of psychopaths like meat.
Felicity volunteers because she’s an absolute bad ass, but she also knows without a shadow of doubt that Oliver (and Diggle) will never let anything happen to her.
Source: smoakandswan
Once again, Felicity’s belief is proven right when the Dollmaker snatches her. Even though Diggle, Lance and Oliver are close there is still enough time for the Dollmaker to drag Felicity into a back alley. CREEPED OUT ALERT!!! Every woman has this exact fear every time they leave their house. #pickthebear
Oliver lands an arrow in this sick son of a bitch (YASSS MY KING!!!) and the Dollmaker releases Felicity. Unfortunately, she stumbles and hits her head as she falls to the ground. Lance chases after the Dollmaker, but Oliver does not.
He immediately runs to Felicity’s side and gently checks her head and tells her not to move. He stays with her until Diggle arrives.
Source: Paige
SWOON. This is not the “Mission is all that matters” man we saw last season. Some things (or someone) matter more.
Unfortunately, the Dollmaker escapes like he’s freaking Houdini. He kidnaps Laurel as ultimate retribution for Quentin arresting him.
Dollmaker: You know I could maim you, I could slice you up into a thousand pieces, but if your soul remains intact what have I wrought? Huh? Nothing.
The goal is to hurt Quentin by killing his daughter, which will cause the emotional pain the Dollmaker desires. However, "If your soul remains intact what have I wrought?” feels like a reference to Oliver. Not Quentin.
If Oliver loses himself to the darkness of the hood, if he allows all the pain and suffering to destroy his soul, then it doesn’t matter how many bad guys he arrests or how many times he saves the city. The villains will win.
It’s an argument Oliver has been having with Slade the last few episodes. Slade disapproves of Oliver’s relationship with Shado primarily because he’s madly in love with her. That said, Slade made no moves towards any type of romantic relationship with Shado, which means he could truly believe what he’s telling Oliver – attachments get you killed.
Oliver: You think caring about people is what gets you killed. I think it’s what keeps people alive.
Slade: I was wrong about you. You’re definitely an idiot.
The question then becomes how do we go from Oliver believing in love in the flashbacks to emotionally closed off in present day? I say closed off purposely – not shut down. Oliver still feels very deeply, but he keeps those emotions in check, hidden under a hood and layer of steel forged during those five years away. Something happens in the past that changes Oliver mind about caring for others.
What’s so wild about Oliver’s statement to Slade is that he’s right and Island Ollie is seldom right about anything. It is crucial for Oliver to maintain his connections to Diggle, Felicity and his family. However, present day Oliver is not entirely wrong. Love can save his soul, but it can also destroy it. If a villain discovers who Oliver loves then it makes that person a target. How many people can Oliver lose and his soul remains intact? Maybe it’s not a question of how many, but WHO. Regardless, it’s a risk Oliver has been reticent to take. For now.
The flip is the people Oliver cares about get a vote. They get to decide for themselves how much risk they can accept. And because they believe in Oliver so much they are willing to risk their lives. At the end of the day, it's their choice. Oliver gave Felicity the respect she deserved in making this decision - this respect should apply to all aspects of her life.
Source: smoakandswan
Stray Thoughts
“He’ll be out for 36 min.” That is an oddly specific time for a tranquilizer dart.
Shado was pre-med. I feel like Slade & Oliver should have known this sooner than a year later. What else do they have to talk about?
Prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against Moira. Oliver keeps saying he’ll never let that happen, so I’m thinking he has a Mom jail break plan.
Sometimes you need a good old fashioned gratiutious shirtless scene.
Source: Paige
What secret is Moira willing to die to keep? It is something she believes will cost her relationship with her children. So that’s a big pile of yikes.
I am completely comfortable with the way Diggle & Oliver pass the time.
Slade’s hands and face are seriously burned from freighter bombing. Oliver is imprisoned on the boat. Who knows where Shado is. Flashbacks are straight up hell again!
LADY IN BLACK IS IN KAHOOTS WITH RA’S AL GHUL!!! Batman Jen squeals with delight.
Listen to the Watchover podcast reaction to 2x03!!!
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