TV Review: Arrow Season 8 Episode 6

Arrow Season 8 Episode 6 “Reset”

Director: David Ramsey

Starring: Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Rick Gonzalez, Juliana Harkavy, Katherine McNamara, Ben Lewis, Joseph David-Jones, LaMonica Garrett, Katie Cassidy, Audrey Marie Anderson, Andrea Sixtos

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 42 minutes

There’s a tragic irony to the timing of Oliver’s impending death.  Despite his fierce survival instincts, in the show’s earlier days he was always perfectly willing to sacrifice himself for the good of others.  At some of his darker moments, he even seemed somewhat eager to do so, to redeem himself for past sins and release himself from near-constant heartbreak.  But as time went on and he got better at being both Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow he gained more to lose.  By the time the Monitor came to collect on his deal, Oliver was a married man with two children (one wasn’t living with him but that’s not the point).  The arrival of the older versions of William and Mia in the present has further inspired him to look for a way to fulfill his heroic duties while still being able to come home to his family.  But in “Reset” he’s forced to face and accept the fact that that might not be possible.  He learns this lesson through an emotionally affecting use of a tried and true sci-fi trope.

It’s kind of amazing to think that Arrow hasn’t done a Groundhog Day episode yet.  Sure, the show usually leaves the more outlandish sci-fi/fantasy stuff to its sibling series but with all the mileage it’s gotten out of dreams, hallucinations, and ghostly occurrences you’d think Oliver would have lived the same day over and over by this point, even if only in his own mind.  The creators’ past restraint pays off though, as this is an excellent use of the time loop premise.  The day that Oliver keeps repeating is one that takes place in a slightly altered reality.  Most of the adjustments are small, with the major exception being that Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) is still alive and mayor of Star City.  Oliver quickly discovers that Laurel is also trapped in the loop and when the day resets several times after Quentin is killed, they guess that the purpose of the Monitor’s test (as they have been informed by now frenemy Lyla that this is) is to save him.

However, as the day continues to reset and the emotional toll of seeing Quentin die over and over and over again becomes harder to take they start to realize that may not be the case.  Laurel accepts this first (proving again that she’s the most mature person in the cast), thanking Quentin for helping her redeem herself and expressing her love before declaring she can’t watch him die anymore.  The next time the reset occurs she’s free.  As Lyla would later explain, the purpose of her going through this experience was simply so she could have closure in exchange for her service in the coming Crisis.  Oliver’s lesson is more complicated and he’s also, unsurprisingly, not nearly as quick to accept it.  It’s not until an injured Quentin, himself already weary from fighting so desperately despite having no memory of the other versions of the day, makes Oliver let him die that the latter starts to come to the realization that there are some things he can’t change, that accepting that fact is not the same as giving up, and that he needs to accept the possibility of his own death so he can make better use of the time he has left.

This is dense, emotionally challenging stuff, especially when the show also has to pack in plot, action, and is sensible enough to include some light humor.  Fortunately, everyone involved is more than up to the task and the result is a captivating, often moving episode that still manages to be highly entertaining.  Having Blackthorne back does wonders for the show.  He was one of the most consistently impressive performers in the show’s cast and it’s easy to see why as he sells every line, be it a self-aware wisecrack or a piece of gruff but sage advice, with an immense amount of gravitas.  Reuniting him with Cassidy also leads to some particularly poignant scenes as the two have always brought out the best in each other.  This is also an episode full of exceptional, subtle work from Stephen Amell, who often manages to convey Oliver’s struggle over whether to continue fighting or accept that his time may have come just as well through silence and body language as he does through dialogue.  David Ramsey sat in the director’s chair for the second time this episode and he shows real talent behind the camera, delivering the kind of quick, visual storytelling necessary for a time loop story.  When an episode features so much repetition it’s the moments of change that really stand out and Ramsey’s choices regarding camera angles and movements accentuate both the humor of some of the repeated scenarios (such as Oliver’s increasing skill at avoiding the waitress) as well as their emotional significance (how Oliver becomes more and more terse with the kids when they enter the apartment every morning until the reset after Quentin gets through to him, after which he finally pauses to talk with them).  Ramsey also gets to show off his action chops with the immaculate one-shot of Oliver and Quentin fighting their way through a building, one of the show’s most technically impressive sequences in recent memory.

“Reset” feels like a declaration, or maybe more a reminder, that we’re in the home stretch of the show.  Just as it prepares Oliver for the possibility that he might really meet his end, it’s preparing us for the fact that one way or another we won’t be spending time with him much longer.  If this is what the show can pull off a few weeks before its end, I’m very excited to see what the actual end looks like.

Notes:

•  I wish we could have gotten it earlier (much earlier) but I love how much of this season focuses on the Green Arrow and Black Canary as partners (not romantic ones, unfortunately, but still).
• By the end of this episode Oliver is back to being OK with working with the Monitor, mostly because it’s revealed that he was, in fact, responsible for bringing William and Mia back to the present, but did so so that Oliver would have the chance to say goodbye, just as he gave Laurel the chance to do so with Quentin.  “Reset” does a fairly good job in this regard but I can’t help but still feel more than a little animosity towards Monitor (and even a small amount towards Lyla, to be honest).
•  Props to the show for referencing Edge of Tomorrow alongside Groundhog Day as the former is really much more similar to the situation at hand, even though the latter will always be the go-to time loop title.  Oliver also has a lot in common with Tom Cruise’s character from Edge of Tomorrow when you think about it.
•  That trick arrow that dispatched mini-explosives onto a bunch of bad guys’ guns has got to be the coolest one the show’s ever shown, right?  Boxing glove arrow doesn’t count because it was improvised.
• It’s hard to tell which specific season if any, this episode is paying tribute to.  Maybe six? That is the one where Quentin died and Laurel started on the road to redemption.
•  Next time Ollie’s back on the island because of course, he is.

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