This week’s episode of Arrow, “Muse of Fire,” answers the age old question “How fast can Oliver Queen run?”. Really fast, apparently, based on how he was able to catch up with a motorcycling assassin just by running at him.
Or running at her, as the case may be. “Muse of Fire” transplants a member of the Bat-family into the Arrow-verse by bringing over Mafia daughter vigilante Helena Bertinelli, a.k.a The Huntress.
There are versions of The Huntress where she’s actually Bruce Wayne’s daughter instead of being a mob boss’s child, but Arrow made her the daughter of Starling City’s very own mob head, Frank Bertinelli. After Frank had her fiance killed, Helena decided to secretly go against the family business and go on a mobster murder spree.
It’s interesting that Helena winds up being a kindred spirit to Oliver. She seems to be the first person to get that being “alone” on an island for five years can change a person. No unrealistic expectations like those from his friends and family, but understanding that a “crucible” like the one Oliver has been through can really break and rebuild a person from the ground up.
Along those lines, Oliver’s mom seems to be coming to terms that the son she got back wasn’t the same son that left her, even going so far as telling Thea that it was time to “stop judging him for the Oliver that he was and start accepting him for the Oliver that he is.”
When Ollie and Helena are kidnapped and the two fight their way out of the situation together, Ollie has an eye opening moment. Helena has no qualms about killing, just like Ollie. And she gives the same reason Ollie did way back in the pilot — she couldn’t let them live because they knew her secret. Ollie’s expression when she says that says it all. Birds of a feather, these two.
Helena quickly figures out Ollie’s secret (she saw him fight hood-less, after all), and gives him a painfully cliched “we’re not so different, you and I” speech. And, for once, the person giving the speech is right. Ollie and Helena aren’t so different. And that doesn’t bother Ollie one bit. Sure, they’re both kinda homicidal, emotionally detached and full of a burning hatred, but what’s important is that they can be emotionally detached and homicidal together.
Walter returns this episode, but no revelations there. Instead, the revelation this episode is that Tommy Merlyn’s father happens to be the guy that Ollie’s mom’s always talking to about “The List.” That’s one mystery out of the way. Sort of.
It’ll be interesting to see if Tommy winds up becoming the villain his namesake promises. Another archer promises to show up for the Christmas episode, so maybe we’ll be seeing Tommy or his father donning the hood soon enough.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Are Helena and Ollie meant to be?
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