Loved It? Hated It? What did you think of "The Recruits?"

[canaryalive]

The episode was great! Great action! Loved the flashbacks! Loved the gritty angry GA and the smiling mayor Queen. The training was impressive, better than the lame training scene last season with the old team. There were some very emotional scenes with Oliver - the one with Ragman and the one with Felicity where he talks about Bratva. I like how he opens up to people.
But I also didn't like how Oliver was once again verbally abused by Curtis. What right he has to tell the man that risks his life for the city every day, that he does not bring people up, but tears them down. He is the person who made every single character on this show a hero, saved their souls and gave them purpose. How is he tearing them down.
And I read some opinion on FB from a fan who said something like:
that the Recruits should be the one who has to fight for Green Arrow' trust, not the other way around. They should feel privileged for being chosen and if they don't want to be part of what he is offering then they can go alone.
And I agree with that.
I also find it funny how they are trying to portray Felicity as the boss of GA, but in the end she is just named - 'Blondy'.
What I also didn't like is how fast he revealed his identity to the recruits and again based on an advice from Felicity, which in my opinion was not the right advice. The scene was not very impressive and the reaction from the newbies was very poorly acted.

[President_Luthor]

But I also didn't like how Oliver was once again verbally abused by Curtis. What right he has to tell the man that risks his life for the city every day, that he does not bring people up, but tears them down. He is the person who made every single character on this show a hero, saved their souls and gave them purpose. How is he tearing them down.
And I read some opinion on FB from a fan who said something like:
that the Recruits should be the one who has to fight for Green Arrow' trust, not the other way around. They should feel privileged for being chosen and if they don't want to be part of what he is offering then they can go alone.
And I agree with that.

I basically wrote off Curtis' rant to his getting his butt handed to him again and again, with his frustration coming out in a rant against Olllie that doesn't really hold any weight since he's essentially a Team Arrow freshman. I'm sure his presence last year might give some viewers the impression he's got more 'seniority' that the newest recruits, but in terms of out in the field he's as raw as they are. And he himself acknowledged in the beginning that he's out of his depths compared to the rest.

Curtis' speech was irksome because there's some revisionism and retconning on the writers' part that Team Arrow 1.0 was "inspired" by Oliver Queen, the man. For the first two seasons, Oliver Queen was the mask and Hood/Arrow was the man and I would say it was more his mission to save the city that appealed to them than anything Oliver did. The writers went out of their way to make Ollie look like an "abusive" taskmaster. Sure they were too raw and naive to appreciate what it is he's teaching them, but from Ollie's perspective it's his team, they're fighting under his banner and he's the shot-caller. Maybe he was actually "too S1" for some viewers more comfortable with the softened Ollie of S3-4, but when we think of Ollie's roots he's operating out of a playbook he's used S1-2. Old Team Arrow didn't like it either -- but they still went along with it, a fact the writers seem to forget (and maybe wish we'd forget).

Less seriously, there's only one executive chef: Oliver Queen. The recruits are way down below in the chart, minding the pantry. Curtis: you and the rookies just make sure the pantry is stocked full of flour, sugar and baking powder, okay -- Oliver will decide what to actually put on the menu. The correct reply when Oliver asks you to do something is: "Yes, chef!"

If they wanted to make the point that trust is a two-way street, partners have to rely on each other, etc. (something Ollie himself would agree with, or at least, he should ), someone like Thea could have made that point, and more convincingly. Curtis as messenger and his convoluted message didn't work with me here. Too green and too soon for any of the rookies to yank at the Team Arrow reins.

[Haggard01]

I just now realized I posted this review in the 5x01 thread instead of 5x02. I'm fixing that mistake and deleting my review in 5x01 thread.

So I debated just posting the video up of my review but I decided to keep it in written format.

Let's get to it, shall we.

I enjoyed this episode. They really are keeping up at the level from 5x01 of trying to improve the show.

Which I liked how they had Oliver said he lost the fight to Tobias Church in order to get Ragman off his vengeance and help. I like that they are actually making Oliver smart again. Also it is nice to see Oliver as the Green Arrow take on those men and win, compared to season 4 when he lost almost every fight he was in.

Now for Feclity, I'm well aware of the up cry over events in this episode. Here's the thing I get where alot of people are coming from but for me I can't really let myself look at through those lenses for one reason.

It is just because I refuse to become like the people on Reddit and such, that are complete haters of every second Feclity is on screen, they are complaining about it. Feclity is not like she was in season 3 and 4 as that heavy of a character and they are actually trying to make the character likable again.

To be fair I'll never really like the character but I've learned to tolerate Feclity, if I need to. Which Feclity kind of being like she was in season 1 makes it a little easier.

For the arc of Oliver learning in this episode on the fact of the reason why the original team worked so well is because they respected Oliver and not the Green Arrow was enjoyable. Also it keeps the focus on Oliver making him the central figure is needed, especially with the new recruits so we don't end up with the past two years where he just becomes a secondary character in his own show.

So yea I don't really give Curtis and Feclity that much grieve since there was really no one else around to try and get that message through to Oliver.

Because really Oliver had these same exact problems with Roy of using "The Bratva teachings" like he learned from the one guy who had the mask on in the flashbacks. Oliver as The Arrow never got through to Roy truly until unmasking as Oliver Queen.

However, I didn't really see a problem with Oliver's harsh teachings and didn't really think he was being verbally or physically abusive to the extent that Curtis or Feclity took it to on their levels.

Ragman is an enjoyable character. Which I have the feeling his connection to Havenrock, once he finds out about Feclity well it should make things interesting.

Also I liked the scene between Oliver and Ragman on the roof of discussing their individual fathers and how Oliver is still affected by Robert's finale request. It showed Oliver's growth in this episode when he actually asked Ragman to help.

The AmerTek Industries people reminded me of a return to early season bad guy of the week and I kind of like they are getting back to that.

The scenes between Thea and Quentin where enjoyable to watch, especially their finale one. It almost seems like Thea is taking up that role to watch out for Quentin like Laurel did. Also Quentin becoming Deputy Mayor well they gave him a job and I'm curious to see how this plays out. It should lead to hopefully a good amount of Quentin's one liners.

For Oliver's new recruits themselves I just hope they don't take over the show. I was really hoping they would keep Oliver semi solo with maybe one field partner and just Curtis making tech with Felicty working coms in the lair.

So as of right now Wild Dog is the most enjoyable. Evelyn Sharp I just don't know much about her yet. It was kind of cool to see Oliver being a mentor again.

Oh with Diggle, I guess the main reason why I didn't mind it at first is because they are setting up stuff for him in a few episodes but after some thought it does detract from the episode.

Now for the flashbacks, they continue to be enjoyable.

We get to see how Oliver gets initiated into The Bratva and is put through his first test by that bell thing. Also You could just tell from the look of complete horror on his face, of Oliver realizing what he just did by leading those men to their deaths.

It was a cool moment because now I'm starting to see again how Oliver could be so traumatized in season 1. Something I haven't really felt like they where progressing towards that point for a season or so now. Glad they are getting back to it instead of like just being in limbo.

So yea these are my thoughts. All in all a solid episode.