Arrow – Monument Point Review

"Monument Point" was a perfectly fine episode of Arrow. It hit all the necessary beats- seemingly insurmountable problem, large scale fight sequences, a really great one-on-one hand-to-hand fight sequence, a moment of major emotional impact, really annoying flashback sequences- but it seemed far too "paint by numbers" to really have any impact beyond continuing to set things up for the eventual Darhk showdown. Aside from one major plot hole (which would have unraveled the entire emotional impact of Felicity redirecting the nuclear warhead to kill tens of thousands of people instead of millions), the story was solid. It was just boring. And I understand why. With one more episode left until the finale, the show can't start solving all of their problems until at least the second half of next week's penultimate episode. But I wish there was more happening within this episode to make it particularly engaging. Maybe start explaining the logistics of the Safe Zone bubble? Or give us an idea of why Darhk was able to channel the power of the death when the warhead hit far enough away from Star City that the city isn't in danger? (They aren't in danger from the nuclear after affects, right? My knowledge of nuclear fallout is shockingly low.) Instead, we were giving another meaningless fight between Team Arrow and past villains (I do have to say that it is nice to have so many past villains out and about). [caption id="attachment_83061" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Arrow -- "Monument Point" -- Pictured (L-R): Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak and Tom Amandes as Noah Kuttler/Calculator -- Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.[/caption] I am enjoying the Thea side of the story, as it's nice that the show is giving Willa Holland a chance to shine after relegating her to the sidelines for awhile. She's getting some of the show's best lines, and she had an excellent fight sequence. Although, I do have to agree that the character has been pretty tied up in boyfriend drama since the show's inception. I suppose that, by acknowledging it, the writers are hinting that it might change a bit next year? Either way, considering how far the character has come from season one to now, I'm really impressed with the journey the writers have crafted. Bravo. Now, as for that plot hole. Arrow has been bugging me quite a bit lately with major plot points hinging on the stupidity of characters or the failure of characters to begin caring about major dangers until the last possible moment (looking at you, Oliver, and your failure to talk to Constantine until after Laurel's death). But in this episode, where time was of the essence, why did Felicity and the Calculator break into Palmer Technology and into Curtis's lab when they could have just asked Curtis to do it? Curtis has worked with Team Arrow on more than one occasion. He knows the location of the lair. And, as far as I know, he's still gainfully employed by the company. If they didn't want Curtis to be an option, all the writers needed to do was put in a throw away line about him being out of town. It was that simple. Yet, Team Arrow went to great lengths to get the tech, complete the tech, and implement it, when asking Curtis to snag it for them would have saved lots of time. There are only two episodes left in the season, and I suspect they will focus on Team Arrow's final preparations for the battle with Darhk, and the eventual destruction of all that Darhk set out to build. Considering how long and uneven this season has been, I only hope the show manages to course correct a bit in season five. [caption id="attachment_83060" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Arrow -- "Monument Point" -- Pictured (L-R): Stephen Amell as Green Arrow, Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels and David Ramsey as John Diggle -- Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW -- © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.[/caption] Final Thoughts: -- If Malcolm gets to keep his shiny new hand after this season, does that negate the entire process of him losing it in the first place? While a healed Merlyn is a much better thing from a story perspective, it makes his punishment pretty worthless in the scheme of things. -- So, is Thea's lame boyfriend dead? I couldn't tell if those were devastated tears or happy he's alive tears. -- How did Darhk brainwash all of those people? They couldn't all have been on the vitamin supplements, right? And how did he pick who was to be saved?