Arrow season 7, episode 20 review: Confessions

“We thought the Ninth Circle was going to destroy Star City, so I made a call.” Spoilers for Arrow season 7, episode 20 follow.

Two guards are dead and answers are nowhere to be found. The only suspects in the deaths though are the members of Team Arrow.

Through a series of interviews and flashbacks, the truth is revealed.

True crime meets Arrow

Since it began its run all the way back in 2012, Arrow has consistently subverted and changed up its formula several times a season, which it does so again with this episode. This episode is set up as an almost true crime documentary mixed into the narrative threads of this season. What that means is that this episode takes place alternatively in flashbacks to a couple of days previous and in an SCPD interrogation room.

The way that this episode plays out with the constant flashbacks and interrogations feels very different than pretty much every episode of Arrow previously. This is for the best though because it presents this mystery in a way that brings about twist after twist in a way that feels organic and surprising. It moves in a such a way that could only be played out in an episode structured such as this.

The problem with this structure though is that it slightly slows down the momentum of the story at large. However, because the episode is executed so well, this problem becomes a bit of a nitpick at a certain point in the later section of the episode.

The department vs. The vigilantes

With the tension of the murders, and Dinah’s lack of involvement in the aforementioned mission, this brings back the tension that had been underlying the relationship between Team Arrow and the police. The animosity presented in the interrogations is obvious and Oliver even says as much in the beginning of the episode.

It’s good to see this thread that was pretty heavily present earlier in the season to reappear here. It all, but seemed to disappear over the past couple of episodes because Team Arrow felt like it was back to its old ways. With the animosity, and the interrogations, it brings back the idea that Team Arrow is now accountable for its actions and that actions have consequences.

Roy Harper returns to Star City

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Using Roy Harper as the catalyst to the episode was a brilliant move. It’s a smart way to bring Roy back into the picture in the present and as to potentially set up where he’s at the beginning of the season in the flash-forwards. By having him kill the guards and Team Arrow protecting him, it creates a shift in the morality of Team Arrow and for Roy himself. And by revealing that he was resurrected by a Lazarus Pit, it brings a lot more to the character than previously thought.

It’s also nice to see him have some form of competence that he seemingly lacked during much of his tenure on the show. Obviously, Thea has clearly rubbed off on him. Roy never seemed to have gotten the best treatment on the show during his original and it seems like the writers are keen on giving him the presence that he deserves. Even though this feels like the case though, he actually isn’t used all that much in the episode other than a plot device. A necessary plot device, but a plot device nonetheless at times.

Arrow crafts a great episode by throwing a wrench into the typical formula that the show typically presents.