Arrow 6x18 "Fundamentals" Review

Apologies for the delay. I had a mixed reaction to watching this episode and needed the day to process how I felt about it before writing my review.

Arrow season six continued its rocky path with a solid character-driven episode centered around Oliver Queen. It did little to move the plot forward but it gave insight into Oliver's psych when it came to his roles as a father, mayor, and the Green Arrow. Oliver should have learned his lesson at this point about how much he's changed, and the ending on his solo approach does not help matters either.

My review on the latest episode. Spoilers ahead:

The episode opens with a brutal scene at the police station... caused by The Hood. Oliver has donned his original season one outfit and personality, killing any cop that gets in his way to Diaz. After killing them all, Oliver prepares to confront Diaz, who is waiting on the other side of a door with an army of corrupted police officers.

All that goes down... Ten hours later. The episode backtracks us to the Arrowcave, where Felicity discovers SCPD's police monitors go dark every night - at the exact time like clockwork. She figures that is where Diaz goes to meet with his corrupt officers. Oliver is ready to get the jump on him and end his reign on Star City. But Felicity doesn't think he can do it. I think otherwise after seeing the opening scene.

But whatever! Felicity calls Diggle and tricks him into coming back to see Oliver. Their interaction is short and tense, neither of them willing to make amends anytime soon. 

After this awkward reunion of OTA, Oliver and Quentin meet with a councilman to discuss why he fired the corrupted police captain and DA last episode. The councilman does not believe him about their corruption and thinks Oliver fired them because they were close to figuring out he was the Green Arrow. They're still on that, the politics of it all. 

This meeting leads to Oliver and Quentin having a heart to heart about the good old days and how much he's changed. WE GET IT! Season six Oliver is different from season one Oliver. Gosh enough is enough. But I do enjoy their friendship. These two have been through a lot.

Oliver gets more stressed once he returns home. He is late for his son's science fair and made William and Felicity late too waiting on him. Before they head out, Felicity presents him with a flash-drive containing evidence that the captain and DA were working for Diaz, but turning in the evidence would out him as the Green Arrow. He lashes out at the useless evidence and destroys his son's project in the process. William runs into his room beyond upset. Felicity kicks him out for what he did.

He goes back to the bunker and sees a familiar face: Adrian Chase! Yes he has made his return and they brawl it out, knocking a bunch of stuff over. Adrian tempts Oliver to kill him, to finish what he started back in Lian Yu, and Oliver complies; he snaps Adrian's back. Their fight reminded me a lot of the fight Oliver had with fake Slade back in season two. This episode is rehashing a lot of what already happened, but whatever, let's roll with it.

Turns out Adrian is not really there. Oliver is dosed with Vertigo... AGAIN! He is hallucinating Adrian and all other things like Earth-1 Laurel, the newbies, and begins to spiral. Josh Segarra plays Adrian Chase so well; Oliver's most effective foe. I've missed his presence on this show and the way he revived Arrow during its fifth season. We miss you. You were taken away too soon... or the show is continuing onward for too long. Probably the latter.

Oliver goes to a city council meeting to present the flash-drive to the councilman, the man who dosed Oliver via handshake earlier, and starts seeing Adrian again. Oliver tries to keep it together, but he can't shake his high and his evidence is disregarded when asked how he acquired it. He tells them the Green Arrow gave it to him... that sounded weak even to me.

Quentin gets him out of there and tells Oliver to rest in the bunker until the Vertigo wears off. But he doesn't listen to Quentin, but rather Adrian and season one Oliver, who manifests as The Hood. This pushes Oliver to raid the police station that night in his original outfit, bringing us back to that opening scene.

Felicity gets a notification on her phone about Oliver on the move and she rushes after him. After Oliver takes out all the police officers, Felicity arrives to stop him from entering the room where Diaz and his army is waiting on the other side. She thinks he'll get himself killed fighting them all at once. I believe Oliver can handle it, but that's my opinion. But she convinces him her opinion is right and that she is real and not some hallucination. Oliver grabs her and they escape before Diaz catches them.

In the end, Oliver is impeached and he is no longer the mayor of Star City. Which will give him more time to go out as the Green Arrow. Oliver as the mayor really wasn't working this season; so I'm glad the writers decided to write him out of that role. Quentin Lance is now the new mayor of Star City. Please let him keep that job. I can see him being a great mayor actually.

This leads Oliver to declare he's going back to his season one approach. He's going to do things on his own and kicks Felicity off the team. I had mixed feelings about this idea. I was like, "Yay!" at first because I never liked Oliver having a team in the first place. He kicked ass on his own just fine for most of season one, but after thinking about it, I realized he is throwing away a lot of his character development for going back to basics. A lot of his supposed change involved having a team back him up on the field... people he can count on.

But whatever... it's better than making amends with the newbies. I'm still hoping one or two of them get written off by the end of the season. The show's getting too crowded with them around and they don't contribute much anymore since the split occurred.

Oh yeah. Diaz and Laurel E-2 meet up and talk about Star City being "open for business"... whatever that means.

Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts on the latest episode in the comment section.