Arrow episode 19 review: Unfinished Business

This review contains spoilers.

1.19 Unfinished Business

It’s the last episode of Arrow before another little hiatus, and we spend the hour revisiting old themes and characters. Nothing particularly monumental occurs in Unfinished Business, and that’s a little surprising considering how close to the end we are. That said, there’s nothing wrong with the episode itself, and it was nice to see Vertigo re-enter the frame once again.

The unfinished business is that between Oliver and The Count, who is still stuck in the mental hospital he landed in a few weeks ago. We all thought he’d return as a functioning psychopath, much like The Joker or other villains like him, but it turns out that he’s just catatonic, and his knowledge is being used by others to reignite the chaos Vertigo caused last time around. Oliver is alerted to the drug’s return when a patron of his club is mown down by a car while high on Vertigo.

Naturally, Quentin points the finger at Oliver and Tommy, as they are most likely to have sold the drug in their own establishment, but is frightened that the move will drive another wedge between him and Laurel. It doesn’t, even when Tommy becomes the prime suspect in both his and Oliver’s investigations. After half-accepting who Oliver is and what he’s done since returning from the island, he’s not best pleased when his best friend doesn’t offer his the same courtesy. We knew the pair would fall out eventually, and this felt a little contrived when Tommy’s villainous destiny has been teased for so long.

And so the Merlyn family leaves us on a big cliffhanger to ponder over the break, as Jr asks his dad for a job, quitting the nightclub business over his disagreement with Oliver. Those predicting his recruitment into Team Arrow have been proven wrong, and it looks as though Tommy could become the central villain for season two. That’s assuming that Oliver faces off with Malcolm at the end of the current season, and it’s an interesting twist for Tommy to have learnt about both Oliver and his dad’s secret identities ahead of time.

He’s been mistreated by both, but right now his dad is the lesser of two evils. My problem with this plot was the lack of consistency with Tommy’s attitude towards Oliver’s vigilantism. Last week, he had come to terms with what he’d discovered, but now it seems that he’s still holding on to some resentment there. It’s understandable for his character, since there’s always been a level of superiority for Oliver over Tommy, and the Laurel situation just aggravates that. Will things develop as quickly as we expect or will it be drawn out more?

Back to the Vertigo A-plot, Oliver and Felicity to a good enough job of investigating the problem. The interesting part comes when our hero is given the opportunity to get rid of the Count for good, despite him having nothing to do with the most recent scheme. He chooses not to, and only time will tell whether that was the right decision. I still don’t think we’ve seen the last of this particular bad guy, as there’s so much opportunity with a villain already driven mad by his nemesis.

But before that, we have to deal with Diggle’s own revenge mission against Deadshot. Oliver still has lots to learn about sharing his attention, and it was nice to see him realise what a bad friend he’s been to Diggle. It’s always about Oliver’s blind vendetta taking priority over everything, but now he has to let someone else’s concern take precedent. It’ll be interesting to see whether they can avoid clashing again in the next episode, but I think most fans are just hoping for some more character development for Diggle away from his sidekick status on Team Arrow.

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Salvation, here.

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