Lower Decks

The Oliver Queen Show moves on in “Roulette” – putting Oliver through a “game” to save himself and protect his fortune.  It’s a bit cliche, and there’s not a whole lot to 95% of the episode.  But in the hour’s final arc, the show finally shows some progress, some risky moves by key characters, and hopefully a return to normal for Mr. Queen.

We’ve seen Lionel Luthor put in a Saw-like situation to save his own life, and now Oliver gets to experience The Game.  For those of you who don’t know, The Game was an underrated 1997 film featuring Michael Douglas that’s relatively similar to the plot of this episode.  It was probably more well-done in the movie because you never really get the feeling that Oliver is in any real danger.  The biggest danger is him losing his fortune, and he didn’t really seem concerned with losing money in the casino scenes.

And I half-way expected the episode to end with his fortune gone so that Oliver can start over as a broke man.  Instead, the episode ends with everything falling at Chloe’s feet.  It’s definitely an intriguing move with a strong “end supports the means” thinking on her part.  Chloe and the League have to put Oliver through Hell (or, at least, a version of it) to get him back to normal.  Put him back in the fire to re-mold him, if you will.

And that’s the part that I really liked.  I like the focus on Oliver, and I realize that Green Arrow has gone through similar problems in the comics.  But, honestly, I’m just ready for the fun Oliver to come back.  The final scene with Clark and Green Arrow on the rooftop is exciting stuff because it feels like the comics.  And the episodes that feel like comic book episodes are the ones that always seem to be the most fun.  And, at its core, I think Smallville is supposed to be fun.

And I really liked the scene between Oliver and Chloe.  Oliver could’ve been mad at her for what she’d arranged, but he wasn’t.  He knows how fall he’d fallen, and he needed to be rescued from it by any means necessary.  I think there’s some chemistry between the two, and I’d actually be interested in seeing the two of them end up together.  I realize that’s not what happens in the comics, but Chloe is a wild card.  At this point, she can end up with anyone.

The episode also moves ahead Clark’s arc with the discovery of the Kandorians on Earth.  The thing that worked about that is that Clark actually made the discovery on his own (well, with Chloe’s help).  It seems like Clark usually finds out about bad guys right after they’ve kidnapped one of his friends.

This time, however, Clark is able to find out about Zod and his army before they even know who he is.  It’s a nice move on the writers’ part to finally give Clark a foot up on a villain – it shows his ingenuity and detective skills – and that’s really good to see.

The rest of the episode was just okay.  I thought the Lois/Oliver stuff worked, with Lois legitimately concerned for Oliver.  Of course, I didn’t like that she ended up putting herself in harm’s way, and I felt like the Lois fight was a bit too much.  I realize that Lois can take care of herself (being a general’s daughter), but she can now handle herself in a fight against a professional mercenary?  Even though her fight with Tess was just to a standstill?  It just seemed like a forced catfight to me.

And I thought it was a bit awkward that Oliver agreed to the beer pong after the reclamation of his heroic side.  Wasn’t alcohol one of the reasons for his descent into darkness?  You’d think he’d try some sobriety for a day, even if Lois was asking him to do it.

So, all things considered, we finally get Oliver back, and I’m hoping he’s back for good.  And like Clark says, he’s coming back just in time because I’m guessing the Kandorian storyline is about to kick into gear.  Callum Blue (Zod) has only appeared in a couple of episodes, and it’s about time to see where that whole thing is going.