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Recaps

Plot Twists: Two Characters Unmasked, Arrow “Crucible” 

Cortney Persiani, October 31, 2013  
Crucible
Photo Credit: Jack Rowand/The CW

[WARNING: Major Spoilers for Arrow “Crucible”]

“Living is not for the weak” reveals the truth behind two characters in Arrow “Crucible.”

Plot Twist: From Alderman to Brother Blood

I started and ended this episode not liking, trusting or believing Alderman Blood…but somewhere in the middle there, for a brief second, he didn’t seem quite so bad.

Alderman Blood: “My job is to help the people of this city with their problems.”
Ollie: “Two people who are very close to me are having a tough time, sisters actually, and neither one of them is making it very easy for me to help them.”
Alderman: “Sooner or later, we all go through a crucible, I’m guessing yours was that island. Most believe there are two types of people who go in to a crucible; the ones who grow stronger from the experience and survive it and the ones who die. But there is a third type. The ones who learn to love the fire and choose to stay in their crucible because its easier to embrace the pain when its all you know anymore.”
Sebastian Blood has always presented himself as an adversary to Oliver, even when Oliver is trying to help. From insulting him at the gala last week to assuming he suggested the Cash for Guns program for personal gains, this guy clearly has it out for Oliver. However, when he told him the above, I thought that there was a chance that this guy might understand and know more than he lets on. And boy does he! The final scene showed us that Alderman is far from the savior he pretends to be, donning a mask, calling for soldiers and executing those who could reveal his true intentions as Brother Blood. Hopefully, more on that next week. But that being said, Alderman’s confession to Ollie really rang true when it came to our newest character, Sarah aka The Black Canary.
Plot Twist: The Black Canary is Laurel’s sister Sarah
Photo Credit: Jack Rowand/The CW
Photo Credit: Jack Rowand/The CW
While I’ve long suspected Sarah was alive and would embody the Black Canary, I was still impressed with the big reveal when Oliver unmasked her true identity.
Ollie: “Who are you?’
Sarah: “Once you know your life will never be the same.”
Ollie: “I can take it.”
Sarah: “Not this time, Ollie.”
And until the end of the episode, we didn’t realize the weight of these words. After his discovery, Oliver explained to Diggle and Felicity that he knew Sarah had survived the ship wreck (contrary to what he told the media) for he had seen her on the island years later. However, he chose to keep to himself how he saw her, where he saw her and why he saw her, only revealing that he also watched her die. Or so he thought. In a heartbreaking scene, he promises to keep her secret, even as he questions if that’s what she really wants, and eventually taps her to help him bring down the gun smugglers. I like that Oliver has another ally he can turn to, but as we saw in his conversation with Alderman, this secret weighs on him. So when he approaches Sarah in the hospital (time out: is it just me or does it seem a little crazy that she can walk around with just a baseball cap and assume no one will recognize her?! Okay, time in), he begs her to tell her family the truth, even though it will inevitably ruin his friendship with Laurel.
Sarah: We died on that island.
Oliver: No, we didn’t, we both lived. And I get that you’ve been in pain so long that it feels normal now but you can let it go and come home.
Oliver may have grown stronger from his crucible but Sarah has chosen to stay in hers rather than face the alternative. And while we still know little about Sarah’s island experience, it’s clear that she’s been through hell and back…or at least she better have considering that our final island flashback reveals that she is in fact the one on the ship who is assigned to torture Oliver! What?! I did not see that coming. And to be honest, with so many questions left unanswered — Why does she work for the ship people?! How does she know Slade?! Is this all just a clever ploy and she’s really a good guy?! — I’m sure next week will take it in another unexpected direction. Not one big reveal, but two in one episode…this show has so many great twists and turns and I can’t wait to get more of the truth about our newest characters next week.
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on the CW.
Tags #Arrow #Black Canary #Brother Blood #Cortney Persiani #Crucible #Plot Twist #The CW #wednesdays
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