Step aside Emerald Archer, there’s a new vigilante in town. Not just any Johnny-come-lately either; it’s frequent Batman botherer and occasional daughter to the Dark Knight (it’s a long story), Huntress. Only, as you’d come to expect with this show, sans the revealing costume and domino mask.
Huntress makes her debut attempting to assassinate Ollie’s own dear mother and one of her shady business partners. Ollie gives chase, but she manages to escape. Never one to let things go that easily, Ollie decides that the best way to catch a hunter is to go undercover amongst her prey. There he meets mobster’s daughter, Helena. Her father is not Bruce Wayne then, which puts Arrow firmly outside of Earth-Two. Far from the world’s greatest detective, Ollie has no idea that she’s the very person he’s looking for. She describes him as ‘the rich man’s Lindsay Lohan.’ We’re keeping that term for future reviews of Arrow.
The episode also sees the return of assassin China White, and Ollie’s best pal Tommy taking Laurel out for dinner. These plot strands amount to relatively little in Muse of Fire, but hold future promise. Will Kelly Hu get something interesting to do? And will Tommy’s money issues and feelings for Ollie’s best gal lead him to turn against his chum? We’re getting quite a Harry Osborn/Peter Parker vibe from the dynamic between the boys. Adding to that is John Barrowman in a Norman Osborne sort of role, menacing Ollie’s mum in her bedroom and declaring his son a joke. John Barrowman is no Willem Dafoe, but he’s still surprisingly fun as slimy gangster Merlyn.
Huntress, it’s revealed, has both a list of her own and an equally complex family life. This culminates with the two rich kids being kidnapped by thugs and beaten up in a warehouse. Boy did they ever choose to abduct the wrong trust-fund brats. An out-of-costume Green Arrow and Huntress team-up makes short work of her father’s goons, whom she kills to Ollie’s disapproval. It was such behaviour that led Batman to be angry at her all the time too.
Muse of Fire is a strong episode, building some promising foundations for further episodes to work with. There’s Huntress, more John Barrowman, the return of Colin Salmon and an interesting story at the heart of the episode. Arrow has yet to hit its bullseye, but it is quickly becoming one of the most consistently watchable series of the year. Not bad for a rich man’s Lindsay Lohan.
