With ‘Arrow,’ waiting is the hardest part in ‘Beyond Redemption’ episode

Last week on “Arrow,” a beloved character was brought back from the dead, possibly at the cost of her own humanity.

Next week on “Arrow,” DC comics favorite John Constantine will show up and try and use magic to save said character’s humanity.

So if this week’s “Beyond Redemption” felt like little more than a placeholder between those two points in the story, well ... that’s because it was.

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There’s nothing overtly bad about “Beyond Redemption,” but the episode is a natural valley in the Sara story line.

Last week’s trip to Nanda Parbat was a tense ride that thrived off the ugly debate over whether Sara should be placed in the pit, even though we all knew that could only end badly. Still, when you consider how much emotional weight the show rung out of placing Oliver in the same position with Thea last season, it was interesting to see Laurel and Nyssa struggling with the same question.

That same sense of urgency over Sara’s fate just isn’t there this week. Laurel seemed genuinely conflicted over the risks of reviving Sara in last week’s “Restoration,” but here, she’s essentially sticking her fingers in her ears and pretending everything will be fine, even as her reborn sister is chained to a wall and shown grumbling out noises that seem like they were ripped from a “Walking Dead” soundtrack.

Whatever goodwill Laurel gained from her earnest desire to save her sister is already burned up and gone, as the character is back to being just awful this week.

The story line felt stalled, from Laurel’s lack of action to the fact that we didn’t actually learn anything new about what happened to Sara.

I’m not asking for Darhk to play exposition fairy, but given his history with the League of Assassins and his seeming mystic background, he could have offered us some kind of morsel.

I don’t mind that the show is veering more into the supernatural than the usual this season, but given how that’s a seismic shift from “Arrow’s” grittier natural tones, we need a bit of a roadmap here and there. You’ve spent two weeks telling me “that isn’t/won’t be Sara,” but I need a little more.

Thankfully the Sara story line, and really this entire episode, was saved by the world’s insatiable desire to destroy Quentin Lance. I’ve always enjoyed Paul Blackthorne in this role, but his confrontation with Oliver and breakdown after nearly taking Darhk’s advice and shooting that thing pretending to be Sara were among his best work on “Arrow.”

Quentin is often miscast as the stock police character who doesn’t understand Ollie’s vigilantism, but scenes like the apartment clash do well to highlight his justified mistrust of people and institutions who claim they want to protect his city and family.

From the police department to the cape and cowl crowd to Darhk (who we learn here must have approached Lance as a philanthropist rather than a supervillain before the season began), every “hero” Quentin has come into contact with has taken something away from him.

Lance’s despondency also helped buoy the corrupt cops/villain-of-the-week story line, as his outrage over the graft and sickness that’s poisoning Star City has seeped into his police department was the only reason to care about that particular plot line.

Quentin Lance has been living at the end of his rope nearly the entire time we’ve known him, and his ability to try to do the right thing, week in and week out, is a true testament to the character. Lance always seems one step away from falling back into a bottle, but he never actually does.

I know Ollie is the one plotting a mayoral run, but maybe it’s Lance who needs to take his own advice and be that example the city needs to see.

#Quentin2016 #MakeStarCityGreatAgain

Left In The Quiver:

• Sorry about the lack of reviews the past two weeks. I was on vacation, but I’ll admit I have failed this website. I’ll be here week in and week out, and who knows, maybe after significant episodes, I’ll drop a “Flash” or “Legends of Tomorrow” item here and there to make up for lost time.
• A quick take on the prior two episodes: I do like the way the show is slowly building up new villains for Ollie who could be regular rogues. Green Arrow’s bad guy power rankings take a nosedive after Merlyn and Deathstroke, and while the show has done well to borrow from other heroes’ villain corps (most notably Batman’s), they rarely have staying power. Our first look at Anarky wasn’t much back in Episode 2, but I believe Lonnie Mack will return wearing a certain red hood and mask the next time we see him. The decision to borrow Double Down from the “Flash” universe and turn him into an assassin rather than a mystic was also a good call.
• As for this weeks’ villains, meh. Corrupt cops are stock characters, and the lead dog’s discount Vic Mackey rationale that they only stole from criminals didn’t matter after they shot two police officers in the opening scene. The idea that the anti-vigilante task force was capable of outmaneuvering Team Arrow was fun in that one scene, but then quickly neutralized by how easily Ollie and company dispatched them in the final fight.
• I need to learn more about Damien Darhk’s aims. Neal McDonough is great as this menacing, swaggering figure, but I feel like I should have some idea what he wants to do besides “destroy Star City,” through four episodes. I know “Flash” is using Zoom in a similar way on Tuesday nights, but I at least have some semblance of an idea of his motivations. It also helps that Zoom is an established, elite DC villain. With Darhk as such a blank slate in the comics, we could use a little more teasing out soon.
• Part of that problem, on both shows, seems to be that the early episodes are spending a lot of time in service of “Legends of Tomorrow.” “Flash” spent the past two weeks getting Captain Cold and Firestorm in position for their “LoT” run, and “Arrow” seems a little burdened by having to establish Sara as the White Canary here. I’m sure the Sara plot will remain entertaining (this week’s slog, notwithstanding), but it is eating up a healthy amount of screen time.
• Flashbacks, you used to be cool. Please be cool again, soon.

@JamesQueallyLAT promises his sour mood over the Mets being down 2-0 in the World Series did not cause him to write a moody “Arrow” recap. Follow him for reviews of “Arrow” and “Daredevil,” and Southern California crime news.

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