Arrow Season 3 Episode 12 "Uprising" Review

BRICK BREAK

Last week we had Laurel's first mission as the Canary going against the ambitious criminal of Brick, who is in the process of taking over the Glades. Though it was a rough start, she was able to come out the other side with the help of Arsenal. Meanwhile on the other side of the world, Oliver continues to recover after having a sword through his gut. Unfortunately, like most of the vigilantes DC has pumped out over the years, Oliver is much to stubborn to be sitting around to recover when his city is on the brink of all out war. This episode brings an end to the Brick story arc, and as much as I liked the last two episodes, this one felt...underwhelming. Why? Lets find out!
As last episode was Laurel centered for the most part, this episode had a major character development to not a hero-but a villain. We learn of the origins of Malcolm Merlyn. This was actually a very nice change from the usual Oliver flashbacks. Villain's either need to be relatable or so batsh*t insane we enjoy it. Malcolm is clearly the first one, as we literally see his turning point; the night Rebecca Merlyn died. We see him at his lowest when he finally makes it to Nanda Pabrat, killing the man who killed his wife, and left his son in his pursuit for justice. By the end of the episode, I agreed with what Merlyn was trying to do. Don't get me wrong, he's a villain, the man killed 500 people in his "purging" of the Glades. However you kind of see the why he does it, and if his head was on a little bit more right, he could have become the first vigilante of Starling.

This finale to the Brick story had some good parts, but unfortunately it was slow to get to the fight built up for weeks. Granted some of it was well meant by the flashbacks of Merlyn's past, but most of it was just a back and forth of whether or not to team up with Merlyn, a highly trained assassin, to take down Brick. Now morally I agree with team Arrow's decision, but by the amount of time they spent on said decision, Brick had already taken over the glades. That being said, when the fight got started it was as epic as you could imagine. Bricks gang vs. The people of the glades. I thik my favorite part of the fight though was actually the return of the vigilante...No not the Arrow...the WILDCAT! You read that right, Wildcat joined the fray and went against Brick mono y mono. The only other part I felt has to be commented on is the return of the Arrow. When a hero usually comes back after a long period of time, its usually when their city is at its lowest ...The problem is I never felt them at their lowest the entire time oliver was gone. Diggle, Arsenal, even Canary had the entire situation nearly under control. However to counteract that anticlimax, we get a dialogue between Felicity and Oliver, and by god I felt my heart break. I won't go into detail, but her last line of the episode just destroyed me.

Final Verdict
This episode might have been underwhelming compared to the other two of the Brick story arc, but there was still plenty of good in it. We finally get the character development Merlyn deserved, and now you can relate to him more. The final battle was epic, but the build up was slow as a snail. Could it have been better? definitely! Did I enjoy it still? Absolutely!

That was my review for this week's episode! What did you think of it? What did you think of the Brick arc in general? Leave a comment and i'll seeya next time!