Arrow Season 5 Episode 5 "Human Target" Review

Shot Through the Heart 

Directed by: Laura Belsey
Written by: Greg Berlanti 
Starring: Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, etc.
Review by: Branden Murray


As Arrow continues its fifth season the improved pacing of each episode, and mix of new characters they’ve introduced, has dare I say provided the show with a “rebirth” of its own, in my eyes anyway.  Last week continued this shows hot streak as we were witness to Arrow breaking Diggle out of prison (for crimes he didn’t commit), while Wild Dog was captured, beaten, and being tortured by Tobias Church, after a failed mission with the new crew ... again. So let’s find out if our heroes, new and old alike, get back in the flow of things this week of if they’ll continue to drop like flies, one at a time, with new threats approaching from all directions.



The start of this episode continues this seasons fast and furious pacing as the team assembled around Arrow gives him the bad news about Wild Dog.  It’s not long before we see Wild Dog himself continuing to be poked and prodded by Tobias Church, with an assist from his patented brass knuckles and now a Taser, as he hopes to learn all he can about the Green Arrow from one of his allies.  

Tobias takes Wild Dog to an empty field to dig his own grave. However despite being a cold hearted dude he’s also quite dumb as he spills the beans about his plans to consolidate the drug empire in Star City through access to the water ways.  Arrow, with a Felicity assist, is able to track the bad guys and rescue Wild Dog in the process although Tobias, that slippery snake, is able to slither away.  Finally all seems right in the world again but Wild Dog tells Arrow that Tobias, through his variety of torture techniques, was able to get him to reveal Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow. 

Oliver takes the news surprisingly well but with this information the team knows Oliver’s position as mayor is in jeopardy since he could be the target of an assassination attempt at any time.  Despite this ever looming threat Oliver conducts business as usual because he can’t disappear again with mayoral business to conduct.  

Meanwhile on the bad guys end of the spectrum, Prometheus shows up to confront Tobias about his attempts at killing the Green Arrow. This new bad guy is the highlight of each episode to me when he appears.  His motivation is mysterious still, beyond he wants to kill Green Arrow himself, but he’s cool enough for now he gets a pass in that regards for now. Anyway back to business as Prometheus warns Tobias, a second time, to leave the Arrow to him and that there won’t be a third warning given.  Tobias doesn’t seem to pay the bad ass archer too much mind. He proves this fact five seconds later by revealing the assassin he’s hired himself (who looks a lot like Deathstoke) to kill Oliver Queen.  

In other side stories going on Wild Dog and Diggle bond in a team building moment, Felicity’s new boyfriend (who comes off as total tool) confronts her about not telling Olly about him which she eventually decides to do after Olly finds out anyway, and our flashbacks continue to deal with Olly and his membership into the world of Russian underground crime, which involves a lot of double crossing apparently.

Back to Olly as mayor, he continues his political dealings putting the city in the best position to succeed for all people. However after leaving a meeting with pesky councilmen, who won’t cooperate, the team’s worst fears come to light. The assassin Tobias hired opens fire on the mayor Olly as he walks out of a government building.  Olly seemingly takes several bullets to the chest and it appears shit has hit the fan as the mayor lays there dead. 

It’s not long though (exactly one commercial break) before we learn it was all a clever setup by Olly, who was impersonated by his old friend, the Human Target. It was an elaborate ruse to buy the team some time to figure out a plan and take down Church once and for all now that he thinks Arrow is out of the picture. 

By the conclusion of Wild Dogs bonding session with Diggle they deduce some helpful information bringing our episode to a crazy conclusion.  As Tobias attends his final meeting team Arrow attacks taking members down one by one.  When Tobias realizes he screwed for real he goes running for the hills only to be confronted by none other than the man he thought he killed, the Green Arrow. The two enemies begin to duke it out in a great fight scene. As the fight wraps up, Arrow must beat some sense into Tobias, as the villain reveals to Arrow that Prometheus is coming to kill him, giving Olly a heads up before taking a knockout blow to the face.

The episode wraps up as mayor Oliver Queen apologizes to the city for deceiving them into thinking he was killed and Tobias is transported to jail by a police escort that would rival any the president has ever seen.  Out of nowhere, the cars in the escort start to be disabled and police along for the ride begin getting taken out one by one. Prometheus reveals himself as he rips open the doors to the transport vehicle to kill Tobias Church for ignoring his warnings while Tobias pleads for his life. Before taking a ninja star to the throat Tobias gives Prometheus the identity to Arrow as our episode concludes. What a great ending. 

Bits and Pieces:

Arrow continues to provide me with some solid Wednesday night entertainment and has shown a marked improvement in quality compared to the last few seasons put out. With Tobias Church no longer in the picture and Prometheus receiving the spotlight as the main villain now I think the drama and action will continue to be even more intriguing going forward and can’t wait to see where the creators take this.  The new team surrounding Arrow remains interesting too as Wild Dog especially grows on me more and more each week.  All the new actors have done a great job portraying each character when given their moment to shine.  I for one can’t wait for next Wednesday and personally feel Arrow has regained its status as the must watch CW super hero show in my eyes. 

8.5/10