Arrow Episode Review: "A Matter of Trust"

As I've said before, I have been very hesitant to accept Oliver's new team of vigilantes but, up until this point, have been withholding my judgement until I actually saw them in action. I was able to do that last night and, so far, I'm still very unimpressed.

I think my biggest problem with his new team this season is they just aren't that interesting. Curtis (Echo Kellum) is pretty much just a black/male version of Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and brings nothing new to the table. Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) has some potential from a personality standpoint but a superhero who uses guns just isn't that special. And, Evelyn Sharp (Madison McLaughlin), at this point at least, doesn't appear to be much more than eye candy and just fades into the background during fight scenes. Heck, I don't think she even has a code name yet.

Probably the only one that has some personality is Rory (Joe Dinicol). But, while his mystical rags are kind of cool now, I'm not convinced they aren't going to get boring, or just too bizarre, in the very near future. In fact, I think he would make a much better bad guy than hero because, at least then, we could get him in small doses so he doesn't grow less interesting.

The other thing I found I didn't like about this episode was how predictable it was. The second Felicity mentioned trusting his team, I figured Oliver would some how apply that to his day job as mayor too. And, were we really surprised when Thea (Willa Holland) made things worse by publicly admitting she offered Quentin the deputy mayor job behind Oliver's back?

Probably the one bright spot in this episode was the bad guy, Derek Sampson (Cody Rhodes), mostly because he was actually a somewhat formidable opponent for Oliver. Of course, even that was short-lived because, while he couldn't feel pain, he could still be hurt and, ultimately, was a little too easy to defeat as a result. Plus, it did really make me wonder why the bullets didn't do more damage when they struck him. Shouldn't he have bled to death or something?

I'm also still undecided about Diggle's (David Ramsey) side story. I suspect he will eventually end up rejoining Oliver's team and this is just a very long way of making it happen. But, his "I deserve to be punished" attitude and potential mental issues are really making me lose some respect for him. And, to tell you the truth, I'm having a hard time getting interested in his story, especially if it isn't connected, in some shape or form, to what is happening in Star City.

I keep hoping the massive cast change will somehow breathe some new life into this series but, so far at least, I just don't think the show's new additions are even remotely interesting. The new Team Arrow desperately needs some personality so it can prove me wrong.

My Grade: C