Arrow Recap: Season 5 Episode 13 “Spectre of the Gun”

Arrow tackles the gun debate in a thoughtful, heartfelt episode, as a mass shooting forces Oliver to reckon with his complicated relationship to violence.

As I’ve mentioned before, Arrow has a rather spotty record when it comes to politics. The show, like many superhero stories, hinges on a premise with inherently reactionary, if not outright fascist, underpinnings: an individual (in this case, a rich white man) decides he’s responsible for “saving” his city from crime. He aims to accomplish this mostly by beating people to bloody pulps. And generally speaking, this is okay. While all art is political, we don’t watch all art for its political insight and nuance; sometimes, we just want cool action scenes.

Still, the show’s tendency to tiptoe around complex issues, from racial inequality to government corruption, led me to approach this week’s episode with caution. As its title suggests, “Spectre of the Gun” explores the debate surrounding gun control (as urgent as ever, even if the news cycle has moved on to other topics).

It opens with an ominous pre-title card montage of various guns being assembled and stuffed into a duffel bag cheekily labeled “Forefather Repair”. We don’t have to wait long for Chekov’s Gun(s) to make its significance known. Oliver, Rene (freshly hired as Deputy Mayor Quentin Lance’s assistant), Thea (making her first appearance of 2017), and Adrian are chatting in the mayor’s office when a man strolls in, dons a ski mask, and opens fire.

Except for Adrian, who lands in the hospital with a bullet wound, our heroes survive unscathed. Less fortunate are “Kyle from commerce”, “Paula from accounting”, and seven other people. Even for Star City, where violence is as commonplace as traffic is in other cities, this ranks as a tragedy.

Team Arrow wastes no time trying to hunt down the perpetrator. Diggle identifies the weapon as a military-grade AR-15 assault rifle, which, Dinah points out, is readily available on the open market; in fact, it’s “the most popular gun in America.” However, that knowledge proves only so useful, since Star City doesn’t keep a database of gun owners. Quentin’s search for a match in the police department’s records (he got a glimpse of the man’s face before he put on the mask) also turns up empty.

Felicity eventually comes up with a name after the shooter interrupts Oliver’s interrogation of a mobster: James Edlund, a 44-year-old systems analyst with no prior criminal record. This confounds her. Why would this unassuming (tellingly, white) guy go on a shooting spree? “He’s nobody,” Felicity says.

Some research on Edlund’s history reveals the answer: he lost his wife and two daughters in a shopping mall shooting 16 months ago. Compounding his private loss is his bitterness toward the previous mayoral administration, which “shot down” a proposed registry of gun owners.

Oliver knows all too well how tempting violence is as a coping mechanism. But increasingly, he recognizes its futility (even if he isn’t quite ready to give it up completely). So, following the advice of Thea and Quentin, he decides to address the shooting as a mayor instead of a vigilante. He invites a councilwoman from his predecessor’s administration to talk about the possibility of a gun registry.

Their meeting is fairly straightforward. Pollard expresses skepticism of government surveillance (an argument a tad more compelling now than it might have been four months ago), and Oliver efficiently counters the false equivalency she makes with abortion and free speech (both are, to some extent, controlled by the government). He also emphasizes his personal investment in the issue, mentioning the deaths of Tommy, Laurel, and his parents; it isn’t just a matter of principle, but a matter of lives.

Meanwhile, Rene and Curtis search Edlund’s house, where they find floor plans that indicate his next target: Starling General. Team Arrow gathers at the hospital, ready to attack, but it turns out that they don’t need to. In a scene reminiscent of Supergirl, Oliver confronts Edlund, sans mask, and persuades him to surrender. Under the subtle direction of Kristin Windell, it’s as riveting as any fight sequence – a cathartic slice of meta commentary as well as an affecting bit of character development. At last, Oliver’s efforts to embrace hope pay off.

We end with a candlelight vigil. Oliver announces the passage of an ordinance on guns (what it does exactly isn’t clear, though he assures Pollard that it won’t infringe on gun owners and sellers’ freedom) before launching into a speech about being brave and making hard choices. If the resolution seems disappointingly conservative, declining to take a firm stance, it feels fitting; this wouldn’t be Arrow without a little cynicism.

Ultimately, however imprecise it is as an ideological statement, “Spectre of the Gun” succeeds as a story. It manages to explore a thorny issue while staying true to its characters, treating them not as mouthpieces for ideas but as people whose perspectives are rooted in experiences.

In other news…

This week’s flashbacks focus on Rene, showing his strained relationship with his wife, a former drug addict whom he met in the Glades. One day, he discovers that she has relapsed, and they get into a heated argument that culminates in him laying down an ultimatum: either she gets rid of her drugs, or she leaves. Later, when he returns home from taking their daughter Zoe to a game, Rene finds his wife being held hostage by a dealer whom she owes. In the ensuing fight, his wife is fatally shot by a stray bullet.

The incident is meant to explain Rene’s opposition to gun control, as per the episode’s theme. Rene claims to believe that if he was armed, he could’ve prevented his wife’s death. That doesn’t quite add up; not only did he have a gun at the time, kept in a safe, but he also used it in the fight, to no avail. It makes more sense to connect Rene’s pro-gun to his upbringing in the Glades, a place defined by violence and chaos; like the house he owns with his wife, the gun offers a sense of security, however false.

A more mundane C-plot pairs Diggle and Dinah, as the latter discloses that she has been looking to buy a studio apartment. However, she hesitated to sign the lease. Besides being reluctant to answer questions about her recent past, she has a hard time accepting the prospect of a “normal” life. Diggle, a war veteran, sympathizes. Thanks to his encouragement, Dinah not only signs the lease but also joins the Star City Police Department.

Best line

Curtis, on the availability of assault weapons in the United States: “Land of the free, home of the incredibly stupid.”

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Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.