Well, at least one of the various ongoing mysteries of Arrow Season 7 has been solved. We finally met the mysterious “Demon” in this week’s appropriately titled episode. And while that reveal hardly ranks among the show’s most shocking twists, it did pave the way for a fun team-up between Ollie and an old frenemy. What this episode didn’t manage, however, is elevate the season’s other running subplots so that they stand alongside the prison storyline. As much as the series has improved this year, the current season is still a fairly lopsided affair.

Arrow: "The Demon" Photos 11 IMAGES

Loading

Again, while hardly surprising to learn that Talia was the Demon all along, it is nice to see Lexa Doig back in the picture. She’s been conspicuously absent since the Season 5 finale, and her return has been long overdue. Doig brings a very effective blend of malice, charm and arrogance to her role. She also has a solid dynamic with Stephen Amell, which makes it a bit of a shame that Talia has appeared so comparatively little compared to her half-sister. The hope is that this episode has opened up the door for more from Talia, though there’s really no telling based on the open-ended sendoff Talia was given.It does seem likely the writers are laying a few seeds with the way Talia alluded to a certain “enemy” in Gotham City. That’s not as clear cut a Batman reference as Ollie outright name-dropping Bruce Wayne last season, but you have to assume the Arrowverse as a whole is slowly working its way toward a legitimate Batman appearance. Or is Talia referring to Batwoman in this case?In any case, Ollie’s ordeal in Level 2 made for another compelling chapter in his ongoing prison ordeal this week. I do wish the show spent a little more time exploring the dynamic between Ollie and Dr. parker and Ollie’s struggle to maintain his sense of self and purpose. This did play out like a slightly rushed conclusion to this portion of the story. Even so, it was satisfying to see Ollie achieve a victory for a change and overcome a great evil. And there was some satisfyingly bone-crunching action along the way.Though for all the flash of the big standoff with the riot guards, the best fight scene in this episode actually came early on, when Talia launched her sneak attack on Ollie. I always get a kick out of the fight scenes that use camera angles and the environment to maximum effect.Elsewhere, “The Demon” gave viewers the first real Curtis-centric storyline of Season 7. I do give the writers credit for seeming to recognize that Curtis has been the odd man out all season long. He doesn’t seem to have much purpose in this post-Team Arrow landscape. Did this episode reverse that trend? Not necessarily. He’s definitely a more integral player in the ARGUS subplot now, embracing his role as a undercover operative who once again risks life and limb on a daily basis. This notion that Curtis doesn’t necessarily have to be Mister Terrific in order to put his skills to good use is certainly a step in the right direction. The more the Arrowverse shifts away from the “every supporting character needs to become a costumed vigilante” mentality, the better.At the same time, Curtis’ character arc this week felt rushed and hollow. If the writers want to keep him at the emotional center of the show, why not lean into his lingering PTSD and depression? He’s sacrificed so much for his city and gotten so little in return. But rather than really dig into that, this episode just treated Curtis’ personal issues as something that can be easily swept away with one good pep talk from Diggle.The Curtis subplot was still fun, if somewhat mishandled. The same can’t be said for the Felicity/Laurel/Dinah alliance. As is usually the case, Laurel is a frustrating member of the ensemble cast. It’s already hard to tolerate her in this current role given how poorly she was handled in Season 6. And now, the more the character settles into the life of her interdimensional doppelganger, the more she seems to be transforming into Earth-1 Laurel. At some point you have to wonder if there’s going to be a tangible difference between the two characters by the time this Season is finished.The other problem here is that this whole subplot felt largely superfluous. Other than Felicity fretting about Ollie’s disappearance, what exactly did this alliance accomplish. They rifled through some boxes, only for Talia to eventually show up and deliver the smoking gun they needed. Little about this storyline did anything to advance the larger Season 7 narrative. It merely reinforced the idea that Arrow has more characters than it can truly support at the moment.