<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Before going on a brief hiatus, Arrow left us with a helluva parting gift - &amp;#039;Dead to Rights&amp;#039; saw Tommy (Colin Donnell) glimpse the Hood&amp;#039;s true face and Laurel&amp;#039;s mother - in the form of Doctor Who&amp;#039;s Alex Kingston - also arrived on her daughter&amp;#039;s doorstep with the news that Sara Lance could still be alive... But this week, the hit superhero drama bites off more than it can chew and falters. As if the ramifications of Tommy&amp;#039;s discovery and the revelations about Sara weren&amp;#039;t enough to keep us occupied, &amp;#039;The Huntress Returns&amp;#039; - as you may have twigged - also sees Jessica De Gouw make her comeback as ruthless vigilante Helena Bertinelli.  Oliver (Stephen Amell) is unusually chipper on account of the smooth progress of his romance with McKenna (Janina Gavankar) and is even thinking about taking a well-deserved rest, but the bad girls are always catching Dig&amp;#039;s eye and he has to break the bad news that Ollie&amp;#039;s psycho ex is back. Helena soon arrives at the Queen family home with the news that her father Frank is about to enter witness protection after giving up vital mob intel - though quite why she thinks for a second that Oliver would help her take out her mobster daddy when he prevented said execution the last time they met is anyone&amp;#039;s guess. Still, the dilemma of &amp;#039;The Huntress Returns&amp;#039; at least shows how much Oliver has grown since Arrow&amp;#039;s early episodes. He refuses flat out to help Helena kill her father - and since this show is ultimately all about our lead&amp;#039;s transition from brutal vigilante to straight-shooting crusader, it&amp;#039;s rewarding to see him adopt a more heroic moral stance.  Another character who has to reconsider his moral stance this week is loveable Tommy, with last week&amp;#039;s revelations allowing the young entrepreneur - who&amp;#039;s often relegated to the role of wide-eyed puppy chasing a disinterred Laurel - to explore his darker side. Tommy&amp;#039;s understandably horrified that his best friend is not only a liar but also - in his eyes - a brutal killer who&amp;#039;s endangered those around him. And those fears prove well-founded when Helena forces Oliver&amp;#039;s hand by almost breaking his. But when Oliver&amp;#039;s final fateful confrontation with the Huntress leaves McKenna in the hospital with serious injuries - putting an end to her and Ollie&amp;#039;s budding romance as she moves cities for physical rehab - it&amp;#039;s still Tommy who steps up to help his bro in his hour of need. While he&amp;#039;d be well within his rights to be a little peeved, ultimately - as he has so many times with Laurel - the young Merlyn takes the blame, labelling himself a &amp;quot;jerk&amp;quot; and renewing his friendship with Oliver - oh, Tommy, we love you, but stand up for yourself, man!  Roy Harper is also back this week to save Thea (Willa Holland) from two street thugs, taking a knife to the chest in the process. Though Colton Haynes&amp;#039;s screen time is again frustratingly brief, I&amp;#039;m finding myself more and more intrigued by Roy. Where in his murky past did he pick up those badass fighting skills? And is his apparent fear of needles genuine or a nod to his comics history as a drug user? With juicy hints being dropped all the time, I look forward to watching Roy&amp;#039;s story develop - promoting Haynes to series regular for Arrow season two was a smart move.  Overall, &amp;#039;The Huntress Returns&amp;#039; over-eggs the pudding just a little - with too many plot threads competing for the viewer&amp;#039;s attention. With all of the above - plus the immediate impact of Sara&amp;#039;s possible survival and the usual dose of flashbacks - vying for screen time, it might&amp;#039;ve been a smart move to delay Helena&amp;#039;s comeback and so allow this week&amp;#039;s Arrow outing to more fully explore the consequences of what went down in &amp;#039;Dead to Rights&amp;#039;. Instead, Tommy&amp;#039;s journey feels rushed - he&amp;#039;s awfully quick to forgive Oliver for his indiscretions - and we never see him confront his father over his own mysterious past. It&amp;#039;s a beat that could&amp;#039;ve been included here if the Huntress plot had been excised and held back for a future episode As it is, &amp;#039;The Huntress Returns&amp;#039; is entertaining but overstuffed - and coming as it does after a three-week hiatus and the superb &amp;#039;Dead to Rights&amp;#039;, it can&amp;#039;t help but feel like a let-down.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/arrow/review/a468350/arrow-review-guess-whos-back-in-the-huntress-returns/>