Team Arrow sign on as SCPD rookies. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Elsewhere Laurel strikes a deal, Mia and William work out how to get a message from their mom and Dinah makes a choice.

Police Academy 10: Vigilantes On Patrol! should have been more fun than this. More importantly it should have been longer. The idea is great but the episode sprints through every phase of it so fast none of them land. We don’t care that Team Arrow have impressed their hard as nails Sergeant because we met him ten minutes ago. If it had been three weeks ago, different story.

Which isn’t to say this episode is bad. It’s not. But it’s not as confident, poised or fun as any of the others so far. The action’s really well handled but it’s there to be action not consequence and it shows. The flashforward feels the same way weirdly. While it’s fun watching Mia and William work together, the entirety of the Flash-forward this week is ‘The siblings bond over their mother’s ridiculous attitude to secrets and then go to the one place they’re surprised to go to even though it’s next door.’ It’s running in place and it shows.

Like I say the episode’s still fun but it’s not pushing and it shows. Although the little moments here really land. Dinah using her injury to close the circuit between being a cop and a vigilante has real weight to it as do Laurel’s conversations with the always massively fun Bronze Tiger. Emiko’s heel turn is confirmed here too and cleverly plays on Laurel’s own past as a weapon. In another show this would be cheap drama. Here it feels…welcome, oddly, given how quickly Laurel settled in.

Verdict: Good but not as good as it could have been this sets up more than it does itself. Not an unworthy watch but this season is so good, it stands out. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart