This week's episode of Arrow, called Brothers & Sisters, made me realize something about this season. There’s nothing I’m looking forward to. I’m not waiting for a big reveal, a climatic showdown or even a shoe-to-drop. I was hooked during the prison episodes, but since he’s gotten out it just feels like the season is meandering along. But something happened this week that gives me a reason to look forward to the next episode.
There are multiple things going on in this episode. Oliver (Stephen Amell) is trying to find a way to connect with Emiko (Sea Shimooka), Diggle (David Ramsey) and Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) are trying to use the Ghost Protocol to capture an international terrorist financier, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) is dealing with the news from the last episode and there is more future stuff. Looking at that aspect well start with Oliver and his newly discovered sister. He wants to connect with her and decides, with advice from Rene (Rick Gonzalez), that helping her with her mission would be the best approach. He of course being Oliver, tries to take over and tell her what to do. But by the end of the episode he realizes he overstepped and apologized. For the casual viewer this won’t mean much, but for longtime fans this is a big growth moment for the character.
At one moment in the current timeline, Oliver can’t reach William and leaves another message. Later, in the future timeline, older William (Ben Lewis) tells his newly found sister Maya (Katherine McNamara) that after going off with his grandparents he had never heard from Oliver and Felicity again. That seems really out of place for both of those characters. Either they’re setting something up, the show is going to end soon, or the writers are counting on Crisis on Infinite Earths make this future not happen. The future flashes are supposed to be addressing the legacy of the characters, that’s why we have the children of Oliver, Rene and Diggle involved. Thought I was surprised to learn that Connor Hawke was Diggle’s adopted son and not John Jr… Damn it Barry!
And that takes us to Felicity who starts the episode waking up from a nightmare of Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) hunting her down. She is worried about her family, having just learned she’s pregnant. Diggle finally tells her and Oliver about the Ghost Protocol and working with Diaz, which freaks Felicity out and she gets ahold of Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and starts planning to kill Diaz. But Laurel continues to fit in as the DA and has decided that if Diaz is in custody, that is enough revenge for his killing of Quentin Lance. Laurel also deduces that Felicity is pregnant. She actually tries to talk Felicity out of killing Diaz and gives her good advice… it’s like watching Earth-2 Black Siren become the Earth-1 Laurel.
All of these stories dovetail into the ARGUS story that includes them sending the Suicide Squad (Diaz, China White, Cupid and Deathstroke Jr.) in after Dante’s middleman Virgil, but when that goes wrong and Virgil gets away (kills himself?), they are able to track down where Dante is going to be and go after him using Diaz… but bringing Oliver and Felicity in as back-up instead of the squad. We finally get to meet Dante and we see he’s being played by Adrian Paul, best known for his time as Duncan MacCleod of the Highlander television series. Turns out Dante is the guy who loaned Diaz the Longbow Hunters and he’s pretty good at fighting and throwing knives. He fights Oliver to a stand still and then escapes. Diaz on the other hand is distracted by Felicity until Diggle knocks him out.
Diaz gets what’s coming to him though as he is visited in his cell by someone he recognizes. The sprinklers come on and cover him in accelerant and then a lighter is tossed in, burning Diaz’s presumably to death. This seems a bit over the top unless you connect it to the way Diaz killed the guy that tortured him when he was a kid. The only person who saw that happen… Laurel. The plan Felicity had to kill Diaz earlier had Laurel going into the prison and triggering the bomb in his head. Maybe this was Laurel’s version of the plan but didn’t want Felicity mixed up in it? Or maybe Laurel is actually working for Dante? Maybe everyone has been working for Dante since last season? Or maybe I’m overthinking things.
The episode ends with Felicity telling Oliver she’s pregnant and then we discover that Emiko is also connected to Dante and he has plans for Oliver. This last part may be the most interesting in that it seems like we’ve finally met the big bad for the season… and there can be only one. Will this be what pulls together all of the storylines over the last eight episodes of the season? I hope so, but the fact that next episode looks to focus on the team working with the SCPD leaves me some doubts. Also, next week should have Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) getting some live-changing news… since she got her throat slit and we haven’t seen her use her Canary Cry in the future… I think we can guess what that is.
There are multiple things going on in this episode. Oliver (Stephen Amell) is trying to find a way to connect with Emiko (Sea Shimooka), Diggle (David Ramsey) and Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) are trying to use the Ghost Protocol to capture an international terrorist financier, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) is dealing with the news from the last episode and there is more future stuff. Looking at that aspect well start with Oliver and his newly discovered sister. He wants to connect with her and decides, with advice from Rene (Rick Gonzalez), that helping her with her mission would be the best approach. He of course being Oliver, tries to take over and tell her what to do. But by the end of the episode he realizes he overstepped and apologized. For the casual viewer this won’t mean much, but for longtime fans this is a big growth moment for the character.
At one moment in the current timeline, Oliver can’t reach William and leaves another message. Later, in the future timeline, older William (Ben Lewis) tells his newly found sister Maya (Katherine McNamara) that after going off with his grandparents he had never heard from Oliver and Felicity again. That seems really out of place for both of those characters. Either they’re setting something up, the show is going to end soon, or the writers are counting on Crisis on Infinite Earths make this future not happen. The future flashes are supposed to be addressing the legacy of the characters, that’s why we have the children of Oliver, Rene and Diggle involved. Thought I was surprised to learn that Connor Hawke was Diggle’s adopted son and not John Jr… Damn it Barry!
And that takes us to Felicity who starts the episode waking up from a nightmare of Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) hunting her down. She is worried about her family, having just learned she’s pregnant. Diggle finally tells her and Oliver about the Ghost Protocol and working with Diaz, which freaks Felicity out and she gets ahold of Laurel (Katie Cassidy) and starts planning to kill Diaz. But Laurel continues to fit in as the DA and has decided that if Diaz is in custody, that is enough revenge for his killing of Quentin Lance. Laurel also deduces that Felicity is pregnant. She actually tries to talk Felicity out of killing Diaz and gives her good advice… it’s like watching Earth-2 Black Siren become the Earth-1 Laurel.
All of these stories dovetail into the ARGUS story that includes them sending the Suicide Squad (Diaz, China White, Cupid and Deathstroke Jr.) in after Dante’s middleman Virgil, but when that goes wrong and Virgil gets away (kills himself?), they are able to track down where Dante is going to be and go after him using Diaz… but bringing Oliver and Felicity in as back-up instead of the squad. We finally get to meet Dante and we see he’s being played by Adrian Paul, best known for his time as Duncan MacCleod of the Highlander television series. Turns out Dante is the guy who loaned Diaz the Longbow Hunters and he’s pretty good at fighting and throwing knives. He fights Oliver to a stand still and then escapes. Diaz on the other hand is distracted by Felicity until Diggle knocks him out.
Diaz gets what’s coming to him though as he is visited in his cell by someone he recognizes. The sprinklers come on and cover him in accelerant and then a lighter is tossed in, burning Diaz’s presumably to death. This seems a bit over the top unless you connect it to the way Diaz killed the guy that tortured him when he was a kid. The only person who saw that happen… Laurel. The plan Felicity had to kill Diaz earlier had Laurel going into the prison and triggering the bomb in his head. Maybe this was Laurel’s version of the plan but didn’t want Felicity mixed up in it? Or maybe Laurel is actually working for Dante? Maybe everyone has been working for Dante since last season? Or maybe I’m overthinking things.
The episode ends with Felicity telling Oliver she’s pregnant and then we discover that Emiko is also connected to Dante and he has plans for Oliver. This last part may be the most interesting in that it seems like we’ve finally met the big bad for the season… and there can be only one. Will this be what pulls together all of the storylines over the last eight episodes of the season? I hope so, but the fact that next episode looks to focus on the team working with the SCPD leaves me some doubts. Also, next week should have Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) getting some live-changing news… since she got her throat slit and we haven’t seen her use her Canary Cry in the future… I think we can guess what that is.