Arrow 2.16 "Suicide Squad" Review: It's Complicated

    Arrow, “Suicide Squad,” was written by the team of Keto Shimizu and Bryan Q Miller and directed by Larry Teng. Shimizu last collaborated with Jake Coburn on “Blast Radius,” the episode that introduced Shrapnel (Sean Maher) who also appears – all too briefly – in this episode. This is Miller’s first episode this season. This is Teng’s first time behind the camera for Arrow, but his other credits include Criminal Minds, Elementary, and Hawaii Five-O, so he knows his way around an action packed series.

    At the end of the episode, Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) tells Diggle (David Ramsey) that the world is a complicated place. I immediately thought of the Facebook relationship status of “It’s Complicated.” That pretty much describes all of the relationships on the show – Oliver with Sara, Felicity, and Laurel; Diggle and Lyla; Diggle and Deadshot; Oliver with Waller; Oliver with Slade and Moira. We see both Oliver and Diggle struggle with navigating those relationships.

    The episode opens with Oliver (Stephen Amell) dreaming of Shado (Celina Jade). Seeing Slade (Manu Bennett) again has clearly dredged up Oliver’s feelings of guilt over Shado’s death. Oliver acts out of character and almost out of control in his desperation to protect those close to him. He doesn’t follow “brotherhood” etiquette and forces Alexi (Eugene Lipinski) to find Slade for him. This results in Slade killing Alexi and Oliver losing a valuable ally. I've mentioned before how much I like Lipinski as an actor, so I'm quite sad to see him go.   

    This episode actually felt a little bit like filler as we only see Slade from a distance. His threat to Oliver is what’s now driving Oliver. He tries to push Sara (Caity Lotz) away. Even Laurel (Katie Cassidy) tells him to let Sara in. After finding Alexi’s body, Oliver realizes that Slade is too far ahead of him. He finally goes to Sara and asks for her help. She knows she’s in danger regardless, but she also knows that she isn’t the same person Slade knew on the Island either. She is, after all, Black Canary, a member of the League of Assassins. Amell and Lotz are both fantastic in this scene.

    It was great to see them start to redeem Laurel. However, it did seem as if she’s made an amazingly fast about face. After such a long descent, this seemed a bit abrupt – welcome, but abrupt.

    The flashbacks in this episode feature Diggle and Lyla and their meeting in Afghanistan. We also get a bonus appearance of Ben Browder as their commanding officer Ted Gaynor. Lyla proves to be a more than competent soldier, but her kindness to the women prisoners pays off in the exposure of terrorist Qadir (Lee Majdoub). Diggle was as incorruptible as always.

    Naturally, Diggle is consumed with guilt after he is forced to kill a child soldier. Lyla, in a foreshadowing of their differing outlooks, tells him to shrug it off. She is more pragmatic than he is. Yet, it’s Diggle’s influence that has her questioning the ruthlessness of Waller’s command. Lyla points out to Diggle that she sees the world as it is, not how she wants it to be. Lyla also points out that they both live in the grey. We know that that continues to bother Diggle on some level. After all, he was the one to insist that Oliver do more for Starling City than just seek revenge. She tells Diggle he’s rigid. Diggle points out that when they talk, they tend to get divorced.

    I’m betting comic fans probably caught more of the easter eggs in this episode than I did, but the biggest one is likely the Ostrander Hotel. John Ostrander created the modern Suicide Squad. When Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) tells Lyla that she needn’t worry, “they’ve all availed themselves of the Ostrander suite,” it’s a nice shout out to the fact that most of the characters in the comics rotated in and out – being featured in other series as well. Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White) and Deadshot  (Michael Rowe) were permanent members along with director Amanda Waller. As Lyla and Diggle are being introduced to the team, we hear a demented female voice asking if they need counselling as she is a trained therapist. It seems likely that the woman in the cell is Harley Quinn, former Arkham Asylum psychiatrist who fell in love with the Joker. Quinn (Tara Strong) is actually listed in the credits.

    I liked that we got to see more of Deadshot, in particular. Ramsey and Rowe are both fantastic in the scene in which Deadshot talks about his daughter. I liked that the episode showed Diggle progress from outrage that Deadshot, who killed his brother, was being let out of prison, to finding a way to see him as human, to rescuing him. Deadshot is ready to die – to go out doing something honorable. Diggle uses Zoe, Deadshot’s daughter, to get him to leave.

    In the end, Diggle can’t abide by Waller’s callous treatment of the prisoners. Lyla simply accepts the bombs in their heads as the necessity of having a way to insure their cooperation. However, the plot falls apart at the end. When they go in, Waller says they just need to get eyes on the nerve gas, but the mission morphs into Deadshot needing to bring the nerve gas out in his pocket. They use the bomb in his head to target the gas. This, of course, means that an entire house of innocent people – there for a benefit will die – needlessly. And why not have Deadshot simply plant a GPS in the room? They are able to clean out the mansion with a seal team anyway.

    Lyla is obviously having doubts about Waller and her mission. Anderson is great in this episode and I’m happy to see her back. Diggle points out that Deadshot showed more character than Waller. He also says he’s only sure of black and white – he doesn’t like the shades of grey. But he does say he doesn’t want to lose her again. In the final flashback, Lyla tells Diggle that the world is a complicated place. She also tells him that when a kid is shooting at him, he’s not a kid.

    We see Moira (Susanna Thompson) stumping for mayor and supporting an after school swim program because her kids loved swimming. Sara says she thought he hated swimming and he says he did and that his “mother sometimes enjoys a casual relationship with the truth.” He thanks Sara for being there for him, and promises that he’s going to stop doing that. Laurel invites him to dinner with them, after he also thanks her for helping him. He says that he can’t because he has to visit an “old friend.”

    Oliver goes to Waller and tells her that Slade is alive. Waller and Oliver clearly have a history. She says that Oliver killed Slade. Waller reveals that A.R.G.U.S. has been tracking a new mercenary and they call him Deathstroke. It’s clearly become a very complicated world for Oliver.

    This episode gave us some great backstory on Diggle and Lyla, as well as expanding the universe to include the Suicide Squad now in addition to the League of Assassins. I do feel that at times the universe may be getting too big. I’d like to see more of Bronze Tiger, for example. We didn’t see anything of Roy (Colton Haynes) or Thea (Willa Holland) – though she was at Moira’s press conference.

    I suspect we will have to wait to see more of the Suicide Squad, though it is possible Waller will deploy them again to help defeat Slade. We also saw very little of Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards). We do see that she’s pretty zen with the potential for Slade to come after her. I was a little surprised that she didn’t have any real insights into what Oliver was feeling as she is usually the first to do so and call him on it.

    I was very excited for this episode, but found myself a bit disappointed by it because of the plot holes in the mission and the overwhelming number of characters. What did you think of the episode? Do you want more Suicide Squad? Do you think Waller will be a trustworthy ally? Do you think Diggle and Lyla will be able to make it work? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!