Arrow “Brothers in Arms” was written by the team of Sarah Tarkoff and Jeane Wong and was directed by Mark Bunting. Wong moves up from script coordinator to writer. Contrary to what the title suggests, our core ‘brothers in arms’ – Diggle (David Ramsey) and Oliver (Stephen Amell) end the episode by dissolving their brotherhood. And just when you think this show can’t sink any lower – or jump any higher over the shark – it does.
As the episode opens, Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) has recruited all the “good” cops on the force to go after Anatoly (David Nykl) – and has somehow joined forces with Oliver and Diggle as Green Arrow and Spartan to capture Anatoly.
Hill (Tina Huang) tries to put a stop to the arrest but Oliver – as Mayor – and Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) show up to say it was all a covert operation under their command. Meanwhile, Dinah is still complaining about Rene’s getting hurt – and Harkavy seems to be getting worse rather than better…
Oliver tries to talk to Anatoly, but he tells Oliver that Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) has people everywhere. Armand (Pej Vahdat) kicks Anatoly’s case on a technicality – proving Anatoly’s point.
Oliver calls in both Hill and Armand and tells them he knows that they’re working for Diaz. Hill reveals that 24 hours after her promotion, Diaz sent her surveillance photos of her niece, father and sister as threats. Armand reveals that his son has stage 4 cancer and needs expensive treatment. Oliver promises to help them, but Armand rejects his protection as a joke. Oliver fires them both. I did like Amell’s performance in this scene, particularly when Armand says he knows that he’s Green Arrow and Oliver tells him that if he was Green Arrow, Armand would not want to be in that room with him!
The good cops that helped Dinah start being murdered so Dinah and Curtis (Echo Kellum) take them into hiding – including Nick (Evan Roderick), Curtis’ new boyfriend.
Of course, the real centerpiece to this episode is the breakdown between Diggle and Oliver. Naturally, it’s Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) who notices that Diggle is really upset and forces Oliver to come clean. Oliver finally tells Diggle that he’s not giving back the hood because being Green Arrow lets Oliver be the best version of himself. Diggle seems to accept it – but clearly doesn’t. Oliver further apologizes that he meant it when he said he was giving it up – but still couldn’t when it came down to it. Felicity tries to keep the two civil, but even she can’t keep them together.
The two come to massive blows and a decent fight scene! – after they exchange truly low blows in which Diggle accuses Oliver of getting William’s mother killed and Oliver tells Diggle that his trail of bodies doesn’t lead to his own brother. Ouch! Diggle thinks that Oliver has spread himself too thin to be effective as either the Green Arrow or the Mayor – he’s no longer the hero the city needs. Diggle tells Oliver that he’s already lost the city to Diaz, and Oliver rightly points out that Diaz got his foothold under Diggle’s leadership of the team when Diggle was buying drugs off Diaz and lying to the team.
Meanwhile, we see Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) for the first time in a long time. It’s just poor writing that Diggle accuses Oliver of changing for the worse by having William and Felicity when he’s done the same with Lyla. Regardless, Lyla acts as a sounding board for Diggle. Having someone for Diggle to talk to and explain his feelings to really doesn’t help to shed any more light on what he’s doing or make it seem any more in character, however.
Felicity finds Diaz’s Vertigo operation and the Oliver and Diggle go in. This is a nicely intercut scene as we have fights on two fronts when Dinah’s safehouse is also attacked. I loved Oliver’s newest trick arrow – the explosives arrow! Curtis takes a bullet to save Nick – who then discovers the Mr Terrific suit underneath. Naturally, Nick has come out against the vigilantes, but not to worry, he tells Curtis once Nick's been fired that maybe vigilantism is the way to go, and he isn’t ready to give up on them yet.
Oliver and Diggle don’t have a happily after the event moment as Diggle decides that he just can’t shake feeling that Oliver has made too many bad decisions as a leader. He tells Oliver that he’s become a better man but splitting his focus has made him a worse leader. He tells Oliver that if he’s to be the best version of himself, it can’t be with Oliver. WHAT?!?! This makes no logical sense.
Diggle goes back to Lyla and tells her that he’s quit Oliver’s team. She invites him to work with her at ARGUS. So is that it for Spartan?
Meanwhile, Laurel (Katie Cassidy) is still recuperating at Quentin’s. I do like these two together! Laurel tells Quentin she wants to help him, but he doesn’t want her near Diaz. He tells her that she should act like Laurel Lance and get a job. Anybody surprised that this Laurel has never had one? She doesn’t even know how to write a resume. Quentin suggests that as Laurel Lance, she doesn’t need a resume – everyone knows her and her qualifications. So naturally, he digs out her law books – because reading a few law books will make you a great lawyer - or a lawyer at all. GAH!! STUPID AWARD!!!
Naturally, she’s still working with Diaz – we see her send him a text that she doesn’t know where the cops’ safehouse is, and then he shows up at the apartment. He accuses her of trying to protect Quentin. He empathizes with her need to please her father, but her urges her not to change. He likes this version of her just fine. And she’s clearly pleased as she smiles at this comment.
When Oliver gets back to the house with Felicity, Quentin calls and tells him to turn on the tv. It seems that firing someone takes some time. We’ve already heard that Hill fired all the good cops, including Dinah as she was clearing out her office… um. No. Now at a press conference Hill and Armand announce that Oliver fired them to impede the investigation into the charges against him, so they are calling for the Mayor to be impeached. Hmmmm – this sounds like it was ripped from the headlines! This part was well-played by the writers.
The final scene has Laurel taking credit for this legal genius move – because clearly one afternoon with a few law books would make her a better legal mind than the DA, right? Regardless, Laurel tells Diaz that she’s not changing. He has one vial of Vertigo left – and Laurel seems very happy about that – why? Is she addicted to it? Happy they can sell it? Are they going to use it on someone else?
While there were some good moments in this episode, mainly based on strong performances by Ramsey and Amell – and Amell sounded like he was really sick while he was filming this episode – overall, this episode simply compounded what I haven’t liked about this entire season. They keep screwing around with the team – and that core of Diggle as the good mentor and Oliver’s real ‘brother in arms’ should never have been messed with. It’s just one more misstep of the writers room. I begin to have little faith in their leadership. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
