Heading into this week's episode I was really excited. I really love when the Arrow flashback cross over with the modern day story and this is what we were getting this episode with the Bratva. With all my excitement, there was a part of me that was worried that it wouldn't hold up, but it did.
For me, I saw this as a sort of closing book on Diggle's military story we have gotten all season. While I don't think it is the last nail in the coffin on it, it's not far off it. I really liked how they ended it by having the whole team present, and not as Team Arrow but as these shady forms they take when they want to do something outside of the Arrow name. The last time we saw these forms was when they broke Diggle out of prison, so it only seemed fitting that they would take these forms again. What I really loved about this main story for the episode was that we got to see how dedicated Diggle was to putting Walker to an end. Most the most part of the whole series, Diggle has always been the calm, level headed member. Last season after Laurel's death we saw a new side of Diggle and we saw that again tonight, and I like it. I like to see Diggle losing it sometimes and be the aggressor of the team. I've always liked Diggle as a character because he always has a presence of experience and maturity to him, so it's nice to see this contrasting and recklessness to him.
This episode some had some great one on one moments between the characters. Whether it was Oliver and Dinah, Felicity and Rory, Diggle and Oliver or Renee and Quentin, they were all great character moments that were well written and played out well on screen. I thought many of these one on one moments brought the highlights from this episode. We got to see the relationship between Oliver and Dinah become more understanding. We got a great goodbye moment from Felicity and Rory, who is someone I am going to miss going forward. We had a great moment of confrontation where Oliver and Diggle are at a disagreement on how this should be done, only this time it is Diggle being the impulsive and reckless one. Finally we had some great scenes with Renee and Quentin. It was great having Quentin back this episode and I thought that pairing him off with Renee was a really great idea because we got to see Renee get under his skin while still getting a great emotional scene where we learn about Quentin's interaction with young Renee.
Overall, a really good episode from Arrow. Everything from the performances to the action was really good and I don't have much of a negative for it. Based off how they have started the second half of the season, I'm really looking forward to what they are going to do and what they are going to give us for the big episodes.
9/10
For me, I saw this as a sort of closing book on Diggle's military story we have gotten all season. While I don't think it is the last nail in the coffin on it, it's not far off it. I really liked how they ended it by having the whole team present, and not as Team Arrow but as these shady forms they take when they want to do something outside of the Arrow name. The last time we saw these forms was when they broke Diggle out of prison, so it only seemed fitting that they would take these forms again. What I really loved about this main story for the episode was that we got to see how dedicated Diggle was to putting Walker to an end. Most the most part of the whole series, Diggle has always been the calm, level headed member. Last season after Laurel's death we saw a new side of Diggle and we saw that again tonight, and I like it. I like to see Diggle losing it sometimes and be the aggressor of the team. I've always liked Diggle as a character because he always has a presence of experience and maturity to him, so it's nice to see this contrasting and recklessness to him.
This episode some had some great one on one moments between the characters. Whether it was Oliver and Dinah, Felicity and Rory, Diggle and Oliver or Renee and Quentin, they were all great character moments that were well written and played out well on screen. I thought many of these one on one moments brought the highlights from this episode. We got to see the relationship between Oliver and Dinah become more understanding. We got a great goodbye moment from Felicity and Rory, who is someone I am going to miss going forward. We had a great moment of confrontation where Oliver and Diggle are at a disagreement on how this should be done, only this time it is Diggle being the impulsive and reckless one. Finally we had some great scenes with Renee and Quentin. It was great having Quentin back this episode and I thought that pairing him off with Renee was a really great idea because we got to see Renee get under his skin while still getting a great emotional scene where we learn about Quentin's interaction with young Renee.
Overall, a really good episode from Arrow. Everything from the performances to the action was really good and I don't have much of a negative for it. Based off how they have started the second half of the season, I'm really looking forward to what they are going to do and what they are going to give us for the big episodes.
9/10