Arrow 606 Review:Promises Kept

As I looked at my Twitter feed last evening, I read so many comments on  how this  episode moved slowly.  I take a different  view.  It had lots of action, lots of character content, and some foreshadowing, if not foreboding.  There's lots here, so this may be rather long, sorry.

Arrow often  has two story lines moving  concurrently and last night's centered on Slade and Oliver's promises and on John Diggle's  secret.  The secondary part  of the story centered on the  relationship building between Felicity and William, brief, but not less in importance to the story.

•        How many times have we heard  Slade Wilson  say, "I keep my promises, kid?"  Too many to  mention here.  Slade made promises to Joe, as we found  out in the flashbacks.  First he  promised  that the trip he took with Joe when he was a boy, was to be all about them.  However,  we learn that Slade used  it also as part of his work with A.S.I.S. (Australian Secret Intelligence Service). As I had mentioned  in my previous review, Joe did indeed see his father slice the neck of the Chinese  spy.  We find out just what a terrible impact this had on Joe.  Slade had no mirakuru in his system when  he did  this.  (More on this later)  Later after Slade is found alive and in hospital, he promises Joe he will  never leave him again, and Joe apparently joinis the A.S.I.S.  A year after Slade rejoins Joe,  we  see the mirakuru  come back upon Slade with a vengeance, keep in  mind that Felicity has yet to put the antidote into Slade.  Slade seeing in his  mind  Shado, becomes Deathstroke, and kills the everyone in the training room.  Joe returns to see that his bloodied father has killed everyone, and then Slade hits Joe and leaves, as we know to try and kill Oliver.  One can only imagine how this must  have made Joe feel.  So the already twisted child becomes even  more enraged. Never make a promise  you can't expect to  keep.

•      Oliver reveals to Slade  that he followed him, and Oliver tells him that he doesn't desert his  friend, and he tells Slade that Joe is  dangerous.  As Oliver works behind the scenes with Slade to stop Joe and  his men, Slade shoots a fellow in the  leg, and then Joe uses  his  sword  to kill the  guy so no witnesses are left.  You could see the shock on Slade's  face.  Then Joe shocks Slade again by bringing in Oliver so that Slade could kill him.  You could see fear on Oliver's face, and you could see the temptation on Slade's face as Oliver yells Slade's name as Slade holds  the sword over Oliver's head.  When Oliver and Slade finally get the Jackals in custody, they part ways.  Slade tells Oliver that the one thing Oliver taught him was, "Never give up  on family."  He tells Oliver to go home, and protect William.  Slade wants to find Joe.  He turns to leave and as he fades into the mist and fog, his shadow seems to loom large.  Slade and Joe will both be back.  

Some of the best points of the Slade/Oliver part of the story is the understanding that people change.
Slade confronts his son to reach him, and Joe  wants Slade to be Deathstroke,  but Slade says, "I am not Deathstroke anymore."  Then Joe reveals a horrifying truth to Slade.  Unbeknownst to Slade, his wife had another son, Grant, and his mother  did not want him, so six months after that camping trip, Joe knifed  his brother's neck the same way he saw his father do to the spy.  Do you think he really did this?  Will Grant turn up later?  I'm guessing he might.  Joe/Kane might have wanted to shock his father.  Joe could have only been 13 at the oldest, right?  That shocked the audience as well, don't  you think?  Joe says he has become just like his  father.  Joe is going to be a force to reckoned  with. Now I wonder when Slade meets Joe in the future, and we know he will, will be able to stop him, or will he join with him.  He had been tempted to kill Oliver for his son, as he told Oliver. Even Oliver felt his pretense was so different than it was with Chase in Lian Yu.



The fight scenes in this part of the show were amazing and I liked the slow motion  effect as well.  But did you ever  wonder as you  watch Oliver bring down six men with just a gun and knife, um..why does he need a team?? 😄

•      Diggle's story as the Green Arrow is compelling as well.  He realizes that the same man, Richardo Diaz aka Dragon, from whom  he gets his drug, is the same one the team is trying to get.  Diggle finally reveals to Lyla that he is using drugs to keep from shaking, and he did it to help Oliver.  John's tremors are getting worse, and he knows it.  Lyla's angry at first because she's shocked he would this.  But he tells her that he had to help Oliver.  Oliver is truly John's brother now, and he tells Lyla, "I can't let my brother down."  Lyla responds with, "So, you let yourself down."  The team trys to shut the drug factory down,  but the Dragon starts a fire and you can see on John's face the struggle to go  into that fire to get the drug, as the team yells, Arrow go.  The fire destroys the drug but Diaz gets away, so there is yet another person to be after the team.  So, we have BS, Cayden James, Diaz, and certainly Joe out to get at least some part if not all the team.  Do you think we have a room full of villains?  

I like the fact that John tells the team the truth.  Each one of them forgives.  Curtis wants to help John find a medical way to get help as he did  for Felicity.  Anyone else wonder why he didn't tell Curtis  to begin with?

• Olicity: The secondary  part of the story is nonetheless important.  William and Felicity play  a video game, and in walks Oliver on his family.  He hugs William  as if he  might never see him again, and his  eyes are never off Felicity.  It's a scene that only lasts a couple of minutes, yet it is vital in many ways.  In the time since the explosion at least 6 months, William has bonded with Oliver and Felicity.  They have become a family unit and each are comfortable with the other.  William doesn't seem offended to see Oliver and Felicity embrace.  That is huge since he and his mother were very close.   This scene starts and ends as though seen through a window with rain falling.  This gives the feeling that someone is watching them.  My guess is it's Joe.  Remember Joe said that he would kill William.    

• Important Elements:  Three things stand out to me:  Joe wants to know from Slade how can he forgive Oliver for what he had done.  Slade responds with, "He forgave me for things that are far worse."  The power of forgiveness can never be underestimated.  As I said before, I am a Christian, and I respond to elements of a story that are powerful.  Nothing is more powerful to a Christian than forgiveness.  Slade knows that.  At Lian Yu when Oliver asked for his help, he was amazed that Oliver could forgive him.   Second, the thought of promises kept.  Oliver kept his promise to help Slade find his son.  Slade, if it had not been for the mirakuru would have stayed with Joe, but he couldn't keep his promise to Joe in current time, because it would have meant breaking a promise to Oliver.  Sometimes we can't keep promises we make.  That's just a part of life.  My parents always told us be careful what you promise.   The importance of family and the values they give.  William's mother raised William to be thoughtful and kind.  She didn't raise with anger, though she could have.  She could have talked in cruel ways about Moira and Oliver deserting William, but she never did.  She sheltered him and protected him.  Joe's mother raised her son to hate.  She even hated her second child.  She played as much a part of  the way Joe turned out as Slade did, for she was certainly around Joe more than Slade.  Did  you wonder at the line Joe gives as Oliver and Slade escape?  One of Joe's comrades says something about where they are going, and Slade said, "That's what father's do." What do you think he meant by that?

Odds and Ends:  I enjoy Rene.  He's so down to earth. He does't understand when Curtis and Felicity talk and says something to the effect can anyone "normal" explain it.  Some may be offended that remark as slight against Felicity and Curtis, but I found it funny.  I know some really smart people and when they get together they speak about things a little over the heads of others. They don't mean to, it's just that understand each are the same wave length, so to speak.

Also Dinah and John promise no more secrets...so we know that promise is not going to be kept, right?  Dinah looks down at her matchbox gift, and already has kept a secret from John. Foreshadowing that Vigilante will reappear.

All in all a good show with lots of things to look forward to in future episodes, don't you think?