Brothers in Arms: Arrow 617 Review

       I enjoyed this episode, but I had to watch it twice and still I am confused as to why everyone seems think everything is all Oliver's fault.  We got to see a lot of David Ramsey as John Diggle, and he performed his role to perfection.  We also saw Felicity at her best as well.  It seems clear to me that we are gearing up towards not only the end of season 6, but the beginning of season 7 as well.   I hope this  blog doesn't get too long for you,  but for me there was a lot there.

 

   Olicity:  I always like to start with Oliver and Felicity, because for me they are the heart of Arrow.  Did you notice that every time Felicity left the room she always touched Oliver at his heart.  She is his core. She reminds of him of who he is and what they have together.  I loved the humor at the beginning of  the episode.  She's dressed in bright yellow (this woman can wear every color well) which symbolizes hope and while Digg and Oliver are on the roof trying to help Dinah get Anatoly, she mentions that Oliver should have that talk with John. Oliver says, "You know in about 60 seconds I'm going to be punching some people..."  It's the lighter moments that make the heavier moments bearable, because we see these people as they are. I loved the way she awkwardly tried to keep the peace.  What about when she told them to breathe?  I don't know about you, but I hoped that was foreshadowing  when Oliver will tell her to breathe as she's about to give birth. 😂 (I can hope, right.)               Later after Digg and Oliver nearly destroy the bunker, she enters and boldly states that these two guys should get their "heads out of your asses".  Felicity never minces words.  Digg says, "She's right, you know. " And Oliver says, "she usually is."  Oliver's confidence in her is not shaken.  She's annoyed with both men, and she's trying to get each  one to be sensible about the other, but she stands by Oliver.  In the last scene towards the end of the episode Oliver stands in a window bathed in light, and Felicity walks into the that light, and it seems to become brighter.  She understands that it's rough for Oliver right now, but she says, "You're not alone.I'm not going anywhere."

      Digg and Oliver:  I could understand where both men were coming from.  That's not easy to pull off, but I think the writers did a fare job of it, but it was David Ramsey and Stephen Amell who sold it.  I wish the writers had not gone in this direction, but the story's not over, and it is after all their story to tell.  At first you wonder why did it matter so much to John to want to be in the hood.  He accepted Oliver's forgiveness and yet it bothered him.  Lyla seemed to think it wasn't about the hood, but the man under it.  Lyla tells him, "None of these things (the team leaving, Diaz controlling the town) if he (John) had been wearing it."  John thinks Oliver hasn't been making the right judgement calls.  He accuses Oliver of being the Arrow for himself and not for the city. He tells Oliver, "If its' not 100 percent about the city then you aren't the hero this city deserves."   Was Oliver doing all this for himself first, and then the city?  I don't see the ground work for that has been presented by the writers. I can see where John thinks that a hero thinks of others first then himself.  That is a valid statement, but hasn't Oliver always put himself last for the last 5 seasons?  Were John's  judgement calls always the right ones? Didn't John put himself first when he withheld from everyone that he had injured himself in the blast on the island? 

How long had it taken Oliver to admit that he could be a hero in the light and accept himself as the Green Arrow? When Oliver said, "But then I put the  hood back on and it's a part of me and it makes me feel like being the b est version of myself.  I feel whole and I feel complete.,"  did't you want to cheer, it's about time!  I was proud of him.  It took Thea to get him to realize it.  This is what we've wanted for 6 seasons.  I didn't feel that Oliver was thinking only of himself, did you?    I could understand Oliver's hesitating to trust John fully, when John broke that trust by not telling him how badly he had hurt himself in the island blast.  How could he trust the newbies on the team when two of them broke his trust?  Rene turned on him and would  testify against him, and Dinah worked  with Vincent Sobel, who in turn worked for Diaz?  Trust has always been difficult for Oliver his whole life.  He found he couldn't trust his parents and when parents break trust, it does change you forever.  He has a long history of that, and you don't give that up easily.  I could see that perhaps if he had let Digg go after that kid longer, he might have revealed more information, but I doubted it.  You really can't have two commanders on the field saying different things.  Digg always followed orders as a military man, but now he questions Oliver's orders?  I am still not sure I understand that fully. Digg did tell Oliver to be cautious when he wanted to let the other team members go, and maybe Oliver should have. I could see that.

I  don't know that Oliver ever saw himself as a hero, did he?  He always  seemed to run away from that title, and for me that's what made him a hero.  For John, a hero is someone who puts others first always.  I still think Oliver has done that too, but Digg didn't see it that way.  So Digg working for Lyla at A. R.G.U.S?  That could be interesting, but I remember not too long ago that Digg questioned her judgment calls there as well.  How will that work out?  Is something deeper going on with John that we don't realize yet?  It was sad to see what appears to be the end of OTA.

When Digg said that Oliver had become a better person, but it had made him a worse leader, did you believe that line?  I'm still thinking about it, but I don't think so.   It's possible Digg is right and Oliver is stretched too thin.  But if you think about it, Digg has a wife and son, just like Oliver, and yet, he isn't stretched to thin?  There's something else going on, don't you think?

 

    Felicity:  I loved Felicity in this episode.  She tried to be a balance for both men and when she said, "John, please don't do this." It broke my heart.  I wanted to share what Felicity has told Oliver in every season:

• If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving.
• You are not alone!
• I'd go anywhere with you.
• You thought I was leaving too?  Not a chance.
• You're not doing this alone anymore.
• I'm not going anywhere.

I'm not afraid of episode 618. Just as David Ramsey had a prominent role in 617, Emily Bett Rickards will have one in 618. If BS gives Oliver the vertigo then my guess is all the stuff he tells Felicity and William might be due to hallucinations.  From what I have read they are  back together in 619.  

     Diaz and Black Siren:  Diaz is a quiet villain.  He isn't at all like Deathstroke or Prometheus, he's almost too quiet.  Did you notice a chemistry between Diaz and BS?  I did.  I hope they keep them together.  I don't know which direction the writers are headed.  One moment she seems to care for Lance as when she told Diaz to leave Lance alone, but the next moment she stabs in the back again. By giving Armand what he needed legally to go after Oliver as Mayor.  This  season was to be Black Siren's redemption arc, but the will she/won't she, has become tiring.  It's okay to show that some people can't be redeemed.  I wish they would go one way or the other, and stop the guessing.  I think they foreshadowed Lance's death. When Diaz went to talk to BS, and says something about how she want to protect her father, Lance,  and to be what Lance wanted her to be and not who she really was, like his his father did to him  before he died.  There seemed to be an emphasis on those words.  I am thinking this foreshadows the future a bit for us.

I am guessing that BS will give Oliver the Vertigo.  Do you remember in the past when Oliver had gotten vertigo?  Vertigo made you see your worst fears.  Oliver saw himself and fought with himself.  I think his worst fear now is losing Felicity and William.  Everyone else is gone.  If they leave he'll have nothing.  The vertigo may make him lash out at them in a hallucination.  I think he has hallucinations that they left.  I'm actually looking forward to the next episode.  I'm hoping that Felicity will realize what is happening and help him.

Final Thoughts

• Marc Guggenheim said that season six will be a cliffhanger but not a traditional one.  He said last year's cliffhanger was a traditional one, somewhere on the spectrum of season one, which  was like "how is Oliver going forward?" and like the one from season 5 which was a traditional one. Is anyone confused yet?  Guggenheim said that they have a couple of twists. That there were things they would do that would be unexpected and unprecedented not only for Arrow, but for other DC superhero shows as well.  So what do you think that could be? They could have Oliver tell everyone that he is indeed the Green Arrow, but I don't know DC superheroes well enough to know if that would be unexpected or unprecedented.  I think having Oliver and Felicity have a baby this early might be unexpected and unprecedented.  What if Oliver goes over to A.R.G.U.S. to work for Digg and Lyla?  What are your guesses? I just heard from my friend, Anne Hanney, and she wondered it the verdict to the trial will be left until season 7.  Thanks Anne, for that one.  That would indeed be a little like season 5.
• I'm so  over Curtis. Let him find his soulmate and leave the show.
• I  loved the scene  with Oliver and  Felicity in the light. Felicity touches him on the face and he gazes so lovingly  into her eyes,but only regret was that he didn't reach  his arms up to touch hers.  That was so sad for me, because this foreshadows  the upcoming distance they are going to experience.  But don't loose hope. This distance will make them closer. 
• I'm sorry if this blog is not up to my standard. I've been up all night.  My husband had to be taken to the hospital in great pain.  After 8 hours there, they concluded it was a kidney stone. I'm too tired to proof read, so if it's filled with mistakes, please forgive me.