Shifting Allegiances Arrow 620 Review

           Diggle's allegiance shifted to ARGUS, NTA shifts to Diggle, and  Oliver shifts his to Anatoly, so I clearly get the title. However, I wonder have the writers had amnesia since Oliver and  Felicity's wedding?  For me there's been very little character growth, or cohesiveness in the story since then. There are only 3 episodes left, yet I'm still not clear where the story takes me.  Shouldn't it be winding down and guiding us to a season 7?  Normally, I watch the episode when they air, and then the next morning, rewatch on the CW app to see  if I can glean more details, or to see if I had missed an important element.  I'm sorry, but I couldn't bring myself to do that this morning.  I don't think the episode to be as bad as Tweets and Facebook comments made it seem, but for me, it's not the best either.

        Oliver and Anatoly: Abandoned  by all his  team members, Oliver turned to Anatoly for help in bringing down Diaz.  He had to make compromises, however to do it. He had to give the Bratva what they wanted, so that Anatoly can go back to Russia, and in exchange, he thought Anatoly would help him bring down Diaz.  Anatoly is an old-fashioned villain, he has an honor code.  Oliver appeals to that code, but Anatoly turns him over to Diaz. He wants to show Diaz that he's loyal, and will gain a big payoff.  Oliver warns him that Diaz will turn on him. He eventually learns that he may have made a deal with the Devil.

We understand the Anatoly is out for himself and will shift allegiances when it suits him, and I think we see him to that in this episode.  However when Anatoly brings up the team, and Oliver tells him that he's alone, and he had to go "Back to Basics" so he won't be distracted, Anatoly tells him a hard truth that we all know, "If you believe that, you're a bigger fool than I thought, and that's saying something."  The viewer finds herself agreeing with him.  Why do the writers have Oliver digress?  Why does he feel once again that he had to go it alone?  Why does have to distance himself from the ones who not only love him, but actually make him better., and not only that, but help him to his work more effectively?  Is this something else Oliver has to learn?

        Oliver and  Diaz:  Diaz storms into the room furious that Oliver's team has once again blocked one of his moves.  Oliver informs him that he has no team, so I imagine he wonders what has gone down.  So, the Boy with Dragon Tattoo, makes a proposal to the Man trained by Yao Fei, Shado,  Slade Wilson, and the Man  that killed Ras al Ghul.  They simply have a wrestling match and whoever's left standing leaves Star City.  Seriously?  Of  course Oliver brings him down, and clearly could have twisted his neck off in a second, but  Oliver did not account for the fact that Diaz has no honor, no code, no morality, he knifes Oliver, and leaves him on the mat.  Diaz claims victory.  Again, I ask if Oliver had Felicity in the bunker, would she have prepared  him for that?  Oliver use to understand his villains, he knew what motivated them.  Oliver's dealt with diabolical before in the person of Chase, so he did not consider that Diaz  might not play fair?  If this had happened early on in the season, I might have understood this, but to me it's late in the game.  Maybe.  I found myself screaming at the writers, "What happened to you?"

Of course Diaz would not let Oliver leave town.  He's going to arrest him and put him on trial, and get rid of him that way, because Diaz now realizes that there is no way he can fight Oliver and win fairly.   So he rigs an arrest, trial, and of course we know the jury will all be rigged in his favor.  This Boy with the Dragon Tattoo is some villain, isn't he?  I know that the character is well acted by Kirk Acevedo,but there has been very little ground work for him.

       John Diggle:  Diggle seems to love his new role at ARGUS, and he finally gets to make decisons that he didn't feel he could with Oliver.  We may get backstory on Diggle set in this setting, if it carries  over into next season, which from this vantage point, looks like it might.  I don't understand why John has this disagreement with Oliver over being the Green Arrow. He and encounter with a character from another world that tells him his full potential is met as the Green Arrow, and that becomes more important to him than his friendship with Oliver?  The writers tell us too much. They need to show me, and they haven't done that yet.  I do think that John Diggle looked concerned when he saw Oliver's arrest on the news.

        NTA:  Here again is another case in point where I don't understand the writers.  Rene went from a character most viewers didn't like to caring for.  It happened anyway with me, but they they totally destroyed that caring by making Rene thoroughly obnoxious.  Do we care for Rene anymore?  The writers could have done so much with this character.  They could have shown us how Watson came to Rene about his daughter, and the internal struggle Rene must have had in choosing his daughter over Oliver.  We could have cared then.  Rene shoots at Felicity, wields an ax at Oliver, and everyone is now angry at Oliver for Rene being in injured?  Rene, Curtis, and Dinah have never once apologized to anyone for all the things they did in causing this split in the team.  There certainly is enough blame to go around.  Could Oliver, Felicity, and John done things differently?  Yes, and they did apologize. I think Oliver was the first to give an apology.  So now Diggle says he's sorry, but the others cannot utter one acknowledgement that they are wrong?   I wanted to throw something at the television.  Will Rene admit that he might have been wrong to throw an ax at Oliver?  Rene's smuggness in saying, "You probably want a thank you," infuriated me, and my guess is it angered a bunch of  other viewers.

       BS and Lance:  Lance finding out that Laurel had been seeing Diaz while staying with him, should have made Lance see that this clearly was not not his Laurel.  He did for about ten seconds.  Diaz wanted him to sign something as mayor that would have turned city property over to Diaz.  He refused to until BS showed up.  She tells Lance she's afraid of Diaz.  "You can't imagine what he's like.  I watched him burn a man in front of me, over some childhood vendetta."  Seriously, the writers want us to believe this?  BS killed people by screaming so loudly it burst veins in the brain, and yet she can't do that to Diaz.  One scream would knock him down, right?  She's a meta after all, and Diaz is not, yet she is afraid of Diaz.  She stood smiling watching most of the torment. But no, wait, the writers expect us believe that she can be redeemed with just 3 episodes left?  Lance believes her, and this makes me tire of Lance. I do think this man will die, and then perhaps, if BS, can be redeemed she will finally turn on Diaz and literally blow him away. (I'm smiling here).  Not that I want Lance to die. I like this character, and he has gone through a lot of growth, but he's so incredibly blind to the fact that this doppelganger is not his daughter, that it almost is an insult to the woman who was his daughter.

        Felicity and William:  For three seconds we got to enjoy a moment with mother and son.  Felicity sitting watching the news looking so pretty in pink, and William standing with Raisa see the news that Oliver is arrested.  William immediately leaves Raisa's side to be with Felicity and she hugs him.  Oliver has two incredible people who love him.  They will see him through, unless of course, the writers ruin that too.

Final Thoughts:

• NTA better apologize before this season ends
• BS drives me nuts
• I think John Diggle will be at ARGUS when season 7 starts unless something dramatic happens in the in next 3 episodes
• I'm very frustrated with the writing.  They are telling us not showing us, and everyone knows that in good writing you show not tell.
• When John and Rene are talking and Rene worries about his daughter,  did either of these men think about Oliver and his son?  Or take Oliver's feelings into consideration
• How many islands do the writers want to put Oliver on?
• It's not been made clear to me at least why Oliver needs to go back to basics when even in season one he knew he needed John and Felicity and he couldn't do it alone.
• Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many characters can spoil a show.  Did anyone miss Rene?
• From the previews we see Tommy Meryln in the arrow costume in court.  It was Roy who saved Oliver in season 3 will it be Human Target as Tommy in season 6?  Again I go back to the writers. (sighing here)
• What are your thoughts?