ARROW Season 6×17, “Brothers in Arms” recap

7 Apr

Welcome back, Arrowheads! Previously, crime boss Ricardo Diaz has started to slowly take control of Star City. Meanwhile, Team Arrow has been splintered all over the place, unable to get a foothold on stopping all of this. Thea’s left, the newbies are left in limbo, and Diggle is wondering when he’s going to ever put the Green Arrow hood on again. I could ask how things could get any worse, but as you’ll see, things already have.

Honesty. Dinah is in a van with a few cops, the only honest ones she has found in that investigation of corrupt cops, and they are heading to bust Anatoly at some drop point. Good news is they have backup with Team Arrow, and that bust goes without incident. It’s not until later that Ollie and company become aware of how far Diaz has his hands in things, when the corrupt D.A. arrives to throw the case against Anatoly out! While the Team is now left to figure out how many officials outside the police force are under Diaz’s thumb, Diggle suggests Ollie might be better served handling things at the mayor’s office than as the Green Arrow. And that’s when Ollie has to tell Diggle that he’s holding onto the hood. Diggle seems to understand Ollie’s reasoning, but does he? Felicity is really not sure about that.

Meantime, one of those honest cops Dinah recruited for that bust? Diaz and Anatoly kill that guy! That means Dinah and Curtis have to sequester those other cops to a safe place. It also doesn’t hurt Curtis is dating Nick, one of those honest cops.

“Um, Curtis, why do you have on that Mr. Terrific outfit?” “Uh…it’s my fetish?”

Getting The House In Order. While Quentin is giving Evil Laurel some law books to read for, I guess, whatever reason, the Team at the HQ figure out that hitting Diaz’s Vertigo supply could disrupt all those payoffs to those corrupt officials. So Diggle goes to ask Lyla at ARGUS about some helpful leads, and he discusses this whole issue with Ollie. Even he’s not sure why he’s irritated, even though he agrees with Ollie’s argument. Meantime, Ollie confronts Captain Hill and his D.A., and despite some weak claim of ignorance, they reveal they’ve been extorted and threatened via their family by Diaz. So, Ollie fires them, which I’m sure will have no repercussions at all.

The Team go to shake down one of the big Vertigo dealers, and what starts as a good cop/bad cop routine turns into a good cop/unstable cop routine as Diggle goes way off script with threatening the dealer. Not that it matters, because one of his women, loyal to Diaz, shoots the dealer dead. When they get back at the HQ, things haven’t exactly cooled down, because Diggle kinda accuses Ollie of thinking of him as some little foot soldier, and he has to excuse himself for some air. Has everyone on Team Arrow lost their freaking minds or something?

Looking for Clarity. Back at Quentin’s place, Diaz pays a visit to Evil Laurel, and creepy talk about being who you should be ensues. Diggle has another chat with Lyla, and he still hasn’t been able to articulate what is bothering him right now. Meantime, Dinah and those honest cops are hanging out in an empty bar apparently, and Curtis has some time to chat with Nick. Nick isn’t a fan of vigilantes at all, which obviously bothers Curtis because his marriage fell apart because of this hang-up. Well, maybe because Nick doesn’t know that many vigilantes, Curtis.

“What, you’re not a fan of Big Belly Burger in your parallel universe?”

Airing Out Your Grievances. Diggle returns to the HQ, and asks Felicity to leave for a bit so he can chat with Ollie. That conversation starts out rather civil enough, but starts to fall to pieces once Diggle puts his finger on what’s bothering him: Ollie’s leadership of late. He thinks Ollie being pulled in all these different directions as a hero, a mayor, and now a father have begun to affect everything else, starting with Diaz infiltrating the city. Then Ollie has to remind Diggle he was buying drugs from Diaz when that was happening. This all was rough enough, but once the incriminations turn to “you got your baby mama killed” and “at least I didn’t kill my own brother”, the fists start flying.

Felicity rushes in to break up this fight like a mom upset her kids are fighting indoors, or underground, or whatever. It’s clear they are both ashamed by what just happened, but what about later on when they find Diaz’s Vertigo supply?

Ambushes. Dinah and Curtis are just chillin’ with those cops when an alert warns them of Diaz’s men swarming the place, because, one of those cops caved and ratted them out. Curtis get shot in the chest, and that’s when Nick discovers Curtis has that Terrific body armor on that stopped the bullet. Dinah sonic scream blasts a hole through the wall so everyone can escape.

At the same time, Ollie and Diggle arrive at what seems the lab where Diaz’s Vertigo is being made. Diggle is cool with following Ollie’s lead for now, and they blow the hell out of this place. So, I guess that’s all good, right?

This is how bad things are in Team Arrow: they aren’t walking away from the explosion, they are watching it. Not cool.

Not Alone. Back at the HQ, Diggle finally tells Ollie that while he’s become a better person, his leadership ability has gotten worse, and he can’t follow him anymore if that’s the case. Ollie wishes Diggle the best of luck, but hey, Diggle has a sweet job waiting for him thanks to his wife at ARGUS. I’m starting to lose my patience with everyone against Ollie, especially since he’s doing GOOD things for once. Also, Nick is kinda okay with his boyfriend being a vigilante now, especially since the crooked police captain fired him, Dinah, and all those honest cops before she left her office.

Speaking of that, Ollie gets the crap news that the fired D.A. and fired police captain are moving for impeachment against him for illegally firing them. And in another example of Quentin screwing up again, that idea came to Diaz because of Evil Laurel! Well, that’s just perfect! And next episode doesn’t look like the “let Ollie’s friends and family crap on him because he got his stuff together” thing is gonna end anytime soon. Ugh.

–Comic book connections: Nothing really this week, except maybe the reminder that Oliver Queen was mayor of the city in the DCU for a while before…well, maybe it won’t be as horrifying a way as the way it happens in the comics.

–Man, did we need Diaz and Evil Laurel locking lips while conspiring to do something with that last vial of Vertigo?

–Felicity saying that Ollie wouldn’t have to worry about her leaving him, means she’s totally gonna do that next episode. Dammit.

–Nice note that Lyla finally jabs Diggle regarding that break-in at her office the Team did earlier this season. Although considering how long it took to bring it up, I’m worried she’s overworked too.

–Speaking of, how are Ollie and Diggle’s kids doing?

–“I don’t even think I know how to write a resume.”

–“If I was the Green Arrow, you would not want to be in this room.”

–“I’m too high to die!”

That’s it for now, but come back next week for the recap of “Fundamentals”…