Well, being the second to last episode of Season 6, this one had a lot of work to do. And I’m pleased to report, for the most part, it did not disappoint. The stakes have been raised about as high as they can go, the heroes are reunited, and yet still at a low point, we got a lot of great action, and I still have no idea how they are going to wrap everything up in the finale, which is a good thing for a show (no one likes predictability in a TV series).
Jumping right in, Diaz makes good on his threat to go after everyone Oliver knows and loves, so he attacks everyone that used to be on Team Arrow, who get a few seconds of warning from Anatoly who texts Oliver that Diaz is coming. Oliver had just sat down to dinner with Felicity and William and manages to stave off the attack without any injuries, though William is a little shaken. Similarly, Rene fights off his attackers and protects his daughter, as they had been watching hockey on the couch, while Lyla and Diggle are attacked at the hospital (Dig was having his arm checked on), and together, they fight their way through Diaz’s men and escape. Dinah is out on patrol and is ambushed, but they underestimate her powers (though why they did not have a sonic dampener similar to the one used on Laurel last episode is beyond me). Curtis is the only one who did not fair as well, as he is saved by his boyfriend, though not without injury. The boyfriend has a neck wound and has to go into surgery.
While everyone else’s family goes into ARGUS protected and hidden custody, Team Arrow reunites in the second bunker, knowing that Diaz knows about main HQ. They then watch on monitors as Diaz’s men destroy the main HQ and then set fire to it, knowing the Quiver Crew will never operate out of that place again.
Anatoly gives them intel on Diaz after persuading the man to change hide-out locations and the team attacks the caravan. Curtis flies off the handle and goes after Diaz alone and gets a beat-down for it (been some time since we’ve seen “Mr. Terrific” remind us that he is awful in the field and gets beat up a lot). Diaz only flees when he realizes a piece of tech he usually wears has fallen off, and he grabs it and runs as re-enforcements from the Quadrant arrive to save him and his men. With Curtis now out of commission, the team comes up with a new plan and realizes that the tech Diaz grabbed is clearly something important and decide to try to steal whatever is on there. So they send in Lyla to the SCPD station (as head of ARGUS, they still have to treat her with authority apparently, even though no one really buys she is there in any official capacity). Lyla plants a device which allows Felicity to hack Diaz’s tech, and she instantly sees that it is a list of everyone who works for Diaz in the city, HIGHLY valuable data.
Unfortunately for all, Diaz realizes the hack is happening and sends his men to kill Lyla, so the team heads in to save her, including Felicity, who needs the device intact that Lyla planted so she can decrypt the whole thing and get the list. Oliver is not happy as he is worried about Felicity being out in the field and out with the team (he wants her to be the one to survive and raise William if everything goes south). She does get into trouble, with Diaz almost shooting her, but Oliver saves her just in time and they all make it out alive.
Diaz finds the second bunker as Felicity starts to decode the device, the plan being to publish its contents to the internet as soon as she has it so the whole city/ world can know about Diaz and how he bought the Star City government. Unfortunately, the decoder takes a long time and Diaz begins his assault with a gas attack on the bunker which forces everyone to flee. Felicity though does not want to give up on the decryption and stays behind, Oliver with her (he is trying to learn to be better and trust her in the field as a recent conversation with Diggle reminded him that he cannot do it alone and he needs to trust in the strength of those around him).
Sadly, the gas becomes too much and Oliver and Felicity flee (abandoning the device and the plan), and run right into Diaz who starts beating on Oliver, who is already weakened by the gas. With Oliver down, Diaz starts gloating, wondering if it would be more painful for Felicity to watch Oliver die or Oliver to watch Felicity die. Luckily for our heroes, Rene had given Oliver the trigger for the bunker’s self-destruct (which Curtis had installed a while back), and Oliver triggers it at that moment, the first blast knocking Diaz down the stairs and away from Oliver and Felicity. They get up and flee the building just in time as the remnants of Team Arrow watch their last bunker burn, hoping to at least have gotten Diaz in the blaze.
In the episode aftermath, we learn that Diaz’s body was not found in the rubble, so he survived. The Team is still on the hunt and their families still need to stay hidden. As for Diaz, after accusing Anatoly earlier of being a traitor, he fully came around to Anatoly’s suggestion that it was the Quadrant woman with them who was actually the traitor and he seems to fully trust Anatoly, a fact which could help Oliver later. Diaz meets with other Quadrant leaders and kills them as well, taking full control of the organization and preparing all of their men for the coming war for Star City. Oliver, needing allies and assistance to deal with Diaz, revisits the FBI woman who started the investigation on him and explains the full situation in Star City to her, asking for help. She agrees, but on one condition. She wants to hear him say he is the Green Arrow. So he tells her who he really is.
BOW-STRING THEORIES:
- And another HQ bites the dust. Added bonus, they also lost their backup HQ. They really do seem to want to reboot the series next year. AND this lends credence to my theory that Oliver is probably going to “die” at the end of this season, they even reminded you about his ridiculous promise to William this episode to always comes home
- Even if the FBI woman got a confession for Oliver, he can’t be tried for it again, can he? Does that fall under double jeopardy?
- How stupid are these Quadrant leaders? For an organization as “bad ass” as they supposedly were set up to be, they fell pretty easily under Diaz’s sway and then died pretty easily by his hand. I’m not that impressed.
Looking forward to seeing how they manage to wrap all of this up, and as always, wondering why they cannot ask for help from any of the other heroes they know, especially when things are this dire. I was also sad not to see Quentin this episode as with him not coming back next season, that means the finale will be his last appearance on the show. Hopefully, we’ll see him and Laurel have a few nice moments and get the closure they need.
See you back here next week for a recap of the season finale!
