Arrow S2 Ep6 – Keep Your Enemies Closer

The CW’s Arrow did take a while to find its footing in its first season, but since the show has found its niche it has become one of the more satisfying comic book based television series out there. In its second season Arrow has been doing a great job building the DC Universe. After each episode it’s fun to just look over all the references and characters from the DCU that were introduced. “Keep Your Enemies Closer” continues this tradition of keeping DC Comics fans satisfied.

Diggle is ready.

As it should, the show focuses a lot on its title character, Oliver Queen/Arrow. However, one of my favorite aspects of the show is its supporting characters, specifically Felicity Smoak and John Diggle. Smoak and Diggle have been serving as Oliver’s sidekicks. This week’s episode was a very Diggle-centric episode, as Diggle needed to travel across the world to rescue his ex-wife and A.R.G.U.S. agent, Lyla Michaels, from a Russian prison. She was only imprisoned there after a failed attempt at capturing the assassin known as Deadshot. So not only is Diggle needed for this rescue, but he is also given the opportunity to come face to face with Deadshot, his brother’s killer.

The episode kicks off to a great start as Arrow takes down some thugs with the help of Diggle and Roy Harper. Without warning Diggle is stunned and captured, unbeknownst to Arrow. It’s after this that we get an introduction to one of DC Comics’ greatest characters, Amanda Waller. Amanda Waller, head of A.R.G.U.S., only captures Diggle to request his assistance in rescuing his ex-wife. Although her appearance is very brief, actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who’s better known for her role as Naevia from the Starz television series Spartacus: War of the Damned, does a good job portraying the character. She is stern and commanding. Her physical appearance and demeanor suggest the producers of Arrow went for DC’s New 52 version of the character, rather than the former and more popular version that was seen in Smallville and the animated series Justice League Unlimited. I look forward to seeing her character pop up in future episodes, and maybe even The CW’s eventual Flash spin-off.

Will they? Won’t they?

While this episode focused a lot on Diggle’s character, we do also get a glimpse into the relationship between Felicity and Oliver as they assist Diggle in his endeavors. It seems that the writers of Arrow might be trying to put them in a “will they, won’t they” scenario. Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about that yet, but the situation that occurred did at least build Felicity’s character a little more. In addition, we also had a pointless subplot involving Oliver’s sister, Thea, and her relationship with Roy Harper, and some more information on what happened to Oliver Queen before he returned to Starling City in the series’ pilot.

The episode ends with Diggle and Deadshot actually working together to save Lyla. Of course Deadshot’s only reason for helping is so he can escape the Russian prison as well. After all is said and done Diggle has the option of finally get his revenge by killing Deadshot, but he doesn’t. He lets him go out of “honor,” because Deadshot helped him. It’s here that Deadshot drops yet another DCU reference. He tells Diggle his brother wasn’t an accidental kill as previously assumed, but a target given to him by H.I.V.E., which is a name avid DC Comics readers will recognize. The episode concludes with Diggle researching H.I.V.E., suggesting his quest for revenge isn’t over.

Overall, this episode was solid. Arrow continues to impress me. Each episode improves a great deal from the initial season. All of the DCU references, tight action sequences, and fun characters keep me entertained. The more episodes I watch of Arrow, the more I want Warner Bros to take cues from Marvel Studios and tie this series into their DC cinematic universe.

What do you think? Would you want to see Stephen Amell’s Arrow team up with Ben Affleck’s Batman eventually?