Ollie fears for Sara’s life.

As stated previously, Ollie took a backseat in this episode, but he still had some scenes. His arc revolved around him searching Starling City for Slade Wilson. He’s afraid for the well-being of his loved ones, and refuses Sara’s help out of fear that Slade might get to her. After excessively searching the city for Slade, Ollie’s leads eventually run cold. He opens up to Sara about how he’s afraid he won’t be able to stop Slade and has no idea what to do. The episode concludes with Ollie meeting with Amanda Waller for help. She then tells him about Deathstroke, who Ollie knows is Slade.

One of my biggest complaints about Arrow has been the fact that Diggle is very underused, so I liked that this episode focused primarily on him. I would even say that Ollie’s scene’s got in the way of Diggle’s story arc. I would’ve been content with seeing less Ollie and more Diggle. Diggle is a great character, and in “Suicide Squad” we were able to see so many different sides of him. The episode fleshed out his military back story. There was a sweet scene between him and Felicity cementing how much the two of them care for one another. I also enjoyed seeing him work with the Suicide Squad on a very secret agent type mission. “Suicide Squad” proved how much the character, as well as the actor portraying him, is capable of.

Diggle’s relationship with Deadshot was very interesting. It might seem a little odd for Diggle to sympathize with and save the life of the man who assassinated his brother, but it made sense by the end. Both characters seem to understand each other and may even have a mutual respect for one another. While I enjoyed that a lot of attention focused on the two of them, I would have liked to see more Bronze Tiger, who basically just kills Qadir, and Shrapnel, who “dies” early on. That being said, it might have been a little much to put in one episode, but they probably could have cut some of Ollie’s scenes to make room for that. I did like seeing that Diggle and Lyla’s romantic relationship is progressing, though. It’s been so long since we had an update on that front.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Amanda Waller.

It was a pleasure seeing Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Spartacus: War of the Damned) again as Amanda Waller. She definitely had way more lines in this episode than any other episode she appeared in before. Robinson is proving herself to be an amazing Amanda Waller. Her Amanda Waller is strong, calm, cold-hearted, and doesn’t take crap from anyone. I’m hoping to see much more of her in future episodes.

My only real complaint about “Suicide Squad” is that the Ollie scenes felt out of place. Every time they popped up I just wanted them to end and get back to Diggle and the Suicide Squad, but I realize you can’t have an episode of Arrow without Arrow.

One of the biggest things to happen in “Suicide Squad”, which I’m sure everyone who watches Arrow is already talking about, was a cameo made by one DC Comics character. Weeks before this episode premiered many had speculated that the popular Batman villain Harley Quinn was going to make an appearance. Well she did. We may have not seen her face but the one line she said from her A.R.G.U.S. prison cell, referring to herself as a therapist, was spoken in a very familiar voice. Tara Strong, who voiced Harley in several recent incarnations of the character, reprised her signature voice in “Suicide Squad”. Harley Quinn’s appearance served more as an Easter Egg than anything else, but given the fact that Harley exists because of The Joker and The Joker exists because of Batman, could her appearance imply that Batman and Arrow exist in the same universe? Or was this just a fun addition for the fans? We can only hope it’s the former.

Overall, “Suicide Squad” was a great episode and was a nice break from the drama going on the current main story arc. I was very happy to see Diggle have some time in the spotlight.

Next week we’ll see Jessica De Gouw (Dracula) finally return as The Huntress in “Birds of Prey”. Check out an extended preview below and feel free to let us know what you thought about “Suicide Squad” in the comments.