

CW Midseason Primer: ARROW s.6

The midseason finale saw Team Arrow in shambles… this is how things got to the midseason finale of ARROW season 6.


Episode 7: “Thanksgiving”

Oliver and William are working a stand at a Star City food drive. As he scans the scene sees Felicity being questioned by a member of the press and heads over to break up the conversation.

After rescuing Felicity, he returns to the food drive tent and addresses the volunteers, about his excitement for the city’s new cop precinct building. FBI Agent Sharp shows up some FBI agents and arrests Oliver for murder, assault, and other charges for his alleged activities as the Green Arrow.

Oliver is booked, and Sharp begins questioning him, revealing that she knows that previously Oliver instructed Roy Harper to wear the hood, and has since instructed the same of John Diggle. Oliver says he won’t cooperate until he’s able to talk to William.

She brings William in, and the two are left alone, and Oliver reassures his son that he has not been acting as the Green Arrow.

Back at the Arrow bunker, Curtis has been working on a prototype to help Diggle with his nerve tremors. Diggle injects a solution as Rene and Dinah walk in, informing them the FBI has arrested Oliver.

Meanwhile, Cayden James has sent Black Siren and a crew on a mission, and they enter a secured server room and quickly subdue the guards. Black Siren uses her scream to break into a safe and steal the nanothermite that Cayden needs for his plan.

Oliver is transferred to a regular jail cell, and Dinah approaches him to talk. She says she can get him out, but Oliver wants to go through the process and do it the right way.

At the bunker, Curtis informs Diggle that the Black Siren has broken into a facility and stole the nanothermite. Curtis explains the process behind weaponizing nanothermite and the two call Felicity to ask what they could be using it for. She ignores the call as rushes into the courtroom for Oliver’s initial hearing.

Oliver’s attorney, Jean Loring, motions to dismiss the charges because lack of evidence but the judge opts to continue the case to trial, setting Oliver’s bail at $5 million. Oliver posts it and leaves police custody.

Diggle is training in the bunker, as Curtis’ fix is apparently working on the tremors which are nearly gone. There is an alert of another break-in as the Black Siren is breaking into Amertek. Diggle orders Curtis to assemble the team together.

As the team converges on the Amertek facility, they break in and encounter some guards. During the fight, Diggle collapses, having an apparent reaction to Curtis’ injection. The rest of the team leaves Diggle behind and go after Black Siren, who begun destroying the scene of the crime, allowing her to escape.

Back the base, Felicity finally learns of Diggle’s tremors and is upset Diggle never told her. Meanwhile, Diggle’s been admitted to a hospital, and the doctor informs him that he’s suffering from withdrawals due to going off the steroids he was taking for his tremors.

Felicity contacts Curtis and Diggle that the most recent item Cayden and Black Siren stole will allow them to create a massive bomb. Curtis returns to the bunker to help Felicity and Rene brainstorm possible targets that Cayden would want to bomb.

Oliver visits Diggle in the hospital and reveals that he knows that Diggle has nerve damage. He says he’s disappointed in his actions because they have compromised the team. Oliver and Diggle get into a fight. Afterward, Oliver leaves Diggle’s room to go visit Thea, who’s still comatose.

Rene realizes that Billy Joel is supposed to play a concert in Star City, and Felicity runs some diagnostics and finds Cayden has already assumed control over the arena’s security systems. Oliver walks into the bunker and informs the team that as mayor he is going to declare a state of emergency, forcing the cancelation of the concert.

At the arena, Oliver meets with the arena’s manager, who refuses to cancel the concert, telling Oliver that he can’t unless he can provide concrete evidence of an impending terrorist attack. So the show will go on as planned.

Dinah and Lance talk about Black Siren, Laurel’s evil doppelganger. Turns out Lance is still questioning his feelings towards the villain, who is his dead daughter’s Earth-2 doppelganger.

Oliver returns to the hospital as Diggle’s getting ready to be discharged. Oliver apologizes for his earlier actions and talks about Oliver’s arrest earlier in the day. Diggle tells Oliver his diagnosis; the nerve damage in his arm has spread to his back, and if he continues out in the field, there’s a chance he could end up paralyzed. The two makeup and Oliver informs Diggle of Cayden’s plans to attack the Billy Joel concert.

Felicity, Rene, Curtis, and Dinah are discussing how to protect the arena from the attack when Oliver walks in saying he’s suiting up as the Green Arrow again.

Team Arrow converges on the arena and sets off a fire alarm to evacuate the building. The cops near the entrances try convincing the concert goers that it’s a false alarm causing Rene to shoot guns at the ceiling, which incites a stampede. Felicity learns that the cops at the stadium are fake and on Cayden James’ payroll.

Felicity locates the bomb on cameras, realizing it’s a decoy. Oliver makes his way through the arena and confronts Cayden James, questioning him about the bomb. Cayden reveals there is no bomb, he just wanted to create a decoy so that Team Arrow would arrive so that he could meet the Green Arrow.

Cayden says that he wants revenge against the Green Arrow because the Green Arrow caused his son’s death. Before he’s able to react to this, Black Siren walks in and blasts Oliver away, allowing for the bad guys to escape with the bomb decoy.

Regrouping back at the bunker, they’re trying to determine the circumstances about Cayden James’ son. Curtis is alerted by his tablet and shows the team that Team Arrow is trending and videos of the team beating up the fake cops have gone viral.

The team agrees it’s no coincidence in timing with the vigilante referendum rapidly approaching.

The next day, Oliver’s speaking with reporters on the steps of city hall, reveals that the referendum, which combats vigilantism, has passed overwhelmingly.

Back at the hospital, Oliver, Felicity, and William are visiting with Diggle, who’s getting ready to be discharged as a doctor walks in to get Oliver’s attention, informing him that his sister has awoken from a coma.

The rest of the team arrive at Thea’s room and have a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner at her bedside.

— — — — — — — — 

Episode 9: “Irreconcilable Differences”

Following the events at the end of the crossover event, Oliver and Felicity are having a wedding reception. Oliver and Thea walking with William at Oliver and Felicity’s wedding and are soon joined by Felicity and both of her parents.

Oliver and Felicity are talking to the various guests while Dinah, Rene, and Curtis are having drinks at the bar, sharing their mutual dislike for weddings. Dinah gets a text from an unknown number and excuses herself to respond.

Lance pulls Oliver aside and gives him a watch that his father gave to him on his wedding day. Curtis catches Felicity’s bouquet and proceeds to give a drunken speech before he’s cut off by Rene. Rene finishes out the drunken ramblings, toasts the couple, and Olicity head to the dance floor for the first dance.

Quentin accidentally bumps into Felicity’s mom and a more than awkward moment occurs. Lance then gets a phone call from Oliver’s lawyer and rushes to find Olive. Lance has just learned the prosecution has a star witness willing to testify that Oliver is the Green Arrow. Lance suspects somebody on the team.

Back in the bunker Oliver and Felicity are discussing the identity of the possible mole when Diggle arrives. Felicity informs that she’s running surveillance on Dinah, Curtis, and Rene which Diggle doesn’t agree with.

Following the party, Rene helps a drunk Curtis into his apartment. After settling in, Curtis starts talking about his past with his ex-husband, asking Rene if he thinks life would be any easier without Team Arrow. As Rene begins to answer Curtis’ question, Curtis passes out.

Dinah’s talking to her ex-boyfriend Vince, a.k.a. Vigilante, in an alleyway. She tells him to stop contacting her and to skip town because she won’t allow him to continue on as Vigilante.

Lance takes Thea home, and the two are stopped by Black Siren; she says that Cayden James wants to see them. She knocks both of them out before leaving a cellphone with Thea and taking Lance.

Back at Arrow HQ, Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle catch Dinah’s meeting with Vigilante, which leads Oliver to believe she’s the culprit.

Thea arrives at the bunker carrying the cellphone Black Siren left and starts ringing. It is Cayden James, and he wants Team Arrow to retrieve something from ARGUS for him. Otherwise, he’ll kill Quentin.

The team infiltrates ARGUS, as Diggle uses his relationship with Lyla to get into her office. He then uses Lyla’s laptop to get a location on the amplifier that Cayden James wants. Meanwhile, the rest of Team Arrow is staked out around ARGUS, so Oliver can retrieve the amplifier.

The team is able to sneak into the room where the device is being held and take it without getting noticed.

Back at the bunker, they discuss that the amplifier could enlarge the blast radius of Cayden’s thermonuclear bomb.

Dinah walks in, realizing the team just got back from the field, becomes upset she wasn’t called. Oliver says he suspects her as the culprit that turned Oliver into the authorities. An argument ensues, and Diggle lets it slip that Oliver and Felicity have been keeping tabs Dinah, Curtis, and Rene.

Sides are quickly drawn. Curtis takes Dinah’s and is backing her up in the argument until Rene steps in and tells everyone to stop. When Oliver asks why Rene reveals he’s the witness that plans to testify against Oliver.

Rene tells he was approached by the FBI agents who said they had proof that he was Wild Dog, and in exchange for turning against Oliver, they’d let him walk. Furious, Oliver orders Rene to leave the premises immediately.

Back at Cayden’s lair, Black Siren is questioning Lance about their standoff on Lian Yu. After a while, they find out that even though they’re from separate Earths, they share very similar bonds.

Dinah and Curtis are speaking with Rene, trying to comfort him about his decision and they are still upset that they were being spied on by Oliver and Felicity.

Thea’s talks to Oliver, who’s having second thoughts about kicking Rene off the team, especially since like Rene, he’d do anything in his power to make sure his kid was safe. Thea’s talk convinces Oliver to have Diggle call in the whole team, Rene included, so they can save Lance from Black Siren and Cayden James.

The team goes to the meeting point so they can make the exchange with Cayden James. Felicity says that the meeting location is a digital black hole where she won’t be able to coordinate as Overwatch.

Oliver instructs Rene, Curtis, and Dinah to be his eyes and ears and he makes the exchange. Oliver hands over the amplifier, only for Cayden instantly recognizes that they have sabotaged the equipment. Cayden orders Black Siren to kill Lance and his henchmen to taking down Oliver.

Dinah comes to Oliver’s aid, Rene and Curtis go rogue and try to find Lance by themselves. Black Siren takes Lance outside, and, instead of killing him, frees him from his zip-tie handcuffs and tells him to run.

The team rendezvous back at the lair, the team debriefs. Oliver asks Rene why he and Curtis left their assigned post at the warehouse, which causes another argue. The argument concludes with Oliver officially removing Rene from the team.

Dinah forward and mentions she no longer believes in Oliver, telling everyone she’s decided to leave the team. Dinah meets Vince in a parking garage and tells him that she needs a friend.

Rene is at home with his daughter, promising her that he’s never going to let anyone split them up ever again.

Back at the lair, Curtis approaches Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle and tells them that he also can’t trust them any longer, and quits the team. Oliver tells Diggle and Felicity that they will still move forward with or without the others.

The closing scene shows Cayden James all of the villains that have appeared so far this season, including Anatoli, Vigilante, Richard Dragon, and Black Siren. They are all working together, and the plan to split up Team Arrow is working almost flawlessly.

— — — — —

Arrows in the Quiver

The writers are doing their best to make Oliver the “paranoid Batman-type.” 

Sure Oliver and Felicity are spying on the New Kids on the Block, but in a sense, it is justifiable especially after Evelyn’s betrayal last season (which is brought repeatedly). It does seem a bit odd that he thinks that is a current member of the team when it could be any number of people from the previous seasons such as Roy, Rory aka Ragman, Artemis, Malcolm Merlyn, the Russians, Quentin, Lyla, or your favorite member of the al-Ghul family. 

I doubt this Team Arrow is going to be apart for long, but it seems like Rene and Curtis’ choice to step away is the healthy choice. Rene has his daughter to think about and Felicity keeps steamrolling Curtis with the startup (using the startup money for Oliver’s bail and deciding on a name without asking him). Dinah, who seems to be headed towards spending time with her murderous ex, probably not as healthy. Sure Dinah and Oliver have gone toe to toe on things but it’s Diggle who she usually spends time with her, withheld his condition from her and the team, so, therefore, he is the one that truly betrayed her, and it seems that relationship, which was already rocky to start won’t be repaired as  easily.

It will be interesting to see what the ultimate endgame of Cayden James and his crew is and what that means for the future of Team Arrow and Oliver who has matured as a character this season.

Season 6: Episode 10 – Divided

Oliver discovers a shocking truth about Cayden James despite losing half his team. Oliver remains confident that he,Felicity andd Diggle  can stop Cayden James  and Black Siren (Katie . However, when he discovers one of Cayden’s secrets, he decides to team up with an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Dinah spends time with Vince

Chad A. Burdette