Arrow, Season 5, Episode 18: Disbanded
A bit of a brief apology. Real life's been a huge, huge strain on me lately so you'll probably not see as frequent updates as I have been. I'm not cutting anything off, just maybe a little late in reviewing manga and TV shows. Later than usual, I mean.
This episode could very easily turn into one of those silly 'Oliver Queen does an angsty thing' episode. And in some degree, it still kind of is. It's not as good as the previous episode, of course, but it's still more hit than miss. Yes, it's Oliver Queen being mopey and throwing away the cause and insisting everyone else shut down -- it's not something we haven't seen before, and most of the time it's an irritating mopey shit plot that no one really enjoys. Here, though, it's absolutely played very well, in no small part due to the great interactions that Oliver has with John Diggle and Anatoly Knyazev. I believe if the episode focused solely on Emo!Oliver and everyone being frustrated, only for Oliver to return back to vigilantism at the end, the episode would've been shit. Instead, it's a very, very engaging character reflection for Oliver that, well, takes advantage of this season's flashbacks and subplots in a way that no other previous Arrow season managed to do as seamlessly as this. The fact that Stephen Amell doesn't overplay his emo-ness as a defeated Oliver Queen and more as a defeated man that tries to resort to employing the Dark Brotherhood Bratva do do his dirty work is so much more engaging.
And it's not just hiring hitmen to do his dirty work either -- it's the fact that Oliver actively helped out his old Bratva contacts in stealing diabetes drugs in Star City (in a way for the Bratva to manufacture addictive street drugs) that really sells how low Oliver has fallen -- he's not going to suddenly become the Punisher, but at the same time he's no longer playing nice as the squeaky-clean superhero.
Prometheus himself, or rather, Adrian Chase, wasn't in this episode a ton. He shows up to taunt Oliver a little, get shot at by Bratva a little, and later at the end have his identity revealed to the public by way of a Felicity-Curtis-Helix team up and went all American Psycho on two unfortunate policemen... but his impact is definitely felt. It was never a question of whether the Bratva was going to take down Prometheus -- that was off the table (though balls if they took Prometheus out and set up like the KGBeast as the final villain this season) but the fight to redeem Oliver's soul, so to speak, was very much felt.
Diggle's conversations with Oliver are truly heartfelt, and honestly that's what makes Diggle such a great part of the cast. He's just so... nice and brotherly and sane. Diggle and Oliver's bond is well-established throughout the past five seasons, and him calling Oliver's mopey funk out as bullshit and pointing out that this self-loathing, self-punishing nonsense is what exactly Oliver tried to pull him out of earlier this season when he's ready to face execution when his CO framed him. It's absolutely well-done, though the deal has been struck and the Bratva don't really take kindly to being pulled back and forth by Oliver Queen. And credit where credit's due, the show does make a very, very compelling reason for the Bratva to get really pissed off at Oliver's wishy-washy-ing regarding how involved with the Bratva Oliver wants to be (which is basically 'whenever it's convenient for me').
The flashbacks are also very well-done. With the Konsantin Kovar plotline mostly wrapped up, Oliver decides to bridge things with how we were at season one. He returns to Lian Yu, simply because it's far easier for the world to believe Oliver Queen returned from being stranded and surviving for an island for five years instead of all this Hong Kong Russia stuff. At the same time, though, Anatoly tries to recruit Oliver to become a permanent fixture of the Russian Bratva, if not to help out the Russians then to become his conscience. It's a bit hard to see how past Anatoly and present Anatoly is as different as the two versions of Olivers. Past Oliver is a bloodthirsty murderer who kills security guards when it's convenient for him, a barely-contained monster that murders Konstantin instead of arresting him, while Anatoly is trying his hand at being a Robin Hood persona, this nice Thieves' Guild gangster who steals money to buy tuberculosis drugs for the poor, impoverished beggars. Someone who's your jolly uncle, who's definitely better than people like Gregor and doesn't want to see his buddy Oliver go down the same dark path like Slade, Konstantin and Ivo.
Meanwhile, in the present day? Oliver's confused, sure, and he briefly gives in to temptation, but after Diggle gives him a nice talking-to, he reconsiders and tries to get Anatoly to back out of his city... and Anatoly definitely crosses the line there. Not only does he refuse to renege on his deal, he also steals medicine to make drugs to destroy people's lives only for a good cash-in, holds hostages and threatens to kill them, and while neither Anatoly nor Oliver have the heart to kill each other, it's clear that their dynamic is absolutely fractured. Oliver probably burned a fair bit of bridges thanks to continually refusing to help the Bratva out many times, but it's also clear that the Bratva isn't just a group of well-meaning funny Russian thugs. They're gangsters, and while Anatoly might be better than the likes of Slade Wilson or Damien Darhk, he's still a gangster. And while Oliver isn't that much of an ass to Anatoly to bring his ass to justice, Anatoly is angry enough to unleash the best Bratva killers upon Star City.
It's a great, poignant moment that really works well for Anatoly thanks to the great presence he has been throughout this season. There is a stark contrast that he takes from being the funny mentor figure in the flashbacks to the slightly harsher 'ally at low places' he's been in the present-day sequences of the season, and finally embracing his role as someone who's... had quite enough of Oliver's flip-flopping in regards with his allegiance to the Bratva.
I do like how the episode doesn't just speed through Oliver's recovery, but neither will we see an extended period of a mopey Oliver either -- he's back as a vigilante, but he considers himself too damaged to wear the Green Arrow mantle for the moment, which makes a nice, refreshing break.
It's a great follow-up, that's for sure. Yes, there are some things that didn't quite work. As much as I enjoyed Felicity and Curtis's scenes their plotline felt very flat (mostly because the Helix morality drama fell flat) and just a way to out Prometheus, and the premise of 'Oliver goes emo' is still grating... but it's so well executed, and Oliver gets a lot of great scenes with Anatoly, Diggle and even Adrian Chase that I honestly don't care about the weaker parts. Great episode.
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