Arrow S06E13 Review: A Wild Plot Twist Appeared

Arrow, Season 6, Episode 13: The Devil's Greatest Trick

Some people think just because a plot twist is unexpected, that the author has successfully bamboozled his or her audience, that it is automatically good. But it's not. I would rather read a predictable, by-the-books story that has a satisfying conclusion any day over a story that takes sudden, surprising plot twists just to go "bwaa" and befuddle the reader. Admittedly, this is some tricky business to find a balance as to what comprises a good plot twist and what isn't, as dragging an obvious twist for way too long would make for an unsatisfying twist either way...

But by god is the twist in this episode of Arrow feel like it came out of nowhere. The revelation that Cayden James was played by a third party, that despite all his chessmaster pontification and his glorious Michael Emerson voice and articulations he's not the main villain of this season, isn't too far-fetched. But the revelation that it was actually Ricardo Diaz, a character who no one saw coming because for the simple reason that, hey, he's quite literally a character who has never been given any focus or relevance? Yeah, that's honestly kind of dumb. I'd honestly take Laurel or Anatoly or Vigilante as the true mastermind, as that would at least have some sort of a sensible character progression from one point to the next.

It's not even like the plot twist in the previous season where Adrian Chase is actually Prometheus instead of Vigilante as everyone expected from the comic books, because at least within the confines of the show itself, Adrian Chase's behaviour prior to the big reveal does make sense for either Prometheus or Vigilante, making the twist, as "troll"-y as it was, still make sense. Here? It just came out of nowhere with no buildup. 

Of course, the episode is honestly not that bad up until the final five minutes or so. Cayden James did get hit with a fair bit of villain decay as the season went on, but Michael Emerson's performance and the fact that he's just ever-so-different from most of Arrow's previous villains is interesting enough. He's nowhere as bland and enigmatic like Mallus is, and he's definitely not a hot mess like the Thinker. A good part of it is Michael Emerson's own ability as an actor to make shitty lines and shitty character developments look positively shining -- a talent that he's honed through his time in Lost. At worst, he makes James look like a simply unhinged and deranged man, driven to extremes due to the death of his son... but god damn he does make it work. That's what a great actor brings to the table -- and honestly, that's what half of the long-runners in these CW shows do. Perhaps the highlights of this episode is Michael Emerson's solo scenes in his dedicated flashbacks... which honestly still feels 'too little, too late' for the character. 

The thing, though, is that the conclusion with William throwing a hissy fit and randomly showing up at the final confrontation, somehow causing Cayden James to -- at the final part of his grandiose plan -- realize that he was the one that failed his own son... that wasn't particularly satisfying from a thrills or emotional standpoint, but at least it's a conclusion that can make sense, from what we know of Cayden James's character. But suddenly writing James out and replacing him with the very ill-defined Ricardo Diaz? I know Kirk Acevedo, Ricardo's actor, is a great actor, but removed from the context of the actors playing them, Ricardo Diaz probably had barely more screentime than Mr. Sheck, the dude disposed off by Vigilante a couple of episodes ago. Not to mention that his speech about "taking over the town" doesn't really jive with what we know about him. 

And honestly, the rest of the episode feels a lot better even though it's predictable. Yes, it's predictable that Felicity and Aleena would be able to reveal the fact that Cayden's son was killed in foul play, something that ended up happening through the first half of the episode. A very angry Dinah and a very sassy Laurel's beef, and Quentin's decision to help out Evil Laurel and redeem her, are all melodramatic, but delivered relatively well enough to still allow me to follow -- even if Quentin's definitely edging closer and closer to losing his marbles. William's also somewhat annoying, but at least I can get behind his story. And, naturally, Anatoly Knyazev is still the best character in Arrow. "City is about to become crater, Kapiushon!" And either Laurel or Anatoly would definitely work a lot better as the real villain, honestly, if they were going to go by that route.

This means that this whole Cayden James story we've been invested in over 13 episodes (and a bit more, if you count Cayden's faceless cameo in season 5) ends out with one of the weakest and most unsatisfying conclusion ever, with the justification of "BAM WHAM PLOT TWIST DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING!" And that's the shittiest kind of writing. The episode itself isn't necessarily bad, with a lot of neat action scenes and a lot of great character moments from Anatoly, Laurel, Quentin, Dinah and Cayden... but ultimately ends out with a very sour taste thanks to the 'twist'.   

Oh, after all my rant about Cayden James's story being mishandled, we get a brief faceless Flash cameo just because. Couldn't they have just asked Barry or Cisco to just vibe the bomb out of Star City entirely? Just a thought? You can't just acknowledge the other show with all your super-powered buddies and not drop some justification about them fighting Zoom or Weather Wizard or something!

Overall, an episode that starts off promising (if predictable), ends up bogged down in its second act by a bunch of rather melodramatic subplots, and ends out petering off with some really, really piss-poor last-minute plot twist that leaves a very, very sour taste in my mouth.