Arrow S06E02 Review: Man of Honour

Arrow, Season 6, Episode 2: Tribute

I just really want to share this badass poster

I'm honestly disappointed that this is, what, the third? Fourth? Time that Oliver Queen has had his identity leaked to the public only for it to not actually be a status-quo-shaking event and is just brushed under the rug at the end of the episode. Sure, the FBI agent whatsherface threatens to keep investigating for... one reason or another, because it's not like they should be investigating the actual  supervillains or the Bratva running around, but honestly the whole Oliver being investigated by the FBI stuff felt absolutely underwhelming. 

We get more Dad Oliver moments, which I felt was okay. Wild Dog, as a father himself, gets some unexpectedly tender moments of giving parental advice to Oliver, and Oliver himself also gets some tender moments trying to so awkwardly interact with his son. Not much to say about that beyond the fact that it's relatively well-realized.

The rest of the episode was... serviceable, is all I can say. Anatoly Knyazev becomes the villain-of-the-week, and I always enjoy myself some Anatoly, but he insists he's a man of honour and he's not one to destroy Oliver's reputation or hurt his son. I do like the more villainous Anatoly, though. Considering he's based on a one-dimensional Batman villain who's literally spouting fifteen variations of "KGBEAST CRUSH YOU FOR MOTHER RUSSIA!!" in the comics, it's definitely a grand improvement. His antics and his far more wanton brutality (especially kidnapping the Markovian delegates in front of Mayor Oliver) but his twisted code of honour makes him a pretty interesting antagonist. I also like how his previous deals with Oliver has basically branded him a bit of a pariah from the Bratva. 

Meanwhile, the B-plot with John Diggle hiding his nerve damage from Dinah is... okay. Mostly because I just can't really get a handle for Dinah's character other than 'sane woman without any character quirks'. It's nice to give Diggle chance to act, but it's still pretty fucking irresponsible for the man to hide his injuries that, as Dinah points out, is pretty damn causing life-and-death problems in the field. And of course just as he's about to come clean to Oliver, Oliver hands off the mantle of Green Arrow to Diggle (instead of, oh, y'know, Roy, who I know is in actor-induced limbo but come on).

I also did find Curtis and Felicity's joking around absolutely hilarious. The two just have such a great chemistry. Not much else to say beyond that. Oh, Bruce Wayne name-drop! That's amazing. 

Overall it's more of an exercise to develop Oliver Queen as a character as he's trapped between his multiple identities -- Daddy Oliver, Mayor Queen and the Green Arrow, and he chooses to abandon the latter. The writing doesn't deliver a particularly amazing episode, but damn if it actually gives some of the most organic Oliver character development in a while. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The big one has to be the name-drop of Bruce Wayne. If you don't know who Bruce Wayne is, the fuck are you doing reading a review of an episode of a Green Arrow TV show? 
• Various older conflicts -- like Anatoly and Oliver's old enemy Gregor, the fact that Diggle dressed up as Green Arrow in season one, the fact that Oliver was exonerated as the Hood in season one, the Human Target and the country of Markovia are all brought up.