Arrow S07E06 Review: Best Character In Arrow

Arrow, Season 7, Episode 6: Due Process

Yeah, at this point I'm pretty much convinced that Anatoly Knyazev is the best villain that Arrow has had. Part of why Anatoly's so great is because his actor, David Nykl, is just such an entertaining presence on-screen (and seriously, he gets some amazing lines in this episode), but the biggest part is how consistently he's written. And for all of Anatoly's conflicts with Oliver Queen and company, none of it ever seems artificial or forced, and any character development he gets -- whether it's him teaming up once more (though, to be fair, Diaz strapped him to a bomb in this episode), or becoming a fully-fledged villain in the past two seasons, have all felt the most genuine out of practically the entirety of Arrow's Rogues' Gallery. And yes, I am including personal favourites Malcolm Merlyn and Slade Wilson in this. Comparing him to the frankly flat Ricardo Diaz, it's just such a crime that the villain leading this season is so underwhelming.

Not to diss Kirk Acevedo's performance, of course. Last season has shown that it's clearly not the actor's fault, because Acevedo clearly deserves a far, far better script than just glowering for ten seconds every episode and saying some generic badass line. He's frankly been the biggest disappointment throughout this season, and I honestly wished that we could be done with him.

And in a sense, this episode sort of brings him down a notch, having the crux of the entire episode be about catching Diaz for good, and after several months worth of episodes of Ricardo Diaz being treated as this elusive boogeyman despite not really having anything to his name except for that big-ass flamethrower, it's getting pretty ridiculous. We also get the revelation that he apparently wiped out the entire Bratva off-screen, which... yeah, that's a development that's just utterly stupid and logistically bizarre. No one noticed that until Laurel and Felicity looked into Diaz's expenses or whatever? Did Diaz, Red Dart and Shield Dude really manage to take down the Bratva overnight? How utterly incompetent is the FBI and ARGUS if they didn't realize or capitalize on this? How utterly incompetent is Diaz if he is capable of doing this but is having trouble with a crippled and fractured Team Arrow? It's just bizarre.

The biggest emotional impact of this episode is the Felicity/Diggle/Anatoly storyline, which, fittingly, involves three of the longest-running characters in Arrow except for the titular character himself. Felicity has thrown herself wholeheartedly into "we must do everything we possibly can" mode, which, in this case, involves risking Anatoly's safety, telling him that 'everything is fine' when his cover is blown, just to get some information to bring down Diaz. Sure, Anatoly is ultimately fine, Pyotr "all my merchandise fell off truck, I swear" Roslov is taken down and everything's all dandy, but Diggle notes that Felicity has crossed a line. It does seem hypocritical considering everything that the likes of Oliver and Diggle has done over the years, but at the same time, I definitely can chalk it up to Diggle worrying about one of his closest and least-murder-y friend getting, well, murder-y.

For what it's worth, Anatoly's scene with Felicity is interesting. He is angry, but he respects Felicity for his hard choice, telling her "do not look back if you make choice", telling Felicity to not worry about the cost if she wants to win, just like what Oliver did when he served with the Bratva. Again, it's a great look into just why Anatoly was such a great ally to Oliver back when he was on Lian Yu, and Anatoly's unique look on betrayal is a neat nod to how he saw his own betrayal of Oliver in season 5-6 to be acceptable.

Ultimately, of course, Team ARGUS manages to bring down Diaz and drive off the Longbow Hunters, without Felicity having to resort to Anatoly's "at all costs" rhetoric -- in fact, it's twisting that exact line that led Felicity to realize what Diaz is up to -- but that final scene with Anatoly and Felicity is hilarious. We crack the ice with Anatoly snarking about da, yes, he's drinking vodka despite all the stereotyping, or that he has to fake an accept to pass off as "Jason Brown from Jensen, Colorado"... but then he gets serious, and plays the 'corrupter' role once more to Felicity, giving him a gun and telling him to not look back once she's caught the Dragon.

It's a great, great closure to Anatoly's character development throughout these seven seasons, whichever side he's in, and it even builds up Felicity's story this season! And you notice that I barely have any words for Diaz beyond "I dunno, maybe he seems like he has a plan or some shit" because at this point Diaz can barely hold my interest as a main antagonist.

The B-plots in this episode are... okay. Laurel II's storyline is the one that gives the episode its title, and it's easily another pretty strong moment in an episode that's pretty strong itself. Laurel II gets to talk to Oliver in the prison, and Oliver is a gigantic dick to her. Not without good reason, because unlike us, Oliver hasn't seen Laurel II change, but it's actually a neat story throughout this episode how Laurel II tries her goddamn best to ignore Oliver's verbal abuse, or ARGUS's condemnation of her, to try and get him out of Slabside. We get a great scene where she gets to talk to the judge, who refuses to convict Oliver, and Laurel II was pretty ready to threaten (or murder) the judge at the parking lot, but is stopped by Dinah, leading to a pretty damn powerful moment as Dinah basically tells Laurel to not throw away the change and all the effort she's done. Ultimately this leads to a proper investigation into the conditions at Slabside, something that Laurel manages to wave in Oliver's face to get him to swallow his dickery and apologize, and apparently she manages to strike a deal with the judge to trade Diaz for Oliver -- that last bit is what stops Felicity from putting a bullet in Diaz's head, which... honestly is kind of regrettable, but at least we can probably get a more epic ending for him.

I am very pleased that the Slabside storyline seems to be reaching its end. It's not as laughable as the Barry Allen in prison mini-arc from last season's Flash, but it is starting to grate. We get this self-contained storyline of Oliver investigating the murder of a guard, Dunbar, to free his buddy Stanley from what seems to be a wrongful accusation, and ends up finding Bronze Tiger's weapon in the location of crime. But Bronze Tiger protests innocence, and Stanley lets slip that he knows more than he should, which means... Stanley for next main villain? The guy's kind of obviously shady from the beginning, so I can't say I was particularly surprised.

The flash-forward storyline... it's just disjointed and I'm genuinely not sure how this is supposed to tie into the main storyline beyond "oh my god, Felicity has the potential to become evil". She has this bizarrely hilarious security system that requires improbably archery to pass, apparently became the New Calculator, and if Roy and Dinah are to be believed, even William is shady. There is some plan to destroy Star City (though, to be fair, the city's basically an apocalyptic wasteland at this point) and something about a person called Blackstar, but I can't say I'm really interested.

Overall, though, the Anatoly, Felicity and Laurel parts are genuinely great. Everything else, from the flash-forwards to the prison scene to this tiring Diaz storyline? Not so much.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Pyotr Roslov is an unexpected Easter Egg. He's one of the secondary antagonists in the Elseworlds story Red Son, the illegitimate son of Joseph Stalin in that timeline and the leader of the KGB. Trying to usurp his father's rule, he poisoned his father and attempted to rid Russia of Superman by allying himself with Lex Luthor.
• Anatoly finally is referred to by his comic-book codename, the KGBeast, after nearly 6 seasons!
• Lots of minor characters that are called Blackstar (or Blackstarr, or Black Star) in DC comics, including (in quick succession), a Supergirl villain, a Blackhawk villain, a Seven Soldiers of Victory villain, a minor Suicide Squad member and a Firestorm villain. Not sure if this Blackstar is one of them, any combination of them, or a brand-new character.