Arrow S07E14 Review: Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

Arrow, Season 7, Episode 14: Brothers & Sisters

Ah, definitely a huge, eventful episode! I actually watched this episode as it aired, and simply didn't manage to review it at the time. I am trying to slowly catch up with all these superhero shows, though!

Anyway... this is an episode of Arrow where all the characters have coincidentally similar parallels in the character development they have. Oliver and Emiko, in the present day, end up as half-siblings that are at each other's throats before deciding to respect each other and work together. In the future, Mia and William also go through basically the same character development. Oliver also goes through the same "choice respecting" thing with both Emiko and Felicity. Also, separately, Felicity and Diggle basically help each other to learn to take the hard-but-right choice, which isn't quite as obvious when I'm typing it out, but definitely felt like that in the comics.

Oliver's storyline is basically split in two concurrent storylines. The Emiko B-plot basically has Oliver 'help out' but eventually just take over almost the entire operation, and later arrest the minor-mook-of-the-week by SCPD rules, something that Rene quickly points out as pretty hypocritical, equating it to "someone taking your List off and doing it themselves". Oliver apologizing isn't honestly something that should feel like such a momentous event, but that's where Stephen Ammell shines, really, making what could've been an otherwise banal, repetitive scene feel really emotional. Him respecting Felicity's initial decision to kill Diaz is a bit more of a shoulder-shrug, but thank god this is going to be the last we see of that plotline. I hope.

And, well, Felicity's main storyline in this episode is continuing the same old "GONNA KILL RICARDO DIAZ" flag she's been waving throughout this season, and... it's sort of run its course, honestly. She gets super angry at Diggle using Diaz in his trademark-friendly Suicide Squad, and even hacks into the bomb in Diaz's head, planning to detonate it after the ARGUS mission. Of all people, though, it's Laurel II that talks her down, because, shit, Diaz is already imprisoned and basically used as a human weapon for the government, what more do you want? It's a fun interaction between Laurel II and Felicity, and we eventually see Felicity join the ARGUS mission to take down Dante, and end up making the more heroic decision of sparing Diaz because she doesn't want to be a monster.

Oh, and also, Felicity's pregnant. The revelation wasn't quite as silly as the pregnancy reveal recently in Gotham, but it's basically just a tie-in to Mia in the future and this episode basically has that cause a bunch of "calm down, you are letting hormones cloud your judgment" jokes.

Diggle... basically gets called out on his more obsessive policies by Felicity, and sort of vice versa as Diggle defends the merits of keeping Diaz around. It's honestly sort of the two of them going through a pot calling the kettle black thing, so Diggle ends up abandoning the chase for Dante to help rescue Felicity from Diaz. It's neat. A vast majority of the episode is basically launching the Ghost Initiative to get into a meeting and track Dante. Cupid, China White and Deathstroke Junior don't really do much other than quip around, but it's nice to see that brief action scene they had when Dante's informant, Virgil. Diaz being called out because "the Longbow Hunters aren't cheap" is actually quite funny. Apparently Virgil's been tipped off by someone, and everone's quick to point fingers at Ricardo Diaz. Turns out that he's not the traitor this time.

And when they launch the second mission with Green Arrow and Overwatch around to help, they discover that Director Bell (who?) is apparently the traitor. And then Diaz, being the scum that he is, betrays them at that point, using a defibrillator to shock out his head-bomb off-screen, and then informing Dante about it, leading to a huge fight between the core Team Arrow, as well as Dante and Diaz, who are escaping. The buildup for Dante is interesting, I suppose, building him up as more of an international threat that Diaz is scared of -- and honestly, an international terrorist giving our heroes so much trouble is far, far more believable than the plot contrivance they keep pulling for Diaz. And Diaz gets his ass arrested again...

And, to my joy, gets burnt alive in prison. I really, really love the actor, Kirk Avecedo, who does fantastic work. With an inferior actor, I would definitely been far, far more put off with Ricardo Diaz since the writing for his character sort of self-destructed and became just a bland, stupid writer's pet after a while, but despite the actor's pretty fantastic performance, it's honestly clear that Diaz has ran his course, and seeing him (hopefully permanently) removed from the picture in a pretty gruesome and honestly shitty death? Yeah -- for a character that the writers have built up as being pretty much as the incarnation of scum, it's definitely an appropriate exit.

In addition to that massive bombshell (and the less-massive one of Felicity's pregnancy), we get this big revelation, right after Oliver and Emiko have a 'yay we respect each other' moment... apparently Emiko's an agent of Dante? Okay, that was definitely not a twist I saw coming.

The flash-forward stuff isn't terribly exciting (honestly, when have they ever been?) but the bonding between Mia and William are... are all right, I guess? The actors do their best and it's a nice breath of air to just spend time with the future cast instead of just having random apocalyptic plans define the future plot. Also, Connor Hawke is apparently John Diggle's adopted son? Didn't Flashpoint turn Sara Diggle into John Diggle Junior? What did I miss?

Overall, a pretty fantastic episode. It's a pretty solid one even on its own, but the additional bombshells at the end, and getting rid of a character that I am so done with... yeah, I definitely had fun watching this.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• This Dante is very, very loosely (and I say that because his comic counterpart isn't really fleshed out all that much) based on Dante, second leader of the Ninth Circle, an organization of bankers-for-supervillains that menaced Green Arrow in the Rebirth series. 
• Princess Noor Harjavti is the princess of the fictional country of Bialya in the comics, mostly appearing in Captain Atom comics, and recently in the Young Justice cartoon.