Jessie Robertson reviews the twentieth episode of Arrow season 6…
Last season, Arrow was the show. But, sadly, it’s kinda fading away as top dog in the CW-verse. ‘Shifting Allegiances’ is a sad reminder why. There was so much good in this episode, drowned out by so much bad. With no flashbacks to rely on, when we get a storyline like tonight, which clearly shows the “back to basics” approach of Oliver, and all his dealings with Anatoly, done this way, I’m all for it. I think I went right to, Oliver’s going to shoot a lot of people and probably they’ll die from their wounds; but what we see here is that other side of Oliver, and I like to think, the influence of not just Felicity & Diggle, but all his former teammates in that he plays on what he knows of people and uses it to undo them.
Anatoly is a solid character, always has been, and when Oliver clears his debts ,and Anatoly still turns on him, only to find out, that’s what Oliver wanted, all of that was just a joy to watch. I also enjoyed the out of norm fight scene for Arrow tonight and where that scene leaves us; with Diaz losing, but not, and seeing him around Quentin in those scenes, you can’t help compare him to other season long villains and he feels like he’s talking the talk but not walking the walk. I said after last week’s “The Dragon” how do you just get rid of him at this point? But, this week totally sets him back in terms of importance to the show. He and Laurel are doing the nasty? I guess I didn’t pick up on that. And his approach to Mayor Lance felt weak and ineffectual even if it worked. Please end this Lance-Laurel storyline. It may be time to just get rid of her altogether…..again.
Before we end this week, and I throw a bit more praise onto the Oliver-Anatoly scenes, let me quickly say I appreciated the Rene stuff this week but his daughter being all for him being a vigilante….I’m not really sure where I rest on that. And I actually like Diggle being apart of ARGUS; makes total sense that’s where he would land after the fallout. I just feel a bit uninvested at this point in the end game of the season. I feel like something has to break within the team, permanently for this season to have any fire at the end; Diaz lost all steam tonight.
Rating: 6/10
Jessie Robertson
