Arrow Arrow Season 2 Episode 6 "Keep Your Enemies Closer" Discussion Thread

[Disciple of Syn]

Another outstanding episode. It's killing me how slept-on this show is...it's just damn fine television in its purest form.

 

[DrRocket]

This season has been amazing and this episode continued that trend. A 9 from me, would have been an 8 if laurel showed her face (thank you ).

- So I guess this is how Slade becomes death stroke huh? Can't wait!

- Argus knows Oliver is arrow, I'm think they will give him the code name green arrow.

- Oliver's got game!

- hive? Pretty cool. Roy and larry? This gonna be good!

Also, i can see where felicity is coming fro. Personally I wouldn't mind them gettin together as they have great chemistry and its been obvious felicity has had feelings for Oliver for a while now.

 

[batnkevlar]

Anyone else like the race jokes they always throw out on this show?

I don't think they're race jokes and much as noting the real effects of race in everyday life. I think it adds realism.

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

Anyone else like the race jokes they always throw out on this show?

As a black guy myself I LOVE it. This show doesn't play around. It wasn't even really joking so much as acknowledging the pink elephant in the room.

Me, I expect a black person in a goddamn Russian gulag to stick out like a sore thumb, I love that this show doesn't try to avoid that fact or dances around it but instead just tackles it. Then you earn my respect.

Amazing show.

 

[Boy Scout]

As a black guy myself I LOVE it. This show doesn't play around. It wasn't even really joking so much as acknowledging the pink elephant in the room.

Me, I expect a black person in a goddamn Russian gulag to stick out like a sore thumb, I love that this show doesn't try to avoid that fact or dances around it but instead just tackles it. Then you earn my respect.

Amazing show.

What he said. The show does a great job at acknowledging and poking fun at that kind of stuff.

 

[Human Torch]

Also, what a breath of fresh air the absence of Laurel and her baggage was this time.

I was wondering who would be the first to bring that up.t:

 

[Saitou Hajime]

Also, what a breath of fresh air the absence of Laurel and her baggage was this time.

Really, it's quite a thing how a character that's supposed to be significant down the line can be so absent and not only does the show not skip a beat, it thrives.

 

[Coconut1214]

I loved Team Arrow working together, even the small scene of Roy and Quentin. I'm glad Dig got an episode to finally shine, since he was pushed in the background during the Canary arc. And he kept his honor of not shooting an unarmed man even though he's an assassin.

I guess Isabel is not a love child of Robert Queen.

So they actually acknowledged that Oliver has feelings for Felicity too. And wow, I didn't even notice Laurel wasn't in the episode until it was over. Shows how much she is not needed on this show.

I also loved seeing Sara in the flashbacks, Caity Lotz is really bringing it with her performance this is yet another version of Sara. I didn't see her betraying Ollie like that but I suppose she's been trying to survive with a bunch of rough men for a year. If you can't fight them, join them.

 

[ArcherFan]

I don't think they were going to go with the love child angle.

Personally, I see her origin in the comics fitting in perfectly here. Queen has holdings in Russia. Robert could have been visiting, seen potential in Isabel as a child, made arrangements for her to be taken in by a family in the US. Kept tabs on her, watched her grow up...

Put her at an age equal to, or a couples years ahead of, Ollie. Still leaves plenty of time for Robert and her to have an affair between say the ages of her being 18 and say 22/23 when he would have died. Could even say if he was still feeling the effects of the death he caused in the glades (leading him to joining Malcolm in what eventually became The Undertaking), maybe he turned to this young protege for solace he didn't feel he could find in the arms of his family.

This could be the affair Moira was talking about.

In the comics, Isabel thought she was the one fated to be with Robert, and that the company was her right. That's why she took it over. She's shown a bit more interest in QC than it seems would be warranted, considering the way they've talked about her dismantling other companies.

Maybe she's even behind the DA's push to have Moira given the death penalty (far fetched, I know).

 

[Herolee10]

Well if Isabel has some ulterior motive that involves destroying Oliver and his company, etc...then wow, both she and Talia give a new meaning to the phrase of someone getting screwed....where they set out to destroy everything that their enemy holds dear, but only after having a passionate night/moment with them.lol

 

[Nathan]

This Episode gets a 10 from me. Just for the fact that Laurel didn't steal a split second of screen time in this one. And apparently the ratings spiked as well. So much for the stupid claim that more girls watch this when Laurel is on, because they want to be like her.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Am I the only one who enjoyed the Diggle/Deadshot team up?
I think that circumstances should force them to work together again. I just love the dynamics of their hate/revenge/ relationship.

10/10 for me. I'm Bulgarian and listening to Oliver and Isabel speaking Russian was almost like they were speaking Bulgarian (Like Nina Dobrev does in the Vampire Diaries).

 

[vantheman77]

This episode was in a position to follow last week's episode, League of Assassins, and it did well as the high ratings showed. It's one of the few episodes where there was little of Green Arrow. Last season's Odyssey was the other. Also, it's the first episode where Dinah Laurel is absent and that shows us that she's not important to the show as we all thought.

The episode focused on two characters - Diggle and Isabel Rochev. Here, we're introduced to Amanda Waller who is closer to the New 52 version than the chubbier version. She served her purpose in having Diggle rescue his ex-wife Lyla in Russia and go after the man who killed his brother - Deadshot. Diggle didn't kill Deadshot when he had the chance, but what kept him from doing it was honor.

Isabel complicates things by going with Oliver and his group to Russia and this is where Isabel opens up a little bit as it reveals a side to her beyond the cold business woman we've been saying since she debuted. It also created a love triangle between Oliver, Felicity, and Isabel.

We also have Moira's lawyer, Jean Loring, also from and comics and Atom's wife as she tells Thea to break up with Roy as it may hurt her mother's case. However, the breakup was stopped by Moira as she meets Roy for the first time.

While Sarah in the present departed Starling City last episode, we see her through the flashbacks where she's among the pirates and working with Professor Ivo. It's also where she betrays Oliver and we see Shado again as well as Slade, whose injuries are gruesome but we also get a sense of how he may become Deathstroke.

How cool is it to see Green Arrow and Roy teaming up as that's a move forward towards their future partnership. Overall, a great episode.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I dont believe in rating shows on an individual basis, you do that at the end of the season as a whole, but with that said, this season hasn't yet had a drop in quality. Its just maintaining a high level of 'awesomeness'.

Fantastic show through and through.

 

[vantheman77]

When you look at Team Arrow, you have two people who know Oliver's secret (Diggle and Felicity) and two people who don't (Quentin Lance and Roy Harper).

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Quentin knows or highly suspect him.

I very much like this show, the things I don't like are Moira story, she is an accomplice in a mass murder and her kids act as she was a victim and Thea she is too girly-girl-clueless for my taste but that just me who doesn't like this kind of character and type of actress ( like Skye in Agent of SHIELD ).

Diggles owned this episode. Great action on his part and good lines.
At least there was some none spoken romantic exchange between Felicity and Oliver.

 

[Lencho01]

I don't think they're race jokes and much as noting the real effects of race in everyday life. I think it adds realism.

As a black guy myself I LOVE it. This show doesn't play around. It wasn't even really joking so much as acknowledging the pink elephant in the room.

Me, I expect a black person in a goddamn Russian gulag to stick out like a sore thumb, I love that this show doesn't try to avoid that fact or dances around it but instead just tackles it. Then you earn my respect.

Amazing show.

What he said. The show does a great job at acknowledging and poking fun at that kind of stuff.

That's pretty much how I feel about it. They could've gone the whole "Hahaha! An American in Russia!" But, I liked they went with the "Um... you're Black and it's very uncommon to see people like your around here."

Part of me wanted them to make fun of the last Die Hard film in some way. t:

 

[The Sage]

Good episode. I've got a feeling Ivo's going to experiment on Slade based on the comments about enhanced strength and regenerative healing. Waller knowing the truth is such a...Waller move.

 

[mr. peasant]

Does anyone else think Isabel has the most hilarious (in a good way) facial expressions? Her reaction when Oliver asked her if they should talk about their liaisons in Russia was essentially "Lol, wut? Are you crazy?!".


Incidentally, we saw in this episode that she's quite intelligent and observant about Oliver. What do people think her reaction will be when she (inevitably?) finds out that Oliver is the Arrow? A part of me thinks it would be cool and kinda funny if she is against it because of how it interferes with Oliver's duties in their company and its cost implications.

I can almost imagine her calling up Felicity and having her draw up a schedule for Oliver as to when and how many hours a week he's allowed to be the Vigilante.

 

[king666]

Didn't like this episode at all.
The island stuff was great, though.

 

[HighFivingMF]

Didn't like this episode at all.

Really? Not at all? Damn.

The island stuff was great, though.

Wait. What?

 

[king666]

Really? Not at all? Damn.
Wait. What?

 

[Dark Raven]

Also, what a breath of fresh air the absence of Laurel and her baggage was this time.

That's exactly what I thought. Didn't miss her at all and thought the show was better without her and being weighed down by her dull subplot. The show totally works without her.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Diggle and Deadshot as unlikely allies was an interesting twist, and it looks like H.I.V.E will be another enemy to add to Team Arrow's overarching list.

Ollie taking one for the team, what a heroic sacrifice, letting Isabel use him like that.

Glad Moira sorted the Roy and Thea mini drama out quickly.

Watching Waller's entrance made me wonder if she was the legs talking to Fires at the end of last season.

 

[DrRocket]

They might have to slow the pace down if they want a few more seasons