Arrow Arrow Season 6 Episode 20: "Shifting Alliances"

[NotNickFury]

Oliver (Stephen Amell) turns to an old friend to help battle Diaz (guest star Kirk Acevedo). Meanwhile, Rene (Rick Gonzalez) is out of the hospital but has a hard time re-adjusting to life as Wild Dog. Also, Lance (Paul Blackthorne) discovers something shocking about Black Siren (Katie Cassidy).

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Wondering what Lance could discover, unless it's just that Siren is still working with Diaz.

 

[Primal Slayer]

This is a very bittersweet kind of episode. I really enjoyed it, it was very good but the writers have done a poor job setting everything up which is where the major points have to be taken away.

Siren seeing Diaz having no qualms about burning people alive has her shook and now she is afraid to go against him even when it comes to Quentin. All good, fine, but what is stopping her from using her Siren Scream and just taking him down? If the writers wanted to take this path with her (which I am totally fine with) then there has to be something more that is stopping her from retaliating. Even a simple line while talking to Quentin "I've thought about screaming his brains out but he has sonic dampeners stopping me" BOOM, I can work with that. Makes sense. But they never give it to us.

The Oliver/Diaz fight was good, I enjoyed it so I am happy that they had Diaz end the fight by being dirty and using all of this as a driving force for Anatoly to shift his allegiances. Though I a guessing the dude doesn't know that Diaz killed Cayden while he was helpless to do anything? Or does he get a pass since he was willing to sacrifice everyone?

The return of Rene...I was annoyed that they had him suit up so quickly and seemingly forget that his daughter could be an orphan so I was happy that they went the PTSD angle and had him sit out part of the episode. Though of course they had to us with Zoe telling her father "it's fine, go be a hero, I'll be good with the consequences"

 

[shabadoo25]

In a season of nonsense, this was a good ep. It made me look forward to next week.

Siren being scared of Diaz makes little sense. His burning a guy alive is not much different than her screaming in Vigilante's ear from inches away. She likely did much worse back on her earth.

And did no one else watch the next week promo in slow mo? How are we going to explain the next guy in the Arrow suit repelling into court? From another earth? Dibney before Devoe got him? A guest appearance by J'onn? Trying not to spoil here.

 

[Flash525]

Siren seeing Diaz having no qualms about burning people alive has her shook and now she is afraid to go against him even when it comes to Quentin. All good, fine, but what is stopping her from using her Siren Scream and just taking him down? If the writers wanted to take this path with her (which I am totally fine with) then there has to be something more that is stopping her from retaliating. Even a simple line while talking to Quentin "I've thought about screaming his brains out but he has sonic dampeners stopping me" BOOM, I can work with that. Makes sense. But they never give it to us.

Siren being scared of Diaz makes little sense. His burning a guy alive is not much different than her screaming in Vigilante's ear from inches away. She likely did much worse back on her earth.

I did think it may be Diaz' new partner that she'd now need to be weary of, but for all involved purposes, she could probably easily despatch of them too, however...

To make sense of it, I do think she genuinely cares for Quinten, and she probably knows (or suspects) that he she betrays Diaz, he has something, or someone in place to take Quinten out, so she's playing ball for Quinten's sake. That's the only sense I can make of it.

That said though, much alike a Cry Dampener, it would have been nice if there had been a scene between either Diaz & Laurel, or Diaz and someone else which stated, or implied this to be the case - just so we know exactly what her motives are, but on the flip, that would take away the suspense and speculation.

The Oliver/Diaz fight was good, I enjoyed it so I am happy that they had Diaz end the fight by being dirty and using all of this as a driving force for Anatoly to shift his allegiances. Though I a guessing the dude doesn't know that Diaz killed Cayden while he was helpless to do anything? Or does he get a pass since he was willing to sacrifice everyone?

I've always liked the character of Anatoli, he's often walking that fine line, though he does have a sense of pride and honour within him which keeps him on the straight (as far as a criminal goes).

And did no one else watch the next week promo in slow mo? How are we going to explain the next guy in the Arrow suit repelling into court? From another earth? Dibney before Devoe got him? A guest appearance by J'onn? Trying not to spoil here.

Spoiler Tags may be prudent. Needless to say, aside from crossover events, I wish they'd leave the doppelganger elements of the Arrowverse to the Flash show. If they want to do multiple Earths, that's great, but not on Arrow please. Whatever you may have seen likely wont be John or Ralph either. As far as I'm aware, these shows are currently happening in real-time, so at this point in Arrow, Ralph I dead, and I don't believe anyone from this Earth knows that John can transform into other people (though they do know he can disguise himself in a human form).

 

[Primal Slayer]

I think Arrow needs to embrace more of the universe they are in tbh so I'd be here for another doppelganger but no..

Spoiler

It's Human Target posing as Tommy posing as Green Arrow

And this episode brought an all time low in ratings (that wasnt caused by a preemption). Fell below 1 million viewers into the 900k.

 

[Babillygunn]

I think Arrow needs to embrace more of the universe they are in tbh so I'd be here for another doppelganger but no..

Spoiler

It's Human Target posing as Tommy posing as Green Arrow

And this episode brought an all time low in ratings (that wasnt caused by a preemption). Fell below 1 million viewers into the 900k.

Dude. I thought that’d be a spoiler for this episode. Not the next. Poop.

 

[Babillygunn]

I gave the episode an 8. Would’ve been higher but Renee is still around. Seriously, you forgive Diggle but not Oliver? So stupid and makes no sense.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Dude. I thought that’d be a spoiler for this episode. Not the next. Poop.

Why would I put a spoiler for this episode in its own thread lol.

 

[edwardc]

This was a very hard episode to watch does oliver have anymore friends will he be able to count on anyone to help him.

 

[Babillygunn]

Why would I put a spoiler for this episode in its own thread lol.

I didn’t say my thought process made sense. Lol

 

[Babillygunn]

This was a very hard episode to watch does oliver have anymore friends will he be able to count on anyone to help him.

I’m not really sure that Oliver ever really had any friends. Aside from Thea and felicity.

 

[NotNickFury]

Plus, at least for my money, this show has worked best when Oliver was flying solo. If it's a result of him pushing people away, I like seeing him have to fight for himself without the cushion of Team Arrow to back him.