Brothers in Arms

It's not about heroes anymore, it's all about personal relationships. I don't know why they even leave their hideouts!

The good guys can't win a fight anymore. lol

They cover up for a murderer (Laurel), allowing her to escape justice (she sadistically killed a good guy...remember?!)

Everyone uses City money like it's their own, walk around like royalty, nepotism everywhere...I guess they'll put Oliver's kid in charge of something soon, eh? School lunches?

Yay! Thea's back! ...again...and again...and again... I wonder if she will ever be able to deliver two consecutive sentences without her arms crossed? Is that a superpower? I can't be the only one to notice she always talks with her arms crossed, sitting or standing?

I think this series with these actors and writers is *done*! Reboot, after Curtis battles Oliver (and wins), and everyone else gets amnesia never to be heard from again.

Start this superhero series over!

I must confess, I was not excited for this episode. Coming off the underwhelming "The Thanatos Guild" and a handful of poorly written and meaningless Team Arrow drama episodes, Arrow seemed to be on yet another downward spiral. Thank goodness I was wrong as "Brothers in Arms" turned out to be arguably one of the show's best episode yet. The writers really upped their game here, conveying excellent dialogue and motives for Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Diggle (David Ramsey). It was a true shocker to see these two brothers butt heads and for things to end so melancholy. The cinematography was also keen on presenting the quarrel and lended a hand with the drama. Another welcome return was Katie Cassidy as Laurel. While she did not do much, moments with her really made me doubt her redemption. This brings me to my next point. Kirk Acevedo as Ricardo Diaz will never get old. He may be one of the scariest Arrow villains ever and we are finally getting places with him and his plans for Star City. Worth mentioning is the corruption that he has created and the vertigo drug trade. "Brothers in Arms" had its fair share of gritty action, but the hardest hit was the dark, gloomy twist it took with Oliver and Diggle, proving that Season 6 still has hope and has come a prolonged awakening.

There have been many arguments and fights between Oliver and Diggle. The biggest and most impactful was probably following season 3 when Ollie decided to kidnap Lyla and Diggle's daughter in order to defeat Ras Al Ghul in a rather convoluted matter. But I'm not sure they have had a better scene (acting wise) then they had during this episode.

I went from writing down "this is a stupid fight" in my notes to start the episode, to writing in all caps "WOW!" as the episode drew to a close. It just goes to show you that for as much as I dislike Marc Guggenheim's decisions sometimes, they often have something up their sleeve. In many ways Diggle is right about Oliver not being a good leader, often contradicting himself about retiring/not retiring as the Green Arrow. But on the other hand, Diggle is as much at fault about the rise of Diaz as anyone and to see both characters go mono e mono was a real joy to watch.

Though I will say that the fight itself doesn't necessarily feel earned. In some ways, it feels as though the writers wanted to make Oliver once again work alone and break up the team and they needed a reason to get there. So, they made Diggle jealous of Oliver donning the hood once again. Is that really something his character would ever do? I'm not so sure. But if we had to create that decision in order to get perhaps the most well acted scene between these two gentlemen then I guess I'm okay with that.

So it looks as though we will get a throwback episode next as Oliver and Felicity are doing things on their own while there are two other separate teams doing things as well with Diggle now teaming up with Lyla at ARGUS. Whether or not the final 6 episodes can keep building on the momentum that they have the last few weeks is unclear, but if what Amell said about the finale being something "they will never be ever to undo" is any indication of the last arc, then I'm excited. My prediction has and will continue to be that Oliver is officially outed (or he reveals it himself) as The Green Arrow. No going back from that.

9.0/10

I find Diggle's obsession with being the Great Arrow to be out of character for him. he all whiny now and blaming Oliver like the newbies did. It's very hypocritical of him to say Oliver's been giving bad call all this time while he's by his side and never said anything. like Oliver said "you were there" he could have said something everytime he thinks the the call wasn't right or something, since Oliver always listens to him. I enjoyed them throwing jabs at each other, it felt realistic 'cause no matter how close and open you are to someone they always have underlying thoughts about you and it's only moments like this, that they get to spill it out. No matter what they said about Oliver, I'm still on his side. he is been matured and calm and always first to apologize even if he's not at fault. He respects everyone's decisions; if they want to leave, leave , if they want to stay, stay.

finger crossed to see what happens next now that the team has disbanded, I bet they're going to make Oliver go solo for a while.

Let's hope one day Oliver Queen will be again the bad ass hero he was before this bunch of cry babies wannabe superheroes of "team arrow" was in the show.

They don't listen to him, they don't respect him, they always rant and yell all the time.

A bunch of nobodies.

He should beat their sorry asses and tell them to get lost.

He is the original hero, the mayor of the city, the Ras al Ghul, the leader, the savior of the planet, and they are some useless nobodies.

Get the old Oliver back. Send the cry babies away.

I am sick of them.