The Dragon

Arrow looks to be on a hot streak the past three or four episodes, and "The Dragon" does what few episodes have done throughout the show's six year history: Properly solidify a villain. Kirk Acevedo was an absolute joy to watch not just because of his raspy voice or sick fight moves, but for his psychological torment and brief windows of madness. That's another thing this episode did that has not been seen ever on Arrow. Upping the brutality and blood levels was a smart move for a more mafia-centric chapter. On the other side, we also got a little forward with Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and Curtis (Echo Kellum), as well as Oliver's (Stephen Amell) current stance as the Green Arrow. Katie Cassidy as Laurel was also heavily involved with Ricardo Diaz, and that paid off too. Her fading loyalty to the newly crowned crime lord was ever present, as not even she could comprehend the sadistic tactics laid before her. "The Dragon" marks yet another high-point for season six and possibly - the show and offers a gritty, dark and violent glimpse into a unique villain.

This was a great episode, finally something good from this season, and astonishingly, it's wothout the Arrow being on display. I feel this came way too late in te season to establish a villain that finally feels badass enough. I know the intention was the surprise of him replacing Kaidan James, but that turn of events felt so undeveloped and gratuitous, a betrayal to viewers, that I'd rather them hinted of something before. Hell if this is a filler episode, they could have created one like this for each of Kaidan associates to murky the water. I mean, give me this kind of filler if you have to fill, not the other stuff we've seen these last couple season. (100th episode was a disgrace)

This is exactly how I want to see every episode that doesn't feature it's stars.

All shows with semi- ensemble casts that run even near the double digits, require episodes without the main cast members in such prominent roles for scheduling purposes. It's just how it works. And this is a perfect example of how to use those episodes to better your stories instead of just fumbling through some cheesy rushed excuse to not have them in the plot.

We get great backstory and insight into a villain. I was wishy washy about him as a big bad this episode really changed my mind. I feel much stronger about him as a character and, more importantly, as a villain.

Great action and a good episode for Diaz character development, even thought it still felt like a filler episode. With Oliver having about 2 mins of screen time !!!

My thing with this episode is that it comes far too late in the game to really mean something. I'm not the first person to make the comparison but this season of Arrow really does feel like season 3 of The Flash. There are about 4 or 5 brilliant episodes, but the elongated wait to see the big bad reveal/any sort of details on the villains was delayed so long that it lost all sense of gravitas or weight to the situation. Ricardo Diaz isn't a horrible villain, but it never feels like the show gave me a fighting chance. Heck, even his episode this week wasn't as good as it could have been and I still feel like there's a lot to learn about him (and he was in all but one or two scenes!).

In many ways, this wasn't an Arrow episode, rather a Dragon episode. I'm glad they were able to at least give Diaz some time to be fleshed out. Only, the flashbacks scenes he was given were far too brief and almost inconsequential. Yes, he got back at his old nemesis, Jesse, who tormented him as a child, but did we really get enough of those scenes to warrant Diaz burning Jesse alive? That felt a little out of left field. On the flip side, his rise to criminal prominence within the "quadrant" is a neat change from anything we have seen from an Arrow villain before. While it does beg the question of if Diaz is really the ultimate takedown this season or maybe it's the quadrant after all.

I don't know, but what I do know is that it's tough to really put Diaz even in the conversation with any previous Arrow big bad, because he doesn't have a personal connection to Oliver Queen or a vendetta against him. Even Malcom Merlyn was Oliver's best friend's father and Damien Darhk's wife was running against Oliver for mayor. So this is the first time a big bad hasn't had an immediate connection to our hero, and in some respects that's interesting. But at the same time, it makes the conflict feel a little distant and not worthy enough. But maybe that's just me.

7.0/10