Arrow - Bratva - Review

Arrow “Bratva” was written by the team of Oscar Balderrama and Emilio Ortega Aldrich and was directed by Ben Bray, whose other directing credits include Legends of Tomorrow and Lucifer. We get a lot of shuffling around of characters in this episode. With the size that the cast has ballooned to, it’s inevitable that they can’t all get story time – or be on the payroll for every episode. Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) returns – yeah! – and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) seems set to stay. Thea (Willa Holland) is still away – boo! – and it appears that Rory (Joe Dinicol) as the team’s meta-mascot has been replaced by Dinah. Will he return to the team?

While I wasn’t a big fan of the departures/absences in this episode, I did like how the entire Bratva connection played a major role. It felt like the flashbacks all season so far had set the stage for this particular episode – and that’s the kind of writing I’d really been missing on the show. I am still tired of us having to re-visit again and again, Oliver’s (Stephen Amell) dark night of the soul – that he’s some kind of evil magnet. There was some movement on that front, but I have to wonder if Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) is now the one travelling down that path – and that we have him assuming guilt over her actions in our futures…

In the first flashback scene, we see Oliver using drug dealers as target practice with Talia (Lexa Doig). The exercise finishes with her shooting an arrow at him and Oliver catching it in midair. Hmmmm. Wonder where he got the idea of shooting people as training came from?!?! Sorry Barry (Grant Gustin)! Talia tells Oliver that “the man who embraces the dark is never without sight.” I wonder if Oliver’s inevitable discovery of Susan’s (Carly Pope) betrayal will lead him to believe that walking away from the dark has cost him his sight – and his ability to see the true nature of people.

Quentin surprises Oliver by showing up at the Mayor’s office to resume his duties. He’s finished rehab and is ready to take on the job – and an interview with Susan. Susan also covers the press conference with Oliver thanking Chase (Josh Segarra) for exonerating Diggle (David Ramsey). I have to wonder if and when they are ever really going to utilize Segarra. It really feels like he hasn’t had that much to do so far – not that he’s super impressed me with his performance so far. Susan is interrupted in trying to pursue Billy’s death with Chase by an alert that Walker (Garry Chalk) and his men have broken out of prison.

Lyla sends Felicity the information that Walker has contacted some Marcovian separatists about selling them the nuclear device that he still has. Oliver is taking the Mayor’s private plane and Diggle insists on coming as it’s personal for him and Felicity also insists because she’s vowed never to have another Spring Haven. Talia, Rory, and Curtis (Echo Kellum) also tag along.

The group are met at the Russian airport by Anatoly (David Nykl) who is none too happy to see Oliver. I liked the continuity here with Oliver finally having to answer for Alexi’s death. In the end, Oliver has to do the favor Anatoly asks of him – with Dinah’s help. Luckily, he doesn’t actually have to kill anyone.

Meanwhile, Felicity flexes her renewed hacktivist muscles. Having Rory and Curtis pose as Bratva thugs was amusing – though I would prefer Kellum not to overplay the humor quite so much. But the encounter in which she threatens the Datalink executive also has a dark and disturbing undercurrent. Rory is immediately suspicious of how Felicity got the information. And this is where I will miss Dinicol the most – as the one other really clever team member.

Rory goes to Felicity who’s retreated to work in the van and asks her what’s going on. She tells him about Helix and the now massive amounts of information she has at her fingertips. Rory shares the last thing his father said to him: you need to respect and guard the power. Sounds a lot like with great power comes great responsibility, doesn’t it? Felicity defends her actions by saying that the people in the files she has aren’t good people, so they get what they deserve – you have to fight fire with fire. But Rory tells her that he’s worried about her.

In the flashback, Talia pulls Oliver in more deeply by sending him to kill the drug dealer – Yamane (King Lau) who was supplying the drugs that Thea had been taking. Oliver shows no mercy when he kills him with three arrows. Talia tells him that he can only make a difference by honoring his father’s list and returning to Starling City. He’s stopped by more drama with his Bratva brother Anatoly.

Oliver knows there’s something going on with Felicity. And Rory tells him that he thinks Felicity crossed a line to find Walker. He’s also really upset when he finds Diggle beating and torturing their prisoner in a desperate attempt to stop Walker.

Dinah does give Oliver a much needed pep talk after taking care of Anatoly’s problem. She points out that it’s not the first time he’s strong-armed someone (d’uh), and then hilariously makes him talk because brooding gets on her nerves! So I guess we have one thing in common anyway! Oliver confides that he’s worried that he’s a bad influence on those around him. Dinah points out that you affect the people in your life – that’s called being part of the human race – again, d’uh! So simple, yet so elusive to Oliver! She also tells him that he focuses too much on the negative. She tells him that his past is a part of him, but it doesn’t have to be his anchor – there’s more to him than that!

The team track down Walker and the bomb. Diggle doesn’t kill Walker but decides that he will see justice done. Felicity isn’t able to defuse the bomb and is prepared to put it on a plane and fly to her death in order to prevent another Spring Haven. While I hated this development for Rory – who is easily my favorite new team member – I did like the circular closure of having the rags that were created by Spring Haven save the day here. I didn’t like them being de-powered and Rory leaving in order to protect the team because he was now a liability with Prometheus.

Anatoly and his men are a huge part of the team’s success, so they all end up celebrating at the Bratva bar. Diggle and Felicity also give Oliver a much needed pep talk. Diggle once more is the voice of wisdom – and please let’s just go back to him being Oliver’s anchor? Diggle tells Oliver that he and Felicity aren’t better than Oliver, but the three of them make each other better. Anatoly tells Oliver that they are brothers – and that oaths are not temporary, they are for life…

Rene (Rick Gozalez) was left behind by Oliver to help Quentin prepare for his interview with Susan. I really liked the interaction between these two – and the fact that Rene was finally acting like a reasonable person for once. He pushes Quentin as hard as he should and sure enough Quentin completely loses it at the mention of Laurel. I can only imagine how he is going to flip out when he finds out that they’ve replace Laurel on the team with a new Black Canary!

It was good to see that Quentin didn’t storm off to fall off the wagon, but to see his sponsor. Rene doesn’t run away either, and in the end, the interview is actually not difficult as Susan went easy on him.

When Oliver returns to Star City, he takes his relationship with Susan to the next level but sleeping with her. He tells her that that his past had been stopping him from moving forward. Susan remarks on his tattoo and then asks about the Island. Oliver tells her that he’s not ready to tell her about that yet, and she lets it go. But in her final scene, we find out that she’s been doing all of this to investigate Oliver. She’s tied him to Bratva and is pretty sure that Oliver is the Green Arrow!

The final scene between Quentin and Rene is a really good one – and leads us into tonight’s episode about Rene’s past. Quentin comes to the lair to thank Rene – and tell him the interview went well, because of something that Rene said. Rene tells him the story about when he was much younger and beat cop Quentin caught him tagging. He told Rene that he could be better than just a thug, so Rene had tried to better himself. He credits Quentin with turning his life around. Quentin then asks about Rene’s dishonorable discharge from the military – and that is a story for another day too.

I thought this episode had some real strengths dramatically. I like that Felicity tells Alena that she’s not stopping to use the information from Helix – and Pandora seems like an interesting new villain. Susan is also clearly a threat. While I like refreshing the season, it would be nice to see some movement on the Prometheus story first as it’s starting to feel very dragged out. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!