6x15 Doppelganger

After half a season thinking Arrow returned to greatness and being thoroughly entertained, they came up with this split group thing, which makes it not so great again. Maybe it didn't affect this episode as much as the previous 2 or 3, but it's still such a frustrating story, because these characters that have been so great are behaving like they're kids fighting in recess. We're facing threats that we cannot measure yet... and Dinah is more focused on saying "don't talk to me" to Oliver, who, in turn, is more focused on not having enough assets in the field.

Fortunately, it wasn't so much here that affected the rest of the episode. It's wonderful to have Roy back - I know it's probably temporary, but well, I hope he gets to suit up again. It's also wonderful to have Thea as Speedy again! I was never a fan of how she simply stopped being a vigilante - she is easily one of the most badass members the team had, the arrow/sword combination is so cool. Diaz is becoming a great villain, which is made even better when you see that Anatoly is actually collaborating in it. Evil Laurel finally pretending to be Laurel in public is a move that makes a lot of sense, putting her in a situation where the team can't really do much unless they wipe the brain of everyone seeing the news... and of course she is playing everyone, yet again, at the end.

This season can still be great if the characters bickering with one another get their shit together. You're here to save people!

After the last couple of episodes, especially the horrendous last one, I didn't have high hopes for tonight's. The whole Arrow: Civil War was a promising premise, but it wasn't well executed. NTA are wrong, yes, but OTA fucked it up by helping Laurel go free. Instead of being focused on the task at hand, each one of them is focused on their own personal vendetta. That was last episode's Civil Bore. But tonight it was something different. I don't know if it was because of the lack of Rene and Curtis or because the Dragon was unleashed, but I enjoyed the episode a lot.

This was a refreshing episode, it didn't have as much Roy as I would've liked but I'm glad he's stiking for at least another episode with the possibility of having him all suit-up and kicking ass together with Thea. Speaking of, I didn't realize how much I missed seeing Thea suited-up. Seeing her tonight made me nostalgic. I didn't like the way she gave up the hood but fortunately Roy pushed her in the right way. I'm glad she actually left that zombie state in which she's been for the last couple of seasons to join the fight, even if it's just for two episodes before exiting the show. I hate seeing Willa Holland go, but I can only understand why. She's hasn't been given any good storyline since what it feels like forever. I knew she was gonna go full on Speedy, but seeing her wearing that red suit at the beginning just made me excited. Good foreshadowing.

And then there was Laurel freaking Lance. Man, after last week's cliffhanger, somehow I expected that reporter guy to open the news with a "Laurel Lance is alive". Missed opportunity, I guess, lol. Katie Cassidy is one hell of an actress. I loved her performance way too much. She's posing as Laurel and mentally torturing poor Quentin in the meantime. Quentin's gonna need a whole lot of therapy to deal with this. Using his grief is bad enough but then she goes and works with Dragon in secret and then she comes back to the team apparently working as a double agent. This can only end up either with Laurel getting captured or with Quentin dying. And if they kill Quentin I'm gonna rise my pitchfork. However, I think they're giving us too many double agent, triple agent stuff with Laurel. I'm pretty sure her redemption arc is still on the go. The fact that she was gonna receive a message from Dragon at the end was too obvious. But I think the writers are toying with us. Here's to hoping Laurel ends up in the good side of this, probably saving Quentin. If that's not the case, please, just make her pick a side. However, teasing Black Siren's redemption arc, teasing that she's betraying Oliver and Co and working with Diaz, seems pretty unbelievable. I believe staying with Quentin will eventually redeem herself. If not, I have no freaking clue why the writers are doing this. I do hope it's not the same shit over and over again, and that she ends up joining the time in taking the fight to Diaz.

Now one serious question, why the hell does Star City keep on insisting on having a police department? When they're not crooked they're dying, and when not, they're being bombed. Seriously, being a police officer in this city is quite dangerous. I can't understand where do they get officers every season once the precinct has been bombed. After tonight I'm assuming every police officer is under Diaz's payroll, and those who are not are gonna end up dead every episode. Even the DA is a bad guy... What a surprise! (said no one ever). I don't k of why they keep on trusting guys wearing uniforms.

Oliver's list of weird arrows keeps updating. A Firework Arrow? Why not? You never know when these things might come in handy. It's better to have them and not use them than to use them and not have them, Lol. I loved those officers btw, they were like "oh, look at those fireworks, this doesn't look like an obvious distraction at all. Let's keep on looking at it. Nothing bad could happen". And the way Oliver used his grapple Arrow yo take Thea out? Couldn't he have used the same trick to take Roy out too? That phone book, on the other hand, lol. I just couldn't help but laughing. The yellow pages as a means of torture. I'll give it to them, that book is heavy, lol.

Now, that's what I wanted to see of Ricardo Díaz! Man, I don't just like him. I love him. Kirk Acevedo is nailing the role. He's got that malevous presence. He seems threatening and part of it is that voice of his. Man, that just gold. He's a real gangster. That fight choreography in the dojo was awesome. I liked that they didn't go with the clichéd "You're a good fighter, that's why I have to kill you" scene, but instead, they made him embrace that guy and enlarge his family. Amongst all those "family" references, for a second there I thought I was watching Fast and Furious.

Díaz is such a badass. That scene when he was torturing Roy was amazing. Holy crap! He even has the most awesome references ever. Will Scarlet. Now I can't unseen it, lol. His "Who do I have to bring the pain to?" was such a great delivery. If there's one thing I'm sad with is seeing Anatoly go like this. I'm expecting ting Jim to come back anytime soon because that's not the way I wanted to see him go.

Speaking of fight scenes, the one with Oliver, Speedy and Dig using the same arrow was awesome. I really loved it. I couldn't help but laughing when Speedy and Ollie kept kicking ass while Dig was shooting behind the bar. And then Dragon walking like a badass with his hands in his pickets. And then fighting Thea having getting an arrow to the knee.

Oliver shutting Dinah down by saying he'd rather be on the field shorthanded than with her was unexpectedly great. And poor Dinah, I honestly expected her to show up during the fight.

That cliffhanger was great. "Thea Queen: the heir of Ra's al Ghul" has certainly a ring to it. And next episode we've got Nissa back! I'm so glad she's back after no mention of her sin e episode one and after she was also in Lian Yu when it exploded so I wonder what explanation will the writers give us after of what happened to her, and also Talia amd Evelyn, I mean, was Nissa with all of them when the island exploded? If not, where did she go to? Did she go to find Talia? Is Talia even alive? Is Evelyn still trapped in that cage? I feel like this should've been at least mentioned earlier and not just in episode 16. But anyway, an episode with Nissa is a good episode to me. Let's hope it lives up to the hype.