Last week, Arrow returned after a three-week hiatus in which Thea has to get involved in some League of Assassin business. Being Malcolm Merlyn’s daughter, AKA, the “daughter of the demon,” she had a target on her back from rival members of the secret guild. A splinter group called The Thanatos Guild needed Thea in order to unlock a secret location of a Lazarus Pit. While Thea (who has been MIA for most of this season) at first did not want to get involved with things, she agreed to honor her late father and teamed up with Nyssa al Ghul to help take on the Thanatos Guild. Thea and Nyssa end up leaving Star City to destroy the remaining Lazarus Pits to prevent the splinter group from gaining them. Meanwhile, Oliver realizes that he doesn’t want to hand the mantle of Green Arrow back to John Diggle. Although he briefly vacated the position to focus on his son, being forced back in the hood made him realize that he doesn’t want to stop, which can lead to a problem for him and John.
With the reveal of Diaz as this season’s true big baddie, Oliver is dealing with a different kind of criminal. Not a flamboyant magician like Damien Dahrk or the sophisticated Prometheus, Diaz is the Arrowverse’s answer to Marvel’s Kingpin. He plays in the shadows, gaining influence and power, until he’s ultimately “too big to fail.” First thought of as one of Cayden James’ henchmen, he ultimately was the true puppet master and now almost has everything within his grasp. Dinah realized that he didn’t have just “some” cops on his payroll, but even the police captain was doing his bidding. This makes trying to take him down very difficult for both the police as well as the vigilantes. Dinah decides that she will conduct a drug raid without informing the captain. She is even able to nab Anatoly in the bust as well. Anatoly knows that he won’t be in cuffs too long as both he and Diaz have an ace up their sleeve. Turns out, the District Attorney, the one who’s prosecuting Oliver as the Green Arrow, also is in Diaz’s pocket, and releases everyone arrested. Because those cops who arrested Anatoly did so without wearing vigilante masks, they now have targets on their backs, including the young cop that Curtis is currently dating.
Meanwhile, Oliver still hasn’t told Diggle that he doesn’t intend on giving up the hood as he wants to remain as the Green Arrow. Diggle knows something’s amiss, and even Felicity is pressuring Oliver to fess up and tell his best friend his true intentions. Oliver is hesitant, but he eventually does. He explains to Diggle that being the Green Arrow makes him feel whole and he wants to continue being the Green Arrow. Diggle seems fine with it, but it’s clear that this issue will not go away. As they try and bust a local drug dealer in Diaz’s organization in the hopes of getting Diaz, Diggle tries to go a little too far when interrogating the suspect. Oliver tries to reign him in, but the suspect is killed by another drug dealer just as he’s about to confess. Missing out on their lead, Oliver and Diggle have the first argument of the night. As Diggle goes off to let loose some steam, he goes to see his wife at ARGUS. As she knows him best, she proves to be a great counselor for him as well. He then realizes that he’s not mad because Oliver doesn’t want to stop being the Green Arrow, he’s mad because Oliver is the wrong person for the job at this point.
This is when the big argument between the two brothers in arms happens. Diggle and Oliver first attempt to hash out Diggle issue with him, but the two get very personal with each other. Diggle basically tells Oliver that everything he’s done this season has been making one bad decision after another. Him monitoring the other vigilantes was a mistake, as is him remaining to try to be a father, major, husband, and Green Arrow. As voices get raised between the two, the insults become more and more personal and rude. Diggle mentions that Oliver got his son’s mother killed, and Oliver mentions that Diggle killed his own brother. Some lines shouldn’t be crossed, even with best friends. The two engage in a huge fist fight in the Arrow Cave breaking things all over the place, as well as beating each other. Felicity, who just walked out of the room for a brief moment scolds the both of them as they briefly come to the senses as she tells them about a lead for Diaz’s drug lab.
Curtis and Dinah are keeping the few good cops with targets on their back in their warehouse safe when they are attacked by Diaz’s men. One of them happened to reveal where they were as he realized there was no better option than joining Diaz as he’s taken over all facets of the city. As the firefight goes off, Curtis is shot protecting the cop he’s dating. Lucky for him, he has his Mr. Terrific bulletproof suit on and his boyfriend realizes that he’s really a vigilante. Curtis, knowing that his husband left him for being a vigilante, as well as knowing that the cops don’t like vigilantes, is now fearful that he will lose his new boyfriend. At the same time, Oliver and Diggle are attacking the drug warehouse. While things aren’t 100% for them, they are still an effective team, and they are able to take the building down and destroy the drugs.
In the aftermath, Diggle realizes that he can no longer remain on Team Arrow as he tells Oliver that although he’s sorry for some of the things he said and that they came to blows, he’s not sorry about questioning Oliver’s leadership. As a result, Diggle leaves Team Arrow. Now, it’s just Oliver and Felicity. Oliver has managed to alienate everyone around him and now it’s just him. Felicity tells him that she isn’t going anywhere, but she might be next on the list unless he sees the error of his ways.
Although Oliver confronted the police captain and District Attorney about being under Diaz’s payroll and fired them, Diaz gets the last laugh. Before they left their office, the police captain fired Dinah and all the good cops on the force, so now the police are under Diaz’s control, also, the district attorney holds a press conference saying Oliver fired him to obstruct him for investigating Oliver as the Green Arrow. Now Oliver could face impeachment charges.
Next week, Oliver has to take on Diaz. Will he do it alone?
