Arrow Next of Kin (2012– ) Online

So far in this season of CW superhero shows, Arrow has been leading the way. It hit the ground running in the first two episode and it did the same this week.

I really like when Arrow takes the time and has an episode centred around the behind behind the masks, and this episode was one of those for me. I really liked how Diggle and Oliver as people were the forefront rather than Team Arrow taking down villains.

I am really interested in what is happening in Diggle's story line. I thought they dropped the nerve damage arc a bit to quick, but as we saw at the end, it is going to be something that plays a big part in the season.

Oliver's story with his son, and now Felicity is one I am also enjoying. I'm liking the chemistry Oliver and William are starting to build because it really helps Oliver's decision to give up the hood make more sense story wise. If their chemistry was off, I would be wishing Oliver would go back to being the Green Arrow because the story he would find himself in would be disinteresting.

As mentioned, Felicity is now a big part of Oliver's story line and I actually like the move. I know many people are going to hate what they have done bringing back Olicity and I understand why. By the end, their relationship was toxic. However I am willing to give it a chance this time around. I always really liked Oliver and Felicity and the chemistry they had together and I think the early part of their relationship worked well because it was more of a side story that didn't interfere with Team Arrow. Now that Oliver has left the team, it opened up that possibility of once again having a relationship with them that could take the back seat.

The other story line I am really liking, which is also one I feel we will have around for a while is the FBI investigation. While I have a few questions on how she managed to get all that information of the team that quickly, I am willing to look past some of it because it is building a potentially really good story line that we can dive deeper in the back half of the season.

Onto the villain of the week, I thought she was okay. She reminded me of a similar story line they had where an ex-cop went rogue with a group. What I think is important with this villain, no matter how interesting the story around her was, she served her purpose of being a smaller villain that was able to help drive Diggle's story along.

Overall I really enjoyed this episode. I am really happy that they did what I wanted and keep John in the hood moving forward. While I think by the time the big crossover comes along, Oliver will be back, but for now it is nice to see them taking this story line seriously.

9/10

As much as I was dreading the episode in which Oliver gives up being the Green Arrow and the team is led by John Diggle, it actually didn't turn out too bad. The whole "his name is John Diggle, and he is The Green Arrow" was of course on the nose, and very cheesy, but for some reason I bought into it. It also doesn't hurt that since the original team expanded years ago, we haven't gotten to see as much of John Diggle fighting in the field as everything would have liked. However, right from the opening fight, we got a new sense of the shear strength Diggle possesses. The choreography of the opening rooftop sequence was impressive, which is to be expected at this point.

It was also expected that the team would undergo some leadership issues as Diggle was always the second in command and never making all of the decisions in the field. Again clichéd, but who doesn't enjoy watching Oliver giving some much overdue advice to Diggle as opposed to vice versa? That was just a really cool moment. Meanwhile, Oliver dealt with some father and mayor problems of his own. I don't know that I'm ever going to get used to the fact that William is his son and a permanent part of the show, but I thought the idea to bring Felicity into the fold was a cool addition to this sub-plot. It will inevitably lead to a renewed Olicity relationship, but as long as it feels natural like this, I'm totally okay with it.

The villain of the week was Onyx Adams, who led a "rogue black ops team", I'm sorry this antagonist was the most bland and forgettable character(s) in quite some time on this show. Luckily, they didn't necessarily need to be memorable. This was a Diggle episode and we needed one of those. Was his slide kick over the car not the best thing he's done in seasons? Speaking of the action, I thought the use of flashbang grenades by Onyx & crew was a fresh way to present the action. It enhanced the cinematography of those scenes immensely.

Overall, a solid episode that I expect absolutely nothing from. Aside from the strange ending where Diggle is using some sort of steroids, I enjoyed this week's episode. I give Ollie till episode 7 until he comes back.

8.0/10

"Tribute" wrapped up with an interesting concept, having John Diggle (David Ramsey) take over the mantle of the Green Arrow to provide space for some much needed Queen family time. While the episode had a mediocre, mostly forgettable villain and an unclear sight for the plot it wanted to convey, "Next of Kin" stands as one of the better Arrow episodes to date. Creative action, spot-on acting and a shocking twist await.

So this weeks episode was the first one we got with Oliver away from the team. I must say it was better than expected, but Arrow will always be at its best when Oliver is under the hood.

We open up with Diggle kicking some serious a*s as Green Arrow. I think that fight sequence was the best we've ever seen from Diggle, it was awesome. However, this was short lived as the next fight scene results in Diggle unable to make a quick decision, resulting in an explosion that seriously injured several civilians. This mistake proved to the Team, Renee especially, that Dig is unfit to lead the team. Which leads to Renee begging Oliver to come back. To me this scene felt like it was needed, as there was no way the Team could've been happy with Dig's actions.

Because of this, Oliver gives some much needed advice to Dig, and we get to see a good bro scene between the two, which is becoming more of a rarity each season.

The villain this week was quite boring, Onyx literally had nothing threatening about her at all. So we'll just forget she was even a thing as this episode mostly focused around Diggle.

Oliver this week had to deal with the potential of an anti-vigilante referendum, which of course spells disaster. Right before the referendum was about to be passed, Oliver invoked one of his rights to push the referendum to a city wide vote. So we will finally get to see what the public actually thinks about the Green Arrow and his team.

In the last few scenes we learn that 1- Agent Watson has a list of Oliver and all her connections, which will continue to play a bit part as the season goes on. 2 - Olicity is pretty much back. And 3 - Diggle is using some sort of drug (most likely illegal) to help him with his injury. Will there be any side effects? This will make for a pretty big argument between him and Oliver and some stage this season.

Finally, how long til Oliver comes back as GA? Right now we know that at the latest that will be for the mid season crossover in episode 8. However, I hope it doesn't last that long as like I said before, Arrow is at its best when Oliver is the leading man.

8.4/10

See this is how you present a Superhero show with good writing and very well done fight scenes. Unlike Supergirl which force feeds political agenda every week. The writers at Arrow at least keep it to a couple of episodes a year.

This one revolved around Diggle dealing with being the new Green Arrow and having a serious nerve problem. To a lesser extent it also continues Oliver's challenging situation with his son.

Throw in a CIA Black OPS rogue team with gadgets and nerve gas and it made for a well rounded episode of funny one liners, heartfelt moments and one of the best shot action scenes I've seen on a CW show.

Speaking to later in the episode where Diggle takes on the Lady leader of the Rogue team. Her name is Onyx and their fight in and outside of a limo was so well done it could have been put into a Bourne movie.

Bravo to that. Mr. Terrific, who has stopped mentioning he is gay every scene thankfully, saves the day with his cool tech.

That is how you write a show. You established his background now we can let the character grow on us and appreciated him as a hero not needing to be reminded every scene his sexual preference (Supergirl writers take note).

Oliver being out of the picture can only go on so long though so it will be interesting to see how they return him to his hero role without the Feds arresting him. They tease the solution in a public vote on vigilantes coming up in a future episode.

Great show, great writing, great acting and actual heroes doing their thing without SJW preaching constantly.

So refreshing.

But its weakest point: it wasn't a series finale.

This is probably the best episode we've seen in a while (probably since season 2). The acting was top notch. The directing and editing improved considerably compared to the first 2 episodes of this season (which had a lot of small mistakes). And the plot was very well written, although some technicalities could have been better (like the nerve gas not spreading).

The take on Diggle as he picks up the mantle of Green Arrow is very well done. He soon learns that the mask and the hood are more than just mare objects: they have a legacy towards all those they protected, a responsibility towards all those who look for leadership, a reputation for the enemies. Being the Green Arrow is not a walk in the park. It remains to be seen where this plot will end up to: probably not far. Oliver will be back as Green Arrow by the 8th episode for the cross over. Pretty sure there will be consequences for Diggle taking the drugs, but it is highly unlikely they will write him off the show.

But at the same time, all of the above are the episode's biggest weakness: everything was setup for a happily ever-after (well, almost). But we know status quo won't last for long. While Oliver did get back with Felicity, we can see the writers did learn one valuable lesson: forcing a bad actress with a poorly written character in the middle of every plot is a bad idea. We can only hope they will restrict Olicity to the William subplot, otherwise, this show will have a very hard time coming.

The rest of the supporting cast did an excellent job. Juliana Harkavy really enjoys her character and she does an excellent job at being the Black Canary.

Conclusion: A great episode, but the future doesn't look very bright. The writers embarked on some very ambitious journeys: making Olicity look good, making the Green Diggle plot not end up completely wrong. We shall see how it works out.

John Diggle has become one of the most distinguished character in this show and one of those characters that have managed to create a fanbase behind him. He is one of the most beloved characters, and he has had some great storylines throughout the entire show. He suffered a lot in Season 4 when the writers decided to create family issues with his thought-to-have-been-killed brother who turned out to a villain. That was probably the weakest he has ever been, but he has managed to stay interesting all the way through. I think that this is going to be one of those seasons where Diggle will be a big focus, and I really like that idea, because I think he deserves a little more to do. And he was definitely the lead in this very solid episode that keeps Season 6 on its feets for at least one more hour. This was a fine episode with some great development, as well as some wonderful cinematography in some of the most awesome fight scenes the show has ever had.

This was Diggle's episode. As sad as it was to see the writers repeat another story beat that they have used before by having Oliver quit being the Green Arrow, it was great to see that Diggle was able to take on that responsibility and have problems handling the immense preasure that was put on his shoulders. I didn't know what to think of his inability to fully take on the mantle, but it ended up becoming one of the episodes strongest parts. I loved seeing him doubting his abilities, and I think that there will be some very interesting things for him coming. I also loved the setup at the end of the episode.

This was also the first episode where I really enjoyed the relationship between Oliver and William, as well as the added focus on Oliver's mayoral responsibilities. William was not irritating in this episode, and while the actor still needs to get some more lessons in, I think that the development there is coming along. And he actually served a purpose in this episode, which was so pleasantly surprising. I also loved the fact that Oliver seemed to have gotten a more focused mind, now that he doesn't have to be the Green Arrow anymore. I mean, we all know that he will mantle up again soon, but I don't have any problems with them keeping him away from part for the moment.

I am also very glad to see Olicity back. I know I am probably one of the only ones who like that relationship, even though I don't like how the writers rushed it through Seasons 3 and 4, but I think that the time they took apart in Season 5, really made the writers learn that this was the perfect time to get them back together, which was very true.

The fight scenes in this episode were amazing. There is one specific one that features extremely good cinematography where it is a fight that takes place around a limousine. They have really stepped up their game and managed to create some of the most memorable action scenes I have seen in a very long time.

The only weak spot of this episode was really the villains. I didn't get the reason why Onyx Adams wanted to kill her "brothers-in-arms" as she called them. It didn't feel like it came natural and her motivation for doing so seemed forced. Her character didn't add up to anything, nor did she give anything really to the episode. I also think that the opening scene was useless, in the sense that it had nothing to do with the overall episode, and was just there to show how the team works now that Oliver is gone. They could have come up with something better, but they unfortunately didn't.

John Diggle has become one of the most distinguished character in this show and one of those characters that have managed to create a fanbase behind him. He is one of the most beloved characters, and he has had some great storylines throughout the entire show. He suffered a lot in Season 4 when the writers decided to create family issues with his thought-to-have-been-killed brother who turned out to a villain. That was probably the weakest he has ever been, but he has managed to stay interesting all the way through. I think that this is going to be one of those seasons where Diggle will be a big focus, and I really like that idea, because I think he deserves a little more to do. And he was definitely the lead in this very solid episode that keeps Season 6 on its feets for at least one more hour. This was a fine episode with some great development, as well as some wonderful cinematography in some of the most awesome fight scenes the show has ever had.

This was Diggle's episode. As sad as it was to see the writers repeat another story beat that they have used before by having Oliver quit being the Green Arrow, it was great to see that Diggle was able to take on that responsibility and have problems handling the immense preasure that was put on his shoulders. I didn't know what to think of his inability to fully take on the mantle, but it ended up becoming one of the episodes strongest parts. I loved seeing him doubting his abilities, and I think that there will be some very interesting things for him coming. I also loved the setup at the end of the episode.

This was also the first episode where I really enjoyed the relationship between Oliver and William, as well as the added focus on Oliver's mayoral responsibilities. William was not irritating in this episode, and while the actor still needs to get some more lessons in, I think that the development there is coming along. And he actually served a purpose in this episode, which was so pleasantly surprising. I also loved the fact that Oliver seemed to have gotten a more focused mind, now that he doesn't have to be the Green Arrow anymore. I mean, we all know that he will mantle up again soon, but I don't have any problems with them keeping him away from part for the moment.

I am also very glad to see Olicity back. I know I am probably one of the only ones who like that relationship, even though I don't like how the writers rushed it through Seasons 3 and 4, but I think that the time they took apart in Season 5, really made the writers learn that this was the perfect time to get them back together, which was very true.

The fight scenes in this episode were amazing. There is one specific one that features extremely good cinematography where it is a fight that takes place around a limousine. They have really stepped up their game and managed to create some of the most memorable action scenes I have seen in a very long time.

The only weak spot of this episode was really the villains. I didn't get the reason why Onyx Adams wanted to kill her "brothers-in-arms" as she called them. It didn't feel like it came natural and her motivation for doing so seemed forced. Her character didn't add up to anything, nor did she give anything really to the episode. I also think that the opening scene was useless, in the sense that it had nothing to do with the overall episode, and was just there to show how the team works now that Oliver is gone. They could have come up with something better, but they unfortunately didn't.