‘Arrow’ 2.06 Episode Recap and Review: Keep Your Enemies Closer

The team is going international on this week’s episode of Arrow!

Ollie and Digg are on the trail of a group of unnamed and ultimately unimportant counterfeiters working out of the Glades. The takedown is simple enough, but as soon as Digg is off his comm, he’s picked up by a group of military guys. They take him to see Amanda Waller(!), who has information about the whereabouts of Agent Lyla Michaels, Digg’s remaining military contact. She tracked Deadshot to Moscow, then mysteriously disappeared. Waller wants Digg and Ollie to find her, and she’s more than well aware of exactly what they’ve been getting up to in the evenings.

Oliver’s totally on board, as is Felicity. They gas up the Queen Consolidated jet and are headed to the tarmac when they’re unpleasantly surprised by Isabel. She’s tagging along to make sure Ollie isn’t up to any funny business at the Moscow offices of Queen Consolidated. Also that he isn’t just using company resources to joyride with Felicity, whom she finds more than a little suspicious.

Once in Moscow, Ollie contacts an old acquaintance from the Amazo, Anatoli. He tells them that Lyla is in the Cauchemar gulag (which I’m choosing to write with the French spelling, because typing in Cyrillic is hard), and helps put together a plan to get Digg into the prison to find her. He gets in, but manages to find his way into the gulag version of solitary in very short order. He’s chained up in a freezer with none other than Deadshot himself, who isn’t doing too well in the gulag, either.

Meanwhile, in the non-gulag district of Moscow, Oliver is confronted by his somewhat cheesed-off business partner. He missed the scheduled tour of their Moscow offices, shocking approximately no one. She lays it out straight for him: she knows that he isn’t as big of an idiot as he’s pretending to be. Also, most of the company is pretty sure he’s banging Felicity. After a few vodkas, Ollie decides to disprove at least the second part of her statement by taking Isabel back to his room to… umm… play a rousing game of Settlers of Catan, I’m sure. Felicity is not exactly amused when she stops by to pick up Ollie for the rest of their rescue mission.

Back at Cauchemar, Deadshot and Digg get themselves out of the freezer. Deadshot says he knows where Lyla is, and will show Digg in exchange for his own freedom. Digg agrees and they work together to find Lyla and get out in relatively short order. Ollie, Felicity, and Anatoli are all waiting just outside in the getaway SUV to make sure Digg has everything well in hand. Once they’re in the clear, Digg stops the car and gets out with Deadshot and a loaded gun. It’s a tense moment, but Digg decides not to kill him while they’re still under a sort of a truce. Deadshot tells Digg that Andy was the actual target, not a mistake. Also, that he was hired by HIVE specifically to kill him. With that massive exposition drop, Deadshot disappears into the frozen Russian night.

In this week’s flashback, we learn that Dr. Ivo is looking for the Japanese submarine Mirakuru. It was carrying extremely advanced stem cell research from WWII intended to create a race of super-soldiers. Later, Sarah sneaks Ollie out of his cell so that he can radio to find out if Shado and Slade are still alive. They are, but Slade is badly burned from the shelling. As soon as he makes contact, Sarah ushers Ivo into the room. The radio was a trap to find Ollie’s friends, and Sarah has told Ivo everything.

This wasn’t one of the stronger episodes we’ve seen this season, but it was still quite good. I was hoping to see a little more about Ollie’s Bratva ties, but it was at least interesting to see him interact with someone from his island/Amazo time. I also enjoyed learning a little more about Digg’s past. For a show that lives in its flashbacks, it sure doesn’t reveal a ton of character history.

I’m guessing the end of this one was setting up one of the spoilers we’ve seen floating around the interwebs (that’s your cue to skip the rest of this paragraph if you don’t want to know). We’ve heard that Felicity is going to be having a bit of a thing with Barry Allen (a.k.a. The Flash), and that Oliver is going to be pushing her in that direction. Is this going to put a stop to all things Ollicity? Perhaps a better question to ask is whether this is the writers’ attempt at putting a stop to all things Ollicity. Lord knows that the fans will keep that running long past the sell-by date, whether the writers agree or not.

Best Quote:
Ollie: “So… we’re not doing the ‘what happens in Russia stays in Russia’?”
Felicity: “We’re still IN Russia.”

Things to Ponder:

• So… was Isabel not at all curious about the beaten, possibly traumatized woman who they brought back from Russia?
• I didn’t understand the Thea/Roy subplot this time. Why did any of that happen?
• Also, I’m impressed that so very many Russians in this random gulag speak fluent English.