Arrow S2 E6 - 'Keep Your Enemies Closer' Review

Now You Know What It Feels Like.
The sixth episode of Arrow season two takes its foot off the pedal slightly as Team Arrow take a detour to Russia. Diggle takes centre stage as he attempts to rescue Lyla, his ex-wife who went missing searching for Deadshot.
The set up for this plot comes when ARGUS, who we see in action for the first time, take Dig in to brief him, which results in a debut appearance from Amanda Waller (previously seen as a pair of legs in the first season flashback story). Waller is underwhelming here and has few lines of dialogue, but it's nice to see larger aspects of the DC Universe coming into play.
Speaking of, we get the return of Deadshot in this episode, one of my personal favourite characters in the series. The assassin is further fleshed out in this episode, revealing a humorous side which is undoubtedly setting up his inclusion in Task Force X later this season. He and Diggle have some great fight scenes in the prison which are also worthy of note.
Dig leads the mission this week and there's nothing wrong with that - the character is adored by fans and really shone in his solo outing here. His relationship with Lyla is revealed and whilst admittedly I do find it strange how they have gone from ex-husband and wife to sleeping together in a matter of minutes, it is nice to see Dig finally forming a close romantic bond with someone again following his heartbreak with Carly.
Elsewhere, the flashback story-line finally reveals Ivo's evil intentions - to get hold of the mirakuru formula to create super soldiers! Whilst verging on the ridiculous, this formula is described as being Japan's answer to the nuclear bomb and the grounding in WW2 really helps to make the substance seem feasible. Ivo himself certainly showed a darker side to his character this week and whilst I'm upset the show-runners didn't continue the morally-dubious vibe with the character, it is helpful to start building disdain for this iconic villain.
Elsewhere in this episode, the Roy/Thea story-line continued to bore, forcing Thea to break up with Roy in the least convincing manner before getting back together with him days later at her mother's request. It all felt forced and a bit rushed, however I am glad that we should be seeing the conclusion of Moira's trial story-line next week, as I have mentioned before it is easily the weakest sub-plot of the series.
We also saw the beginnings of Oliver and Felicity's romance this week, as Felicity's jealousy over Oliver sleeping with Isabel Rochev starts to show. Rochev was allowed more time to develop in this episode and the character certainly benefited from it - it felt realistic that her and Oliver would hook up considering the tension between the two.
Overall, this episode is another solid entry in an improved season, however it feels like the momentum has slowed following the eventful 'League of Assassins'. With Moira's trial reaching its conclusion in the next episode however, hopefully the twists continue to thrill.

STARRING: Deadshot

AWESOME MOMENTS:

• Roy fighting alongside the Arrow at the start was great and foreshadows his eventual transformation into Arsenal!
• Particle accelerator comments continue to build up hype around the entrance of Barry Allen
• I loved how Oliver adopted the name 'Tommy' to hide his identity when encountering Ivo - a subtle nod to both his best friend and his increasing wariness around strangers. He is becoming more street-smart.
• Anatoly arrives in the present!! What a character, so glad he will continue to be a presence in the flashbacks this season
• Slade is BACK and is shown to be growing closer to Shado (a couple I ship much more readily than Oliver and Shado)
• That H.I.V.E. name-drop though!! Foreshadowing series four's big-bad!!

EASTER EGGS

- Oliver claims to have said "please" to the Russians, though a close approximation was actually, "If you do this to my people, I will make your children orphans"

- This is the first episode to feature Russian soldiers as the main antagonists

- This episode marks the first appearance of Anatoly Knyazev in the present day, as he mostly serves as a recurring character on the flashback storyline of Season 2 and Season 5. The next time he appears in present-day will be in Season 5's "Bratva"

- During the first scene in the Arrowcave, Felicity and Oliver are watching a news report on the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator protests. The protesters claim that turning on the particle accelerator is not worth the risk, foreshadowing the creation of The Flash

- The title comes from a quotation, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer", which Al Pacino's character Michael Corleone attributes to his father Vito in the 1974 film The Godfather Part II

- Michael Germant (Bartender) will go on to appear in another 'Arrovwverse' TV show but as another, unrelated character. He appears in an episode of 'Legends of Tomorrow' as a German Sailor

- Moira Queen's lawyer is named Jean Loring, the name of Ray Palmer/The Atom's former love interest in the comics. Palmer would eventually be introduced in season three, but without any explicit connection to Loring

- The organization the Deadshot mentions that hired him to kill Andy Diggle, HIVE, would later be introduced and have a major role in season 4

- First appearance of Amanda Waller
- Amanda Waller was referred to as Mockingbird when her strike team captured Diggle at the beginning of the episode.  Mockingbird is the call sign of the mysterious leader of the Secret Six, a team made up of random strangers working together for a mysterious goal. The Secret Six first appeared in the Silver Age as a group of spies and adventurers.  In 2006, Gail Simone rebooted the concept as a group of supervillains working against the Secret Society of Supervillains.  Both Waller and Lex Luthor have led the Secret Six as Mockingbird

RATING: 7.9/10