Arrow Season 2, Episode 6 “Keep Your Enemies Closer”
Written by Ben Sokolowski & Beth Schwartz
Directed by Guy Bee
Airs Wednesday nights at 8pm ET on The CW
Let’s face it: Diggle’s stories have never been that interesting. Whether it was his silly relationship with his brother’s dead wife, or his anger towards Deadshot that only creeped up a couple times a year, Arrow‘s often struggled to make what happens to Diggle feel important in any way, shape or form. That being said, “Keep Your Enemies Closer” is an entertaining little side adventure into John Diggle’s life, even if it really doesn’t solve any of the larger problems with the construction of his character. At the very least, “Keep Your Enemies Closer” is another entertaining, world-building episode of Arrow, albeit one that suffers a little obviously from padding its relationships with unnecessary drama.
“Keep Your Enemies Closer” does a number of things really well: it weaves Oliver’s past on the boat well with his still-kind-of-secret Russian past (though it appears helping the bearded man and his friends escape will win him some future good will), with just enough of Diggle’s personal dramas sprinkled on top to keep things moving along. Of course, it takes some narrative machinations to get everyone on the same playing field in Russia – even more when bringing Isabel along for a little Oliver/Felicity teasing (and Oliver sexy time; “I don’t have a lot of time” he tells Isabel as she throws him down on the bed) – but once the plan to escape from the prison kicks off, the episode finds a groove and rides it through the rest of the hour.
There are a few exceptions: like the forced Oliver/Felicity/Isabel love triangle, the short Thea/Roy breakup was a frustrating little side excursion “Keep Your Enemies Closer” really didn’t need. At least the love triangle will probably play into later episodes this season (hence the title of this episode) – Thea breaking up with Roy because a lawyer tells her to just feels completely out of character for her, a momentary relapse to the wildly inconsistent Thea of season one, who whined and “rebelled” and then whined some more for attention.
Getting back to Diggle, I’m of two minds: “Keep Your Enemies Closer” certainly finds interesting things for Diggle to do, working with Deadshot and showing off his Biceps of Honor every moment possible. However, Diggle’s stories really don’t have a whole lot of connection to the rest of what’s going on: H.I.V.E. and their nefarious activities could prove to be the bridge between his world and Oliver’s, that his “love” for Carly and his promise that “it was always you” to Lyla can’t deliver. There’s always potential when he’s chasing his brother’s killers: the idea of vengeance is a much stronger idea on a comic book show than that of Diggle dating or not dating some girl.
The same applies to Oliver: when he’s hanging out with the Russians or trying to make sense of what happened to Sara, “Keep Your Enemies Closer” is a lot more interesting than when he’s trading barbs with Isabel or hurt looks with Felicity. Yes, Felicity and Oliver are adorable and we all want to see them give it the ol’ college try, but they’re laying it on a little thick with the self-righteous “I can’t do what I do and date you” crap, aren’t they? (and seriously: fuck the flashback love triangle. Fuck that annoying little sniveling subplot) There’s a way to grow a relationship between those two: unfortunately, Arrow‘s penchant for cheesy dialogue (see: every line Diggle and Lyla share in the bedroom scene at the end) makes most of these attempts at romanticism feel clumsy and juvenile, the rare moment where it feels like Arrow is laying it on a little too broad and thick.
Of the six episodes so far this season, “Keep Your Enemies Closer” is probably the weakest: but it’s still miles and miles better than 90% of what transpired just 12 months ago on this show. Even when its digging into some of its less interesting stories, Arrow is just a fun show these days, continuing to embrace its comic book roots in exciting ways (the quick flash to Lyla in prison as Diggle describes her disappearance, the staging of Diggle and Deadshot in what I like to call the Punishment Freezer), never letting a minute go by without the crack of a jaw – or just a smart-ass remark.
Other thoughts/observations:
– Diggle hears that Russian prisons don’t like black people: “Shock-er.” Such a great line delivery.
– one thing that the island hasn’t changed: Oliver’s penchant for bedding any woman he comes in regular contact with.
– Loved Deadshot and Diggle’s final scene together. That’s an idea I think this show should get behind: what would happen if Diggle started getting season-one-Oliver dark and murder-y?
– Harper and Quentin have an awesome wink-wink moment when they both realize they’re working with Arrow… but no best friend hug this time around (sad face).