It’s the year of Diggle and it’s about damn time. From this moment forward I will be referring John Diggle as Yoda Diggle. David Ramsey gave his best, raw, and most emotional performance of the series. And you know Diggle enacted his Yoda powers because I even tolerated Laurel and Ray Palmer this episode. Stunt coordinator makes a brilliant directing debut and the pulls out the physical and emotional punches in this episode.
Last week I wrote about all things Olicity, but this week it will be all about John Diggle. Further reaffirming my goal of obtaining a bear hug from David Ramsey.
John “Yoda” Diggle
Since the start of Arrow, I have considered John Diggle to be the moral compass of the show. Felicity has been the voice of reason, but Diggle is your goto person for everything in life. However, much like Felicity internal breakdown last week, Diggle is forced to test his morality guidelines when he learns his brother Andy is alive. Prior learning of Andy being “not so dead”, Diggle was already struggling with Andy’s sordid past as a kingpin. Every idealized view Diggle has had his whole life about his brother came crashing down around him, and that was before he learned he was alive. The truth is, we all have people in our life that we place on a pedestal and usually it is a family member. There is an inherent trust, unconditional acceptance and a veiled view of that person’s faults despite what morally they believe. That is family trumps morality. However for a person, like Diggle, who values morals; when those two ideas conflict with one another, this creates an inner conflict for Diggle like he has never faced. And creates some of the best dramatic moments for David Ramsey.
After learning Andy is alive, John Diggle is now faced with a brother who not only was a criminal kingpin, but that he intentionally chose that life over his own family. Specifically Carly and A.J. This is in complete contrast to John, who for months gave up Oliver’s friendship for kidnapping Lyla and endangering his daughter Sara. Some lines cannot be crossed and for John family is one of them. One may question though that John has forgiven Oliver. Lets really look at that though, he didn’t readily forgive Oliver. Six months had passed, and only when Felicity made the two men confront their issues, did John start coming around. The other difference being, Oliver was remorseful for his actions and asked John to let him earn his trust back. Let’s not be fooled that John has his full trust in Oliver yet, however, Oliver is to John what he wishes he could have Andy these past 8 years.
Diggle absolutely refuses to entertain any type of family reunion with Andy knowing that Andy is working for Damien Darkh. The picture is black and white to John, while all the others particularly Oliver see shades of grey. In fact, Oliver is practically pleading Andy’s case to John: mind control, blackmail, or death threats of a loved one. During the police gala, Laurel bonds with Diggle over the “sibling coming back from the dead thing”. I will interject here and state that while I do not like Laurel, I don’t mind that Diggle opened up to her as to why Andy’s betrayal cut so deep. Oliver has already taken a side, Felicity can’t relate to this, Thea is still young, but Laurel has been the closest to this type of situation. Which leads to David Ramsey’s emmy reel scene. John Diggle cannot reconcile the fact that his brother chose to stay away from his son and wife for the past 8 years. Diggle lives with the pain of telling his young nephew that his father was never coming back. And then to learn that it was intentional, burns the hole deeper. I legitimately started tearing up when David Ramsey started crying. For Diggle, our moral compass, there is nothing decent or honest about that action at all.
My other favorite scene was the confrontation between Diggle and Oliver. As much as this was about John Diggle, this was about Oliver Queen. John and Oliver return from a battle with Damien Darkh and the Ghosts nearly resulting in a major injury for Oliver. Diggle is over his brother, won’t put anyone else in the line of fire for him, and berates Oliver for being blind to family all the time. However, Oliver Queen has turned a new leaf and is all about hope for a person’s soul. In fact he starts getting rather insistent and emotional about it.To the point that he is shouting at Diggle. Because you see, Oliver still has a darkness inside of him that is capable of rearing its ugly head when triggered. In fact Oliver was considering getting into bed with Damien Darkh in order to take him down from the inside. Oliver needs to believe, that there is always a chance for forgiveness or even redemption, if he ever went dark again. Yoda Diggle, bless his heart, laying his truth bombs everywhere tells Oliver every fight doesn’t need to be in the dark, it can be fought in the light of day.
While Team Arrow are on a mission to extract Andy Diggle from Damien Darkh, Diggle saves Oliver again and delivers my favorite line of the night “I had to come save my brother,
”
Oliver’s brotherhood with John Diggle is just as essential to him as his relationship with Felicity. And John needs Oliver just as much, he wouldn’t have joined or carried on this crusade for justice if it weren’t for him. Oliver/Diggle Brotherhood for the win.
Other musings/thoughts:
- Thea’s bloodlust is back with a vegenace and it reared its ugly head while she was on a date with Preston. By the way, I like them as a couple, maybe a little bit more than I did with Roy. That aside, father of the year Malcom Merlyn makes an appearance along with a pedophile’s case file and urges Thea to quench the thirst. Thank God Thea doesn’t listen and tries to find another way. And boy does she which leads to a surprising twist. Her blood lust was quenched when Damien Darkh tried to kill her. In fact it completely backfired on him. Seems like he is not infallible after all.
- Ray Palmer doesn’t want to go back to work, and trying to find his calling. He drops on by with this flying suit to help out Team Arrow and I am not annoyed by him because Diggle. My one complaint is he spent too much time in the Oliver and Felicity’s loft.
- Felicity as usual was awesome. I loved her calling out all of Oliver’s bad ideas that involved him going rogue. Including dating The Huntress, ha! That got Oliver’s attention. She reminds him that he isn’t running mayor to take down Darkh, but to to inspire hope into the city as Oliver Queen. I love that Felicity also talked to Digg about Oliver’s dumb idea. She understands that he needs his brother to talk some sense into him also. But lets be honest, when he looks at Felicity this way, we know he was going to listen to her:
- Damien Darkh continues his bad ass and evil ways by giving his Ghosts pills to swallow that will keep them compliant. I love the implication that Darkh watches Disney movies. When he called Thea Merida, I starting laughing out loud. Darkh also confronts Oliver, the mayoral candidate, and “asks” him to work with him. In a proud moment, Oliver stares down Darkh during his speech at the bay, and state that we will fight for our city in the light of day and out in the open. Darkh is not happy, and Felicity is so in trouble.
- Can we talk about the stunt scenes!! It is obvious that James Bamford directed this episode. I loved the fact that each stunt sequence was seamless as if it were shot in 1 take. Particularly, Diggle and Oliver’s fight sequence with the Ghosts. The camera angles might have seemed wonky to some people, but I thought that is what brought authenticity to the stunt scenes as a whole.
- I’m still not feeling the flashbacks, but I cringed when Oliver started whipping that guy ( I still can’t remember his name). I didn’t think he would actually go through with it. Also flashback lady was a dive instructor? Random, but I am sure it will be important.
- Olicity is a power couple and they look the part all nicely dressed up. I was laughing at Felicity’s unintentional innuendo at ehat Oliver does at night in leather tying people up. And then that lady walked by. I can see the scandal headlines now.
If i missed anything, I am sorry, but I wanted to focus on John Diggle because quite frankly after being sidelines last year, it is a travesty. Sound off below!! And I leave with the heart and soul of Arrow and the reason I watch this show:
your viewing party 