Over the course of these liveblogs, we’ve come to the conclusion that on Arrow, Diggle is pretty much our favorite character. We often joke about Diggle Beating Ass being the CW’s next hot show. Looks like we might actually be correct with this one, as tonight Diggle and Ollie square off, and our money is on Diggle.
The thrust of the episode is that Diggle’s buddy and commanding officer in Afghanistan Ted Gaynor, played by John Chrichton Ben Browder, is in Ollie’s little book of People I Am Going To Impale With Flying Sharp Pointy Things. Diggle takes issue with somebody he knows personally being turned into a pincushion, so it’s on.
Considering that in the DCU, Ted Gaynor is an obscure foe of the Blackhawks, we’re guessing that the Digs doesn’t turn out to be in the right here.
Meanwhile, Thea thinks her mom is banging Captain Jack Harkness Malcolm Merlyn, and probably handles that situation in exactly the wrong way, and Tommy and Laurel also have dinner with Malcolm, which even the official plot summaries are describing as “awkward.”
All the fun starts here at 8pm EST, so weigh in on the comments on how you think the inevitable Diggle/Ollie fight goes down. Our bet is Diggle in a knockout.
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Crichton eh.
I may have to watch tonight’s episode.
Come for the Crichton, stay for Diggle, beating ass.
Damn. Diggle diggled Dexter’s Debra, dudes.
And he did it with this song.
The winner of the Ollie/Diggle fight should get to name the nightclub. So it will either be called “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free” or “Diggle’s Wiggle Room”.
My fiancee wants either Diggle’s Jiggles, or Bill Cosby guest starring and building Diggle’s Jigglers.
Totally voting for Diggle’s Wiggle Room. Love it.
Did Ollie infer to Diggle that he wasn’t on the island the entire 5 years? Where else would he have gotten a message from his father?
I want to see Ollie and Diggle fight.
This proves that everyone on the list is evil.
I like the show, and I get why it’s laid out this way, but I hate the recap followed by the recap.
Armored cars have radios?
They got the model with the radio instead of bulletproof glass
Anybody else only hear weird static during the opening?
Got that too, probably a satellite problem. Either that or we’re TV Eskimo brothers.
It’s so cold out the radio signal is like “f that noise”.
So they forced the guys out with tear gas, and then shot them? Douchey.
Doing p90X this episode now.
Ollie does P90X for a light morning workout.
but that apple wasnt Paleo approved
I like to think as a hobby Ollie goes around challenging fitness douches to competitions and making them cry.
Aaaaaand we’ve got Blackhawks!
Diggle, you ARE being an ass here.
He took Thea’s pills by accident.
Hey, private mercenary groups are always trustworthy.
He’s being an ass, not tripping balls.
Don’t tip him off Diggle..don’t do it…
Diggle’s so going to do it.
Callow Ollie with a gun. This will end well.
Guy looks like Bradley Whitford there.
You’re not seriously claiming that being a dick to your son made him grow up, Malcolm.
Well he is a sociopath so the logic works for him
You’re first job being hired by your super rich best friend.
To be fair, that is a bit of a stop forward for him.
“Tommy, you’re still my son. Which means I own you. Even though I don’t give you money.”
Stun darts? Man, that’s like “You’re not even worth the effort to maim.”
Or someone found a copy of “Dishonored”
Does that mean neck-stabbing? Because I’m down with that.
Not exactly an M Night Shaymalan level twist there.
Yeah, but I’m glad they didn’t try to get fifteen minutes of drama out of it.
Agreed
ahh im watching cable and im getting weird static clicking noises
Something is off over at The CW.
Hey, Diggle, it’s just like old times: Ollie doing something insane to ditch you.
Is it just me or did that sign outside that building say Blackhawks Suicide Squadron? Probably just my imagination.
Blackhawks, at least.
Submariner? WRONG UNIVERSE DOUCHEBAG.
“Dad used to say his saddest day would be when I turned 18.” Oh, Thea. I’m sure you made him much sadder.
WHAT THE HELL KIND OF SECRET CONSPIRACY HAS EACH OTHER’S PHOTOS AND NAMES ON THEIR CELL PHONES? Seriously, white collar criminals are idiots.
“Carl, stop trying to help the poor people!”
My word as a guy that kidnapped your husband isn’t enough?
“Fine, fine, I’ll get you his ear. It’ll still be warm.”
Ten bucks Thea thinks her mom is boning Malcolm.
You’d think the Queens could hire Thea a proper voice coach…
I do like Farscape vets getting more work.
Well, that guy doesn’t have “Stereotypical Scary Black Guy” written all over him…
Wait, Ollie committed corporate grade wire fraud in the pilot, and he can’t hack a mainframe?
“You don’t want to believe it because you have a perfect image of Mom in your head.” No, after ten episodes of her being awful to him, he’s probably not a fan.
Thea is always one step forward 2 steps back… Just when she starts being cool she starts acting like a strung out bitch.
Yeah, pretty much. Willa Holland needs something to do and soon.
New take on speedy?
Speedy is her nickname.
he called her speedy in the pilot
With her nickname being speedy that means that Roy Harper is either going to call himself Red Arrow or Arsenal.
Ollie… Two… PLUS TWO… equals… ?
Heh, good that they didn’t try to drag out that whole “Dressing Like The Enemy” bit.
you’d think if your best friends dad was on the list the name would pop up at you…
Hooray, Felicity!
That librarian look works well for her.
Ollie, Felicity is not stupid. And your excuses are bullshit. Just saying.
i would think the questions about the arrow would have been a little alarming
Thought they were going to do a clever Merlin Reference with King Arthur… nope just come out and say it
Yeah, this show is not subtle.
Malcolm just won Worst Parent on this show. Which is saying something.
“His mother taught him the world was a harsh place. Well, I taught him that. By killing her. So, yeah.”
You know what makes good dinner conversation with your son? Talking about your dead wife and destroying the one thing she cared about
“Hey, it was great catching up. So if I could just take a fat dump on your mother’s legacy…”
Who stores everything about their heist on a thumb drive?
the people who would, would be the same people who dont know what a thumb drive is
“Wait, you mean it just doesn’t hide it on the computamatron?”
“He’s hit?” HE HAS AN ARROW IN HIS THROAT.
Although it’s nice to see impale-happy Ollie back.
Thea, you’re not seriously throwing a rave.
So Thea’s favorite genre of music is “earrape?”
I’m gonna miss seeing Tommy yell at the construction crew.
“Here’s a new drug! It’s called ‘Vertigo’.” Yeah, that sounds SO APPEALING.
Apart from being a reference, do you think Vertigo will lead into an Arrow-fied version of Count Vertigo? Maybe a drug lord?
Count Vertigo hint hinting?
I think they’ve confirmed he’ll be the villain next week, which should be interesting.
That is, like, the worst possible dress they could have made her wear.
“I’M SAD SO I TAKE DRUGS.” Yeah, because something called Vertigo is going to fix your problems.
Oh, Diggle, looks like you’re the one getting the guilt trip!
Holy shit, guys, this Weight Watchers ad. “I came from Russia, and gained weight. Because I wasn’t starving anymore!”
“I gained weight because it wasnt a 3 month wait list for bread or milk”
In Russia weight gains you.
What are the chances that further on in the Thea taking drugs plot line she tearfully yells at ollie “I learned it from you!”
I hope it leads to an OD
You’re not seriously paraphrasing Rambo, guy.
Heh, go Diggle.
Yeah, they did not plan this one out.
First the USB drive and now this. I don’t think they are cut out for this armed robbery thing.
Aaaaaand now they’re dead, which just reinforces the point.
Neck snapping Ollie! Nice!
I would not play pistol chicken with a guy who just shot you with a grenade launcher.
Thea having a sudden personality change would be the icing on this cake.
Vertigo is a hell of a drug
She is totally gonna blame her mother for this.
IT’S YOUR FAULT! YOU GAVE ME A CAR! AND CHEATED ON DAD!
I would have laughed so hard if she drove off a cliff.
Oh, we can DREAM.
What a ripoff. I wanted to see Ollie and Diggle throw down.
Yeah, having a little lover’s spat is just not the same thing.
“I’m fine. They did my hair.”
Ollie needs to start yelling at his family. I’m getting tired of this passive crap.
Seconded.
“I think, in his own way, he sees himself as protecting you. By being a dick.”
How much you wanna bet Malcolm went to Ollie’s island?
Man, now that I made a gay subtext joke, it’s all that I’m seeing in this scene.
AHAHAHAHHA! Thea finally gets what’s coming to her.
…WHOA. Holy crap. Sensei is a douche!
I have a feeling that something even bigger is going on here. I think they were testing him to see if he has what it takes to receive assassin training.
Yeah, that does seem to be the direction they were heading in.
All in all, an OK episode. The show really, really needs to figure out a way to more closely tie together its A plot and its B plot, because until it does, it’s just going to be good TV, not great TV, and there is the potential there.
They should try and make the villain of the week episodes their own thing and develop the main plot in separate episodes.
Then it would be awesome episode, Thea whining for forty minutes, awesome episode.
Agent Lee?
Well, I did not care for him on Fringe, so this should give me a reason to really not like him…
I give it a C. The episodes aren’t as good when they don’t feature a super villain for Ollie to square off against.
My major complaint is that most of the characters are either cool and interesting or repellant. I do like the sensei as a traitor plot since it is one of the first real character twists that I did not see coming.
Yeah, the series seems to be making an effort to reinvent crappy back-bench supervillains, and it often does a pretty good job of it. The show is consistently solid, but I think it’s still finding its feet.
Very few shows knock it out of the park in the first season. My only problem is that they seem to enjoy killing off adversaries… I can buy dead-shot not being dead and coming back with a replacement eye.. But if Ollie doesn’t slow his roll on off-ing people we will have a season 2 episode with “the Angler” at this rate.
True, although considering how deep they reached for THIS episode I’m not worried about that quite as much.