Arrow The Dragon Television 

Five Thoughts on Arrow‘s “The Dragon”

By | April 20th, 2018
Posted in Television | % Comments

I have no idea why Arrow decided to wait until 2/3 of the way through its sixth season to give Ricardo Diaz any sort of spotlight. But thankfully, they did, and the villain finally has something resembling a storyline for the rest of the season. Let’s dig in.

1. Diaz’s tenacity

About half of this episode was made up of people telling Diaz he couldn’t do what he wanted, and then him doing exactly that. It was a little stale in parts, but it finally gave us a glimpse into what his true ‘superpower’ is – his tenacity. He just keeps going and going and going, even when the odds seem incredibly against him.

This episode also gave a little insight into why Diaz is so hellbent on having Star City under his thumb. If joining the Quadrant – the lamest name for a continental crime syndicate I’ve ever heard – was really Diaz’s play the entire time, then it makes a lot more sense as to how everything went down. It is also refreshing to see someone not targeting Ollie for personal reasons. This is business, straight up.

Side note: the son of the Quadrant member that Diaz smoked was so perfectly cast as a dipshit rich kid. He was practically saying “When I was rowing crew…” at the start of every sentence.

2. Laurel’s role

Laurel playing sidekick to Diaz still seems a little weird to me. Why would she want to be his partner? Is she just so evil that she needs to commit crime or she gets crazed? The way I see it, she survived multiversal travel, and escaped a troubled past. Here, she’s a beloved figure with no paper trail. Wouldn’t she embrace that? Or, hell, do a big score, then buy a little house someplace and live comfortably. But to go right back to her old ways with no real motives seems like lazy writing.

Or maybe this is just the moaning of a man who longs to retire. We’ll see.

3. Felicity freaking out

I thought the Felicity subplot this week stuck out like a sore thumb. There was nothing really all that off with it, tonally, but it didn’t fit with the Diaz stuff at all, especially because it showed Ollie fighting non-Diaz folks. It also did not give Emily Bett Rickards her best line readings of the series, as her strain to appear concerned wasn’t exactly believable.

But this did do two things that are useful going forward: it (somewhat) mended the bridge between Felicity and Curtis, and it established a reason for Felicity to want back into the Bunker. Both of those things could’ve been accomplished via other means, but you get what you get.

4. Jesse

I think many of us carry scars from childhood bullies in our lives, and those can truly shape who we become later in life. Diaz, an orphan, would have been especially susceptible to bullies, as he wouldn’t have a traditional support system to shield him from those situations. The idea of ‘Jesse’ driving so much of his life may seem a tad far fetched, but I totally buy it. In the context of this show, it’s as close to a down to Earth origin as a character is likely to have.

But beyond that, it also showed how far Diaz has strayed for normalcy. As if his slaughtering, truly brutal style of killing (maybe the most brutal the show has ever done) didn’t show you that he’s off the reservation, than the way he burned a father alive for being a prick as a child leaves no doubt. Diaz will do anything to get what he wants. And while that still doesn’t make him up to the Arrow villain standard, it goes a long way.

5. Diaz going forward

So where does Diaz go now? Well, with the backing of the Quadrant, he likely will have no trouble running Star City even more completely. Of course, Ollie will be on his tail, and he’ll likely fall at the end of the season, etc. But I am interested to see just how bad Star City can get under his watch. I don’t really see him doing too much more poking at Ollie, as there’s not much more to strip away from him. If anything, I would say that, in his own eyes, Diaz has won. So where does that leave his beef with Ollie? Likely one sided, and with less of an eye on him, Ollie is likely to find foothold. We’ll see…


//TAGS | Arrow

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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