I’d like to quote the incredible Larry David to describe tonight’s episode. It was, “pretty, pretty, pretty good…”

I think much of the reason it was a good episode is because we finally got closure on some things and we’re now ramping up to move in a new, fresh direction.

Since it’s award season, I thought it would be fun to mix things up and do a little award ceremony of our own for tonight’s episode. So, without further ado, let’s get started…

The award for Biggest Knucklehead goes to…William Queen.

Look, I totally get it. He’s a kid dealing with the recent death of his mom and he’s trying to grasp the fact that his dad is the Green Arrow and he’s worried he might lose him, too. But…man…tonight was about as close to receiving a Darwin Award as you can get.

Before Ollie leaves, William asks him why he has to go and Ollie literally tells him there’s a madman on the loose who is threatening to blow up the ENTIRE city with a very large bomb. Now, you would think after hearing that and listening to his dad’s plea for him to stay put/safe in the hideout, that he would. Nope. Not William. What does he do? He overhears Ollie’s location and decides to sneak out and find him.

That’s risky enough. But then William does something that was so unbelievably stupid, it was truly remarkable. After arriving at the location and seeing the intense standoff between Ollie, Cayden and everyone in the room, William just straight up WALKS OUT AND INTO THE MIX OF EVERYONE. He doesn’t even hang back and try to hide—just instantly puts himself and the others in the worst possible position imaginable.

The award for Most Confusing Age goes to…the actor playing Cayden James’ son.

They painted the image tonight that Cayden was not the most attentive dad—often missing important moments in his sons’ life, choosing instead to work. The most notable moments seemed to be important high school basketball games. James’ son was apparently 18 when he was killed, but he looks to be pushing 35 when we see him in these flashbacks.

The award for Biggest Head Scratcher goes to…the lack of calling police.

It didn’t dawn on me until this episode—and maybe I missed it in another one—but why wouldn’t the team have just called the police on Cayden once they knew where he was with the bomb? Seems to me that they could have gotten the SWAT and bomb team in there pretty quick, right?

The award for Just Bury the Hatchet Already goes to…Rene, Curtis and Dinah.

Guys, c’mon…you do good work when you’re combining efforts with Ollie and his team. Enough of this “we’re doing our own thing, but still working directly with you, Hoss” stuff. Curtis and Rene came through big time tonight. I think Dinah and her new bloodlust might be preventing them for doing what’s right and realigning with Ollie. Just my opinion.

The award for It’s Beyond Weird and Endangering Everyone goes to…Quentin.

Buddy—you’ve spent so much time and energy on someone you think is your daughter. I don’t even know, at this point, maybe it is, but she’s certainly changed and is no longer a good person. Let’s say you achieve whatever it is you’re trying to do and “get your daughter back.” She has a lot to answer for and you being a cop should know that she can’t, and shouldn’t, be able to just walk away from all the bad she’s done—she’s literally been killing people.

The award for Best Up-And-Coming Villain goes to…Diaz.

Diaz making a big entrance tonight, baby! I kept wondering if he would eventually take on a bigger role and was pleasantly surprised when we saw that he will be. In fact, it looks like he’s going to be THE bad guy.

I loved this transition of villains and storyline tonight. I felt like the current story was getting a bit stale. I’m really excited to see where things will go with Diaz. He clearly has a very strong hold on the city already, with a number of its powerful and influential people already in his back pocket.

Not only was I happy to see Cayden finally get what was coming to him, but it was even more satisfying that he was outsmarted—like, big time. Cayden was such a pretentious butthead that he completely missed that someone closest to him was the one to orchestrate his demise. What’s even sweeter is that Cayden was the guy to bring Diaz in. Hats off to Diaz.

Let’s keep this momentum going!

Until next time,
Matt
 

Matt Ross covers Arrow as a part of the #DCTV Couch Club. Catch new episodes of Arrow Thursdays at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. CST) on The CW.