One of my hopes for Arrow's return from the mid-season finale was having the show commit to the splitting of Team Arrow, and it seems like "Divided" delivers on the promise, or at wants to truly entertain the idea of it. It's not much of a surprise when the newcomers will have to rejoin Team Arrow having learned something along the way, but my main interest will be the path they take getting there. Cliché or not, the journey is as important as the destination. The fact that Arrow operates on a 22-or so episode season means the show can spend more time on exploring different status quos.
That's not to say "Divided" is a particularly great episode, but it does a lot to move the show forward to a position where the Green Arrow is not the only person running a vigilante team in Star City, which interests me a great degree. The show maintaining real-time as it went into the winter break (about five weeks or so) is an interesting choice but somewhat hampers the storytelling, as it puts everyone in a holding pattern despite the fact that Cayden James and his associates quietly consolidate power while Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity don't really do much but patrol, and Curtis, Rene, and Dinah mostly return to their normal lives until the episode gives them a reason to return to duty, albeit, on their own path.
Most of the episode involves the characters learning about things the audience already knows, but luckily it is framed in a way that gives everyone some agency throughout the episode. Oliver wants the team to go it alone and thinks they can ambush Cayden James alone before discovering he's vastly outnumbered. Meanwhile the episode whizzes by Rene and Dinah (and some extension Curtis) trying to just keep to their day-to-day lives until they're pulled back in knowing Cayden James knows everyone's identity and likely pulled strings to force Rene to testify against Oliver to the FBI. Feeling like Cayden James is also the reason for their newfound woes, the three newcomers take it upon themselves to form their own vigilante team.
There's not a lot to say about "Divided", as it acts more to tee-up a status quo where Wild Dog, Black Canary, and Mister Terrific operate separately and try to go their own way separate from Oliver. Much of the episode also focuses on Oliver trying obstinately at times to win the day with little help except with Diggle (who can't be out in the field yet) and Felicity, but ultimately failing. Cayden James' team is the stronger right now, but cracks and fractures are starting to form, especially around Vigilante, now that the secret of the bunker surveillance is known to everyone. The show continues to be vague about Cayden James' secret motivation and the unfortunate lack of Samanda Watson and the FBI breathing down Oliver's neck makes the whole FBI plotline feel like a half-hearted reason to divide the team, especially given the show decides to forego something as simple as playing the audio clip that Curtis discovers in the FBI database.
Either way, if the previous status quo this season was anything to go by (Diggle as Green Arrow), I hope that Arrow can keep up the momentum by exploring other varied aspects and taking advantage of the longer episode count. I can see potential stories already, exploring how the newcomers have to fail and learn from out from under Oliver's wing, while Oliver might increasingly have to realize he cannot carry his crusade alone. Hopefully they last for a decent length to give the characters time to take their journeys.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Again, as much as the FBI investigation plotline seems to be the plot device that spurs Diggle as Green Arrow or the team splitting up, it feels barebones as all it does is act as a plot device. The show wants to communicate that it is danger for Oliver as mayor and Green Arrow but never really provides any true weight to the danger.
- There's a small plotline with Thea and Quentin worth mentioning, but that also tees-up a possible fracture point with Black Siren and Cayden James, but it's fairly subdued but a nice performance from Willa Holland and Paul Blackthorne.
- They're getting a lot of mileage out of the Helix HQ set at least.
- Glad to see Curtis is probably the most insulted of the newcomers, seeing he was basically on the team longest of the three and still treated like he hasn't been through some of the same stuff Oliver, Diggle, and Felicity have been through.
- There's another long single take action scene, so it's nice to see it being continued through this season.
