‘Arrow’ season 5, episode 4 review: Was Diggle released from prison?

We cannot say that almost anything in Wednesday night’s “Arrow” episode was particularly surprising, and as we write this, we’re not quite sure still if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Going into the hour, there were two things that, at least in our mind, were safe bets to happen. First and foremost, we were going to see Oliver Queen bust John Diggle out of prison. Then, we’d have the return of Rory a.k.a. Ragman to the team after learning that Felicity is behind the death of his entire family at Havenrock. Both produced some emotional moments, and some of the better performances from David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards we’ve seen in the series. Yet, we’re in exactly the place that we thought we would be.

We suppose that the one big surprise of the night was seeing Wild Dog be captured by Tobias Church rather than killed. With this many heroes and with Adrian potentially becoming Vigilante moving forward, it only made sense for the show to off someone. We thought briefly that it could be Rory given his distance from the team, but instead the worst thing we’ve got is Wild Dog off captured and tormented. The next episode, presumably, will be about finding a way to release him.

As for Diggle, most of the prison break stuff was fun, action-packed, and well-constructed. We don’t have a problem with Oliver Queen outsmarting dozens of military personnel just because this is the sort of thing he does now on a daily basis. The heart-to-heart with Diggle allowed him to see that there may not be any way for him to exorcise the demons he feels with killing Andy, but he can at least try by doing some good on the outside.

Still, everything about him being a fugitive from justice at the moment is true. Where is the guy going to go? What can he really do? It doesn’t feel like much, but we figure that he can at least don the mask, and continue to see his family. Tonight the show referenced John Jr. directly, which is an aftereffect of everything that happened with Flashpoint over on “The Flash.”

Grade: B. The action in this episode was outstanding, as were the performances. We just don’t think there was any one moment we will be remembering down the line.