Arrow Review: Doppelganger (Season 6 Episode 15)

In what feels like a vast improvement from Arrow Season 6 Episode 14, Arrow Season 6 Episode 15, “Doppelganger,” provides a positive shift in focus to Original Team Arrow, Thea’s return to the field, and Roy’s return to Star City, which allows for a few character moments away from the action.

Roy’s return and Thea suiting up again serves as great distractions from the parts of the season that aren’t working (the villains and that “civil war”). Their presence both in the hour and in the bunker is a stark reminder of how great their chemistry has always been with Original Team Arrow.

Seeing Thea out in the field despite slight disagreements with Oliver about how to do things is terrific and makes me miss everything about OTA and Thea on missions together. I missed seeing her interact with this side of these characters.

It feels like she’s been holed up in the City Hall setting for so long since she came out of her coma that there was some significant stagnation in her growth. By the end of “Doppelganger,” there are signs that her story is going somewhere, which might include some residual League business it seems.

The return of Queen sibling moments, ranging from heartwarming to slightly broody, is also welcome. They are breaks from the action, slowing things down to moments that let them process and indicate where things are going next, especially when Oliver talks to Thea about going with Roy.

Oliver: But you’ve seen what having Felicity in my life has done for me. You deserve the same kind of happiness, Speedy.

Where we got a Queen-Smoak family moment last week, we get an Olicity moment this week that shows the importance of these moments for their vigilante lifestyles.

The couple finds a moment in the bunker that goes to the heart of their dynamic: they confide in each other about what they’re going through (as they have for a while) and they rely on each other to keep them grounded.

That is what Felicity does for Oliver as he works through the guilt of leaving Roy behind in that hotel room. Their moment also hints at his uncertainty about whether he wants to give up the mantle of Green Arrow eventually.

It takes that moment between Oliver and Felicity to make sense of Diggle’s concern about not having the hood handed back to him yet. Of course, there are also questions about what this means for Digg and whether this desire to take up the Green Arrow title comes from a sense of obligation or a sense of identity.

If it’s the latter, I hope we eventually see Digg come to terms with Spartan, which is who he seemingly was always meant to be: saving the city under his vigilante alias and under that new and improved helmet.

I’m still not buying into the villains’ story, though.

They still aren’t inspiring the Adrian Chase-level of craziness, craftiness, or sheer ominousness. Not to mention the whole “family” that Diaz is building doesn’t strike the ominous note that Slade’s did when he created those Mirakuru soldiers or recruited Isabel Rochev and Sebastian Blood.

The bar was set last season, and it seems like a continuing struggle to get to that level of masterful manipulation and mind games. There was a singular focus in terms of villains last season with a mix of villains of the week and the one big bad, which may play a huge factor in the seemingly unsatisfying development this season.

But there’s still more than a few episodes left. Time will tell if there’s something up their sleeve.

A Few Stray Observations

• Where Roy is unwilling to compromise and give up anything about Oliver and the Green Arrow, even under threat of death, Rene was amenable to revealing details about the vigilante lifestyle. An interesting (probably inadvertent) comparison.
• “You don’t trust me. I don’t trust you. I would rather be out in the field short-handed.” Dinah learning that you can’t just hop back in when it works and forget everything you put Oliver and OTA through.

Anyone else feel the vast improvement over Arrow Season 6 Episode 14? How about Thea’s return to the team and Roy being back in Star City?

What did you think of this episode of Arrow? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Arrow airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

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