Arrow decides to leave everything on the table during this episode, titled “The Devil’s Greatest Trick,” leaving fans wanting more. All the leads, teases and plots of recent episodes come together in one explosive hour where the real villain of season 6 is (finally) revealed.
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Hide and Villain Seek
The metaphorical timer on Cayden’s massive bomb is in its final hours. However, like most of the plot involving the bomb this season, it doesn’t come to much. Although, in this case, Arrow has a very good reason.
Oliver and the team decode the doctored video of Oliver “killing” Cayden’s son. They manage to show it to the bug-eyed evil genius. This finally convinces Cayden that one of his allies has betrayed him. Under threat of really detonating the bomb, Cayden forces New Team Arrow and Old Team Arrow to gather together Black Siren, Anatoly and Ricardo Diaz under one roof to discover who is manipulating everyone.
While there is some “tension” if Dinah will kill Black Siren or capture her, the hunt is really just played for fun, or more accurately bad-assery. In fact, NTA and OTA gather together the trio so quickly and effectively, that it’s kind of befuddling why this group has been stumping them all season. Yet, that’s a small price to pay to see Oliver and Anatoly trade verbal barbs again.
Eventually, everyone is gathered in an abandoned theater with the bomb set up on stage. Even William, worried his other parent is going to die in a huge explosion, shows up. The stage is set for Cayden to do his best “Jesus at the Last Supper” impression with “One of you has/will betray me” speech and he totally takes things to their melodramatic extreme.
Will the Real Villain Please Stand Up Already?
Since it’s Michael Emerson in the role, Cayden confronting his former “friends” is a lot more entertaining than it should be in reality. Yet, there is something wonderful tense about the idea of all these heroes and villains being locked in the same room with a literal and metaphorical bomb hanging over them. Cayden tries to get a confession out of his former partners but neither Diaz or Anatoly is budging.
Black Siren eventually pipes up with a reminder that Katie Cassidy is so much fun as a villain when Arrow wants to use her. The show has dialed back on Black Siren a bit in season 6 but here, Black Siren and her morality are under the spotlight. Laurel confesses that she’s the one who killed Cayden’s son but Cayden’s not buying it. Cayden knows that Black Siren is much softer than she makes herself appear and she could never pull off this big of a scheme. This is music to the ears of Quentin (who helped bring Black Siren into this meeting).
Yet, it doesn’t matter because by getting close to Cayden (and the bomb detonator he is holding) it causes the detonator to short out the necklace that was dampening Black Siren’s powers. Given full range to scream, Black Siren breaks loose and neutralizes almost everyone with one big blast of her powers.
It’s mass chaos as everyone comes back to consciousness slowly. Diaz and Anatoly escape in the mayhem. Black Siren, meanwhile, gets tracked down by Dinah and in the struggle, she’s shot. Quentin comes across the evil twin of his deceased daughter and whisks her away to safety. As a character move, this is completely doomed to fail, but as a show move, it’s brilliant. Arrow needs all the twisted Black Siren and Quentin scenes it can muster.
Meanwhile back the theater, Cayden is left alone with William and Oliver. Cayden decides that he’s still going to blow up the bomb because the person who really killed his son is in the vicinity. This sparks a beautiful little moment between Oliver and William where Oliver tries to comfort his son in the face of their impending death. (Enough praise can’t be lauded on Stephen Amell for his portrayal of Oliver as a father.) This display is so moving that Cayden finally comes to his senses and realizes he’s as much to blame for his son’s death as the real killer. Cayden gives himself up willingly to Oliver and is arrested.
The Hidden Dragon
With Cayden behind bars, the two halves of Team Arrow scatter once again. (Sidenote: Rene being righteous and demeaning to Oliver needs to end NOW.) New Team Arrow seems focused on hunting down Black Siren, while Original Team Arrow believes, like Cayden, she wasn’t the real villain. Of course, Original Team Arrow is right.
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Cayden is left alone in his cell when the security camera flickers off. Richardo Diaz enters the room and reveals that he is the one behind everything. Diaz is the mastermind. Unlike Cayden, Diaz has no designs on destroying the city. He wanted to shake things up just enough (and he has) to step into Star City and rule it. Cayden played his part perfectly but now Diaz is taking over. All of this is delivered as Diaz kills Cayden and walks casually out of the cell.
It’s way too early to tell if Diaz will rise to the heights of Adrian Chase as an Arrow villain. Yet Kirk Acevedo does a tremendous job with being more threatening and powerful than Cayden in this scene. It almost makes all of that time with Diaz sulking in the background worth it. Almost.
Did you see the Diaz twist coming? Are you excited for the next half of season 6? Will you miss Cayden James? Will Quentin be able to redeem Black Siren?
Arrow season 6 will return Thursday, March 1 at 9/8c on The CW. Want more news? Like our Arrow Facebook page!
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
