Arrow - S6E13 - The Devil’s Greatest Trick

Previously on Arrow, “All For Nothing”

The first arc of the season ended anticlimactically this week with the death of Cayden James, and the reveal that the Dragon had been orchestrating the whole plot in an attempt to destabilize Oliver and prime for a criminal takeover of Star City.

The Good

I am cautiously optimistic about the reveal that the Dragon is the real Big Bad. The show hasn’t really done anything to earn that optimism thus far, with his character being nothing but a glorified mook for the first half of the season, but Kirk Acevedo is always a reliable actor, and he was certainly able to pull off an air of menace during his last scene with Cayden James.

The Bad

Another week, another flashback. Why did they get our hopes up that the flashbacks were gone for good if they were going to just keep falling back on the same lazy storytelling device? At least this week’s flashback presented us with some new information about Cayden’s relationship with his son (who looked like a 30-year-old high schooler), rather than rehashing already established plot points like they did last episode.

I’m normally a fan of the interconnectedness of the DCTV Universe, but it’s hard to take the time pressure seriously when Team Arrow are able to call in the fastest man alive to help them get from place to place, but somehow forget to ask him to stay and help stop a city-destroying bomb.

I’ll give William a pass because he’s an idiot child, but how did several adults fail to supervise him to the degree that he was able to leave the bunker during a bomb threat and find his way to the most dangerous place in the city? The show certainly isn’t making a good case for Oliver’s continued custody.

For the second episode in a row, Alena has been given very little to do except spout computer talk that could have come from Curtis or Felicity, and look out of place. With the reveal that Cayden’s descent into villainy had been orchestrated by someone on his team, it seemed like the perfect time to expose her as the true Big Bad. For now it seems that they are going to keep her on the back burner.

Cayden’s character was entirely built up based on his intelligence, and incredible skill as a hacker, so for him to not have verified the mysteriously acquired video of his son’s death seems incredibly out of character, especially given how easily he was able to find out that the video had come from someone on his team after having the falsification revealed.

Quote of the Week

Anatoly:“You want to put me in jail, fine. Just out of town, please.”