This week’s episode took a departure from the typical episodes we’ve been getting this season. Though they’ve focused on giving the people in Oliver’s life a little more backstory, they finally took an episode to develop a little bit of history for John Diggle and the initiation of his relationship with ex-wife turned girlfriend Lyla.
Haunted by the idea of Slade hurting those he treasures, Oliver keeps waking from nightmares involving Shado. He makes a quick call to his Bratva contact and their meeting is less than pleasant. Though he eventually gets the information he wants, it hurts not only his relationship with Alexi, but it’s taking a very visible strain on his relationship with Sara as well. Laurel can sense the tension and offers Sara and Oliver advice. The three have their moments all separately and for a minute, we can get some peace between Oliver and the Lance sisters.
Meanwhile, Diggle is just as worried about Slade so he’s staking out at Felicity’s house to make sure she’s okay. She reassures him she’s fine and when he goes to leave, he gets a text from an unknown number asking him to meet them somewhere. It turns out it’s Lyla having returned from a mission, eager to have her own personal reunion with Diggle. Their happy times are cut short, however, when they’re caught leaving by Amanda Waller, Lyla’s boss. She makes both Lyla and Diggle follow her.
Keeping with the Diggle-centric focus of the episode, we flash back to Dig’s time in Afghanistan. He and a few soldiers are walking through a rocky terrain with a group of natives. Lyla convinces them to give the people a quick rest and when she goes to check on one of the women, she finds out that they’re harboring a person on the FBI’s High Interest list. They quickly capture him. However, they’re ambushed and Diggle rushes into soldier mode, saving the life of their prisoner, Golem by shooting a man. He’s shocked to learn the soldier he killed was nothing more than a young man. Later on in the night, Lyla tells him to not be worried about the boy’s death - “he wasn’t a child.” The two introduce themselves and their story begins.
In present time, Waller is explaining that they’re trying to target Golem again, believing he’s processing a dangerous nerve agent and back to his drug trafficking ways. Diggle agrees to go after him again but after he’s introduced to his team, he’s not sure how they expect him to work with them all considering he’s helped Oliver put them all away. Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, and Shrapnel all step out and Deadshot introduces them for what they are: The Suicide Squad.
Diggle appears to get over his hesitation and the team sets their plan into motion. He runs into Golem again and he appears to be a changed man. Now a humanitarian, he tells Diggle that he is the reason he no longer does what he used to do. He becomes even more grateful when they’re “attacked” (by Deadshot on a neighboring roof) and Diggle saves Golem’s life once more. As a result, Golem sends Diggle an invitation to his benefit gala later on.
The team’s dynamic takes a hit, however, when Shrapnel runs off without Deadshot. Amanda quickly takes care of the problem by initiating the bomb she’s got implanted in his head and the Suicide Squad is out one member. Diggle is not amused; back at their meeting spot, he doesn’t understand how Lyla and Amanda can be okay with this and retreats to his room. He ends up having a nice talk with Deadshot, who admits that he does what he does for his daughter, believing it’s the only way he can successfully provide for her.
The team manages to work out their issues as they head to the benefit. Lyla steps in as Diggle’s new bodyguard and Lawton slips into the party by using Diggle’s fingerprint. While Dig and Lyla distract Golem, Lawton goes in search of the nerve agent - only to find it’s not necessarily what they thought. Too big to be moved, they tell Amanda, who picks up the feed from a camera installed in Deadshot’s eyepiece. She tells Lawton to stay put and Dig and Lyla to retreat because she’s called in an attack. Diggle is not okay with this plan - an attack leaves everyone at the party dead within minutes, including Lawton, stuck downstairs. He makes everyone evacuate, going downstairs to get Lawton. Though Lawton is insistent he stay since he’s a dead man regardless, Diggle uses his daughter to get Lawton to come with him. Upstairs, Golem goes to attack Lyla but Bronze Tiger intervenes and the four of them escape...except the drone changes course and follows the van. Thinking without consequences, Lyla removes the tracking device from Lawton’s neck and they barely escape the drone’s attack.
Back at ARGUS, Amanda is not amused. Diggle tells her that he’s not interested in helping with her team any longer and walks off. Amanda, however, reveals to Lyla that they’ll have to get better about where they plant their devices. Lyla looks unsure but does what Amanda says. Her talk with John goes better, though. He tells her that while he’s not sure about what’s going on in his own life, he does know he can’t lose her again and they make up.
In Verdant, Oliver and Sara reconcile and Laurel is surprisingly supportive of their relationship. Though she invites Oliver to dinner with the two of them, he refuses. Though the admitted to Sara earlier that he wasn't sure how to stop Slade or what to do about it, he still wants to keep her safe and protected, heading out to try and find one last lead. It turns out his big plans involve breaking into ARGUS...and revealing an alliance with Amanda. He tells her about Slade and though she seems skeptical, she admits they’ve been tracking a killer for quite sometime going by the alias “Deathstroke.”
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.