Television

SPOILER REVIEW: Arrow 5.12 “Bratva”

Episode 104: 5 x 12
Air Date: February 8 2017
Bratva
In last week’s episode, we traveled to Russia, the focus of Arrow’s
famed flashbacks this entire season.
In the beginning, we found Oliver and Talia taking down some low-level
drug dealers/target practice in a flashback. We see Oliver’s skills come to
light.

We switch to the present where we find Oliver and Susan in his office,
when low and behold Quentin Lance comes back. (YAY) Quentin says he has no
intention of hiding his problems and agrees to do an interview with Susan to
talk about the alcohol issues. Oliver then runs off to a press conference to
thank Chase for representing Diggle. Susan then tells them at the end of the
press conference when a news alert comes to her phone saying Walker and his men
escaped military police custody, with the trigger.
The original team gets back together after the press conference, with
Felicity letting Oliver and Diggle know Markovian soldiers and Walker have been
talking back and forth, and Walker agreed to sell them the trigger… in Russia.
Where Argus and the military cannot go.
                Side note, I love
these moments where it is only the original team, Felicity, Oliver and Diggle.
These moments were what made me love Arrow in season one, and the highlights
the CW has given them this past season have been few and far between because of
Diggle’s arrest. Hopefully we see more of them as time goes on.
Oliver says that they will take the city plane to Russia to track the
sale, and Diggle and Felicity both say they’re coming along. Diggle to get
Walker, and Felicity to make sure another Havenrock does not happen. Oliver
agrees, but says they need to leave someone behind to watch Quentin since
Felicity is out of town.
So Rene is left that job, watching over Quentin and helping him prepare
for his interview with Susan. Also because he’s a little volatile and Oliver
doesn’t trust him not to cause an incident. Quentin tries to get him to go
home, but Rene sticks around.
Oliver and team arrive in Russia, apparently under the premise of
visiting Star City’s sister city, which just happens to be in Russia. Dinah
tells Diggle she didn’t think she’d be stopping a nuclear arms deal for her
first trip out with Team Arrow, and Oliver tells Curtis he reached out to an
old friend but hadn’t heard back, only to find Anatoly in the airport. Anatoly
punches Oliver, and tells him he should have never come back to Russia.
                Wait wait wait,
what happened?!?!?! This is the issue that can happen with flashbacks.
Sometimes what we know from the past doesn’t cover what we know in the future, and
that’s where I found myself with this episode. Even with the “previously”
segment at the beginning, it can still cause confusion.
Anatoly tells Oliver there is nothing in Russia for him because he
betrayed a brother in Star City in season 2. Team Arrow arrives at the ARGUS
safe house, and Dinah tells Oliver to make nice, and Diggle agrees because they
need to use every resource.
Felicity with the help of Dinah finds the network that can be used to
trace Walker’s cell phone. It’s time for dress up! Felicity, Curtis and Rory
all go and meet with a man who is at dinner with his family. We see a darker
side of Felicity here, and she threatens him to get his credentials to get onto
the network.

Felicity’s intel leads to a church where Walker is at. Team Arrow
covers above ground for lookouts and Oliver and Diggle go below ground, and are
subsequently ambushed. Rory gets the civilians out of the church, while Dinah
goes to help Oliver and Diggle who pick up a hostage to interrogate. Oliver
begins to interrogate the hostage, and leaves him alone to get him to think.
Diggle gets angry, saying they need to tackle the situation now, and get him to
break.
It’s flashback time! Oliver attacks the drug sale in China, and uses “You
have failed this city” for the first time. Man I love that line.
We find ourselves back in Star City with Rene preparing Quentin with
transcripts and questions. Rene asks a question about Laurel, and Quentin loses
it over the question.
Meanwhile back in Russia, Rory finds Felicity in the van, and asks her
why she threatened that man. She reveals the flashdrive that had the
information to free Diggle on it was more than that, and she used information
in that file to get what she needed. Rory tells her she doesn’t need to abuse
that information, and Felicity tells him she must fight fire with fire. Oliver
comes in, Rory is a tattle tale *glares* and then they hear the hostage
screaming. Diggle crosses the line beating up the hostage, and Oliver goes to
Anatoly to do his favor to get the Bratva’s help stopping the nuclear trigger
sale. He invites Dinah along, and they both take care of a shop owner Anatoly
wants gone.
This is where I think Dinah grows on you. She questions Oliver’s
motives, assumes that that wasn’t his first time being a Bratva thug. He
brushes her off, and she comments brooding gets on her nerves. Oliver admits he
wants to move forward, but doing what he just did, he doesn’t think he can move
forward. He tells her Diggle and Felicity are off, and Dinah tells him he can’t
fixate on what Prometheus said. That he must believe in himself, tell Diggle
and Felicity what they are doing is wrong and they will listen, because there
is more to him than physicality. She finishes by telling him to let the past
remind him of what not to do, and not use it as his anchor.
In another flashback, Talia tells Oliver to go home, because he can do
nothing more in Russia, and that he needs to take care of business back in
Starling City.
We swing back to Quentin and Rene, where they share a bonding moment
and Quentin apologizes to Rene, and they sit down to practice the interview
again.
In Russia, Oliver sits down with Felicity and Diggle, and tells them he
will always make sure he is the one that crosses the line, and he doesn’t want
them crossing any lines. Oliver, is who he is, and says he doesn’t want them
getting in the muck, he wants them to be better than him, because they are, and
that’s why he picked them in the first place. [yay og team!]

Bratva and Team Arrow come together to get Walker and his men captured,
as well as the Markovians. Curtis and Felicity are in the van directing
together, Ragman and Diggle are in the warehouse where the sale went off, and
Dinah and Oliver go after the sold bomb, only to find it’s a fake. Walker
intended to sell the bomb twice. Rory and Felicity get to the real bomb, and
proceed to try to disarm the bomb. They argue over how to get the bomb covered
and not affect thousands of people. Rory makes Felicity leave, and covers the
nuke with the rags he is wearing because they survived Havenrock. It works, and
Team Arrow celebrates with quality Russian vodka.  Diggle reports Walker is in custody, and he
tells Oliver that he, Felicity and Oliver make each other better, no matter
what. As a final Russian appearance in the present, Anatoly reminds Oliver
oaths are never temporary, they are for life. I wonder what that means?
In the last flashback of the episode, Oliver goes to speak with
Anatoly, and finds him in a hospital bed all beat up. Gregor beat up Anatoly
after he questioned the deal Gregor has with Kovar and Oliver says they will
kill him[Gregor]
Susan and Oliver moment. I still don’t like her, and I like Olicity
better, but anyways. Susan questions what happened on the island, asking about
the tattoo he has, and Oliver tells her he will tell her one day. Quentin comes
to talk to Rene about the interview, asking what Rene told Susan. He tells
Quentin the story, and tells him that he [Quentin] put him on a better path,
saying nobody’s perfect.
Felicity comes to Rory’s house to find he has a bag packed. Rory’s rags
don’t work anymore because of the blast. Rory says he’ll be back, and asks
Felicity to tell the rest of the team L.
As Felicity is leaving, she gets a text from Alena, the girl who gave her the
flashdrive telling her to not quit, that what they have is so much bigger than
Walker. Felicity says she doesn’t plan on it.
Susan meets with her investigator she set on Oliver in the beginning of
the season. She figures out he is in a picture with Bratva members, and while
the investigator has nothing else on Oliver, he does have a picture of the
hood, or luchnik. And they both assume Oliver is the Green Arrow.
All in all a very good episode. What gets me down is I’m slightly
confused with the effects of the flashbacks, and I’m concerned I’m missing
something of importance in this episode. But I loved the chemistry between
Oliver and Dinah, and original team arrow will always win the day in my book.
Can’t wait to see what happens in tonight. I want to see how Dinah interacts in
Star City, and how it affects the battle with Prometheus. Personally I would
also like to see if Evelyn comes back at Prometheus’ side.

Clemson University Graduate. Lover of all things Star Wars and DC.