Arrow Season 6 Episode 19 Review: The Dragon

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The sixth season of Arrow has not managed to reach the heights of season five, which was arguably the best the series has had to offer so far, though it has still been pretty solid throughout most of the season.

One of the biggest knocks on the season has been the lack of focus on the main villain, Ricardo Diaz, but now the series has received one of its most interesting and different episodes to date with the villain focused "The Dragon."

Arrow has more often than not done a great job at building up its villains, though this season has been a bit of an interesting case.

The season has featured more of a rotating cast of villains that features Cayden James, Black Siren, Anatoly, and Ricardo Diaz.

Diaz finally took over as the main villain after killing James awhile back, but this is the first time we've really gotten to see who he really is.

"The Dragon" really only features two different plots, the majority of which is focused on Diaz himself and Earth-2 Laurel, aka Black Siren, who we just learned is together with Diaz.

The episode starts off with a flashback at an orphanage where Diaz grew up.

Here he is getting bullied, including getting a picture of who we appeared to maybe be his father getting burned up, which ends up coming full circle later on in the episode.

We then cut to the present where Diaz is trying to work his way into a meeting with the top criminal organization in the country known as The Quadrant. He is essentially working through a middle man, the son of one of the members.

This guy has Diaz finding and trying to bring in a guy they were worried was talking to the Feds.

However, when Diaz calls them to come pick the guy up, he is shot along with the guy he was bringing to them.

Diaz happened to have bulletproof armor on, but this really angered Diaz.

This led to him going directly after the son of the member of The Quadrant again, this time nearly beating him to death before he finally gives up where The Quadrant are going to be meeting.

He says he will spare him, but actually puts explosives on him and bursts his way into the meeting by having the son run inside and explode.

This then leads to one of the best fight scenes the show has ever had, as Diaz goes full John Wick by killing everyone in his path with his gun.

This was reminiscent of the fight Slade had earlier this season when trying to find his son, complete with the intense violence.

Obviously, the guy on The Quadrant who's son Diaz just killed was not having Diaz bursting in, saying there is no room at the table for a street thug.

Diaz just ups and kills him, showing how ruthless he is, before sitting down and giving his proposal.

Diaz got his wish and gets to be part of The Quadrant now, but that is not all for him that episode. Now that he is part of the group, he goes to the guy who bullied him as a kid and brings him to a rooftop with Laurel there.

The guy doesn't even know who Diaz is until he finally gives a hint that reveals it, with Diaz then setting the guy on fire and letting him burn alive right there.

You could tell Laurel was really questioning how brutal Diaz was this episode, which makes me think she will be changing sides sooner rather than later.

The other story this episode focused on Felicity and Curtis, who are working together against with their company Helix Dynamics now that Oliver has basically kicked her out of the bunker as he has gone "back to basics." You can really see how hard it is on Felicity not knowing what Oliver is doing, which gets worse when there is a big fight and explosion that the Green Arrow was spotted at, but then went MIA. In the end, Oliver was fine and shows up for Stephen Amell's one and only scene this episode as he comforts Felicity.

"The Dragon" was definitely a very different episode from the usual, as Amell was barely in it and instead Kirk Acevedo got the majority of the spotlight as Diaz.

He really showed why he is a force to be reckoning with this episode and how is really is a monster, yet still had somewhat of a sympathetic backstory of just wanting to be seen as strong.

I am really looking forward to seeing what path his character takes in the remainder of the episodes this season with only four to go.

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: Arrow Season 7 Episode 4 Review: 'Level Two' (more); Arrow Season 7 Episode 3 Review: 'Crossing Lines' (more); Arrow Season 7 Episode 2 Review: 'The Longbow Hunters' (more); Arrow Season 7 Episode 1 Review: 'Inmate 4587' (more).

And here are some more related articles: Ruby Rose Deletes Her Twitter Account Due To Toxic Internet Fans (more); Ruby Rose Has Been Cast In The CW's Batwoman (more); Arrow Star Stephen Amell Wrestling A Singles Match At 'All In' Event (more).

A few more: Arrow Season 7 Premiere Title And Director Revealed (more); Synopses Revealed For Upcoming Seasons Of Arrow And DC's Legends of Tomorrow (more).

The CW