Arrow “A Matter of Trust” was written by the team of Ben Sokolowski and Emilio Ortega Aldrich and was directed by Gregory Smith. Stardust from the WWE, who Stephen Amell wrestled against earlier this year guest stars! As the title would suggest, trust is the theme of this episode. Oliver (Stephen Amell) must learn to trust his team in both the present and the past.
As the episode opens the new team is watching the Green Arrow “interrogate” a suspect. Stardust is the latest designer drug on the streets, and GA gets the name of the drug dealer: Derek Samson (Cody Rhodes – better known as Cody Runnels or WWE’s Stardust!). GA doesn’t kill the suspect… he just drops him off what is hopefully a low rise building!
Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) coaches the team. The lesson to be learned is that information is the currency of their job. Analysis and forensics are key! Rory/Ragman (Joe Dinicol) is a bit taken aback by GA’s methods but he doesn’t like drugs because they ripped his town apart with gang violence. Rene/Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) is sure he knows the streets better than Oliver and is sure he knows where the drugs are being made. Oliver isn’t ready to listen or to let the team out on the streets.
Billy Malone (Tyler Ritter) makes a fake call to draw out the Green Arrow. When Oliver arrives, Malone warns him about Prometheus and Prometheus’s vendetta against Oliver.
We finally get filled in about the Flashpoint changes and learn that Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) and Diggle (David Ramsey) do seem to be together but instead of having baby Sara, they have a boy – John Jr. Lyla visits Diggle in prison. He’s being charged with espionage, murder, and conduct unbecoming. Diggle appears to be locked up with Floyd Lawton (Michael Rowe) – Deadshot – who we thought was dead. Loved the “no body” rule! Had me going… but of course, by the end of the episode, we and Diggle realize that he’s been hallucinating! Ramsey is great in the episode, but I’m really not liking this story development.
By the end of the episode, Diggle seems to have given up hope and seems to believe he deserves to be in prison. He’s clearly carrying the guilt of Andy’s death. Lyla realizes he’s in trouble and reaches out to Oliver to help break Diggle out of prison.
In the flashbacks, which again have a nicely pertinent bearing on the present storyline, Oliver must go through two more tests. The first was to teach him to trust Bravta and the process. Anatoly (David Nykl) takes Oliver with him to give mother the news that her son’s killer has been killed. He was one of Oliver’s teammates. Anatoly explains that Bravta brings justice.
Anatoly further explains that Bravta means brother. He must now trust his brothers – even though they’ve all tried to kill him in the past. They all pick up knives and cut him.
In the present, Rene and Evelyn (Madison McLaughlin) go rogue and do recon on the drug den. Rene posits that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. There’s a really good fight scene and Samson ends up dropped in a vat of suped up chemicals – emerging from the seeming dead during his autopsy as a super-strength human who can’t feel pain…
We are introduced to the new DA – Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) who is pissed off that Samson is dead because he was about to name names in the drug ring! We learn that Chase and Oliver have history from Oliver’s playboy days when he poached Chase’s date. It’s pretty clear that Chase doesn’t like Oliver.
Oliver reads the riot act to Rene who he feels he can’t trust. He tells Rene that he doesn’t see the bigger picture! Curtis (Echo Kellum) tries to befriend Rory, but it’s this over the top aspect of his character that I’m just not digging. Felicity meanwhile is consumed with guilt over her part in the destruction of Rory’s family. By the end of the episode she confesses her part to Rory – mainly because Curtis tells her to. He tells her that secrets are always bad and that she should trust that he won’t kill her or hold a grudge. Really? I’m not sure if she thought it would make her feel better or that he would absolve her, but it really did seem to make things worse for both of them.
GA and Sampson fight at the hospital. There’s a really cool steam effect and this is a really good fight. Oliver has to pull out when Sampson is winning. Sampson then goes to his men and tells them they’re all going to get the treatment and take back their city from Church (Chad L Coleman).
Oliver finally has to trust the team to help him. In another wrestling shout out, Curtis is wearing his favorite wrestler’s – Fair Play – jacket. Oliver apologizes to Rene when Felicity points out that as the leader, everything the team does is his responsibility. The team goes in to get Sampson. What exactly is on Curtis’s face? It is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. There is some great wirework and another terrific fight. Oliver beats Sampson by slicing his tendons – and it’s pretty cool how he looks like a marionette with his strings cut.
As a reward for a job well done, Oliver welcomes the team to the lair.
At City Hall, Thea (Willa Holland) gets duped by a reporter – Susan Williams (Carly Pope). Williams breaks the news that Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) has been appointed to be Deputy Mayor and is a drunk. Oliver is pissed at her for appointing him after he told her not to. When Thea goes to Williams, she acts sweet, but then reports that Oliver doesn’t know what goes on in his own office.
Thea is going to resign, but once again, Oliver takes Felicity’s advice and takes responsibility for his team. He holds a press conference and tells them that he trusts his team. The buck stops with him, and he welcomes Quentin as his new Deputy Mayor. There’s a really nice final scene between Williams and Thea when Thea tells her, you played me once but you only get to do that once! Let’s see a little of those street smarts Speedy!
I thought that this was a pretty good episode. I’m not entirely sold on Gonzalez, but Dinicol is excellent. I’m not liking the Diggle storyline at all, but there is no denying that Ramsey delivers a really powerful performance in this episode. I just want him back with Oliver! What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, 12 Monkeys, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Designated Survivor, Timeless, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
