Oliver And Diaz Go Knuckle-To-Knuckle In A Preview Of Next Week’s Arrow

 
Now that Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) has almost everything he wants, it’s time to take care of a persistent problem: Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). And as seen in a preview of next week’s Arrow, Diaz offer Ollie a simple challenge — put him on the mat and he will leave Star City forever. Of course, that works both ways. If Ollie ends up on the mat, he must leave his beloved, but always beleaguered town.

Considering that Diaz has never been defeated — supposedly at least — this doesn’t look good for Ollie. And now that I think about it, there is one other Green Arrow status quo the show hasn’t employed besides Ollie’ sewer years: the era when he and Green Lantern were hard traveling heroes. I’m not saying we’re getting a set-up for Ollie’s adventures with Roy (Colton Haynes) trotting across the country next year. But it might be a way for Arrow to reinvent itself as the Diaz story has proved how little gas is left in the show’s long-standing “defend Star City” premise.
Even last night’s episode, which is by far the best to feature Diaz, still felt stale. If we had a chance to see Diaz like this earlier, it might have gone a long way to making him a compelling foe. But since it happened so late in the season, it leaves the character less distinguished than Prometheus.
Arrow airs Thursdays on The CW.