Arrow Season 6 Episode 6: 'Promises Kept' Review

Trust is Based on Honesty...

(Late review --this episode aired on 17th November)

Oliver Queen may no longer be the Green Arrow, but he can still kick ass! But now, more than ever, John taking his place seems to be becoming a permanent thing, especially after revealing the truth about his arm to the team.

This episode, truth and honesty, and the consequences of a lack of either is explored. Following from the end of last episode where we discovered along with Slade and Oliver that the person they came to rescue, Slade's son Joe, is actually the leader of the criminal group, The Jackals, 'Promises Kept' delves fully into his plans and activities, and his relationship with his father. At first, Slade is conflicted, and even tries to join the Jackals just to be united with his son once more, especially when it seems Joe is only modelling his life after his Deathstroke days. However, when Oliver shows up having overheard everything, they try to work together to sabotage the Jackals' plan. Slade leaves with Joe and a team to secure some more explosives for the plan's execution while Oliver goes to find and retrievevthe detonator. There, he discovers the full extent of the plan --the Jackals want to contaminate the country's water, killing half the population and leaving it ripe for an economic upheaval. But while he is distracted, some jackals sneak up on him and capture him.

Meanwhile, Slade gives himself away on their mission when he shoots a man in the leg instead of going for the kill, causing his son and the other jackals to suspect him of 'joining them under false pretenses'. To redeem himself, Joe presents him with Oliver as a gift --an opportunity to get the revenge he had talked so much about on his return from Lian Yu where Oliver had stabbed him in the eye with an arrow and left him for dead. Slade is tempted, but ultimately frees Oliver. They escape together and head for the water plant to stop the jackals. There, in a saddening but exciting heart-to-heart with his son, Slade discovers that Joe had gone bad long before Deathstroke... since he had seen his father kill a man during an undercover mission for ASIS as a kid. He also discovers something else: he has another son by the name of Grant, hidden from him by their mother because she didn't want the boy contaminated by their world. Devastated, Slade lets him go, realising that the person he was talking to was no longer really his son Joe Wilson, but Kane Wolfman, the killer. After Oliver rounds up the rest of the Jackals and delivers them to the warden at the prison, they part ways, with Slade still going to search for his sons both Joe and Grant, and Oliver heading back home to William and Felicity.

While Oliver was still in Kasnia though, Team Arrow had been working on taking down a new street criminal with the name Dragon and an extensive network. This goes off the rails when John discovers Dragon is the person who manufactures and supplies him with the drug that relieves his arm tremor. Even now knowing the drug he thought was just experimental is an illegal street drug, he is deeply conflicted. He goes to his wife, Lyla for help from ARGUS, but they don't have anything that could help him. She is appalled by his choices, wondering, as many fans did, how he could've done this and told so many untruths, being the most moral person she knew. Finally, he provides the information he has and the team raids Dragon's base of operations. To escape and avoid evidence against him, Dragon sets the drugs and warehouse on fire. After John almost gets burned undecided whether to try and save as many as he could, escape the about-to-explode warehouse, or just throw himself in the flames for his bad choices, he decides it's time to tell the team the truth. Curtis volunteers at once to help find a solution like he did for Felicity and John gives Dinah a special apology, promising no more secrets between them. However, Dinah has her own little secret in the abilities of her old partner and new Vigilante, Vince...

What were your feelings about this episode? Will John give up the hood? Let's know in the comments!

Arrow returns this Thursday on the CW with 'Thanksgiving' Follow me @petermarie for more reviews on the Arrowverse and other TV shows.