Arrow Recap: “Next of Kin”
“Next of Kin” is Arrow’s first true outing with Oliver out of the hood and as a regular person in a long time but the jury is still out whether Diggle can handle the pressure of being a vigilante.
For shippers, this episode was a gift from the writers with Olicity finally pushed back together but for casual viewers, it doesn’t do a lot to instill faith that Team Arrow is better without Oliver Queen. On a happier note, William gets to play a different character than his usual brooding teenage self and its a refreshing change. Maybe this pre-teen will defy the genre expectation of angst-ridden and annoying child.
John is still dealing with some health issues in “Next of Kin,” when he literally freezes out in the field. A former CIA Black Ops member, Onyx Adams, breaks into Kord Industries and later the transportation truck carrying ZX, a new nerve gas. With Diggle unable to call his team into action, Rene quickly turns on him, with only Dinah coming to his defense.
It seems incredibly stupid for these two characters to hide Diggle’s health problems from the team because all it does is put everyone else at risk. Nevertheless, Rene immediately goes to Oliver and begs him to take his secret identity back since he’s convinced that John isn’t the right man for the job.
However, the best friends aren’t about to give up on each other and Oliver visits the Arrow Cave to instill John with enough confidence to take Onyx down. Unfortunately, at the end of the episode the new Green Arrow is getting some drugs which help with his tremor, which spells trouble.
While the team deals with the criminal of the week, Oliver starts handling regular parenting problems in “Next of Kin.”
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William is much happier now that his dad has officially hung up his bow and arrow but is worried about an upcoming math test. His son doesn’t take his advice to relax and take some C’s well, so Oliver enlists the best tutor he knows: Felicity Smoak.
She’s more than happy to help out and the two actually bond over how important school is considering they grew up outside of the world of privilege.
Turns out, William ends up getting an A on his test with Felicity’s help and it gets Oliver thinking. He ends up at her apartment with a key to his apartment, now realizing that William’s life will only be better with her in it and thus the reunion that Olicity fans have waited for commences.
On the political side of “Next of Kin,” Oliver calls into place a referendum which will allow the city to vote on whether vigilantes should be arrested. Considering there are two major villains yet to show up: Richard Dragon and Michael Emerson’s yet to be announced character, it seems unlikely that Arrow will spend a lot of time on this aspect.
However, the FBI investigation is heating up now that it has narrowed down the list of Oliver’s associates and all of them are working with the Green Arrow.