At the end of 2017, with the midseason finale of Arrow, Team Arrow was fractured by betrayal and the machinations of this season's cerebral villain, Cayden James (Michael Emerson). At the beginning of 2018, things aren't much better. You could probably tell as much from the midseason premiere's title, "Divided", that the team wouldn't be able to get over their betrayals and trust issues that easily. That's a problem in and of itself, but the gathering of significant forces against Team Arrow make Oliver's position of isolation a much more perilous and personal one.

But there's a lot of other stuff going on in Star City: Thea's up and walking around just fine after her six-month coma, Diggle's dealing with a debilitating injury, and Oliver's still trying to balance his vigilante/mayoral/fatherly duties, with varying levels of success. Oh, and apparently the Bertinelli crime family still has a presence in the city, even if it's not exactly a thriving one.

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And that's where "Divided" kicks off, with a cold open that reestablishes Cayden James' gang as the new heavies in town. He's backed by Anatoly, Black Siren, Ricardo Diaz, and Vigilante, not to mention a veritable army of henchmen, though he doesn't bring the hired guns into Bertinelli's office to threaten him because there's really not that much room and, frankly, it would just be rude. Black Siren's sonic "kiss" and a threat against Bertinelli's Columbia-enrolled daughter is enough to get his attention and forces him to mull over whether or not to sell control of the port to James, to whatever end.

So while James' ultimate plans are still rather murky, we are getting bits and pieces here. That's more than Team Arrow's been able to put together in their 21 straight nights of surveillance in an attempt to track the James Gang down. It doesn't help that Team Arrow's manpower has basically been cut in half, but at least Curtis is still stopping by to help Felicity with new implantable tech that's supposed to stop Diggle's tremors from happening; unfortunately, they're hitting some very expensive dead ends here.

But on the bright side, the team manages to uncover two clues: One, they discover that Black Siren planted a bug in the Arrow Cave, explaining how James was always a few steps ahead and how he knows their secret identities; and two, after a midnight rendezvous with the aforementioned head (and sole remaining member) of the Bertinelli crime family, they're able to track James' car through good, old-fashioned detective work. Green Arrow gets the drop on the James Gang for a short while, but this is the moment that the full force of the villains stacked against our heroes is revealed; Oliver is only able to escape by the good graces of James himself, despite literally everyone else's protests. (Guys, please, we can't kill the title character in the midseason premiere. You'll lose your jobs, too.)

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The crux of "Divided", and likely the bulk of the second half of Season 6, is just how Team Arrow is going to handle the overwhelming opposition. Oliver's the only one in the field right now, and while it helps to have Overwatch walking him through his battles step by step with Diggle manning remote-controlled T-Spheres as a saving grace, the odds seem insurmountable. That's the argument Diggle makes at least, but hard-headed Oliver insists on isolation.

At least for a little while. A second run-in with the combined forces of the Bratva, Diaz's mercenaries, the Vigilante, and Black Siren--all of which Oliver barely escapes by the way ... Bertinelli is not so lucky--forces him to reconsider his stance. (Fantastic camera work from director James Bamford and his stunt team here. Some of the fighting bits didn't quite connect, but I always give this show an extra point for ambitious action sequences.)

Now, in any other season of Arrow, the fractured team could easily have gotten together for tough words and stiff drinks after a bad break-up, only to heal their wounds and get back together by the next week's episode. Thankfully, that's not what happens here. The divide is deep: Rene still stands by his decision to put his family first (a position which Curtis and Oliver understand, even if they don't like it), Curtis still can't trust the three former team leaders after their own betrayal, and Dinah is working out some major issues with her cohorts and the fact that her former boyfriend, once thought dead but now revived as a meta with healing abilities who masquerades as the Vigilante, is in league with James. (Cayden James has some issues with the Vince/Dinah relationship as well...) That's a lot of drama to just squash and move on. Instead, Mr. Terrific, Wild Dog, and Black Canary are forming their own team, and they're already all set up in the old Helix lair!

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So at the end of the episode, we're left with two teams: One is the OG Team Arrow, which should be a nice throwback for fans who have been with the show from the beginning. Even better, Diggle is back in fighting shape after Curtis' patch fixed whatever was wrong with the implant. (Is it time for Spartan 2.0?) The other is an unnamed team of young guns who have their own meta, their own brain, and their own wild card; they're certainly going to be interesting to watch, and this second squad gives the writers a little room to breathe when it comes to deciding who's going to be shouldering the narrative.

With all this A plot going on, there's a bit of B and C happening as well. Thea earns herself the fastest promotion in the history of the world from "Assistant to the Deputy Mayor" to "Chief of Staff" in a blink. What's more important here is that Thea's back, she's supporting Ollie (even if she's not ready to be back on the team as a superhero), and that she's helping poor, poor beleaguered Quentin with his daughter issues once again. (I feel for this guy, but the collateral damage from the vigilante lifestyle has got to be shredding years off of his life.)

And in a bit of a throwaway plot that wasn't really wrapped up, so hopefully we'll get more on it later (?), was the very casual decision by Rene and Curtis to hack into the District Attorney's files in order to scrub away any digital evidence they had against Rene ... because the way to show people that you've moved beyond criminal activity is to engage in more criminal activity. The fact that Curtis not only agreed to do this but was eager to do so was a little silly. But hey, it's Star City.

Overall, a strong return for Arrow that focuses the stakes in a much more personal, in-your-face way than a big bad comic book villain tends to do. Add in the mystery factor of James' ultimate plan, and Season 6 remains a compelling weekly watch.

Rating: ★★★ Good

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Miscellaneous:

Curtis: "No hard feelings?" Oliver: "No ............................"

A wild Thea appears!

Bertinelli: "You ever consider a spotlight? Big light in the sky in the shape of an arrow?"

If you're keeping track, Helena Bertinelli, a.k.a. Huntress, should still be alive but in prison.

Curtis: "I brought crogurts!"

Dinah: "I really want to uncomplicate my life right now." Vince: "Just so long as you don't forget to live it."

Black Siren: "I'm so sick of everyone not killing him when they get the chance." James: "Let him go!" Diaz: "You know, for a smart guy, that was a dumb move." James: "There's a time and a place for Oliver Queen's demise; now is not it."

Oliver: "You don't go into the field with people you can't rely on!"

Bertinelli henchman: "Move, or get moved, hoodie."

Oliver: "This started with you, with me, and with Felicity. Whatever comes our way, we can handle that. I believe that."

Rene: "Don't you knock?" Dinah: "Don't you lock your doors?"

So ... what do you think the name of the team-up of Mr. Terrific, Wild Dog, and Black Canary should be?

Felicity: "So, how does this compare to Halo?" Diggle: "So ... much ... better."

Oliver: "There is blame on all sides here ..."

Diggle's back, baby! But is he back as Spartan?

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