Arrow 'An Innocent Man': Relationships 101

Relationships are hard, and Arrow delved into this in An Innocent Man. With this week's episode, Arrow sought to set up a support system for Oliver as he undertook his hero crusade in Star City. If you think about it, every superhero has a pillar of support and moral guiding to keep them on the straight and narrow. In Smallville, it was the Kents for Clark. For Arrow, it is looking like it will be Diggle, which we all have to admit we were all looking forward to happening. An Innocent Man even had Oliver looking for an ally in Laurel.

An Innocent Man picks up where A Lone Gunman left off with Diggle in Oliver's hideout. Now much as we were excited to see Oliver revealing his secret to Diggle and the possibility of them teaming up in saving the city together, Diggle was shocked to find out Oliver's secret. In most superhero tales, whenever their secret was revealed, the person was always shocked, but came around it to eventually. In Arrow's case, Diggle sprang into action against the vigilante despite being weak from the poison. Oliver soon offers Diggle a chance to work with him in saving the city and Diggle refuses due to his Oliver's vigilante crimes and leaves.

Oliver returns back to his home disappointed, but soon finds his next target, Jason Brodeur, who had framed an innocent man, Peter Declan, for the murder of his own wife. This brings Laurel into the fold as Oliver breaks into her place, in other persona, asking her for help on the Declan case. Trusting this mysterious man, Laurel begins to investigate the Declan case and begins to believe in his innocence as well. Working together, they gather evidence to prove Declan's innocence. While this storyline is going, Diggle struggles with what to do next. Does he join Oliver, or find another job protecting some other rich boy?

Like any television show on the air, Arrow needs to build on the relationships that are at the very core of the show. An Innocent Man saw that with Oliver showing his face in different ways to Diggle and Laurel. With Diggle, Oliver trusts and respects Diggle, which makes Oliver extend a hand of partnership to Diggle. Diggle is first unsure, but realizes that he wants to help people, and accepts the offer. Before you go, "He's Oliver's sidekick", stop, Diggle is not Oliver's sidekick, but his friend, partner, and the person who will keep Oliver from losing himself. Now with Laurel, Oliver showed up in his gear (and using a voice changer like Green Arrow did in Smallville) and asked for help. Up till the final moment, Laurel believed in the justice Oliver did in his vigilante persona, and it could achieve something. Then it turns a 180 when Laurel witnesses Oliver almost beat a man to death. Oliver is rejected by one of the people he cares for, and this hurts Oliver more than what he'll let show.

Now off the whole relationships topic, lets talk about all the future plot points brought up in An Innocent Man. There are some more mysteries that were brought up, like why was the Queen's Gambit in a warehouse? What is Moira's connection to John Barrowman's character?

An Innocent Man was a decent episode of Arrow as the relationships took front burner to the episode. The downside, the name of the week case wasn't as strong as the others. It was pretty simple as it was free innocent, get guilty party to confess. It wasn't as elaborate as Lone Gunman. Another thing that bugs me is that how did detective Lance think of checking SPOILER footage in the first place? I would like the thought process here. I would have also liked to see Laurel in action again this episode, but that obviously wasn't going to happen.

Now next week should be interesting as Arrow once again leaves us on a cliffhanger. Arrow will return with Damaged as Oliver's fate hangs in the balance. Hopefully we'll see the Oliver and Diggle partnership begin. Also, how will Oliver react to seeing Laurel again after her rejecting his true self this episode?