Arrow "Trust But Verify": Trust Issues

Arrow certainly didn't waste time in rolling out all the trust issues this week, Trust But Verify dove into the Oliver/Diggle conflict among other things. Trust But Verify is one of the few episodes in Arrow that managed to utilize all of it's cast members in a satisfactory way. Every character had his or her storyline, and it wasn't crammed together. This way Arrow could add a couple of notches to it's characters and go deeper in the major arc that Arrow has outlined for this season. Trust But Verify made me realize that I really like the Diggle/Oliver combination and how it works so well.

As mentioned above, Arrow jumps right in with Oliver (after some working out duh) tells Diggle the next name on the list, Ted Gaynor (Ben Browder). Diggle soon informs Oliver that Ted Gaynor was his former commanding officer and believes the list to be wrong. Oliver tells Diggle the list is never wrong and goes after Ted Gaynor. Oliver doesn't waste time as he breaks in and confronts Ted Gaynor, but is foiled when surprise guest Diggle stops him. Oliver escapes, but not without grabbing some intel. Diggle angry at for Oliver going after Ted Gaynor, and wonders how Oliver puts so much faith in the list. Oliver mentions that he had somehow gotten proof, which is why he does what he does. You know, other than saving people. Diggle mentions to Oliver to at least let him investigate before Oliver does anything rash. On the other side of the city, Tommy gets a call from his dad (John Barrowman), wanting to have dinner with him. At dinner, Malcolm tries to open Tommy's eye to the truth of the word, and finally shows his true motive behind dinner. Tommy wasn't the only one having parent issues as Thea stumbles onto Moria and Malcolm's "relationship".

There certainly was some drama with Trust But Verify, but it was a necessary evil as Arrow sets things in motion. Then again I should expect drama since Arrow is classified as a "drama". Anyways, Oliver/Diggle relationship proved once again that putting trust in each other was mandatory to accomplish what they set out to do. Oliver trusted Diggle enough to investigate Ted, and Diggle trusted Oliver to have his back and stay back during the investigation. I love how the relationship between Moria and Malcolm was brought to the front as Thea was the one who discovered it. In addition, Thea didn't keep it to herself as she revealed it to Oliver. We all know what happens to deadly secrets that stay secrets for too long (Supernatural has many examples of that). On a final note, I loved how we saw more of Malcolm's personality and his reasoning behind what he's doing.

Now what didn't work? Nothing really comes to mind, other than could Oliver tell that there was a deeper connection between Moira and Malcolm? Was Moira even telling the truth about her previous husband's cheating? Oliver really hope you can tell something is up here. Also, did anyone think Thea's little slip back into drugs was a bit fast? When did she give up on drugs in the first place? It's like one of those little plot points that the writers remembered they created for Thea back in Pilot and thought, "hey let's bring it back!". Also since Oliver didn't give Felicity any wine back for her services, you lose points there. Final point, I'm done complaining about how many work out scenes there are in Arrow. Oliver you work out to your heart's content, and work out for us all at home who forgot to this week.

Trust But Verify is really an example of what Arrow should be very week. Quick shout out to the writer, Gabrielle Stanton, whose previous work includes Haven, excellent job on the story. Best line of the week goes to Felicity with, "So no wine then". Next week, it picks up where Trust But Verify left off.

How do you think Oliver verified the names on the list? Do you think Moira was telling some of the truth?