S02.E06: Keep Your Enemies Closer

[Hybiscus]

Up until Isabel became evil, I believe the EPs were still deciding what to do with her. At that point she was a horrible woman trying to take away his family's legacy. I still think regardless of her final intentions, it was a bonehead thing for Oliver to do.

 

As a new-ish viewer (damn you, Flash crossover and "The Climb"!), I've been watching S1 and S2 in order and came upon this episode today.  One thing I've seen consistently is Oliver's poor judgement regarding women.  He tends to think with his "downstairs brain" (to quote Supernatural) instead of his "upstairs brain."  So for me, it was perfectly in character for Oliver to sleep with Isabel.

 

I do think this is the first time we've had a glimpse of Oliver's attraction to/love for Felicity.  The way the line is delivered and his softened expression, it's obvious (to me) he's talking about her.

 

Incidentally, I loved Oliver's line "Her skirts... aren't.. that short."  SA has great, if understated, comic timing.

[Morrigan2575]

As a new-ish viewer (damn you, Flash crossover and "The Climb"!), I've been watching S1 and S2 in order and came upon this episode today.  One thing I've seen consistently is Oliver's poor judgement regarding women.  He tends to think with his "downstairs brain" (to quote Supernatural) instead of his "upstairs brain."  So for me, it was perfectly in character for Oliver to sleep with Isabel.

 

I do think this is the first time we've had a glimpse of Oliver's attraction to/love for Felicity.  The way the line is delivered and his softened expression, it's obvious (to me) he's talking about her.

 

Incidentally, I loved Oliver's line "Her skirts... aren't.. that short."  SA has great, if understated, comic timing.

Interesting, I look forward to reading your comments on other episodes.  It's been suggested (here) that new viewers, those that came over from Flash might view characters/relationships/etc different then those that watched from the Pilot. Although, I'm not sure if the point was just those that watched 308 forward or mainlined S1/2 to catch up.

[Enero]

As a new-ish viewer (damn you, Flash crossover and "The Climb"!), I've been watching S1 and S2 in order and came upon this episode today.  One thing I've seen consistently is Oliver's poor judgement regarding women.  He tends to think with his "downstairs brain" (to quote Supernatural) instead of his "upstairs brain."  So for me, it was perfectly in character for Oliver to sleep with Isabel.

 

I do think this is the first time we've had a glimpse of Oliver's attraction to/love for Felicity.  The way the line is delivered and his softened expression, it's obvious (to me) he's talking about her.

 

Incidentally, I loved Oliver's line "Her skirts... aren't.. that short."  SA has great, if understated, comic timing.

 

I'm kind of new to Arrow as well. Just started watching it several weeks ago. I'm now rewatching S2 and watched this episode the other day, It's one of my favorite mainly because it's just Team Arrow kind of on their own, Diggle gets a storyline and they got to go to Russia!

 

Regarding the bolded, I've seen this mentioned before by others, but I don't know if I agree. Oliver is what some would call a ladie's man, no doubt, but I wouldn't say he has poor judgement in women. Yeah he's dealt with a couple of crazies, the Huntress and Isabelle, but all of the other women he's been involved with were (Sara, Laurel, Shado, McKenna, even baby mama - at least what little we know about her) for the most part were okay, And even with Isabelle, I don't think he necessarily chose her like he chose the Huntress (and tried to save her). I think he thought he found some common ground with her surrounding loneliness, but even when they went back to his hotel room, he made it very clear he didn't have a lot of time and then immediately left afterwards. I think he went with it because he's Oliver and where would he be without getting laid at least every other episode (especially in S1 and S2) LOL, but I don't think he made a real connection with Isabelle.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Enero

[BkWurm1]

but I don't think he made a real connection with Isabelle.

 

I think he made just enough of a connection with her that later on he is stupidly less distrustful of the woman who's main goal had always been to take his company away from him. 

[Enero]

I think he made just enough of a connection with her that later on he is stupidly less distrustful of the woman who's main goal had always been to take his company away from him.

I think he would've turned the company over to Isabelle, sex or not, because though they didn't have the greatest rapport (Remember a couple of episodes after this one Oliver told her that he tried his best to ignore her), he thought she was a descent enough businesswoman. Also, at the time, she was the only person he could turn the company over to within a moments notice and on top of all that he was desperate.

[BkWurm1]

I think I'd like to cling to my "sex made him dumb" theory rather than just accept that he is plain dumb.  She may have appeared to have the best interests of the company but she had never been quiet about proclaiming that was because in that moment, their interests were aligned.  Her interests always were going to come first.  Maybe Oliver would have been susceptible either way, but sleeping with her and finding that common ground certainly didn't make him think worse of her.  I think it is when he at least started to let down his guard.   

 

And when it comes to turning a company over to someone else, there is always a better choice than the person that has been trying from the start to steal it from you.  Grab the janitor.  He's probably more trustworthy.  In that moment for that vote it was just a ceremonial position unless someone knew how to make it more. 

[statsgirl]

I don't know if he was blinded by sex or not but it's a terrible Oliver moment, and really speaks to what a bad CEO he was that he didn't have anyone else he had made connections to at QC other than the woman who was determined to take his company away from him. If he'd even called Walter for help....

[Password]

How did a declaration and signature on a napkin, under duress, even hold up in the board or court?

[statsgirl]

How did the Board of Directors vote to keep in charge a CEO who tanked the stock?

[TanyaKay]

Anything related to business or finance is so ridiculous on Arrow that I have stopped trying to make sense of it, they will whip up something ridiculous to top the previous ridiculous thing to serve the plot.

[romantic idiot]

re: Oliver deserving better, I think he did. However Isabel might have been or may not have seemed - we've seen her being dour and bitchy and mean. While that is somewhat Oliver's type (see: Laurel), I think he shouldn't have slept with her because of that. He deserves someone not bitchy and mean spirited, which I think we saw ample evidence of. 

[Goldmoon]

Quote

And friends don't stand idly by while the other sleeps with someone of questionable character.

Wow, SleepDeprived, I'm glad I don't have any friends like you in my real life.  Adults make their own decisions.  It is none of anyone's business who Oliver sleeps with.  Since it is already a topic, I agree with posters who have said that Oliver was distracting her and getting laid was a byproduct.  There is nothing wrong with sex as a sport. Isabelle certainly didn't mind.

On a better topic, I can never not love David Nykl.  Have loved him since Stargate Atlantis.  I hope we see Anatoli again.

[BkWurm1]

Adults make their own decisions but friends still get to tell it like it is, lol.  

[AAEBoiler]

On 7/2/2014 at 9:21 PM, statsgirl said:

"The catastrophic risk of turning on the accelerator"....  remember that folks."

I'm watching these episodes for the first time they're really, subtly, foreshadowing something, eh? There seems to a mention of this in the background every episode.

[bijoux]

Not Arrow per se, but wait until the end of 209.

[tv echo]

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Oliver Queen’s voiceover intro:
Oliver (voiceover): "My name is Oliver Queen. After five years on a hellish island, I have come home with only one goal-- to save my city. But to do so, I can't be the killer I once was. To honor my friend's memory, I must be someone else. I must be something else."

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Felicity has to interrupt Oliver’s meeting with Isabel because of Arrow business:
Felicity: "Mr. Queen -"
Isabel: "I thought you were serious when you said we were partners."
Oliver: "Isabel, I missed one meeting."
Isabel: "This week. Last week, it was two meetings."
Felicity: "Mr. Queen -"
Oliver: "Company-wide revenue is at double digits since you and I took over."
Felicity: "Oliver!"
Oliver: "Yes?" 
Felicity: "I'm sorry to interrupt your - Grr! Um, I need to talk to you about your plans for this evening... With Mr. Harper?" 
Oliver: "You'll have to excuse me."
Isabel: "We have work to do. It's important."
Oliver: "So are my evening plans. I'm sorry. (To Felicity as they leave) We are going to have to work on your excuses."
Felicity: "You're right."

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – When Diggle needs to go to Russia to help Lyla Michaels, Oliver refuses to let him go alone:
Oliver: "Where'd you go? Is everything okay?”
Diggle: "Yeah. Just need a few personal days."
Oliver: "What's going on?"
Diggle: "Have to help a friend."
Oliver: "Who?"
Diggle: "Lyla Michaels."
Felicity (aside to Oliver): "It's his spy girlfriend that works for A.R.G.U.S."
Diggle: "She went to Russia looking for Deadshot for me. Now she's missing."
Oliver: "Felicity I think it's time we visited our Queen Consolidated subsidiary in Moscow."
Felicity: "Yeah."
Diggle: "Oliver, what are you doing?"
Oliver: "Just need to help a friend."
Diggle: "I can't ask you to do that."
Oliver: "You didn't."

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – At the airport, Isabel shows up to accompany Original Team Arrow to Russia:
Diggle (to Oliver): "Are you forgetting something?"
Isabel: "Where do you think you're going?" 
Felicity: "Tahiti."
Isabel: "That's funny. The flight manifest says you're going to Moscow. "
Felicity: "Well, we're going to stop by there, you know, after Tahiti." 
Isabel: "What kind of partner decides to interact with our overseas holdings behind the other one's back?"
Oliver: "It was an oversight."
Isabel: "Oh. Well, lucky for our partnership, I'm a fast packer." 
Diggle: "Oliver, her tagging along does not help matters any."
Oliver: "I will take care of her. John. We're going to bring Lyla back. Wherever she is."

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Isabel accuses Oliver of promoting Felicity to be his assistant for sexual reasons:
Isabel: "I've arranged a meeting with the Chief Operating Officer of our Moscow subsidiaries tomorrow at 10 a.m. Try your hardest not to miss this one."
Oliver: "You know, I'm not this person that you seem to think I am." 
Isabel: "That depends." 
Oliver: "On what?"
Isabel: "On if I think you used the corporate jet for a weekend of fun with your assistant." 
Oliver: "Excuse me?" 
Isabel: "A blonde I.T. girl all of a sudden gets promoted to be assistant to the C.E.O.? There are only two ways that happens. One is nepotism, and she doesn't look like your cousin."
Oliver: "That is absolutely not happening."
Isabel: "What were her qualifications? Aside from an abundance of short skirts." 
Oliver: "Her skirts aren't that short." 
(Isabel walks away, as Felicity and Diggle approach.)
Felicity: "What was that about?" 
Oliver: "Nothing. Everything with Knyazev is set."
Felicity: "You have friends in the Russian mafia? Color me not at all surprised."
Oliver (to Felicity): "You're going straight to the hotel in a cab."
Felicity: "No, you're leaving me with her?!"
Oliver: "Dig and I need to get a drink."
Felicity (as Oliver walks away): "I wouldn't mind a drink."

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Oliver introduces Diggle to Anatoly Knyazev:
Oliver: “John Diggle, this is Anatoly Knyazev.”
Diggle: “Thank you for meeting us.”
Anatoly: “If Oliver vouches for you, you're my second favorite American.”
*  *  *
Anatoly: “First, a toast.”
Diggle: “None for me. Thanks.” (Oliver silently urges him to take a glass)
Anatoly: “Prochnost."
Oliver: "Strength." 
(They all drink.) 
Anatoly: "Now. Business. This is woman you look for, yes? Picture is from two days ago, from Gulag - prison.”
Diggle: “Lyla was arrested?”
Anatoly: “Not quite. From what I hear, she was trying to break in.”
Diggle: “Why?"
Anatoly: "I do not know. But clearly she had issues breaking back out. Gulag, worst in Russia. It's called Koshmar.”
Oliver (off Diggle’s look): “The nightmare.”
Anatoloy: “It's full of violent psychopaths and killers. And that's just the guards.”
Oliver: “Anatoly, we need a way into the Gulag to extract her.”
Anatoly: “You get in, you get shot before you get out. Or end up like your friend. Mmm, it's impossible.”
Diggle: “The only thing that's impossible is us leaving this country without this woman.”

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Diggle tells Oliver and Felicity that Lyla is his ex-wife:
Felicity: "Now that is a lot of drugs."
Diggle: "Courtesy of Knyazev. About enough weight to land me in the Koshmar."
Felicity: "You need to be wearing this when they process you. Guards will take it, but that's the point. (Shows him picture on her iPad screen) This Is Knyazev's man inside the prison. A guard." 
Oliver: "He'll know where in the Gulag Lyla is being held." 
Felicity: "When all hell breaks loose, you need to meet us at the rendezvous point with Lyla, or -"
Diggle: "Or I am a permanent Russian." 
Felicity: "Just thinking out loud. But, are we sure this is the best plan we can come up with? I know Lyla's your friend, but -"
Diggle: "Felicity, Lyla isn't my friend. She was my wife." 
Felicity: "Explain that sentence."
Diggle: "Lyla and I met in the army back in Afghanistan. But we didn't stay married long once we got stateside. Couldn't figure out a way to stay married without a war to fight. So she joined A.R.G.U.S., and I circled back for my third tour. I can't leave here without her, Felicity. I just can't."
Oliver: "Two minute warning."
Felicity: "Good luck, John." (Kisses him on the cheek)

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Oliver, Felicity and Anatoly rendezvous with his Russian contacts to buy a Russian police truck:
Felicity: "You think Dig's okay?"
Oliver (putting hand on her shoulder): "I think he's doing the same as he was when you asked me five minutes ago."
Anatoly: "They're coming. They sell us Russian police truck for cheap."
(The men exchange words in Russian, the new guys pull out guns, Oliver walks over and speaks Russian in the new guy's ear,* they back off, and each side returns to their cars.)
Felicity: "What'd you say?"
Oliver: "Please."

(* According to one source, here’s the English translation of what Oliver said in Russian: “If you shoot, my people will track you down and your children will become orphans.”)

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Oliver tells Isabel that Felicity is just a friend:
Oliver: "Does everyone really think that Felicity and I are -"
Isabel: "No. Just everyone who works at Queen Consolidated."
Oliver: "She's just a friend."
Isabel: "You don't seem like the kind of man who has female friends."

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – Oliver has a one-night stand with Isabel and then has an awkward confrontation with Felicity the next morning when she comes to his hotel room:
Oliver: “Isabel, I have to go. Sorry.”
Isabel: “Do I strike you as someone who needs to cuddle?”
(Oliver opens his room door just as Felicity is about to knock.)
Felicity: “Hi.”
Oliver: “Hi.”
Felicity: “It's time. Ready?”
Oliver: “Yeah, I –“
Isabel (comes up and then, as she’s leaving): “I think she can take the night off. Don't you?”
Felicity: “Ohh.”
Oliver: “Felicity –“
Felicity: “What happens in Russia stays in Russia. (Turns to go) Even when it makes no sense whatsoever.”
(Oliver looks after her and grimaces.)

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – While waiting in the car for Anatoly, Oliver and Felicity discuss his sleeping with Isabel:
Felicity: “What were you thinking?”
Oliver: “What?” 
Felicity: “Over 64 million women over the consent in Russia and you sleep with her.” 
Oliver: “So we're not doing the ‘What happens in Russia stays in Russia?’" 
Felicity: “We're still in Russia.”

206 (Keep Your Enemies Closer) – After their business trip to Russia, Felicity asks Oliver why he slept with Isabel:
Oliver: "Can you deliver this to Isabel's office, please?"
Felicity: “Why her? I mean, besides the obvious leggy model reason.”
Oliver: “It just kind of happened. It didn't mean anything… Hey. Because of the life that I lead, I just think that it’s better to not be with someone that I could really care about.”
(After Felicity walks past him, Oliver closes his eyes briefly.)  
Felicity: “Well, I think – I think you deserve better than her.”

Edited March 31, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

I've added two script pages to my transcriptions above (provided by MG's tweet yesterday) - the final Olicity scene.

Edited March 31, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

I've updated my above transcriptions post to add the three script pages provided by MG's tweet yesterday - OTA scene in Russia.

Edited March 31, 2020 by tv echo

[lemotomato]

Paige's gif set for this episode:

 

[tv echo]

206 deleted scene...

Arrow 2x06 Deleted Scene - Thea visits her mother on prison

(Hermandat)