If there is one running trend with Arrow, is that it loves to frequently misdirect with trailer and episode titles. Never has that been more the case than with "Brothers & Sisters", a strong addition to season seven that gets quite a bit done for the season moving forward.
By misdirection, I'm referring to the fact that this episode didn't exactly do Emiko (Shea Simooka) and Oliver (Stephen Amell) any favours in terms of advancing their relationship as brother and sister. Yeah, the other pairing of William (Ben Lewis) and Mia (Katherine McNamara) worked out okay, I still didn't really as if any progression was made in terms of the Queen siblings.
The real spotlight was on Diggle (David Ramsey) and Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) tackling Dante (Adrian Paul). The limited ventures into a criminal underworld worked nicely, but the introduction of the man himself more than payed off in the end. Diaz hasn't exactly been in top form throughout this season and while I love the actor's portrayal and the character itself, it seemed as if the writers have exhausted all possibilities with the Dragon. The whole Suicide Squad 2 was only there to keep things a little fresher and to the narrative's credit, it managed to offer a few good moments for the team. Thankfully, with all that seemingly being swept aside, Dante seemed more than up to the task of taking the crime lord's place, besting Ollie in a short-lived, yet impressive brawl towards the end of the episode. Dante's suave, calculated attitude was evident, smoothly deflecting Ollie's arrows and tackling him. That and the fancy Assassin's Creed dive off the building just topped the whole thing off.
Really, everything kicked into gear at the very last minute. The episode took things a lot slower than it usually does early on, yet it kicked off a slew of exciting new plots in its closing minutes. If we ignore the underwhelming Emiko storyline, "Brothers & Sisters" is an action-packed, streamlined (if a little slow) episode of Arrow that paves the way for a promising new conflict.