Spoilers ahead for tonight’s episode of Arrow, titled “Next of Kin.”
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Could it be “my bodyguard, Diggle — is a junkie?!”
In the closing moments of “Next of Kin,” John Diggle’s first full Arrow episode as the Green Arrow, Oliver’s best friend and bodyguard follows up a night of crimefighting with a trip down an alley, where he gives a wad of cash to a mysterious man and is presented with what appears to be Mirakuru — or at the very least is some kind of powerful drug.
The reason for it is that nerves in Diggle’s right hand were damaged during the explosion on Lian Yu at the end of Arrow’s fifth season, but he has not yet told most of Team Arrow, since he has to step up and take responsibility as the new Green Arrow.
While Diggle was a character created for television, in the comics Oliver’s sidekick and best friend, Roy Harper, developed a heroin habit after being left alone with nothing to keep him company but Oliver’s fortune during the Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard-Traveling Heroes storyline.
The drug addiction would become one of the defining DC Comics stories of the ’70s and arguably the most memorable story ever to feature Harper. He would continue to struggle with addiction throughout the pre-Flashpoint era, relapsing after the death of his daughter in the notorious Justice League: Cry for Justice.
Addiction is rarely depicted in comics, but there are a few characters — most notably Roy and Tony Stark — who have dealt with it in major, best-selling stories. In both cases those characters’ addiction stories were downplayed or entirely done away with in their live-action interpretations — but seeing Diggle taking drugs, in a Green Arrow storyline, feels like it could play into some of what Roy went through in the comics, and what it meant for Oliver and the other people in his life as well.
Arrow airs on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
