Plot
With Felicity's last message leading them into The Glades, William and Mia face their most dangerous mission yet. Meanwhile, Dinah, Roy and Zoe discover something shocking regarding the plot to blow up Star City and who is involved in it.
Influences
The Hunger Games (the gala ball seems heavily inspired by The Capitol and the lavish parties held by the rich while the outer districts starve, the main hero being a teenage girl with a bow.
Artistry
The gala costumes are well-made.
Trivia
Dinah's contact with the SCPD says that a group called the Eden Corps was responsible for faking Felicity's death. Reference is also made to their nuking cities. In the Green Arrow comics, the Eden Corps was an eco-terrorist group led by a woman named Veronica Dale, that Oliver Queen tried to infiltrate in what turned out to be his last adventure as Green Arrow. Oliver sacrificed himself to destroy a biological weapon the Eden Corps intended to unleash on Metropolis.
This is not the first time the Eden Corps have appeared in the Arrowverse. The Eden Corps was the group responsible for trying to activate a nuclear bomb in Central City in The Flash episode "Enter Flashtime" (i.e. F415.) Their leader was also a woman named Veronica Dale.
The CEO of Galaxy One - the company that is a front for the Eden Corps - is a man named Keven Dale. This is likely the son of the Arrowverse version of Veronica Dale or another member of the Dale family.
Connor Hawke is revealed to be an agent for an organization called Knightwatch, which is described as the good version of ARGUS. In the comics, Knightwatch was the military wing of the D.E.O. and their duties included protecting the President from metahuman and magical attacks.These agents wore armor similar to that of the organization Checkmate.
William reveals that the angel investor who helped him get his company off the ground was a company called City of Emeralds Capital. There is a double reference here suggesting that Felicity was his mystery investor. First, City of Emeralds is the name of the largest city in Oz (i.e. Emerald City), which is revealed to be Felicity's favorite book. The Emerald City is also the nickname of Seattle, Washington, which has been the home town of Green Arrow in the comics and occasionally the model for Star City.
It is said that Keven Dale's ultimate goal is to promote a peaceful Star City to other cities as an ideal town and use that to take the Archer protection system global. This is similar to the tactics used by The Ninth Circle during Benjamin Percy's Green Arrow run, where they destroyed Seattle with several terrorist attacks and then used that as an excuse to gentrify the whole city while promoting their own unique brand of Laissez-faire capitalism and using that to take over other cities.
Technobabble
William says that Archer can't be hacked but he did find a way to temporarily make people invisible to it.
The security system at Galaxy One is protected by a DNA access protocol.
Connor has access to a device that can fool a DNA scanner provided it has a sample of the DNA it is meant to simulate.
The bombs are linked by a li-fi - a unified connectivity device - which acts as the brain of the bombs and requires an exterior power source. It is revealed that this is contained within the fidget cube that Keven Dale carries with him.
Functional textiles are high-tech clothing with computers embeded in the cloth.
Dialogue Triumphs
Felicity: This is just a little something that I've been working on on the side.
Mia: For Smoak Tech?
Felicity: No, not exactly. Um There is a corrupt company in The Glades that I am this close to exposing.
Mia:You're hacking again like Overwatch.
Felicity: Oh, well, no, Overwatch was part of a team, right? Team Arrow. And this is solo. So no team, no complications.
Mia: You're a vigilante.
Felicity: No, not exactly. (pauses) Technically, yes, by definition
Tattoo Artist: What's the black star for?
Mia: My mom once told me that all the starlight we see has so far to travel that the stars might not even exist anymore. Eventually, they all just fade to black, erased. That's where I want to be.
Connor: We have to move.
Mia: Didn't you want to go with them?
Connor: Hey. I am only here to back you up.
Mia: Right. 'Cause you promised your daddy. You know, I am really not sure what's worse. The lying or the fact that you actually thought I needed protection.
Connor: Mia, I know that you can take care of yourself.
Mia: Then why the hell do you keep hanging around?!
Connor: Because I care about you! Okay?! I wanted to tell you the truth, but I knew that you would hate me the minute I did. And every day, it just got harder and harder.
Mia: So your big idea is that I would just never find out?! Do you have any idea what it's like to find out that your entire relationship with someone is based on a lie?
Connor: No, okay?! But I know what it's like to have heroes for parents. It sucks. Man, I used to ask my dad all the time why he even adopted me if he and my mom were never gonna be around. But you know what? When I got older, I realized I was proud of them.
Mia: You were proud that they prioritized the rest of the world above you?
Connor: Okay, no, not that part. But with great power comes great responsibility, right?
(Mia stares at Connor, blankly.)
Connor: Oh, come on! Spider-man?
Mia: I'm not really into comic books.
Connor: Okay, my point is that the same applies to us superhero kids. And we have to learn to share our parents and be a little selfless.
Mia: Of course you would say that! You've been a hero in training since you were a kid.
Connor: Well, so have you. The only difference is I got to choose and you never got to make that choice. Until today.
(Rene has sided with the vigilantes.)
Zoe: What opened your eyes all of a sudden?
Rene: Someone very smart with impeccable genetics reminded me of who I used to be.
Mia: And why should we believe you? Aren't you the evil mayor who's been trying to destroy Star City?
Rene: And who are you?
Felicity: This is Mia. These are mine and Oliver's impeccable genetics.
Rene: (stunned) You and Oliver had a kid?!
Felicity: (deadpan) Surprise.
Mia: So what, you probably want me to come help stop Galaxy? A little mother-daughter vigilante time?
Felicity: No. I wish I could take you away from all this. I wish that you didn't have to think about any of this. But I know that that is not my decision to make.
Mia: You know, when I first left home, I was so mad at you. I learned everything I could about vigilantes. I dug up old news stories about how they destroyed Star City. I was convinced it was true that you had lied to me my entire childhood with your your stories of the heroism of Team Arrow. Because you didn't want me to think badly about you. Or about dad. I spent these past years hating vigilantes. Because I hated you.
Felicity: Well, I don't blame you.
Mia: I understand why you wanted to lie to me. To protect me. I can't even imagine what it was like having the entire city turn on you and turn on dad.
Felicity: Mia, you are so much like your father. Out on that field, so badass. I'm so proud of you.
Mia: Mom, there's, um It seemed like there is something really personal about you stopping Galaxy. Is that about dad?
Felicity: No, it's not. That one is on me.
Continuity
Mia Smoak was born in a small country cottage in a town called Bloomfield.
Oliver was present for the birth, along with Dr. Schwartz.
Nyssa Al Ghul trained Mia in combat.
Felicty runs Smoak Tech remotely and avoids Star City.
Mrs. Carver runs the general store in Bloomfield. She has two sons - Henry and Seth, whom she tries to set up with Mia. Mia doesn't like either one of them, unable to decide if Seth is a Scarecrow (i.e. no brains) or a Cowardly Lion.
Felicity has told Mia that her father was a hero but hasn't explained why it is dangerous for people to know that Oliver Queen had a daughter.
By the time of 2040, Jordan Peele has made enough films to support a marathon.
Mia discovers a secret computer room in her home and nearly sets off a self-destruct while looking at the computer.
The computer screen has pictures of Felicity with William and a picture of Ollie on the Screensaver. When the screen comes up, it shows Rene Ramirez and the shady financier helping his campaign.
Mia developed her hatred of vigilantes after realizing that Felicity had never really given up being one even as she tried to keep Mia from using her combat training to follow in her father's footsteps and wouldn't even allow her to go to the city on a day trip.
Mia gets a tattoo of a black star shortly after arriving in Star City, because of something Felicity once told her about how the stars we see at night may already be dead and blacked out. This was also the source of her fighting name.
Anson is the name of Dinah Drake's contact within the SCPD.
Anson tells Dinah, Zoe and Roy that a group called Eden Corps faked Felicity's death and they are operating out of a business in the Glades called Galaxy One.
Dinah has heard of Eden Corps and says they had been lying low.
Anson says Eden Corps may be ready to start nuking cities again. Eden Corps attempted to blow up Central City in F415.
The coordinates Felicity gave William and Mia lead to Galaxy One's offices in the Glades.
William reveals he changed his last name to something besides Clayton, so nobody would connect him to Oliver. Presumably he changed it to Harris, as he enters Galaxy One as the CEO of Harris Consolidated.
William and Mia try to sneak into Galaxy One disguised as a CEO and his executive assistant. William is able to hack his way past the DNA scan at the gate but Mia sets it off.
Connor Hawke is able to get Mia past the gate, flashing a badge and saying that Mia is one of his undercover people.
Coonor Hawke is an agent of Knightwatch, which William describes as the good version of ARGUS.
Mia and Connor are confirmed to have a romantic relationship. He says he honestly did love her and regretted not telling her he was a spy.
Rene Ramirez knew that Zoe was working with The Canaries but had no idea she was one of them.
Rene says that the plot to blow up Star City is the first step of something called The Star City Reformation Project. While the plans to blow up the city are legit, Galaxy One plans to evacuate the area first. This is being done to expand The Glades outward so what Rene has done as mayor with the Archer system can be attempted on a larger scale.
Rene refuses to believe that Galaxy One is a front for the Eden Corps, saying he would know if they were.
The CEO of Galaxy One is a man named Keven Dale.
William plays the role of the CEO of Harris Consolidated, eventually agreeing that Mia can be Ms. Margo, his associate, rather than his Executive Assistant.
William claims that he heard that Galaxy One was working with a company he was interested in acquiring called Halcyon Pharmaceuticals.
Keven Dale agrees to tell William a bit about the company in exchange for the secret of how William was able to get his company off the ground so quick. William says he had an angel investor - City of Emeralds Capital - who stayed otherwise anonymous.
Mia guesses this investor was Felicity, as "City of Emeralds" is a Wizard of Oz reference.
According to Mia, The Wizard of Oz was Felicity's favorite book and she read the whole Oz series to Mia when she was growing up.
Connor, Mia and William find Felicity in a cell on a hidden level of the Galaxy One building.
Felicity sent them the coordinates to Roy and Dinah could destroy the bombs in the Galaxy One building - not to summon a rescue team.
Felicity refuses to leave until the bombs are destroyed. William decides to go with her, as Mia and Connor decied to escape.
Dinah, Zoe and Roy catch up to Felicity and William, having entered Galaxy One through their ventilation system.
Felicity is revealed to now be using her father's old hacking alias, The Calculator.
Mia and Connor eventually return to help Felicity and the other vigilantes.
Rene realizes Zoe was right and finds out that Galaxy One is planning to bomb Star City that night, without evacuating the city, during a gala fireworks show in the Glades.
There are permanent Archer blind-spots that can be centered on a person for a price. Keven Dale has one of them.
Mia is able to destroy the cube controlling the bombs with a well-placed arrow.
After the vigilantes attack his party, Rene publicly posts a $10 million bounty on Arsenal, Black Canary and The Calculator.
Keven says that the bombing plot being stopped is a set-back but also an opportunity to fully turn people against the vigilantes. It is also a chance to test their ultimate tool against the vigilantes.
Felicity and Mia reconcile.
Felicity is revealed to be the creator of Archer and it was originally the basis of her home security system.
Location
Bloomfield - a small town outside Star City. We see it over the course of several years as Nyssa trains Mia, from 2019 to 2040.
Untelevised Adventures
Most of Mia's formative years are unseen, apart from her being trained to fight by Nyssa.
The Bottom Line
A solid episode and definite contender for the strongest episode of the season. While it doesn't address any major mysteries (i.e. What happened to Thea, Digg, Black Siren, etc. in the future?), it does a lot to solidify Mia's character and if the rumors of a spin-off based around her as a new female Green Arrow in post-apoc Star City are true I would not have any objections to it.
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