Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 23 - Lian Yu

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

With the rest of Team Arrow abducted by Prometheus and held captive where it all began on the island of Lian Yiu, Oliver Queen must build an unlikely army of his enemies! Malcolm Merlyn, Nyssa Al Ghul, Captain Boomerang and even Slade Wilson will stand beside him for one reason or another. Yet even if they triumph over an army that includes Talia Al Ghul and her followers, Evelyn Sharpe and Black Siren, can Oliver count on them letting him live long enough to enjoy the victory once Prometheus is brought to justice?


Influences

Green Arrow (Vol. 3) #66 (Basic plot of Oliver Queen and his friends and family vs. an island full of killers) and Justice League: Cry For Justice (A villain called Prometheus threatens everything Oliver Queen loves.)


Goofs

It's a minor thing, but it just seems weird for Thea to be calling Sara "my friend's sister" instead of by name.

Unfortunately, all the drama of the episode is killed by the final minute, because - even ignoring press releases confirming the cast for Season 6 - we can't believe for a moment that they're killing off the entire cast except for Oliver Queen himself.


Performances

I never realized how much I missed Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson until now. I know the DCTVU is already a bit over saturated with shows but... 2018?  Deathstroke series? Please?

Well... now we know why John Barrowman didn't get his contract renewed for Season 6. Still, if Merlyn had to go out, we couldn't have asked for a better send off and Barrowman couldn't have given a better final performance as everyone's favorite bad guy you hate to love.

Willa Holland and Emily Bett Rickards haven't gotten a lot of scenes together. The brief moment they have bonding as the daughters of villains who did try to make it up to their daughters shows what a mistake that has been, as the two play off each other beautifully.


Artistry

The washed-out filter used to make the flashbacks look grayer and more miserable/dream-like is a nice touch.

It also helps to provide contrast during the fight between Team Arrow and Prometheus and his recruits when the episode cuts between the fight and Oliver's final battle with Kovar. A masterful bit of directing and editing, that.

The Nyssa/Talia sword fight is a great one.


Trivia

The episode starts with the same words that started The Pilot. "The name of the island they found me on is Lian Yu. It's Mandarin for purgatory."

The blue top and black leather jacket that Dinah is wearing in this episode resemble the DC Rebirth Black Canary costume.


Technobabble

Felicity says that she and Curtis combined have an IQ over 500.

Prometheus created a network of hundreds of charges of linked C-4 explosives.

Oliver gives Dinah the collar that Curtis built for her. It allows her to focus her Canary Cry but also allows it to overcome sonic dampeners.

Prometheus removed the on-wing hydraulic system from the plane he took to Lian Yu, rendering the plane useless.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Oliver has just knocked out the ARGUS guard who refused to abandon his post. He turns around to find Slade Wilson locking his cell door behind him.)
Slade: Would you like to explain what's going on?
Oliver: I'd like to talk about you for a minute. (pauses, clearly considering his words carefully) You seem...
Slade: What? In possession of all my marbles?
(Oliver just nods.)
Slade: The Mirakuru wore off a long time ago, kid. I mean, I remember everything that happened. I'm not trying to escape that. It feels like some... bad dream. Now, regardless of my sanity, why do you want to help me?  After everything I've done?
Oliver: There's a man here on the island named Adrian Chase. He's holding my friends and my family hostage. Including Thea... and my son.
Slade: (smirking) Since when do you have a son?
Oliver: Slade, are you going to help me or not?
Slade: I think I'm stating the obvious when I say I killed your mother.  And for that alone you should have killed me.
Oliver: Maybe what's happening now is the reason I didn't.
(Oliver retrieves a memory card from his pocket and hands it to Slade.)
Oliver: This is all the intel that I've been able to gather on your son, Joe. Including his present whereabouts.
Slade: (openly shaken at the mention of his lost son) Are you offering to help me find my son?
Oliver: I want us to find both of our sons.
(Oliver turns around and walks to the bag that he dropped when he first entered the prison block. He opens it to reveal the Deathstroke mask. Without a word, he returns to Slade and offers him the mask. Slade nods.)
Slade: You and me, kid. Like old times.

Merlyn: Are you looking for applause? Clapping is a little more difficult for me these days.

(Oliver, Slade and Digger discover Felicity, Samantha, Curtis and Thea caged in an open field.)
Slade: Why are they unguarded?
Captain Boomerang: It seems pretty obvious to me, mate.
(Talia and Evenlyn drop out of the trees, guns and bows drawn.)
Captain Boomerang: (sighing) It's a trap.
Talia: Don't even think it Oliver, or your son loses his mother.
Captain Boomerang: Oh, and, uh.. don't worry about that gun, mate. (reaches into his coat pocket to reveal he already has one)  Mr. Chase gave me this nice new one. Along with a better offer.
Evelyn: (nodding to Slade) Adrian thought it would be pointless to reach out to you.
Talia: Although given this turn of events, perhaps you've changed your mind?
Captain Boomerang: What's it going to be, Slade?  Care to side with the winners?

Captain Boomerang: I assumed you'd want to be on the winning side.
Slade: Assumption is the mother of all failures!

(Merlyn unlocks Thea's cage.)
Merlyn: You okay?
Thea: (tiredly) Go to Hell.
Merlyn: I'll take that as a yes.

(Oliver hands Curtis a communicator.)
Oliver: Comms. Just in case something goes wrong.
Curtis: You mean "when", right?

Slade: So instead of marrying the blonde, you married Ra's Al Ghul's daughter?
Oliver: Uh... Nyssa talks too much.
Slade: She hasn't explained your beef with Chase.
Oliver: (sighs and shakes his head) My past is coming back to haunt me.
Slade: Seems to be a recurring theme with you, kid.
Oliver: Don't know why.
Slade: Well, it's not really that complicated. You suffer from survivor's guilt. You can't get over the death of your father.
Oliver: Adrian Chase has nothing to do with my father.
Slade: Kid, when it comes to you, everything has to do with your father. You and I are not dissimilar. We're both haunted by our pasts. And the only way to bury that ghost is by forgiving yourself.
Oliver: Forgiving myself?  For what?
Slade: You blame yourself for your father's suicide. And everything else that has gone wrong since. You need to forgive yourself for your sins.
Oliver: You say that like it's easy.

Slade: It's the hardest thing in this world. 

Merlyn: You may not think of me as your father, Thea, but you'll always be my daughter.

Captain Boomerang: Go after the rest!
Merlyn: I wouldn't do that if I were you.

Captain Boomerang: Well, you don't seem too bright. Standing out here in the open like this? What kind of ass-backwards strategy is that? 

Merlyn: (smirking) Let me show you.
(Cut to: Felicity, Thea, Curtis and Samantha running through the woods. There is an explosion in the distance. Thea turns around and looks behind them in shock.)

(Nyssa has just left Oliver and Slade to scout ahead in the old building.)
Slade: She doesn't trust me.
Oliver: Can you blame her?

Slade: No.

(Slade suddenly cold-cocks Oliver, knocking him out. Black Siren rounds the corner with several of Talia's students and smirks.)
Slade: Tell Mr. Chase I have a gift for him. 

Felicity: I'd ask if you're okay, but I don't see how you could be. 

Thea: Honestly, I... I don't even know how I feel right now. 24 hours ago I... couldn't even think of Malcolm without wanting to scream, and now? Now I miss him. Is... is that insane?
Felicity: It's not insane. He's your father.
Thea: He manipulated me. He lied to me. He... he got me to kill my friend's sister! I... how can you miss somebody that you hated so much?
Felicity: Yeah. I mean, I have some experience with evil dads too. My father abandoned me. Lied to me. And then took a bullet for me, saving my life. (pauses and looks at Thea) Malcolm was not a good person and he was an even worse father, but... in his own way... he loved you. Today, he proved that.
Thea: I don't know. It's like today, I got... I got to see the father that he could have been but... he'll never get to be... because he's gone.

(Felicity pulls Thea into a tight hug.)

(Oliver has just given Dinah the collar Curtis made to enhance her powers.)

Dinah: Oh, I love that Curtis!  (To everyone else) This may hurt a bit.

Rene: Just sing, Canary!

Quentin: Actually, it's Black Canary.

(Dinah takes a deep breath and looks at the joint connecting their chains. She screams, breaking it.)

Nyssa: We have unfinished business... Sister.
Talia: I heard you gave up The Ring of The Demon's Head. What a foolish woman you've grown into.
Nyssa: It was your selfishness that forced me to grow up alone.
Talia: Our father never would have passed his mantle on to a woman. I had to forge my own path.
Nyssa: And you left me, knowing I would suffer at Father's hand.
Talia: Do you wish to settle the score now?
Nyssa: I stand with my friends!
Talia: You ally yourself with our father's murderer? He'd be ashamed of you.

Nyssa: (chuckling) Father was always ashamed of me.

(Black Siren and Black Canary knocked themselves down with their point-blank sonic cries. Siren is the first to get to her feet.)

Black Siren: You thought you could replace me? That's cute. 

(Quentin runs up behind Black Siren and hits her across the back of the head with a bo staff.)

Black Canary: You didn't have to do that.

Quentin: Oh, I did. For so many reasons. 

(Oliver has Prometheus's neck in a death grip.)

Prometheus: It's all over, but only if you do it! Do it, Oliver! And show everyone - show yourself who you really are!
(Oliver winces for a bit, sorely tempted, but he looks out to his friends, who are all watching him struggle with Prometheus.)
Oliver: No!
(Oliver releases his grip on Prometheus, leaving him gasping for breath. Oliver takes Prometheus' gun and empties it before tossing the gun away.)

Oliver: That's who I was. That's who I was before! It's not who I am now. You can blame me for your father's death for the rest of your life. I'm done blaming myself for mine. 

(Oliver starts to walk away from Prometheus.)

Prometheus: I knew it would come to this.  (growling) Your son is dead, Oliver!

(Everybody stares at Prometheus in shock. Oliver moves in and kneels by Prometheus, forcing him to meet his gaze.)

Oliver: (speaking with an eerie calm) I don't believe you. Because you are a liar. You're lying to me to manipulate me into doing what you want. But Adrian, here's the thing. If you're telling the truth? If you killed my son? I am never going to be the person you want me to be. Not ever.

Continuity

Slade Wilson was last seen in 314.

Oliver offers to help Slade find his son, Joe, whom Slade first mentioned in 114, in exchange for his help.

Captain Boomerang was last seen in 308.

Samantha Clayton, William's mother, is among the hostages on Lian Yu.

Captain Boomerang was recruited by Prometheus, in case Oliver tried recruiting him as well.

Oliver is skilled enough with a throwing knife to knock an arrow out of the air.

Merlyn used to own three Gulfstreams and can fly any plane like it.

Before the Chinese government turned it into a prison, Lian Yu was a holy retreat.

Merlyn sacrifices himself to save Thea from a landmine and takes out Captain Boomerang in the process.

Nyssa. Slade and Oliver discover the ruins of the plane that was Oliver and Slade's home on Lian Yu some nine years earlier.

Thea refers to the events of 301 and how Merlyn manipulated her to kill Sara Lance.

Felicity refers to the events of 421 and how her father, The Calculator, took a bullet for her.

Neither Felicity or Curtis knows how to fly a plane.

Quentin gives Dinah his blessing to use the name Black Canary.

Dinah's newly focused Canary Cry is capable of breaking metal chains.

We learn that the burn scars on Oliver's back came from Kovar pushing him back against the burning wreckage of the helicopter that Oliver shot down.

Oliver kills Kovar by snapping his neck.

John is not an ace pilot but he can get a plane started.

Susanna Thompson - who played Moira Queen - has a cameo in the flashbacks as Oliver calls home to tell her that he is alive.

The episode concludes with Prometheus killing himself and Lian Yu blowing up - supposedly with all of Oliver Queen's friends and family still on the island.


The Winick Factor

There's a lot of great character moments here that are ruined by a completely random ending that only serves to make the villain look invincible and smarter than the hero. That describes about 90% of Judd Winick's Green Arrow stories and most of the Prometheus stories in Season Five, in all honesty.


The Bottom Line

For a story that draws upon elements of two of the most infamously bad Green Arrow stories of all time, this one does a miraculous job of doing that this show set out to do for five years and, for the most part, did successfully - take the fractured history of a B-list (at best) comic book hero and turn it into something epic. Ignoring the last minute of the episode, that's what they did. The cliff-hanger doesn't ring true, however, and it ends the whole thing on a sour note.

Ignore that though and focus on the good - Oliver being true to his ideals, Manu Bennett redeeming Deathstroke into something like the anti-hero he's meant to be, the Susanna Thompson cameo, Oliver's final battle with Kovar, Black Canary and Quentin kicking Black Siren's ass - and this is one hell of a Hail Mary for a season that did much to restore the good old days of Arrow.  I honestly can't wait for Season Six.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 22 - Missing

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here. 




Plot

It's Oliver's birthday and Team Arrow is in the mood to celebrate in the wake of Prometheus' capture. Unfortuantely, Black Siren has been sprung from ARGUS custody and - with the aid of Prometheus' other allies - has begun taking down Star City's heroes, one at a time.

In the flashbacks, having been ambushed by a not-quite-dead Kovar, Oliver must endure the greatest torture drug known to the KGB if he is to survive to see his homecoming.


Influences

The film version of The Princess Bride (Kovar's torture of Oliver, with his request for honest answers at the start and his philosophical talk about pain mirrors the torture scenes with The Machine) and the comic Justice League: Cry for Justice (a villain named Prometheus holds Green Arrow's loved ones and city hostage in order to escape capture.).


Goofs

Given the destruction of John's car, it seems unlikely that he and Felicity could walk away from it as they do here.

If Black Siren is meant to seem honestly sorrowful that she's chaining up her own father, Katie Cassidy is doing a piss-poor job of portraying it.

The hallucination of Laurel that convinces Oliver not to kill himself is wearing an obvious wig that is the wrong color for Laurel at that time.


Performances

It's good to see John Barrowman back as Merlyn.

It's even better to see Manu Bennett back as Slade, even for just five seconds.


Artistry

The fight as Malcolm and Oliver move to free Chase is amazingly shot and directed.


Trivia

As is traditional for the penultimate episode of each season of Arrow, the title is a reference to a Bruce Springsteen song.

The song Missing comes from the 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. In it, a man sings about how the woman he loves has walked out of his life and how he sometimes thinks she's come back to him.

It is revealed in this episode that Oliver Queen's birthday is sometime in the month of May.

Depending on the exact day, this would make Oliver either a Taurus (The Bull) or Gemini (The Twins) using Western astrology. Either one might be a good fit for Oliver, as Taurus' have a reputation for stubbornness and Geminis are said to be charming but prone to keeping secrets and living two lives.

According to a 1976 DC Comics calendar, Oliver Queen's birthday is December 9th. Fittingly, this would make Oliver Queen a Sagittarius - The Archer - using Western astrology.

The "Happy Birthday Oliver" signs at Oliver's party are in the same font as the Arrow logo.

Felicity says that Oliver's birthday cake came from Lord Mesa Bakery. This is a nod to artist Lord Mesa, who has become famous among DCTVU fandom circles (to say nothing of beloved by the show stars and creators) for his portraits of various superheroes and his one-panel comics based upon them. The cartoon Green Arrow on Oliver's cake is one of Lord Mesa's designs.

Felicity, being teased by Curtis, compares him to a shipper on a soap opera. It's worth mentioning tat the Arrow fandom has an incredibly active shipping community, with fans of the Oliver/Felicity pairing (or Olicity) being the most numerous.


Technobabble

Curtis builds a pair of sound modulators for Dinah. He claims that they will not only allow her to better focus her Canary Cry but will also allow her to overcome any kind of sonic-dampening technology.

The Red Death is the name given a drug devised by the KGB for use in interrogations. It is meant to break men's wills by enduing psychological anguish.

Purgatory - according to Catholic dogma - is the immediate state following physical death.in which some souls who are destined for Heaven must first undergo purification.

Felicity has access to a keyhole satellite that can track the heat signature of any plane in the world.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: Being happy doesn't mean you don't have issues. It just means that you're working on them.

(Oliver has just said he has plans when Thea invites him out to dinner to celebrate his birthday.)
Thea: With who? Please say 'not Susan Williams' ?
Oliver: Um, it... No... ah.... with Felicity.
Thea: Ah. As in a date?
Oliver: As in... I, I don't know if it's a date.
Thea: (teasingly) But you're hoping that it is?
Oliver: It's dinner! People go to dinner.
Thea: See, I don't believe you. But I find it incredibly cute.
(Oliver sighs in exasperation as he exits the room.)

(Quentin arrives at Oliver's birthday party.)
Quentin: I'm late, aren't I?
Thea: Its all good. You didn't miss much. Just Oliver flipping Curtis over his shoulder.
Quentin: (sighs) I told you a surprise party wasn't a good idea.

(The rest of the team have left Oliver and Felicity alone.)
Felicity: I guess since the dinner at Chez Marta was a ruse, they think we deserve some alone time.
Oliver: Well, I mean... I didn't know if it was a...
Felicity: We can take it one step at a time.
Oliver: I would like that very much.
Felicity: This is hard for you, huh?
Oliver: Hypothetically dating my ex-fiancee?  (sarcastically) No, it's fi-
Felicity: Wow. No. I meant "summer vacation" as they are now calling it.
Oliver: It's incredibly hard. It's borderline impossible.
Felicity: We won. (pauses, before whispering) Oliver, we won. Take a step back. You know? You could put your feet up, no matter the state of your socks. You could just - God forbid - relax.
(Felicity laughs and reaches up to Oliver's tie, loosening the knot.)
Oliver: (softly, without much conviction) Yeah.

(Curtis is teasing Felicity about her and Oliver dressing up for each other.)
Felicity: Can you please stop? You're worse than a shipper on a soap opera.

Oliver: Chase doesn't think I can game out what he;s planning, but it;s obvious.
Felicity: (sarcastically) Yeah. Obvious to a murdering psychopath.
(Oliver just looks at her.)
Felicity: And present company excluded.
Oliver: He's trying to leverage our friends to make me set him free.
Felicity: That's crazy...
(Oliver just looks at her again.)
Felicity: ... which would be consistent with Chase.

(Kovar slides a gun to a shaky-handed Oliver.)
Kovar: That gun only has one bullet. You can waste it on me. But I think we both know who is responsible for your pain. (pauses) I've seen the strongest man resist for up to 12 minutes before... ending his suffering Such is my respect for you, that I... I think you last for uh... 14 minutes.

(Oliver senses someone behind him in The Bunker and throws a dart. Malcolm Merlyn catches it.)
Malcolm: I see your sense of hospitality remains intact.
Oliver: You are not welcome here, Malcolm!
Malcolm: You aim to cut off my other hand, Oliver?
Oliver: Maybe. Are you going to tell another person about my son?
Malcolm: Last time I was down here I saved your life.
Oliver: Do you really think that gives you a pass for serving up William to Damien Darhk?!
Malcolm: I'm sorry about that. I wasn't thinking clearly. (raises his prosthetic hand) I let my emotions get out of hand. That's all in the past. The only thing I'm concerned about now is saving my daughter!

(Talia Al Ghul is standing in the road in front of John's car.)
Felicity: Angry woman with two swords. Are you getting major Isabel Rochev flashbacks right now?
John: Yep.
Felicity: You remember how we handled her, right?
John: Yep.
(John speeds up.)

Malcolm: Friends are one thing but family is family. And a child? You would do anything - absolutely anything - to keep them safe.
Oliver: A little while ago I worried to John... that the personal connections I had were making me vulnerable. Because as long as there are people in my life that I care for, I have to be something else to protect them. That's something I can't leave in the past.
Malcolm: I admire you, Oliver. It takes a special kind of idiot to actually get dumber with time.
Oliver: I am not in the mood, Malcolm.
(Oliver turns from Malcolm and moves back towards their bikes.)
Malcolm: Human connections are what keep us human. And it's sad that it's a sociopath who's gonna have to point this out to you!  You can't live on an island! You've already tried! But you are always going to have people in your life, Oliver. And they will always need you, for better or worse, baggage and all. And if you can't accept that, your past is going to stay your anchor!

(The proximity alarm in The Bunker goes off.)
Malcolm: Are you expecting someone?
Oliver: Yes, I am. Because Chase is working with at least Black Siren, Evelyn Sharp, Talia Al Ghul and whatever army she's currently controlling.
Malcolm: (smirking) So you called in reinforcements? If I wasn't such a confident individual, my ego might be bruised.
Oliver: Malcolm, your ego is what I'm going to need you keep in check.
Malcolm: (suddenly tense) Why? Who did you reach out to?
(Nyssa Al Ghul exits the elevator.)
Nyssa: Husband. (she nods to Oliver before looking to Malcolm.) Mr. Merlyn. I assume you still have no title?
Malcolm: (spinning to Oliver) No.
Oliver: (warningly) Malcolm...
Malcolm: I will not work with her.
Nyssa: I told you.
Malcolm: I'd sooner slice her throat.
Nyssa: Try to, you mean.
Oliver: Malcolm, you said you'd do whatever it takes to get Thea back. So... (suddenly shouting) here we are!
Malcolm: Fine. But does she know?
(Oliver blinks, clearly not having planned on this happening. Nyssa sense this and steps closer to them both.)
Nyssa: Know what, Mr. Merlyn?
Malcolm: One of the people we're up against is your sister.
(Nyssa inhales slowly -the closest thing to a gasp she will allow herself as she stares at Oliver pointedly.)

(Oliver pushes his way past a security door with the ARGUS log on it into a prison block. He drops a bag by the door and sighs before moving deeper into the room toward a row of bars. He sighs deeply before finally speaking.)
Oliver: I need your help.
(We switch to a POV shot from Oliver's perspective as he looks into the cell... and sees Slade Wilson.)
Slade: Hey kid. (chuckles softly) I'm glad you came back.


Continuity

Following the capture of Adrian Chase, Oliver Queen's approval rating as Mayor is 70%, according to a Star City Sentinel poll. This is the highest his approval rating had ever been, according to Quentin

Though no exact date is given, Oliver Queen's birthday is sometime in May.

Oliver refers to the events of 111 and Thea Queen's disastrous 18th birthday party.

At the time of this episode, Lyla and John Jr. are in Chicago visiting family.

According to John, he and Lyla are patching things up after their fight in the last episode.

Based on the number of newspapers outside his apartment, Rene hasn't been home in several days. Also,shockingly, Rene subscribes to a newspaper.

The team discuss vacation plans. Curtis would like to go to Florence, Italy. John wants to take his son fishing. Felicity wants to walk the Pacific Crest Trail before taking a spa day. Oliver just wants to have a day to go shopping and buy some new socks. (Apparently he's almost out.)

Oliver determines that Talia Al Ghul is responsible for abducting Curtis, Dinah and Rene based on one of the darts he finds at Dinah's apartment.

The Red Death causes Oliver to hallucinate the pain from his old wounds whenever the scars are touched.

While hallucinating while suffering from the effects of The Red Death, Oliver has past visions relating to his sins (i.e. killing Taiana in 423), failures (i.e. Shado's death in 209), guilt (i.e. Oliver killing one of Ivo's men in front of Shado in 201) and bloodlust (i.e. Oliver torturing General Matthew Shrieve to death in 323). He hallucinates both his fist teacher, Yao Fei, encouraging him to commit suicide and then a vision of Laurel Lance telling him to live.

Black Siren was broken out of ARGUS at some point after Curtis' abduction. It is later revealed that she was released by an ARGUS agent, who was being blackmailed by Eveyln Sharpe.

As of this episode, Quentin had still not been told about the existence of Black Siren.

Thea apparently had been informed of Black Siren's existence.

Malcolm Merlyn refers to the events of 423 - the last time he was in The Bunker, when he arrived just in time to help defend it from a team of Damien Darhk's Ghosts.

Felicity refers to 222 and how she hit Isabel Rochev with a van when she and John are confronted by Talia.

Oliver recalls that Curtis did put tracking nanites in Felicity in 518, but that they were rendered useless by the EMP from 520.

Oliver figures out that Chase is escaping to Lian Yu.

Nyssa says that her father once told her to visit Lian Yu and that it was where she discovered Sara Lance. This is because Sara, during her time in the past with a younger Ra's ah Ghul and Talia (as seen L109), instructed Ra's to send his next daughter to the island in October 2008. This establishes Sara's recruitment into the League of Assassins as a closed time loop.

Oliver deduces that Talia must have told Chase about Lian Yu.

Oliver uses his one bullet to break the lock on the door of his cell.

In the final scene of the episode, Oliver enters Slade Wilson's cell on Lian Yu and tells him he needs his help.


Location

A freeway 10 miles outside of Star City.


Untelevised Adventures

We do not see how Reme or Dinah were captured.  We don't see how Black Siren escaped from ARGUS.


The Bottom Line

A fantastic episode, curiously, because of how little it has to do with Season Five's on-going plot. It's all because of the other little bits of character business that harken back to the show's glory days. The interactions between Oliver and Malcolm. The chemistry between Oliver and Felicity. The brief scenes of Thea and Quentin together. The flashback sequences that actually tie into the current storyline.

It would have been nice to see Roy Harper show up to offer some back-up too but I can't complain. Apparently they won back Manu Bennett despite his promise never to do the show again after Slade's treatment in Season Three.  That's as much a symbol of how far this show has turned around this year as anything.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 21 - Honor Thy Fathers

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here. 




Plot

With Adrian Chase revealed as Prometheus, nearly every case he prosecuted as Star City's District Attorney has been overturned. This leads to a wave of violent criminals being released onto the streets, including Derek Sampson - the drug kingpin who feels no pain. As an already taxed Team Arrow tries to keep the peace, Oliver Queen has another mystery to ponder - a corpse sealed in concrete delivered to The Mayor's Office!


Influences

Hamlet (two sons come to blows trying to avenge their respective fathers)


Goofs

It beggars belief that Oliver Queen - who devoted his life to atoning for the sins of his father - never considered that those sins may have included his father having people killed until now.


Performances

The whole ensemble gels here but if I had to single out one performance, it would be Willa Holland's ability to convey emotion while staring at a computer screen without saying a word.


Artistry

The atmosphere of the Lian Yu sequences is good, with a slightly washed-out look to the color palette in the cinematography.


Trivia

The title of this episode is similar to that of the second episode of Season One - Honor Thy Father.


Technobabble

The concrete holding Henry Goodwin's corpse is a proprietary formula used by a specific construction company - Wellward Construction, which was a subsidiary of Queen Consolidated.

The DNA evidence under Henry Goodwin's fingernails indicate that his killer was Robert Queen.

The gas spectrometer in The Bunker detects soil with high levels of copper concentration on the concrete holding Henry Goodwin's body. Felicity compares this information to Queen Consolidated construction locations and soil samples from areas of the city rich in copper, leading her to a likely location for Henry Goodwin's entombment/murder.

The two chemicals Sampson steals - torinium and lydracide - are two of the three components needed to weaponize tuberculosis. The third chemical - Cyclotrizane - is highly unstable and banned from all domestic manufacturing.

Anatoly suggests that he and Oliver part ways by saying "ne dumay plokho obo mne". This is Russian for "do not think badly of me". Oliver suggests "Prochnost" (Strength) instead.

Curtis determines that the Cyclotrizane Sampson stole is more refined than the formula used by Justin Clayborne and could be used to create a biological agent 1000 times more powerful than the strain Justin Clayborne planned to use and it would not have a cure. To make matters worse, the formula is aerosolized, so it can be distributed however Chase wishes.

Cyclotrizane degrades pretty quickly, meaning it gives off traceable emissions.


Dialogue Triumphs

Quentin: The question is why would Chase send Oliver a fifteen-year-old body that neither of them are connected to?
Dinah: No idea. Then again, Chase -is- crazy.

Anatoly: Maybe drinking before flying not such good idea? Or not drink enough? I don't know.
Oliver: Weather's getting worse. Means we're close.
Anatoly: I'll pretend that is good thing.

(Anatoly and Oliver are struggling to carry a foot-locker on the rocky beach of Lian Yu.)
Anatoly: I cannot believe you convinced me to come back to this island.
Oliver: Yeah, well - fly home any time you want to, Anatoly.
Anatoly: Ha! So you have irony back in America, yes?

(John and Oliver are stuck in the deathtrap Prometheus set up in The Oliver Building)
John: Chase is going through a lot of trouble to prove a point. What's the hell is his point?!
Oliver: He framed my father for the same kind of murder.
John: It proves the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh? Well, you both might be killers, Oliver, but he's a psychopath. Don't lose sight of that.
Oliver: Well, you're assuming that we're getting out of this.
John: Yes I am!

Oliver: So we had to move off the Sampson stakeout?
Felicity: Yes, because John and you were reenacting the Paleo-version of my favorite scene from Witness.
(Oliver looks at Felicity confused.)
Curtis: Harrison Ford almost gets buried under the corn in the barn silo.
(Curtis and Felicity fist-bump.)
Dinah: Oh, right! And for those of us who haven't seen every movie ever, they mean it was a trap.
Curtis: Who hasn't seen Witness?

Oliver: The Hood, Anatoly, is an identity.
Anatoly: One you think channels monster inside you.
Oliver: And protects the people that are closest to me. I do it this way, my enemies will target The Hood - not the ones I care for.
Anatoly: You are many things, Oliver Queen. But until today I did not count naive as one of them. The people closest to you will always pay the most for your sins. You are paying for your father's. Who will pay for yours?

Oliver: Thea, I thought we agreed not to look at whatever's on that drive?!
Thea: Ollie, you have a habit of giving orders and just assuming that they are agreements.

(Oliver is rewatching the video his father left him, telling him to save their city.)
Felicity: Why are you re-watching it?
Oliver: I want to know how I missed it.
Felicity: Missed what?
Oliver: He's a murderer. I mean, he helped Merlyn start The Undertaking... I never deluded myself into thinking that he was a saint. But to take a man's life? Cover it up? It...it's like I didn't know him at all.
Felicity: Has it occurred to you that this is exactly what Chase wants?
Oliver: Mmm-hmm.
Felicity: Okay, the question was rhetorical. Of course it's occurred to you and of course this is what Chase wants.
Oliver: Chase wants to destroy the basis for everything we're doing here. And that crusade began with my father. Everything I've done - everything - has, in some way, been about honoring him.
Felicity: Your father inspired you to save this city. And you did. At this point, who cares why? You're not a killer. The people you care about are not suffering because of you. Their lives - my life, is better. Because you decided to become The Green Arrow. Well, whenever you decide to be The Green Arrow again.
Oliver: I know you're right I believe that you're right. But... every time I take a step forward, it feels like the past is pulling me back.
Felicity: Probably because you're letting it.
Oliver: ... yeah.
Felicity: Maybe it's time you stopped living for your father and start living for yourself? Just leave the past in the past.

Prometheus: How did you think you were going to beat me, Oliver? We were trained by the same teacher. Just one of the many things that we have in common. You know? Like our fathers being horrible men?
Green Arrow: I am not my father. I'm my own man!
Prometheus: Yeah. A man who's gonna die knowing that my father's legacy killed everyone in the city he loves so much!
Green Arrow: Your father's legacy. (scoffs) That's almost funny.
Prometheus: What are you talking about?
(Green Arrow smirks but says nothing,)
Prometheus (raising his sword): What are you talking about?! What's so funny about my father's legacy?!
Green Arrow: Goodwin's lawyer. He represented your father.
Prometheus: I knew that already!
Green Arrow: You don't know what your father asked him to do... Adrian... he was going to disown you. Not because you're illegitimate. Because you're insane. You're sick. And your father knew it. You spent all this time trying to honor the memory of a man who was ashamed of you. Now, my father wasn't perfect... but at least I know he never would have given up on me.
(Prometheus turns away, seemingly choking, holding back either tears or a scream. After a moment he falls silent, kneels down, and puts his sword on the ground before him as he lowers his head.)
Prometheus: Go ahead. Do it.
Green Arrow; No. I'm not going to kill you. But I am going to watch you face justice.
(Green Arrow launches one punch into the confused face of Adrian Chase, who is knocked out instantly.)


Continuity

36 violent felons are released on bail pending retrial, due to their cases being handled by Adrian Chase. One of these felons is Derek Sampson - the drug lord whose ability to feel pain was taken away after being exposed to too much of his own product in 503.

The corpse in the concrete is identified by his dental records as Henry Goodwin. He was a councilman for The Glades district of Starling City who disappeared in 2002.

Thea Queen returns to Star City. She denies having been with Roy Harper, saying she couldn't let him see her in her current "hot mess" state.

Oliver refers to Isabel Rochev - the treacherous executive who stole Queen Enterprises from him in Season 2.

Rene gets a court date to get expedited custody of his daughter, Zoe. He asks Quentin to come to hearing for moral support. Quentin agrees.

Felicity determines the most likely site of Henry Goodwin's death was Oliver Industries - a former holding company of Queen Consolidated. The company was named by Robert Queen in honor of his son. Oliver says his dad took him there when he was a kid. It had been abandoned for about one month, due to a gas leak.

Both Oliver and Diggle know Morse Code. So does either Dinah or Curtis.

The T-Sphers have lasers on them capable of cutting through a metal slab.

Two of the three chemicals stolen by Derek Sampson are used to weaponize tuberculosis. This was the heart of Justin Clayborne's plan, which Oliver Queen stopped as The Hood in the flashbacks of 509.

The last man to see Henry Goodwin alive was a lawyer named Darren Coffman. He was Goodwin's lawyer as well as the lawyer of Justin Clayborne.

Darren Coffman delivers a memory stick to Oliver Queen that was given to him by Adrian Chase. He knows about Simon Morrison's double life but refuses to speak about Justin Clayborne citing attorney/client privilege.

Fairbanks Chemicals are a military contractor in Star City who manufacture cyclotrizane.

The drive from Coffman contains the security footage from The Oliver Building on the night Henry Goodwin died. It shows Robert Queen struggling with Henry Goodwin (Goodwin pushes him first), before he falls off the catwalk and into a vat of wet concrete.

Felicity is able to trace the Cyclotrizane to The Robert Queen Applied Sciences Center.

Oliver dons The Green Arrow costume again as Team Arrow moves in on The Robert Queen Applied Sciences Center.

Oliver gives the video that Robert Queen made for Thea to her, leaving it up to her if she watches it or not. She ultimately does.

Rene misses his custody hearing.

Oliver Queen knows how to pilot a small plane.

Robert Queen loved vintage planes. He would take Oliver to ride in them all the time. Oliver numbers the last time they flew together among his last few happy memories before coming to Lian Yu.

When Anatoly and Oliver returned to Lian Yu, they found Slade Wilson'd Deathstroke mask washed up on the beach. Oliver used it and an arrow to make a totem of sorts on the beach.

The plan to fake Oliver being a castaway is for Anatoly to hire a fishing boat to sail near Lian Yu in two days time. Oliver will get their attention with a signal fire and then make his way back to Starling City.

Anatoly leaves Oliver a gift which he says he got from a friend who was in the KGB and a master of disguise. We don't see what it is, but it is apparently a wig and false beard that will make Oliver look like he really has been a castaway for five years, as Anatoly says nobody will believe there was a barber shop on the island.

The flashbacks end with Oliver being taken out with a tranquilizer dart, as he sees a still-alive Konstantin Kovar moving in on him.


The Bottom Line

A weakly written episode based around a terrible bit of logic that succeeds only because of how well the ensemble cast play off of one another.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 20 - Underneath

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Prometheus bombs The Bunker, leaving Oliver and Felicity trapped underground. Worse yet, the bomb generated an EMP which has fried Felicity's spinal implant, leaving her paralyzed once again. As the two struggle to survive and the rest of Team Arrow moves to save them, John Diggle and Lyla Michaels confront the sudden strife that threatens to destroy their marriage.


Influences

The 1996 movie Daylight (people trapped underground by an explosion fight to escape.)


Goofs

Why didn't Oliver of Felicity know about the Doomsday Fail-Safe on The Bunker's generators?  If they had, couldn't they have just sat tight and waited for them to kick back on instead of trying to repower the generator as a way of escaping, thus leading to the methane link that made the generators into a death trap?



Performances

Again, the chemistry between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickard's is fantastic and the best moments of the episode involve Felicity and Ollie talking.

A close second, however, is Juliana Harkavy brief moments as Dinah Drake. Whether she's playing Den Mother to Curtis and Rene as they fight or offering John the supportive shoulder he needs as worries about where he stands with his wife, she's easily the best addition to the cast this season.


Artistry

The direction of the episode is very tense and tight, with the flashback sequences perfectly counter-balancing the action.

The script is solid, well-paced and features a lot of great dialogue with nearly every core cast member getting at least one good scene.


Trivia

Curtis named his T-Spherrs Kodo and Podo after the thieving ferrets from the 1982 movie The Beastmaster. Both he and Dinah agree that a young Marc Singer - the actor who played the titular Beastmaster, Dar, was quite helpful in discovering their respective sexual orientations.

Interestingly enough, Marc Singer played the role of General Matthew Shrieve in the third-season flashback sequences of Arrow.


Technobabble

An electromagnetic pulse or EMP is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that damages electronics.

Palmer Tech developed an advanced thermal imaging prototype which Curtis borrowed, tweaked and developed into a tool that could track down Count Vertigo.

The Bunker doors are made of keltium - a proprietary alloy developed by the US Government to repel nuclear blasts.

According to reader Elementary, keltium (also spelled as celtium) was also a supposed element discovered in the early 1900s. It would have been numbered 71 on the Periodic Table in the place where lutetium (the true #71) sits today.

Curtis says that breaking into The Bunker will require rappelling gear, acetylene torches, wide-band active field probes and tungsten-carbide drill bits.

Curtis estimates that The Bunker holds enough air to support two adults for five to six hours if they don't exert themselves.

The mainframe computer in The Bunker has a built-in cellular chip. The rewiring job Felicity and Oliver do doesn't generate enough kilowatts to jump-start it.

Since Oliver's old motorcycle is run of of a pure combustion engine, it is still working despite the EMP - meaning they can use it as a make-shift electrical generator.

Curtis determines that the EMP fried the hydraulics of The Bunker's elevator. In order to reach the manual override, they need to cut through the magnetic seals. This requires an acetylene torch and the wide-band active field probe.

Cisco developed a special epoxy spray for repairing Team Arrow's suits.

The magnetic seals of The Bunker's elevator car are made of pure titanium.

The melting point of titanium is between 1600 and 1700 degrees Celsius (1668 degrees, to be precise.)

Hydrochloric acid is strong enough to melt titanium.

The Bunker's generators have a Doomsday Scenario Fail-Safe. They are tamper-proof, in case of catastrophic attack, so nobody can stop them from turning back on. This is only a problem when the generators turning on might ignite a collection of flammable gas.. like what is currently flooding The Bunker.

The improved T-Sphere contains a hypodermic needle and can be fitted with small doses of drugs. In this case, Curtis filled it with 20 cc of adrenaline.



Dialogue Triumphs

(Curtis is checking out The Bunker entrance.)
Curtis: No power. Whole place.
Rene: What are the chances Oliver forgot to pay his electric bill?
Curtis: Infinitesimal, considering I rigged the place so it'd be off the grid and -
(An explosion is heard in the distance.)
Curtis: - and a bomb just went off!
Rene: Not funny.
Curtis: I'm not kidding!  I heard some kind of explosion.
(Cut to Oliver, shooting explosive arrows at the welded-shut emergency exit of The Bunker.)

(Felicity is sewing Oliver's wound shut.)
Felicity: Do you remember what were were discussing before we got EMP blasted? The fact that I back your play even when I don't agree but you don't have the same consideration for me. You didn't listen to me when I wanted to join Helix.
Oliver: With good reason.
Felicity: I could say the same thing about you a million times over. I support you. Because I trust you.
Oliver: Felicity!  I trust you.
Felicity: Really? Because the hole in your back says otherwise.

Curtis: Look, I know that he hurt you by not telling you about his son, but -
Felicity: Look. It's not about William. It's about what William represents.
Curtis: Oliver having sex with another woman?
Felicity: No. But thank you for that visual. William is symptomatic of a larger problem between Oliver and I.
Curtis: That being?
Felicity: Oliver doesn't trust me.
Curtis: (laughing) Right. The man who has put his life in your hands a couple of thousand times?
Felicity: Trusting me as Overwatch is one thing, but we're talking about his son, Curtis. His child. Oliver doesn't trust me enough to share important information and crucial information with me. What's the point of being in a relationship at all?
Curtis: I'm not going to say that Oliver Queen plays great with others...
Felicity: But?
Curtis: But he can still change that about himself.
(Felicity scoffs.)
Curtis: You know what he can't change?
Felicity: What?
Curtis: That way he looks at you.

Dinah: (listening to an arguing Rene and Curtis) I swear, those two are going to make the cutest couple one day.

(Dinah has noticed the tension between John and Lyla.)
Dinah: Let me guess - you confronted Lyla about the ARGUS black site and it didn't go too good?
John: Something like that.
Dinah: You wanna talk about it?
John: Not really.
(Dinah nods and turns around, back to the comm station.)
Dinah: Well, if you did, I'd tell you about Vinnie and me.
John: Vinnie?
Dinah: My undercover partner. On and off the job. (pauses) Working UC, we had to keep certain things from each other. And we didn't do it because we wanted to. We did it because we had to.

Felicity: Thanks again for trying things my way.
Oliver: First time for everything.
(There is a long silence.)
Oliver: Regarding Helix... you know why I didn't back your play. And you know - or you should - that it had nothing to do with a lack of trust.
Felicity: If you're going to start saying - yet again - that it's because you don't want me to be like you, than you canhold your breath. Particularly since we are running out of oxygen.
Oliver: Cayden James is a criminal -
Felicity: Cayden James is a hacker! As in -so- much less worse than The Bratva. I made the exact same trade off you did to get Chase. I picked the lesser of two evils.
Oliver: The fact that I didn't want you to do that doesn't make me a hypocrite!
Felicity: What does it make you then?
Oliver: It makes me someone who doesn't want you to... be like me.

Felicity: Okay. This may be the fumes talking but I think I have a slightly insane idea.
Oliver: How insane is slightly insane?
Felicity: Well... that depends on how you feel about setting off an explosive arrow in a room full of flammable gas.

Oliver: I'm so sorry...
Felicity: Normally, I would relish an Oliver Queen apology, but this sudden admission is making me nervous.
Oliver: You were right. I didn't have your back. But it wasn't because I don't want you to end up like me, Felicity. It was much more than that.
Felicity: Okay. Lots of blood loss with exposure to toxic gas makes you go crazy. Now we know that...
Oliver: I need you to hear this.
Felicity: I will. Later.
Oliver: I might not have a later.
Felicity: Do not talk like that!
Oliver: I need you to know the truth...
Felicity: About what?
Oliver: (blearily) I didn't have your back. It was not because of you. Or a lack of trust. It was because of me... It was because of me. I'm not the man you think I am. I'm not the man you fell in love with. I put on the hood to right my father's wrongs. But the basis of it... the.. the... foundation of it... and what you did and what Digg did and what the team did in my name... it was all based on a lie.
Felicity: What are you talking about?!
Oliver: Chase, he showed me when he held me hostage... that I didn't do what I did to be a hero. I did what I did... because there was  a part of me... a bigger part than I would like to admit... that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed killing. It's not about not trusting you... I will always trust you.... I don't trust myself.

(Felicity and Oliver are cuddling on the floor of The Bunker.)
Felicity: Promise me you're not going to tell anyone that we had Bunker Sex. And by anyone I mean Curtis. Because he'd never look at me the same.
Oliver: (chuckling as she giggles) Are you sure? Because he had me pick-up Chinese food and then he suggested wine. I'm pretty sure he was rooting for exactly this. So... maybe he saw something that we didn't see?
Felicity: (sighs) I think Curtis watches too many Rom-Coms with Paul.
(Felicity pulls away from Ollie and sits up.)
Oliver: You okay?
Felicity: Yeah. I'm fine. It's just...
Oliver: Talk to me. What's going on?
Felicity: This was nice. You know, it was really nice? But it doesn't change things between us. We still have our problems.
Oliver: Because we never talked about our problems. We never talked about William-
Felicity: Even if there was no William, there wouldn't be an us. Because you don't trust me. I was hoping that you'd change. But you don't trust anyone. And I don't know why. You know, maybe if I knew why, things would be different. I don't even think you know why. I love you. But that is why I can't settle for anything less than your full trust.
(Felicity gathers up her blanket and stands, walking away from Oliver.)

Felicity: Oliver, you said that I don't know the kind of man that you are. I wouldn't have fallen in love with you or wanted to marry you if I didn't know exactly the kind of man that you are. Chase tortured you for a week. You're the toughest person I know. But anyone - anyone - would have admitted to being a tap-dancing flamingo after what he put you through.
Oliver: Adrian Chase didn't make me a killer.
Felicity: No. Five years in hell did that. Five years dealing with this city's worst did that. You have spent a decade dealing with horrors that most people don't even realize exist and the fact that that didn't turn you into a monster proves exactly kind of person that you are!
Oliver: (tiredly) I don't know what kind of person I am.

(Felicity grabs the T-sphere which suddenly sprouts a hypodermic needle.)
Felicity: This looks like The Death Star interrogation droid.
Curtis: (over the radio) I loaded it with 20 cc of adrenaline. You're going to have to inject that into Oliver-
(Before Curtis can finish giving the directions, Felicity is stabbing the droid into Oliver's chest, Pulp Fiction-style. Oliver sits up with a start, screaming - a noise that causes Curtis to shut up and Lyla to stare at the Comm System in disbelief.)
Oliver: I'm okay!
Felicity: Nowhere close. But we gave you enough adrenaline to get us out of here.
Oliver: (confused) Good. Ok. All right.

Felicity: I'm sorry.
Oliver: For what?
Felicity: For being a hypocrite. You were right. I was starting to become like you. And not in the heroic, honorable, muscular way. It was just... after I lost Billy, I was willing to do whatever to get Chase. It drove me to work with Helix and I was wiling to break any rule or do anything to get payback. And, (sniffles) you know... what I'm trying to say is that I think I got the tiniest taste of what you've been through... the tiniest and.... I get it now. (pauses) I understand... why you lied to me about William. Why you had to. I get it. And for the extent that I judged you- and I did judge you- I am sorry. (pauses) You know, you said you didn't know what kind of person you are.
(Felicity slowly smiles.)
Felicity: I think you should figure that out.


Continuity

The flashbacks in this episode take place 11 months earlier, in June 2016, shortly after Team Arrow's defeat of Damien Darhk.

After Damien Darhk's death, several criminals tried to fill the sudden void in the underworld. One of them was Werner Zytle - the second Count Vertigo, last seen in 313.

Oliver decided to switch back to a costume with sleeves shortly after his defeating Damien Darhk, due to his getting cut on the arm.

According to Quentin, every defense attorney in Star City is working overtime trying to overturn every conviction Adrian Chase made as D.A.

Felicity mentions having a generous severance package from Palmer Tech.

Curtis reveals that he named his T-Spheres Kodo and Podo after the ferrets from the movie The Beastmaster.

Dinah confirms that she is heterosexual.

Curtis says he can't use his T-Spheres to help Ollie and Felicity since - while he can control them remotely - they were in The Bunker when the EMP went off.

Curtis suffers second degree burns after their torch ignites the methane.

Dinah once worked with a gang of safe-crackers while working undercover.

In the flashback, Felicity and Oliver had a one-night stand in The Bunker.

ARGUS stole and enhanced the design of Curtis' T-Sphere.

Lyla gives John an audit of every decision she made as ARGUS Director. The two later make-up, with Diggle admitting he should have trusted her as she trusted him in his dealings with Team Arrow.

The episode ends with Adrian Chase approaching William - who is now using the name Matthew.


Location

Wherever William was relocated after being abducted by Damien Darhk.


Untelevised Adventures

The flashbacks in this episode depict a night Felicity and Oliver spent in The Bunker together 11 months earlier, just after the defeat of Damien Darhk.


The Bottom Line

One of the best episodes of the Season. Possibly one of the Top Ten best Arrow episodes of all time.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 19 - Dangerous Liaisons

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

With Adrian Chase exposed as Prometheus, the hunt is on! Team Arrow, ARGUS and the SCPD are all on the lookout but Prometheus is very good at keeping hidden. Helix tells Felicity they can find him but they will need something very big - and very illegal - done in exchange! Something that will leave Felicity having to choose


Influences

The 2005 Deadshot mini-series by Christos N. Gage and the Green Arrow/Black Canary comics of Andrew Kreisberg (vigilante couples fighting over the right way to do things.)


Performances

As always, the chemistry between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards manages to save a lot of dialogue that might otherwise prove insufferable.

Despite not being given much screen time as John Diggle coping with the revelation that his wife is doing the same things as the General who framed him in the name of "security", David Ramsey makes the most with what he has and nails it.


Artistry

The action sequence with Ollie and Dinah moving to stop the Helix mercenaries from attacking the ARGUS agent is a solid piece of action all-around, with good motorcycle stunts, great FX work for the Canary Cry and a fair bit of fighting.

The ending of the episode was honestly surprising.


Trivia

While it was revealed that Wild Dog's daughter is named Zoe in her first appearance, it seems - based on this episode - that Rene's character may have been based, in part, on Floyd Lawton in the 2005 Deadshot mini-series. There, it was revealed that the famous amoral assassin had an illegitimate daughter named Zoe, whom he tried to look after while also staying out of her life, citing his unsuitability to be a good parent. In that mini-series, Lawton confronted Green Arrow and pressured him into doing more to safeguard the Star City neighborhood that Zoe and her mother lived in.


Technobabble

The intelligence of Adrian Chase being in New Jersey came from an ARGUS drone, which then broadcast the information to an unsecure phone. This is an unusual breach of security, to say the least, and leads Felicity to conclude that Prometheus has a friend in ARGUS.

Psychokenesis and Telekenesis are technical terms for the power to move objects through thought.

According to the elevator activity logs, the car Jordan Pierce was in accelerated upward at 9 gs before dropping into a freefall for 40 stories.

A polymorphous worm concealed by a kernel rootkit is the signature of Alena's coding.,which allows Felicity to identify her as Jordan Pierce's killer.

When he was taken in by ARGUS, Cayden James was at work on a biometric tracker that could recognize individual heartbeats that was powerful enough to scan anywhere in the world.

After Damien Darhk took Lyla's security implant, she instituted a new policy at ARGUS that would prevent any sensitive information or location from being accessed by a single person. Access to said information now requires two security keys which are issued only to top ARGUS personnel. They keys are meant to be unhackable, with reprogramming each individual key requiring 24 hours.

Alena has a "weaponized tablet" pre-loaded with address resolution protocol spoofing.

The ARGUS site is protected by micro-chipped gun turrets.

Cayden James' cell is contained behind a grid made of 30-kilowatt spectral beam lasers.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Felicity asks Oliver and Diggle to back her up on Helix stealing ARGUS security keys.)
Oliver: Might be crossing a line, Felicity.
Felicity: Well, you're the last person on Earth who gets to give that lecture, Oliver.
(Felicity looks at Lyla)
Felicity: Or second to last.

(Felicity is dressed in all black, clutching a black backpack. She is about to leave her apartment and opens the door to find Oliver about to knock on the door.)
Felicity: Oh! Hey.
Oliver: Hey.
Felicity: Nice of you to use the front door, for once.
Oliver: May I come in, please?
Felicity: Uh, actually I was just leaving.
Oliver: I can see that.
(There is a long pause as Felicity considers this.)
Felicity: Sure.
(The two walk back into the apartment.)
Oliver: Looks like you're not sitting behind a keyboard for this one.
Felicity: Can you blame me?
Oliver: No. (pauses) I, more than probably anyone else, understand what it's like to be willing to do whatever it takes to stop Chase.
Felicity: Then let me do it.
Oliver: Let me just tell you how I'm seeing things. (pauses) You're willing to do whatever it takes to stop Chase because I was willing to do whatever it takes to save this city. And that created him.
Felicity: (impatient) Okay. So it's ironic. That's what it is.
Oliver: It doesn't have to be! You see we... we can think of another way to find him and then we can find another way to stop him-
Felicity: Okay! How?! The SCPD tip line? No! That's not going to work this time, Oliver! We both know that! Look, this is our only chance.
Oliver: And this is me, asking you...don't do this.
Felicity: For the past four years, I have watched you do whatever you had to. Whatever it took to stop the people threatening this city. How can you stand there and not ask me to do the same thing?
Oliver: Because... for the past four years you, more than anyone else, have seen the toll that it has taken on me.
Felicity: And I told you -
Oliver: And I under - I understand and I agree that I should not shelter you from making hard decisions. But you want to talk irony? Fine. (sighs) You are willing to sell your soul... to destroy a threat that I created. And...  I...
(Oliver sighs, unable to find the words.)
Felicity: (quietly but firmly) One of the reasons I fell in love with you is because you're always willing to do what was right. No matter what the cost. Even if it's unbearably hard. It's what makes you you. So how can I be any different?  You have sacrificed your soul... for the team.  For the city. And for me. You don't... have to carry that burden any longer. Let me do it.
Oliver: Felicity, I... I can't.
Felicity: Then you'll have to stop me.
(Felicity walks past Oliver, exiting the apartment.)

(Lyla defends ARGUS holding Cayden James without charges.)
John: That sounds a whole lot like Amanda Waller.
Lyla: Waller's decisions seem a lot less wrong from this side of the desk, Johnny. You can't judge me for that.
John: I'm not judging. I'm just worried. Felicity Smoak is one of the best people I've ever known and she's gone over to The Dark Side. I don't want that to happen to my wife.

(Rene enters one of the meeting rooms at Star City Hall)
Rene: What's so important, Hoss? I was gonna call it a night.
(Quentin is standing there with a court official... and Zoe Ramirez. She smiles and runs to Rene.)
Zoe: Daddy!
(The two hug, with Rene looking stunned, until he looks over Zoe's shoulder at Quentin.)
Rene:  I told you-
Quentin: Hey, your're not the only one around here that doesn't listen to orders.


Continuity

Adrian Chase had a secret hideout set-up in an old arcade in New Jersey.

The games inside were booby-trapped with one shooting game fitted with an actual gun that auto-fired after a flash bang grenade was set off.

Chase apparently escaped the building through a secret tunnel that led to Port Newark, New Jersey.

Felicity, Alena and Curtis were big fans of the video game Maximum Force.

Jordan Pierce is the ARGUS agent suspected of working with Adrian Chase.

Quentin and Rene meet with the ex-husband of Gay Eked - one of Prometheus' victims in 506. He leaves them her picture.

Curtis told Quentin about the situation with Rene's wife dying and his daughter being taken away by CPS, which Curtis learned about in 513.

Rene has not taken Curtis up on his offer to get him a lawyer to help argue his custody case, because he is "not ready".

Felicity recognizes the code used to hack the elevator that killed Jordan Pierce as having been written by Alena. Alena admits to hacking the elevator but says that the death was accidental.

Cayden James is the founder of Helix and reportedly the most skilled hacker in the world. He is so good at covering his tracks not even Felicity has heard of him. He was taken into custody and "vanished" by ARGUS some eight months earlier. Lyla describes him as 20 times more dangerous than Edward Snowden and says that he was picked up trying to hack an ARGUS transponder.

Lyla mentions the implant which Damien Darhk stole from her in 420 and how this led to the new security protocols used by ARGUS now.

Agent Ditkoff is an ARGUS agent stationed at Port Talbert who is targeted by Helix.

Zoe is on the hockey team at her school. She plays goalie.

Rene also played goalie when he played hockey.

Rene finally does talk to Curtis' lawyer friend and sets things in motion to get his daughter back.

Felicity is locked out of Helix but they do give her the tracker program she wanted to find Adrian Chase.

Things between John and Lyla are strained, with John saying that he's not sure he can trust her anymore.

The episode ends with an explosion rocking The Bunker as Felicity realizes Prometheus is with them.


Location

The opening scene takes place at an arcade in New Jersey.

Port Talbert - a town 20 miles outside of Star City.


Untelevised Adventures
Rene describes an incident where he passed out drunk while heating soup for his daughter. She tried to get it off the stove herself, burning herself in the process. It was for that reason that Rene decided not to fight for full custody or to visit his daughter under supervision. He believed she was honestly better off without him.


The Bottom Line

Shockingly dull, for the most part. Much like the Ace Reporter episode of Supergirl - which aired earlier in the same week as this episode - Dangerous Liaisons devotes itself to tiding up some of the season's long-neglected subplots. Unlike that episode, however, it doesn't do that good of a job of it.

The sad truth is that Wild Dog is so underdeveloped as a character that it's hard for me to root for him getting his daughter back since most of what we do know about Rene and his past suggests that he's quite right to think his daughter is better off without him in her life. John's issues with Lyla's illegally jailing a man are understandable but seem rather sudden given how little time is devoted to them in this episode. The sudden conflict between Oliver and Felicity is less reasonable but Amell and Rickards sell it on sheer charisma. Despite all these problems, the ending of the episode is a stunner and promises great things next week.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 18 - Disbanded

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Having disbanded the Team Arrow and given up his cowl and bow in the wake of a week's torture, Oliver turns to his old allies in The Bratva to deal with Prometheus once and for all. This greatly concerns John Diggle, who confronts Oliver on his decision to turn to gangsters over his friends to deal with the current crisis.


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick.


Goofs

Given that Oliver knows that Prometheus knows about his past in Russia,  why does he think turning to The Bratva is something Prometheus wouldn't have planned for?  You'd think Ollie would at least consider how bad it would be if word got out that The Mayor was in collusion with Russian gangsters or that said gangsters might double-cross him as he double-crossed them.

While not really a goof, how many times is Oliver going to have to learn that his friends are his strength and that he cannot stand alone against his enemies? (At least one more, obviously...)

Granting that the SCPD are corrupt and incompetent in equal measure, how do they not stop the one car speeding away from the remote safe-house that they are speeding toward to catch a now-wanted super-villain?!


Performances

Stephen Amell plays a totally different Oliver Queen here - subdued and beaten. It's frightening how different Oliver seems since last week's ordeal.

David Ramsey is the show's most solid performer, making the most of what little material is is given generally. Give him some great material - as occurs here - and he dazzles. Ramsey's performance as John Diggle here is one of his most powerful ever. Possibly his best turn yet as the character in five years.

Again, David Nykl does a fantastic job playing both versions of Anatoly. The final two scenes showing how far he has fallen, in a mirror of Oliver's own arc, are astonishing.


Artistry

The script for this episode is a solid one, which does a great job balancing the flashback sequences and applying them to the modern action. Of particular note is the disparity between the Oliver and the Anatoly of five years earlier. Five years ago, Anatoly was a kind man who visited sick children in a hospital to offer them words of comfort and arranged heists to get the drugs needed to save lives. Now he is robbing medical companies in order to create designer drugs to make a profit. There's also a nice shift between the two different heists in the fifth segments.

It's worth noting that this episode is unusually realistic in depicting how hackers actually operate. While most of what Helix does is still Hollywood Hacking at it's finest, the methods used by Curtis - looking at an unattended computer and stealing hardware - are more commonly used by real world hackers than actively breaking into a network.


Trivia

Rather than the usual theme song, a more somber, sad tune plays underneath the Arrow logo when it appears.

Kord Industries is mentioned once again, identified as the manufacturers of Prometheus' optic-scrambling technology. In the original comics, Kord Industries was the technologies company run by Ted Kord a.k.a. The Blue Beetle. The DCTVU version of Kord Industries was identified as Palmer Technologies' main competitor back in Season Three.


Technobabble

Prometheus uses some form of optic-scrambling technology that prevents a camera from capturing his image when he is in his costume but not wearing his mask.

Felicity determines that the pixilation pattern of the images scrambled by Prometheus' tech is consistent with that of a Kord Industries' Optic Scrambler that will be hitting the market within the next six months. It works by interfering with the camera's digital conversion circuit. This means they can use an algorithm to remove the distortion. Unfortunately, that requires them to have physical access to the hardware.

It is revealed that all the gun-wielding members of Team Arrow have been using tranquilizer rounds rather than standard bullets.

The drug Anatoly and his men are stealing is Oplimid. Wild Dog notes that this is a medication for treating diabetes.

The chemicals in the two drugs Anatoly and his men plan to steal - Revlextra and Oplimid - can be combined to form an opioid more addictive than heroin.

Curtis is able to use his T-Sphere to pickpocket Adrian Chase's optic scrambler.

Curtis uses Ray Palmer's tracking nanites - last seen in 510 - to find Felicity and Helix.

Felicity says that the encryption on the pixilation algorithm on the Kord optic scrambler will take her 13 months to break. The apparent number of possible codes is (3.1610 18) (E 6) (75 teraflops)

Rene uses one of Curtis' T-spheres as a flash-bang grenade.

Curtis is able to use his T-sphere as a "bloodhound" to sniff out precisely where the original prototype of the optic scrambler is in the Kord Industries' lab he and Felicity break into.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Chase is alone with Oliver in his office at City Hall.)
Oliver: What are you doing here? You won. It's over.
Chase: What did I ever say that gave you that impression?
(Chase reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a throwing knife, which he puts on Oliver's desk.)
Oliver: What are you doing?
Chase: Proving a point, so to speak.
Oliver: You think I'm going to stab the District Attorney in the middle of City Hall?
Chase: You're an animal who enjoys murder. There's no telling what you'll do. And it's not like your alter ego can kill me. Not since the SCPD put me in protective custody since The Green Arrow slaughtered my wife. So you kill me in broad daylight. Or you let me live knowing there is nothing you can do.
(Oliver says nothing. Nor does he move toward the knife. He just holds Chase's gaze until he has to look away.)
Chase: Disappointing. (turning to move toward the door) You can keep that knife.

Oliver: Listen, Susan. I know that... we never got a chance to resolve things. (pauses) I can't be with you. My apologies if that's presumptuous.
Susan: Oliver...
Oliver: This is not how.... this is not how I wanted my life to... to touch yours. (pauses) I should have known better. And for that, I really, truly am sorry.

(Oliver is standing in The Bunker. We do not see who else is with him.)
Oliver: Thank you for coming on such short notice. I understand that after last time... I have run out of favors. But this is an impossible situation. And you are my only option.
(The camera shifts and we see a stone-faced Anatoly regarding Oliver.)
Anatoly: Obviously. Last time you made very clear you did not want Bratva in city.
Oliver: Circumstances have changed. I need you to kill Adrian Chase.

Anatoly: Interesting. I never thought you would give up the hood.
Oliver: Well, you were the one who told me it was silly to think that a... piece of cloth could contain the monster inside of me forever. You were right.
Anatoly: (sighs) Such a burden. Always being right.

(Team Arrow moves in on the gangsters robbing the medical supply company.)
John: Hands up! Hands up! Hands up! Hands up! Hands up!
Dinah: (dryly) He doesn't like repeating himself.
(One of the gangsters says something to his associates, laughing.)
Curtis: Sounds like Russian.
(Curtis begins to try speaking to them in Russian. Anatoly emerges from the loading dock.)
Anatoly: Look. This one's accent has not improved. Still sounds horrible.
John: Anatoly?
Anatoly: John Diggle! My favorite American!
Rene: We know this guy?
John: What the hell are you doing in Star City?
Anatoly: Isn't it obvious?
(Anatoly says something to his men, who move to continue loading the drugs onto their truck.)
John: Anatoly, I can't let you steal these drugs.
Anatoly: It is not a matter of "let". I have invitation to be here.
John: Invitation from who?
(Anatoly raises an eyebrow as if to say, "Really? Who do you think?")

John: (speaking slowly, as if to a child) Oliver... We don't hire criminals and pay them in diabetes drugs!

John: Prometheus tried to convince you that you were responsible for everything bad that happens to people? Oliver, I swear, that's a bunch of crap.
Oliver: (speaking slowly and deliberately) Tell that to Laurel. Tell that to Tommy. Tell that to my mother. Tell that to Billy Malone. Maybe tell it to Thea - she's so damaged that she had to leave town. This isn't post-traumatic stress, John. This is a truth that I was keeping myself from seeing and I am no longer doing that. Anatoly and his men will kill Adrian Chase. That is the solution. The team is done. So I'm telling you - I'm not asking you - I am telling you. For the last time. Stand down.

Oliver: I'm not going to keep having this same conversation.
John: That's too bad. Because I dedicated five years of my life to your crusade. So I'm the one who gets to say if I need protecting. Not you.
Oliver: I'm not going to have your death on my conscience.
John: Oliver, don't talk to me about your conscience! Not when you get back in bed with The Bratva! (sighs) This isn't you, man. The Oliver I know would never let a group of dangerous criminals crawl into his city! Let them steal medicine!
Oliver: You don't know what kind of man I am.
(Oliver turns around and starts to walk away.)
John: What?! What the hell did Chase do to you, Oliver?! Whatever it was, he - he messed with your head in a way I didn't think was possible! Look at me, man! I can help you! I'm your brother!
Oliver: You don't want me as a brother.
John: What does that mean?
Oliver: Chase showed me the truth about myself. You signed on for a crusade that turned out to be an outlet. It was an excuse for me to murder people.
John: (exasperated) Oliver, please-
Oliver: I put on a hood, and I created a persona. Because John - somewhere, along the way, something in me broke. Something is sick inside of me. The crusade? All of this? The foundation of it... is a lie. So I disbanded the team because I won't sit by and watch all of you participate in my murder spree. I am beyond redemption. You and the team will be fine...  if you stay away from me. You stay away from this. You stay away from Chase. And you allow the Bratva to do their job.  Let my crusade die.

(Anatoly leaves the bedside of a sick child. He whispers to Oliver as they are out of earshot.)
Anatoly: That kid won't last a month.
Oliver: They have tuberculosis?
Anatoly: Mmm-hmm. The disease comes from prison. Super resistant strain.
Oliver: Well... I, I mean, is it in any way treatable?
Anatoly: Mmm - yeah. With right medicine, yes. But even Bratva cannot buy for them. Not in quantities needed. All we can do is pay for funerals.
Oliver: Antaoly, is this how we're planning on spending my last two days in Russia?
Anatoly: (smiling) I thought, what better way to cap off your time here than with good old-fashioned heist?

Curtis: If Diggle is the new Oliver and I'm obviously the new Felicity - don't hate - which one of you guys is the new Diggle?
Dinah & Rene: (in unison) I am!
Rene: Seriously? You've been here like, what, ten minutes? You don't even have a code name!
Dinah: Fine. You're the new Digg.
Curtis: The fact that she was not petty and... I mean, that's extremely Digg-like. You-you, see what I-
Rene: (curtly) Yeah. Okay. You're the new Digg.
(Dinah beams in triumph and winks at Curtis.)

John: We're not done, Oliver. You and me? We're never going to be done! Do you understand that? Listen man, you can tell me you're a serial killer. That you're crazy. Or you're whatever Chase has shoved into your head! But I'm not believing any of that, even if you do. And that's because I know the kind of man you are, Oliver. The good, the bad and the ugly! I know! And you don't need to punish yourself. Or isolate yourself. But what you need to do is stop pushing me away! Because I'm not going anywhere, Oliver! Do you get that?!
Oliver: What do you want me to do, John? I told you what I am. Who I am. And even if you don't believe it, I do. (softer) I do.  So I don't know where that leaves us.
(There is a long pause as Oliver walks past John deeper into his apartment. John strokes his chin as if thinking before speaking.)
John: It leaves us right back in Langham, Oliver. Do you remember that? I killed my brother, Oliver. And I was going to let myself rot in prison for what I did.  But you told me to atone for what I did as Spartan. And if that's true for me, it is one-hundred times truer for The Green Arrow. You don't just get to walk away from this, man. The hood is who you are. You don't think you deserve it? Fine. Work to become the man who does.
Oliver: I don't know how.
John: You just ask for help. You don't have to do this alone, Oliver.

(Anatoly holds up a cel-phone. It shows video of several people being held at gunpoint by his men.)
Anatoly: You have chosen where you stand with Bratva. Now you must make one more choice - save pills or save hostages.

(Anatoly and Oliver both have guns drawn on each other.)
Anatoly: Go ahead, Oliver. You want to kill old life? (he lowers his gun) Start by killing me.
(Oliver shoots a control panel behind Anatoly. An alarm begins to ring.)
Anatoly: Very stupid! Now you have to run!
Oliver: So do you.
(Anatoly holds back a curse and runs for the exit. Oliver runs to a different exit.) 

(Curtis and Felicity show the rest of the team the decrypted picture of Adrian Chase as Prometheus.)
Oliver: That is what we needed! Something that he couldn't plan for.
(Oliver looks to Felicity.)
Oliver; You.
Dinah: Please let me be the one to walk this into SCPD.
Curtis: Knock yourself out.
Felicity: Yeah.. Then I'm going to throw it up on YouTube. There won't be anywhere that son of a bitch can run.
Curtis: Does this mean that we're official back in business?
(Oliver walks past everyone, moving to a light switch in the middle of the bunker.)
Oliver: Aside from a few minor changes... yeah.
(Oliver flips the switch and the lights come on along the wall where the display cases for the team's costumes were set-up. There are extra mannequins now, with all of their costumes lined up... except for one empty one in the middle.)
Rene: The line-up could use a little more green, hoss.
Oliver: I'm not quite there, yet. I'm thinking that with this team behind me, it will be sooner rather than later.

(Anatoly walks among the smiling families in the children's hospital before returning to Oliver, who watches from the hallway.)
Oliver: How's it feel to be Robin Hood?
Anatoly: You tell me. You're the one with bow and arrow. (sighs) I know I said Russia's not good for you, Oliver -
Oliver: But you thought that this heist and helping these people would convince me to change my mind about leaving?
Anatoly: Da. Like I said, I need your help.
Oliver: Russia is your home, Anatoly. Let me go save mine. You can do this without me.
Anatoly: (suddenly serious)  I am not worried about what Bratva will become without you. I worry about what I become. (smiling again) But more important question - how drunk can we get you before dropping you off on Lian Yu?

(Anatoly has just told Oliver that he is going back to Russia but he's leaving his men behind  in Star City and that they are anxious to get revenge on the city's vigilantes.)
Oliver: This is between you and me! No one else!
Anatoly: "No one else?!" You betrayed every man in Bratva! You betrayed Russian community! You even worked against old team! When I see this, I think "I still trust him anyway." What a fool I was!
Oliver: No. I'm the fool. Because I thought that our friendship - everything that we have been through together - actually meant something to you. The person that I knew would never betray a friend. -would never threaten innocent people and over what? A payday. When I left Russia, I was convinced that you could lead The Bratva. That you could set them on a better path. And now look at you. You're no better than Gregor.
Anatoly: (sadly but firmly) I told you I was worried about what I would become without your help. I did what I had to do to keep Bratva together and to stay alive. I became what I had to become. You asked why I changed? That is it.


Continuity

Felicity offers up her apartment as a new secret lair for Team Arrow after Oliver locks up The Bunker.

Lyla loans the team gear from ARGUS.

Quentin tells the City Council that Oliver was away for a week on a spiritual retreat. It turns out Counilwoman Pollars is a big fan of that kind of thing.

Oliver breaks things off with Susan Williams.

Anatoly was last seen in the modern day in 512.

Oliver refers to his conversation with Anatoly in the flashbacks of 517 and how Anatoly told him trying to shift his rage into his Hood persona would not work forever.

Rene notes that the medical company Anatoly and his men robbed was barely hanging on and that the jobs of the hundreds of people working there were already endangered. This was covered at a briefing which Oliver also attended.

Rene was suspended from work, by Quentin, until Chase is dealt with due to Rene having threatened to "pop a cap in the DA's ass."

Anatoly's reason for stealing the drugs is to fashion a street drug more addictive than heroin. Things have gotten bad for The Bratva and he needs a new revenue stream to secure his position.

Diggle refers to the events of 504 and Oliver telling him that he could atone for murdering his own brother as Spartan rather than rotting in a cell for a crime he didn't commit.

Curtis uses Ray Palmer's tracking nanites - last seen in 510 - to find Felicity and Helix.

Helix knows that Felicity is Overwatch and Curtis is Mr. Terrific. It took them 8 minutes and 3 minutes respectively to figure that out.

Anatoly returns to Russia, telling Oliver that Oliver Queen is now considered an enemy of the Bratva. For the sake of their former friendship, Anatoly tells Oliver that his men will be staying in Star City after their bail is paid and that they are anxious to get revenge on the vigilantes that bested them.

Adrian Chase is publicly  revealed to be Prometheus.

The episode ends with Adrian Chase fleeing the federal agent's safe-house in a stolen car.

Five years ago, Oliver made plans to return to Lian Yu to create a cover story for where he had been for the last five years. At the same time, Anatoly plans to take the Bratva back to its roots as an organization that protect the common people. To that end, he plots a heist to steal the drugs needed to treat an entire hospital full of children who are dying of tuberculosis. He later admits that he hoped to use this "feel-good' situation to persuade Oliver to stay, in part because he feared trying to take over The Bratva alone. Oliver convinced Anatoly that he was capable of saving his own home and that Oliver should leave to save his.


The Winick Factor

Granting that Oliver has done a lot of stupid and short-sighted things in the comics, hiring Russian mobsters to kill an enemy and allowing them to steal vitally-needed medical supplies in exchange for their help is somewhere on the Top Ten list. In fact, I'd place it just under Oliver engaging in insider-trading to profit off of a weapons manufacturer's stock price soaring, arranging a hostile takeover and then closing all their factories to finance his run for mayor. At least this episode - unlike the Judd Winick storyline from the comics that I just described - acknowledges that Oliver's actions have endangered the jobs of innocent people and that he is being stupid/selfish.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode ignoring the repetitiveness of stories where Oliver needs to learn to trust other people and the fact that Oliver is acting stupid and short-sighted even by the standards of this show. The ensemble's performances (particularly those of Amell, Ramsey and Nykl) and a strongly balanced script help sell some of the contrivances.