Arrow Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 5 - Prochnost

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




Plot

The search for a weapon to use against The Monitor leads Oliver, Black Siren, Mia and William to Russia, as Diggle seeks out an old friend for help in procuring the plutonium they need for the weapon. But treachery is afoot and a trusted ally will turn upon Team Arrow before their business is concluded.


Influences

The flashback sequences of Arrow Season 5 set in Russia.


Goofs

Diggle says that Thea told Oliver that Roy left her without even saying goodbye, yet two episodes ago Thea said nothing of the kind and indeed said that Roy was off dealing with his demons and that he would be back. (Maybe Oliver knows a BS departure story when he hears it and figured Thea was just justifying Roy's running off?)


Performances

As always, David Nykl is a delight as Anatoly and it is good to see the show gave him one last hurrah in the final season.


Artistry

The arena fights are well choreographed.


Trivia

Diggle and Roy go to a facility in the nation of Bialya to get the plutonium they need.  In the DC Comics universe, Bialya is a fictional Middle Eastern nation located on the northern borders of Iran and Saudi Arabia. It is usually depicted as a haven for terrorists and supervillains, having at one point been ruled by the villain Queen Bee.


Technobabble

Oliver trains Mia in the use of his various trick arrows. These include explosive arrows (lighter payload, meant to divert and disable), acidic arrow (meant to breach covertly or weaken structurally) and bolo arrows (to secure and subdue). Oliver notes it is good not to become dependent on the trick arrows, but they can be useful in stopping a fight that needs to be ended quickly or ending one before it truly begins.

Oliver uses variable acceleration to break the pattern of an enemy's attack and get past their guard.

William creates a facial recognition algorithm to track down the general Curtis mentioned.

Before going off the grid, General Alexi Burov was working on a weapon called a pulse wave generator that could replicate the energy effect that destroyed Earth 2.

The pulse weave generator requires plutonium to power it.


Dialogue Triumphs

Anatoly: Now, I have seen some very crazy things in my life, but adult children of Oliver Queen sitting in my bar... (To William) I hope you do not think badly of me. Last time we met, you were little, and I was on wrong side of history.
William: (in Russian) Water under the bridge.
Anatoly: (pointing to William) I like this one already.
Oliver: I was surprised to learn that you were in Russia. I thought the Maldives would be permanent.
Anatoly: Oh, with Diaz dead, so reason to stay away.
Oliver: (smiling) You got bored.
Anatoly: I miss borscht. So I reinvent myself. Bar owner. Heh! But I got inspired, too. I got really good recipe for piña colada. You should try. It's delicious.
William: Who wouldn't want to be reminded of the tropics in these cold Russian winters?
Black Siren: (looking around empty bar) Well, apparently, his customers.
Anatoly: (dryly) Nice to see this one's still charmer.

William: Have you ever hacked a CCTV camera?
Black Siren: No.
William: Well, congratulations. You're about to learn the only upside of a Russian surveillance state.

Diggle: You may have started on Lian Yu, Roy, but that's not where you ended. Felicity sent William to that island to find you because she believed in you. You go back to Star City, man. You work with the kids. You help them save the city, Roy.
Roy: How is that possible?
Diggle: Because you found the way to control your bloodlust. You found that it was by being part of a team. You kept your distance because you believed that you were a danger to everyone around you, but the real danger was believing that you can deal with your past alone.
Roy: It's pretty ballsy thinking you can give me the answer 20 years earlier.
Diggle: Yeah, well, hopefully, this time, you don't have to wait that long.

Anatoly: I don't know about you, but I could handle drink without umbrella.
Oliver: I'm good, thank you.
Anatoly: If by good you mean...How you say moody, yes, you are. Is this because you ruin family vacation?
Oliver: I have to send them home for their protection.
Anatoly: Do you not think they can handle it?
Oliver: They can handle it. I just I want to keep them away from the Bratva.
Anatoly: You mean keep them away from your Bratva past.
Oliver: Dark time for me.
Anatoly: That is understandable. You are ashamed. You have truly done some terrible things.
Oliver: Thank you for the reminder.
Anatoly: But you also have done some good things. It's important that the kids see both.
Oliver: Right, but why would I want to share some of the worst mistakes of my entire life with my children?
Anatoly: That is the thing about teaching. It's not about what you want to say. It's about what they need to hear. Remember first thing I taught you?
Oliver: "Living is not for the weak."
Anatoly: Your children are not weak, Oliver. They're also not children. Whatever it is you have to say, they can handle it. If you do not, they will never learn to be heroes.

Oliver: Thank you. I always seem to end up in your debt.
Anatoly: We are beyond keeping score. We have been friends, we have been enemies. From now on, let us just be brothers.
Oliver: Not the Bratva kind.
Anatoly: No! Real family, like the one you have now. I can be the fun uncle.

Anatoly: Oh, Laurel, uh There's something I want to say.
Black Siren: What? One last hilarious Russian joke for the road?
Anatoly: Sorry to doubt you. I guess leopards really can change spots. Or in your case, bird, feather.
Black Siren: (smiling) I thought you said you weren't sentimental.
Anatoly: Maybe I change, too. Like you.


Continuity

Oliver trains Mia in archery using the tennis ball test we first saw him utilize in the Pilot. He explains he uses bouncing tennis balls as targets because only a direct, precise hit will pin the ball. If you are off just a little bit, it deflects the arrow.

Mia doesn't cook.

General Alexi Burov is the man in Russia Curtis mentioned in 804 who has plans for a weapon that can replicate the energy blast that destroyed Earth-2.

The pulse weave generator requires plutonium to power it.

Diggle says he knows of a facility in Bialya, where a two-man team should be able to steal some plutonium. Bialya was briefly mentioned in 117.

Connor left to check up on his mother, Sandra, and his past self.

Black Siren figures out that Lyla is working for The Monitor and against Oliver, before Lyla gives her orders on behalf of The Monitor.

Lyla tells Black Siren she needs to get the plans for the pulse wave generator before Oliver.

Diggle finds Roy Harper, who is once again posing as a mechanic - this time using the name Jason.

William apparently tracked Roy down.

Anatoly was last seen in 706. He moved back to Moscow and became a bar owner, having become bored hiding out under the fake identity Felicity made for him and having no reason to stay in hiding with Ricardo Diaz dead.

William can speak Russian.

Oliver asks Anatoly not to use his Bratva contacts in finding information on General Burov.

Diggle's plan is to do a smash-and-grab on a delivery truck going into the facility in Bialya rather than break into the facility itself.

General Burov frequents a Bratva-run club known as Krovavaya Banya - "The Blood Bath"

William tells Oliver that he met Mia in an underground fight club.

Oliver had no idea that Mia was a cage fighter for a while.

Oliver refuses to let Mia or William get involved in this mission. They think it is because he thinks the Bratva is too dangerous. In truth, he doesn't want them to know about his dark past in Russia.

Oliver is still recognized as Kapiushon from his time in Russia.

General Burov agrees to give Oliver the plans for the pulse weave generator if he can win a fight against The Blood Bath's current champion.

Before General Burov can make good on his deal, the Bratva steps in.

Mia is caught trying to sneak around The Blood Bath, leading to her and Oliver being captured.

Oliver tells Mia about how he used to be part of the Bratva and how he was really trying to hide his dark past from her and William.

Mia is put through the "ring the bell" gauntlet which Oliver faced to join the Bratva in 502. Unlike Oliver, she doesn't quite make it.

Diggle tells Roy about the events of the flash-forwards of Season 7 and how Roy went back to Star City to help Oliver's children save the city. He also tells him that he eventually discovered that the secret to controlling his blood lust was to surround himself with friends and fight with them - not close himself off from everyone he loved.

Oliver demonstrates his old trick of dislocating his thumbs to escape from handcuffs. Mia asks him to teach her that trick.

Oliver comes up with a new plan - he and Mia go into the ring as a team with William posing as the rich guy bringing them in. While they are distracting everyone, Anatoly and Black Siren will steal the plans.

Oliver tells Mia about his time in Russia and on Lian Yu, so they know about the mistakes he made and the worst times of his life.

Roy decides to stick around in Star City for a while.

Oliver and Anatloy agree that they consider one another brothers now.

Black Siren tells Oliver and Diggle about the deal Lyla made with her to try and get her to betray the team.

Oliver, Diggle and Black Siren are taken out with tranquilizer darts when they confront Lyla.


Location

Moscow, Russia
Bialya


The Bottom Line

A worthy tribute to one of the more underrated aspects of Arrow's history and a fantastic swan song for its greatest guest player. More, it finally brings an end to the far-too-stretched out will-she/won't she Black Siren arc and plays off the build up to Crisis beautifully. You almost forget that nothing of importance happens plot-wise until the final scene.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 20 - Shifting Allegiances

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



Plot

Oliver turns to an unexpected old friend for help in dealing with Diaz. Meanwhile, Rene leaves the hospital but has trouble readjusting to life as Wild Dog and Quentin discovers the true nature of Black Siren's relationship with Diaz.


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick (Ollie deciding to work with criminals rather than other heroes to accomplish his goals.)


Goofs

Quentin points out the biggest problem with the keystone idea of The Black Siren Redemption Arc - the idea that Black Siren can honestly feel threatened by Diaz. That idea might have washed with Zoom. It might even have worked for Prometheus last year. But there is no way that Black Siren couldn't reasonably wipe the floor with Diaz AND his immediate circle of bodyguards given what we've seen her do to against whole mobs in his service. She was able to overcome a helpless metahuman with a healing factor at point-blank range. She could easily liquefy Diaz' brain in his sleep if she wanted to.

Once again, we see characters learning the wrong lessons and forgetting lessons they learned for the sake of a story. First, with Ollie continuing to believe he is stronger alone.  Next, Quentin forgetting how nothing good ever comes of doing bad things for good reasons.

The idea that Ricardo Diaz is somehow more inhuman than Zoom (the super-fast serial killer who enslaved an entire world, vibrated the hearts out of countless people and stole a superhero's identity just for the fun of it), Prometheus (the man who tortured and killed countless people in the name of avenging his father's death)  and Cayden James (the man who dispassionately plotted to destroy an entire city because of the death of his son) because he killed the man who tortured him every day of his life as a child is the most eye-rollingly stupid thing to come out of Black Siren's mouth yet. And that, to quote Anatoly, is saying something!


Performances

The high point of the episode is David Nykl and Stephen Amell playing off of each other. After five seasons, it is still amazing to watch Nykl go from being sinister to snarky in the span of a sentence.


Artistry

The sequence of Mister Terrific tagging The Quadrant trucks is probably the best use of the character to date in an action sequence.


Trivia

One of the Quadrant leaders is identified as a gun lobbyist named Lydia Cassamento. In the DC Comics Universe, The Cassamentos are one of The Five Families making up the Gotham City Italian Mafia. This Five Families are The Bertinellis, The Berettis, The Cassamentos, The Inzerillos and The Galantes.

The Arrow logo in this stinger of this episode lacks the usual addition of the other Team Arrow icons.

The weapons brought in to Star City by Cassamento are said to be of Kasnian origin. Kasnia is a fictional country first introduced to the DC Comics Multiverse in Superman: The Animated Series. It has since then been used in The Arrowverse where Kasnia is a Republic in Eastern Europe.


Technobabble

Curtis hacks a thermal-sensing program from the NSA to try and track Diaz.

Curtis has a laser microphone of better quality than anything the CIA has.

The Quadrant's guns are equipped with stealth-adapters making them invisible to ASMs.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: I just want to talk.
Anatoly: We stopped talking year ago. How you find me?
Oliver: I got a tip. From a friend of yours in Russia.
Anatoly: I have no friends in Russia. Your doing.
Oliver: That's fixed. (places a dagger on the counter) Also my doing.
Anatoly: (looking at the dagger) This is Pakhan's. How you come to have it?
Oliver: You told me that The Bratva exiled you because of your friendship with me. I owed you a debt. I owed them a debt. I paid it. You can go home now, Anatoly.  (pauses) You said you were an honorable man. Now, I think you know deep down that Diaz isn't. Help me stop him.
(There is a long pause before Anatoly sighs and steps closer to Oliver.)
Anatoly: Well, you were right. I was an honorable man.
(Before Oliver can react, Anatoly pulls a taser and zaps him in the chest, knocking him out instantly.)

Oliver: My mission was always supposed to be solitary. Put with a team? Fill it with people that I care about? It splits my focus.
Anatoly: Is that why you think Diaz was able to beat you?
Oliver: He took over the city while I was distracted.
Anatoly: If you seriously believe that, then you are an even bigger fool than I thought. And that is saying something.

Anatoly: Time to go see Diaz!
Oliver: (sarcastic) Think he'll give you a reward?
Anatoly: A man can dream. But I'll settle for satisfaction.

Rene: You got a kid. Younger than Zoe. How do you deal with it?
John: I don't, man. Not out here. When I put this holster on, I leave Daddy at home. 

Quentin: Don't pretend like you give a crap about me, alright? Are you proud of yourself, huh? Turning a father's grief against him? As far as I'm concerned, you're worse than Diaz!
Black Siren: You have no idea what he's capable of.
Quentin: I know what you're capable of. You can bring walls smashing down. You really expect me to believe that you are scared of a thug like Diaz?

Anatoly: You say I betray myself working with Diaz. I think much on this.
Oliver: Yes?
Anatoly: You may be right. But I realize moment things went wrong. Last year when I trusted you to bring me into city. So if I betray myself, Kapiushon? It is because you... you betray me first.

(Anatoly enters into Oliver's cell. He is carrying bandages and antiseptic spray.)
Oliver: Thank you.
Anatoly: Bandages least I could do.
Oliver: Not for the bandages, Anatoly. Thank you for giving me the chance to take out Diaz.
Anatoly: What makes you think that's what I was doing? Maybe I wanted to see for myself.
Oliver: See what?
Anatoly: Which one of you has honor.

(Anatoly kneels down before Oliver.)
Anatoly: Just like you wanted, no? You allow yourself to be captured, so I bring you to Diaz?
Oliver: I just thought that I could count on you to be the man I knew. That man was my friend.
Anatoly: (nodding quietly) Hurry up with bandages. I have plan to get you out of here.


Dialogue Disasters

Black Siren: I have known a lot of bad men. And they have been filled with anger and with hate. But not Diaz. He's not filled with anger inside because he's not even human inside. I watched him burn a man alive over a childhood grudge. If I cross him, what is he going to do to me?


Continuity

Oliver captures a man wanted by the Bratva in Moscow to buy Anatoly's way back into The Bratva.

Rene is release from the hospital.

Diaz now controls all the security cameras and police in Star City.

The Quadrant leader who accepted Diaz into The Quadrant in 619 is identified as Lydia Cassamento - a gun lobbyist who oversees the gun-running operations of The Quadrant.

Anatoly refers to Oliver's attack on SCPD HQ in 618.

The Scorpions were the gang that Ricardo Diaz ran before being imprisoned. Reportedly they run most of the drug trade in The Glades.

Rene has connections to The Scorpions through a gambling operation in The Glades.

Rene is having PTSD flashbacks to the last few times he nearly died.

Black Canary, Wild Dog and Mister Terrific blunder into the arms deal as ARGUS is attacking it, as The Quadrant was trying to kill The Scorpions. John Diggle helps them escape.

John Diggle tells Dinah, Rene and Curtis about The Quadrant.

John apologies for his role in everything that caused Team Arrow to split.

Quentin tells John, Rene, Dinah and Curtis about how Diaz came to him demanding he sign over a certain building.

Between the five of them, they figure out that Diaz is now part of The Quadrant and he's turning Star City into a way station rather than having guns shipped in for his men.

Quentin kicks Black Siren out of his home.

Rene elects not to go on the mission to destroy The Quadrant's guns.

There is a version of Damien Darhk on Earth 2. He is as evil as the Earth 1 version, according to Black Siren.

Quentin winds up signing the oreder Diaz gave him, due to his being convinced that Black Siren was scared of Diaz.

Quentin refers to his working for Damien Darhk in Season 4 and how he did bad things for a good reason before.

John declines Curtis' offer to join his team but says ARGUS will continue to work with them.

Zoe is revealed to know about her father's secret identity. She encourages him to keep being Wild Dog.

The episode ends with Diaz having Oliver arrested and arranging to have his trial bumped up to May 3rd, 2018.


Location

Moscow


The Winick Factor

Rather than work with any of the heroes or groups he can rest assured will not double-cross him to Diaz, Ollie decides to approach someone he actively knows is working with Diaz and has even less reason to work with Ollie than New Team Arrow or ARGUS.


The Bottom Line

Were it not for the Black Siren Redemption nonsense, this might be a serviceable episode. Even though Rene's subplot feels recycled from John's storyline earlier in the season, at least it's somewhat acknowledged with Rene asking John for advice on balancing fatherhood and vigilantism. It's a nice, brief moment and the sort of team dynamic this series really could have used this season. Even Curtis gets a few good moments and that never happens! What really sells the episode, however, is the Oliver/Anatoly relationship and their interactions.

Unfortunately, it seems like the rumors of Season 7 of Arrow being used to tell the Supermax "Green Arrow in prison" story that never got made are true. I knew having something with Ollie living an outlaw's life in the forest outside Star City was a bit much to hope for, but I'd rather have this show  emulating Benjamin Percy than David Goyer any day of the 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.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 17 - Kapiushon

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




Plot

Captured by Prometheus, Oliver faces unthinkable torture as his sworn enemy tries to break him and Diggle leads the rest of Team Arrow to find him.

Five years earlier, Oliver's increasingly violent tactics begin to worry Anatoly as they head into a final confrontation with Konstantin Kovar, who they've discovered is plotting a coup of the Russian government.



Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Mike Grell (Ollie being tortured while having flashbacks) and Suicide Squad #38 (hero browbeat into confessing he enjoys killing)


Performances

I think David Nykl's performances as Anatoly are probably the most underrated guest performance in the show's history. The series frequently required him to be the voice of reason, comic relief and a figure of menace - all roles he filled easily while still seemingly being the same character. In this episode, he does all three of these things in the span of an hour and makes it seem as natural as breathing.



Artistry

The fight choreography of the flashback sequences is some of the best the show has seen.

The final battle between Kovar and Oliver on the casino dance floor is well-lit, well-blocked and well-directed. Well-done over all, really.


Trivia

The episode title 'Kapiushon' is a rough Anglicization of the Russian word for "hood". It is later revealed that this is what Kovar's men had taken to calling the figure with the bow who was attacking their business interests.

Prometheus reveals that his took his name from the mythological figure who stole the power of The Greek Gods. It is likewise his intent to take away all of Oliver Queen's power.

"Samovol'shchnia"is a Russian phrase meaning "do as you will." It has a deeper meaning that is tied into The Russian Revolution of 1917. In this case, it means a coup - a violent overthrow of the government.

Much of the plot of the modern-day sequences of this episode resembles the plot of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad #38. In that issue Ben Turner (aka The Bronze Tiger) is interrogated regarding his temper and his efforts to calm it by studying martial arts. Like Oliver, he too adopted a masked persona to try and control his murderous impulses and the issue ends with him confessing that he enjoys killing.


Technobabble

Justin Claybourne's autopsy reveal that his aortic arch was pierced by an arrow. However, the actual cause of death was drowning. He spent 145 seconds (2 minutes, 25 seconds) underwater before his lungs filled up.

Felicity and Curtis had to reroute the electro-optical digital imaging from every reconisance satellite they could gain access to and then capture the data in a 4-dimensional array which could then be parsed using a real-time algorithm. Curtis says solving cold fusion would have been easier.



Dialogue Triumphs

Gregor: (To Oliver) And you are no one's hero. Every thing and every one that you love will wither and die at your touch!

Kovar: My father once told me "do not have 100 rubles but 100 friends."
Merlyn: (laughing) Fortunately we have both friends and money.

(Oliver wakes up on the floor of his cell. Adrian is arranging the last of several photos on the walls.)
Adrian: Do they look familiar? Do you even remember their faces? These are your victims.
Oliver:  (sighs) They were people who did... terrible things. They -had- victims.
Adrian: And husbands. And wives. Daughters. (pauses) Sons. Confess your secret Oliver, and all this ends. I'll give you a gift and you can walk out that door and go back home.
Oliver:  Adrian, you're sick. And you're a hypocrite. There is nothing that I've done that compares with you. You murdered your own wife!
(Adrian moves over to one of the pictures.)
Adrian: Cecil Adams. You knew him by his street name, The Count? You put three arrows in him.
Oliver:  He was going to kill a friend of mine...
(Adrian moves to the floor where a bow and quiver are waiting. He begins to strap on the quiver.)
Adrian: Felicity Smoak.
Oliver: (impatient) Yeah!
Adrian: Confess. Or you get the same three arrows.
(Oliver steadies himself.)
Oliver: Go to hell.
Adrian: I've already been there, Oliver. And I've come back with a message for you.
(In rapid succession, Adrian shoots the three arrows into Oliver's shoulders.)

The Hood: A friend of mine recently showed me the skinning techniques used by hunters in Mongolia. They remove all the skins of things much larger than you in less than five minutes. Which means... you don't have very long... to tell me what your boss is planning.
Kovar's Man: I don't know anything!
The Hood: I was hoping you'd say that.
(The Hood moves in as the camera pans left. We fade to black as Kovar's man begins screaming.)

(Anatoly has discovered Oliver and what is left of Kovar's man.)
Anatoly: This is not human!
Oliver: Anatoly, I told you - putting on this hood... it helps me direct the darkness inside me. It worked, by the way. I know what Kovar is planning.
Anatoly: But at what cost?! You are a fool to think a piece of cloth can separate man from monster. Dividing yourself in two? Will only make the monster stronger until it is stronger than you.
Oliver: You knew what I was capable of back on Lian Yu.
Anatoly: But this man I see now?  Bears more resemblance to Slade Wilson. Or Anthony Ivo.
(Anatoly looks under the cloth and winces.)
Anatoly: Tough man. Clearly he stood a lot before breaking.
Oliver: He gave up pretty quickly. The rest was me practicing.
Anatoly: Practicing to become what?
Oliver: Something else.

(Viktor guides Anatoly and his men into am ambush of Kovar's men.)
Anatoly: You sold us out!
Viktor: We're in a casino, Anatoly. I like to think of it as playing the hand I was dealt.

Adrian: I told you, Oliver. You infect every life that you touch. And now do you realize why? It's because your crusade was based on a lie. You used your father's memory to justify a killing spree. There's a price to be paid for that, Oliver. Your mother paid it. Your friend Tommy paid it. Laurel.... Do you really want to tell me that John Diggle and Felicity Smoak's lives are better having known you?

Anatoly: I cannot believe scared boy in cell beside me would be one to kill Konstantin Kovar.
Oliver: Well, that wasn't me. (Oliver holds up the hood.) That was him.
Anatoly: That is a lie you tell yourself. An excuse that allows you to kill. You kill because you like it.
Oliver: That is not true, Anatoly. I hate it. And I think maybe you've had a bit too much to drink.
Anatoly: Well, that is entirely possible. But in this case I am right. This deal you sold yourself on? That this hood is going to keep this monster of yours at bay? Someday is going to fall apart. And when it does, you are not going to like the man you see underneath.


Dialogue Disasters

Every instance of Adrian Chase shouting "Confess" to Oliver and Oliver shouting back that he doesn't know what Chase wants. Pure Narm.


Continuity

When a Bratva Pakhan dies, a new one is appointed based on seniority.

It is a Bratva tradition that the dead be laid out in state and that other members place money around the corpse. According to Anatoly, this is because the money makes a good gift in Heaven or a good bribe to Satan.

When a new Pakhan takes over, every member of his gang must cut their hand with a knife and shake hands with him.

Malcolm Merlyn was a business partner of Konstantin Kovar.

Merlyn provides Kovar with a large quantity of Sarin Gas in exchange for Kovar providing Merlyn with some unspecified information for Unidac Industries. This was the company which made The Markov Device which Merlyn used to generate earthquakes as part of The Undertaking in Season One.

The Count's real name is revealed to be Cecil Adams. Oliver killed him to save Felicity's life in 207.

Oliver was taught the skinning techniques used by hunters in Mongolia. They are capable of completely skinning large animals in less than five minutes.

In order to win the trust of Taiana's mother, Oliver repeats the phrase she told him in 413 - "The same hammer that shatters glass forges steel."

Evelyn Sharpe/Artemis - last seen in 509 - is thrown into Oliver's cell with a knife. Prometheus says that one of them must be dead when he returns or she will snap her neck in front of Oliver. If she kills him first, she'll be free to go.

Taiana's mother is killed by Kovar. Oliver arrives too late to save her after seeing her being attacked on a security monitor.

Oliver's confession is that he doesn't kill because he has to because of his crusade - he does it because he wants to and because he enjoys it.

Prometheus burns the skin where Oliver's Bratva tattoo is located below his left shoulder.

Anatoly and Oliver got matching Bartva Captain tattoos after Oliver seemingly killed Kovar. Anatoly insisted on promoting Oliver despite his intentions to return home to Starling City so that if he ever needed the Bratva's help, he would be able to get it.

Anatoly also gives Oliver back the hood that he lost in Kovar's casino.

Anatoly refers to the events of the flashbacks in 204 and how Oliver was performing surgery on himself when they first met.

It is revealed that Kovar survived Oliver's beat-down and that he was saved, in part, by Malcolm Merlyn.

Oliver was missing for six days.


The Fridge Factor

Taiana's mother is killed to give Oliver more angst.


The Bottom Line

One of the rare episodes where the flashback sequences are more gripping than the present day material. This is doubly stunning given that we know Oliver and Anatoly will survive their battle with Kovar. The scenes of Oliver being tortured do manage a few honest surprises, though Oliver's confession is hardly a revelation given that it's been at the heart of Oliver's conflict since the first season. Unfortunately, the ending lacks any kind of punch since we know there's still several episodes left this season and no realistic way for everyone else on Team Arrow to quit... particularly when there's a murderous maniac working among them as Star City's D.A.