The Flash Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 22 - Invincible

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




Plot

Barry has his speed back just in time for Zoom to unleash his metahuman army on Central City. And leading the pack is Black Siren - the Earth Two version of Laurel Lance! But Barry won't be alone in saving his city... much to Joe West's annoyance as Wally West starts trying to fight the metahuman invaders himself.


Influences

The Justice League of America comics of Gardner Fox (the various Crisis crossovers, Black Siren is clearly inspired by the evil Earth Three counterparts of the Justice League) and the Vibe comics of Geoff Johns (Cisco's creates a focused sonic blast for the first time).


Goofs

How the hell is Black Siren still walking after being hit by a car?

The whole idea of Earth Two counterparts being mirror-images of their Earth One counterpart is just unsound on the face of it, given how many infinite Earths there are.

Katie Cassidy's performance as Black Siren is just awful. This is curious given her best work on Arrow was in an antagonistic role in Season Two. Playing the vampy villainess proves beyond her talents, however, as her delivery is rushed in every scene she's in and seems to be doing a bad impression of Danielle' Panabaker's Killer Frost.  As Cisco says, she's "just a poor imitation."


Performances

Keiynan Lonsdale dominates his scenes as Wally West.  Wally's been an afterthought and/or a hostage for most of the second-half of Season Two. Here, however, we finally start to see something of the young man who could one day be The Flash himself.

It's a brief thing, but I loved the scene between Cisco and Caitlin where he comforts her over her seeing Zoom everywhere since escaping him. Partly because it's so rare to see a close male/female friendship like this on television but also because Danielle Panabaker masterfully portrays what PTSD anxiety attacks are like and Carlos Valdes likewise does a good job showing how to comfort someone going through such trauma. And kudos to the writers for scripting this scene.


Artistry

The opening battle between the police and Zoom's army is a perfect balance of good FX work and fight choreography.

The special effects for the Canary Cry used here are closer to what we saw in Supergirl for Silver Banshee and much better than what we saw in Arrow.

The special effects as Barry runs into Mercury Labs to save everyone are top-notch.


Flash Facts

One of the metahumans in Zoom's army is a flying man who throws green fireballs. This could be an evil male version of Beatriz da Costa (a.k.a. The Green Flame, a.k.a. Fire) whose powers included generating green flames and flying.

Black Siren's costume is clearly a tribute to the comics version of Black Canary, being made of black leather and fishnets - though the fishnet material is on her arms rather than her legs.

The scene where Dr. Tina McGee and Dr. Henry Allen meet is a nod to the 1990s The Flash TV series, where actor Amanda Pays played a different Dr. Tina McGee and actor John Wesley Shipp played Barry Allen.

The name of Black Siren comes from the Justice League animated series.  That show featured a heroine from an alternate Earth called Black Siren, who was clearly meant as a tribute to the Golden Age Black Canary.


Technobabble

Mercury Labs was equipped with a Crash Survivable Memory Unit - a black box for buildings.

Joe wields a new anti-metahuman weapon - a gun which fires shock-collars that latch onto a metahuman and render them unable to use their powers.

Cisco's Vibe Tech didn't work on Earth Two because their dimension operated on a different frequency. Barry suggests there might be some way to use that and the technology Pied Piper used to fight The Time Wraith to create something capable of disabling all the Earth Two metahumans at once.

Strictly speaking, Barry is technically correct saying Mach 50 is not a real thing. It would be more accurate to say that it's not a real thing on Earth. The highest Mach regime runs from Mach 10 to Mach 25, and measures the speed needed to maintain a low orbit in Earth's upper atmosphere. The speed of light in a vacuum, by contrast, is Mach 880,991.09.

According to Harry, any sound over 200 decibels will kill an ordinary human at close range. The blast from Black Siren which Barry survives is charted at 250 decibels. To put this in perspective, a sound of 150 decibels can permanently rupture an ear drum and is the equivalent of a jet engine taking off at close range. The highest recorded sound in human history was 194 decibels.

All matter vibrates at its own unique frequency. Disrupting the frequency disrupts the matter, like how an opera singer can shatter a glass with her voice. People from Earth Two vibrate at a higher (and, according to Cisco, more erratic) frequency.

Hartley postulates that they could create a dimensional tuning fork of sorts. If Barry runs fast enough around Central City to create a refracting field, the tuning fork will send out a pulse that will bounce off of the wave, split apart and collide with itself over and over, amplifying it into a higher frequency on the Earth 2 spectrum. When that pulse hits anyone from Earth Two, it will disrupt their nervous system, knocking them unconscious.

Wells designs special headphones to protect himself and his daughter from this pulse.

Harry Wells makes use of a 75 KTSB 40,000 watt reverberating sound amplifier, designed to single out the operating frequency of every single Earth Two being on Earth One, which, when contained and magnified by The Flash creating a sound pressure wall around Central City, will render all of the aforementioned Earth Two beings without special ear protection conscious.

Cisco creates a special cell for Black Siren in The Pipeline, using double-panned sound-proof glass.


Dialogue Triumphs

Iris (opening voice over):  Some people are calling it "the met apocalypse" - the days when Central City was overrun by an army with powers beyond imagination. But in these dark times, we must never forget our own strength. Our own power to fight back. That it is only in the blackest of nights that we can truly see the light and know for sure that we are not alone. We are never, ever alone.

Dr. Tina McGee: There may be one more possibility. A few months ago, I saw Harrison Wells running out of my facility. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm certain it was him. Is there any way he could have anything to do with this?
(Enter Harry Wells, standing in the doorway with a coffee mug.  Dr. McGee's jaw drops.)
Harry: A few months ago? Sure. Now? No.
Barry: Yeah, there are a FEW more things that we could catch you up on, Dr. McGee...

Wally: The Flash can't be everywhere at once! I have to do what I can to help! I have to show him I was worth being saved!
Joe: Wally... you ARE worth it.
Wally: Really? Am I? Because last time I checked, I'm the guy who avoided his dying mother for weeks.  I'm the guy who shamed a bunch of other guys and illegally took their cars from them.  I'm the guy who caused The Flash to lose his powers and start this whole damn Metapocalypse in the first place!
Joe: Wally...
Wally: Last time I checked... I have a whole lot to make up for. And that's what I intend to do.

(Barry enters his lab. He finds Zoom looking over Barry's timeline his mother's murder.)
Zoom: You know, I never saw the crime photos of my mother's murder? Well, I guess I didn't need to. I got a ring-side seat while you got whisked away. Too delicate, I suppose.
(Barry just stares at him.)
Zoom: Not just a hologram after all, are you Flash? (He meets Barry's gaze) Interesting.
Barry: I know you didn't call me up here just to banter. Let's finish this. Right now.
Zoom: Actually, I did. I called you up here to tell you you can't keep running from one meta to the next. Around and around. Like a dog chasing its tail.
Barry: I'll do whatever it takes to stop you.
Zoom: If only that were good enough. 'Cause here's the thing - I know you. I know you. I know what's holding you back. You and me? We're really just the same person.
Barry: (scoffs) Yeah, you keep saying that, but that's not going to make it true.
Zoom: You'll see. We are. Same tragic background. Same reason for running. Same desire to be the fastest - to be the best. The difference? You think your anger is dirty somehow.You want to be seen as pure. The hero. Doesn't it get exhausting? (frantically) Doesn't it get exhausting, Barry?! It was exhausting playing Jay, believe me!
Barry: I'm not pretending.
(In the background, a seismic rumble is heard.  Barry looks across the skyline to see another building starting to collapse.)
Zoom: Now if it were me, I'd let that building tumble without a second thought. But you... you'll never let that happen, will you? That's why I'm going to beat you, Barry. Because you always have to be the hero. And while you're playing the good little boy... I'll be busy winning.

Cisco: Birds! Why? It's like a Hitchcock movie in my head!

(As Caitlin has a panic attack, thinking she saw Zoom.)
Caitlin: I see him everywhere!
Cisco: Look. You literally just escaped the psychopath who kidnapped you, all right? So I think it's normal for you to have a severe reaction like this.
Caitlin: This is so much worse than that! I-I'm afraid all the time. I don't think I can ever move forward
Cisco: You will...
Caitlin: When?! Jay took everything from me! My confidence My trust! My sanity. I don't think I'll ever be whole again!

Cisco: (hugging her) Of course you will. I promise.

(Wally is sitting his his car, listening to a police scanner. Suddenly, The Flash runs up.)
The Flash: Stealing is illegal, you know?
(Wally looks at the scanner and chuckles, as if trying to think of an excuse.)
The Flash: Detective West tells me that you've been... fighting Zoom's army on your own?
Wally: Yeah. I want to help.
The Flash: I admire what you're trying to do. But the best way to help is to just leave this to the police.
Wally: Like you did?
The Flash: I do have powers, Wally. It is a little different. This isn't your fight. It's mine.
Wally:  No, it's all of ours. This is my city now too, now. And it's up to all of us to protect it.

(As Black Siren gloats over a deafened Flash, a car comes out of nowhere and hits her, sending her flying.  Wally West opens the passenger door and waves to The Flash.)
Wally: Get in!
(The Flash crawls into the car as Wally grins, guns the engine, and drives off into the night.)
Wally: Thought you might need a lift.
The Flash (still gasping) Yeah... thanks...
(The Flash exits the car, leaving Wally alone to grin and shake his head.)
Wally: You're welcome.

Joe: (To Cisco) This is where I play stupid and you explain science.


Continuity

Captain Singh is injured in the battle with Zoom's minions.

Caitlin makes her way back to STAR Labs, seemingly let go by Zoom. She's dehydrated, malnourished and in shock but otherwise fine.

Since returning from The Speed Force, Barry is overly optimistic and seems to think he's invincible, talking about how the universe is with them.

Cisco has several vibe visions of birds flying into glass windows and dying. Specifically, canaries.

Dr. Tina McGee figured out that Barry Allen is The Flash through simple observation of the fact that Barry seemed to be far too well informed regarding everything going on in her labs that The Flash was privy to but Barry Allen shouldn't have been.

Dr. McGee makes reference to seeing Harrison Wells rob her lab back in 204.

Dr. McGee learns of the existence of Earth Two and its version of Harrison Wells.

Jesse asks Caitlin to run tests on her to see if she's become a metahuman after being hit by the dark matter wave.

Caitlin is having PTSD flashes of Zoom.

Barry claims the Speed Force changed him and took away his fear.

Barry refers to the events of 217 and Pied Piper using his technology to take down a Time Wraith.

Black Siren's sonic powers seem to be me more powerful than Black Canary's.  She also seems to be a more accomplished fighter than Earth One Laurel Lance.

Black Siren is aware of the death of Black Canary.

Wally West's licence plate is 6EG-488.

Cisco is right-handed. His Earth Two counterpart, Reverb, was apparently left-handed.

All dopplegangers are mirror images of themselves, at least in terms of which hand is dominant, according to Black Siren.

In a moment of duress, Cisco is able to throw a focused sonic blast at Black Siren, which sends her flying by accident.

For some reason, Jesse Wells is still effected by the pulse wave despite her ear protections, experiencing great physical pain. Harry Wells takes off his protectors and places them over her protectors, saving her but causing him to be knocked unconscious.

Barry, Cisco and Caitlin elect not to tell Sara Lance and Quentin Lance about Black Siren, based on Barry's own bad experiences interacting with his alternate-earth loved ones in 213.  She and several other metahumans are being contained in STAR Labs Pipeline. The rest are being kept at Iron Heights.

Captain Singh survived his injuries. He is aware that the captured metahumans are being kept someplace besides Iron Heights, but trusts Joe when he says he doesn't want to know where.

Captain Singh is unaware of the existence of Earth Two.

Joe West wants his grandchildren to call him Poppa - not Gramps.

A romance seems to be blooming between Tina McGee and Henry Allen.

The same can be said about Wally West and Jesse Wells.

Wally seems to figure out that Barry is The Flash.

In the final scene, Zoom seems to kill Henry Allen in the same spot where his wife died, in Barry's childhood home.


Untelevised Adventures

We don't see the the opening wave of Zoom's metahuman army attacking Central City, with the episode opening in media res in the middle of an all-out battle between the CCPD and Zoom's followers.

We don't see Barry saving the people at the second building collapse.


The Fridge Factor

For all the effort put into making Black Siren seem menacing, she's really not.


The Boomerang Factor

Barry's competence is severely nerfed in order to make Black Siren seem threatening.


The Bottom Line

A bit of a stumble as this season runs for the finish line, to use a running metaphor.

The script fails to properly build on the drama that could have been caused by Team Flash confronting an evil version of a fallen friend and Black Siren's presence is a distraction from the much bigger (yet oddly quieter - no pun intended) menace posed by an army of hundreds of evil metahumans. Had there been some attempt at showing Black Siren's background or allowing the whole team a chance to react to her, it might have worked. That failure, coupled with Katie Cassidy's muted performance, makes the Black Siren subplot largely pointless.

And yet, the rest of the episode has moments that work so well you can ignore how pointless the scenes with Laurel are.  Cisco trying to help Caitlin confront her PTSD. The brief flirtation between Henry Allen and Tina McGee. Every moment of Wally proving that he is his father's son and trying to be a hero? These moments make the episode into something tolerable, if not quite good.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 19 - Canary Cry

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































Plot

In the wake of Laurel Lance's death, Team Arrow is more broken than ever.  John Diggle in particular is shaken, blaming himself for not seeing his brother Andy's treachery coming. And as a distraught Quentin Lance turns to Nyssa Al'Ghul for some way - any way - to restore his daughter to life, reports come in of a new Black Canary assaulting the corrupt administration of the newly elected Mayor Adams.


Influences

Kevin Smith's Quiver (The vigilante running around when everyone who knows them believes them to be dead plot came from this Green Arrow mini-series, though it had a seemingly back-from-the-dead Green Arrow rather than Black Canary)


Goofs

Curiously, everyone is given a chance to vent about their feelings of guilt over Laurel's death except Thea. While the episode is already top-heavy with grief speeches, you'd think Thea might have been given one as well since her failure to kill Merlyn when he stole Darhk's idol also indirectly led to the events that saw Laurel die.

I've taken the show to task before for how Laurel Lance was fast-tracked from lawyer who had taken a few self-defense classes to vigilante capable of fighting multiple League of Assassins members simultaneously over the course of Season 3. That's nothing compared to how quickly Evelyn Sharp fills Laurel's boots, managing to hack one of Cisco Ramon's weapons, improve upon it and use it to far greater effectiveness than Laurel ever did in a matter of hours! To say nothing of how effective she is planing out her attacks on Mayor Adams and her underlings.

Did anyone ever tell Nyssa that Sara recovered after the events of episode 405? It seems like she still thinks Sara is dead or soulless based on her talk with Quentin.

While the emotion in the scene that follows is honestly played, Stephen Amell and David Ramsey shouting at each other in their Christian Bale Batman voices is just goofy as all hell.

If the goal of this episode was to try and paint a rosier picture of Laurel in death, then the flashbacks have a damn curious way of going about it. Not only are we reminded that Laurel was the sort of person who broke the rules to get ahead in her job (we find out she literally bought her way into the Presidency of her Senior Class), but we find out that she was all but recovered from Tommy Merlyn's death after a week and was putting the moves on Ollie and talking about looking forward to a future together with him.

For that matter, Green Arrow pleading to the fake Canary that she's dishonoring the legacy of the heroine she saw fighting HIVE on the night he failed to save her family REALLY shouldn't work, given that - logically - Evelyn Sharp should be just as pissed at Black Canary leaving her and her family to die as she is Green Arrow.


Performances

Paul Blackthorne's performance in this episode is nothing short of phenomenal. You feel every bit of his pain and his denial is completely understandable, given how purposefully ignorant he's been kept of the strangeness Team Arrow deals with and how much he's learned in spite of that. All things considered, his belief that Laurel is alive somehow isn't nearly as insane as it might seem on the surface. After all, he's lost his other daughter twice before...

David Ramsey is right behind Blackthorne on the Episode MVP list and it's still a close thing. Ramsey usually plays Diggle with restraint and control, as befits his soldier's training. We know from past episodes that when Diggle loses control, things are bad. Yet we've never seen John as bad-off as he is in this episode and an enraged Diggle is something to behold.

Stephen Amell gives Oliver Queen a remarkable level of power in this episode. With everyone else crumbling around him, it is Ollie who has to be the pillar for everyone else.  Ollie's always been the leader of Team Arrow but this is one of the first times we've seen him truly take the mantle on in a capacity outside of the battlefield.

Katrina Law plays Nyssa with her usual level of gravitas, despite not having a lot to do in this episode. Still, she makes the most of what brief scenes she has.

Emily Bett Rickards is just plain scary as Felicity in the final scene in the car with Oliver. You know it's bad when Felicity has gone hard-core.


Artistry

There's some nice parkouring action as Green Arrow chases down the fake Canary.

It's a nice subtle note in the blocking, but none of the police move to obey Mayor Adams' order to arrest The Green Arrow or even bother to shoot at him as he escapes. Apparently they aren't ready to start hunting the local hero down just yet...


Trivia

This episode did not open with the usual "My name is Oliver Queen" intro.

The teenage girl who becomes the new Black Canary is named Evelyn Sharp. She shares a name with two prominent feminist icons - an American aviator who was one of the first female pilots and a British suffragist.


Technobabble

Cisco Ramon keyed the sonic device that provided Laurel with her canary cry to Laurel's vocal chords. This was to prevent anyone else from being able to use it.

A frequent-flyer is a slang-term used by hospital personnel to refer to patients who frequently check themselves into the emergency room. Dr. Schwartz believes one of them may have taken Laurel's choker with the canary cry device.

The fake Canary uses the sonic device at higher decibels than Laurel ever did. She also modified it so that it would overpower the earplugs Team Arrow wore so as not to be affected by the canary cry.


Dialogue Triumphs

(John is on the phone with Lyla, checking on her. He hangs up and looks up to see Oliver standing in front of the case where Laurel kept her costume.)
John: Didn't expect to see you standing there.
Oliver: Where else would I go?

Oliver: Are you worried about your brother?
John: I don't think he'd do anything to hurt my family, but... I don't know. Clearly I never knew him.
Oliver: Alright, John. As the...world's leading expert in blaming yourself, please don't do it.
John: You warned me, Oliver. Straight up, you warned me. If I'd listened to you instead of trusting my brother, Laurel would be alive right now.
Oliver: You can't know that.

(Oliver is sitting at the table in The Bunker. He looks up and is surprised to see Felicity walk in with John and Thea)
Oliver: Hi. I didn't know-
Felicity: You called for the team.

Quentin: Thanks for coming.
Nyssa: I fear I lack the words to convey the true depths of my sympathy. To lose a child once is unimaginable... but for it to be both children...
Quentin: Listen, I know you and I haven't always been on the same side of things, but, uh, Laurel, you know, she thought of you as a friend.
Nyssa: Just as I thought of her. She brought me comfort during a difficult time period. The world will be a darker place without her.
Quentin: Yeah, well, not for long. Okay. I got all of her things. What else do I need?
Nyssa: I'm afraid I don't understand.
Quentin: What else do I have to bring for her when she comes out of this, you know, Lazarus Pit thing?
Nyssa: I would do anything for your daughter, but I destroyed The Pit months ago.
Quentin: Um, ok, well... there's gotta be something else.
Nyssa: I am so very sorry.
Quentin: So you don't want to help me?
(Nyssa just bites her lip and looks conflicted.)
Quentin: Fine. I'll find some other way to bring her back.

Oliver: I tried to do the right thing and i came up short. I came up short for that girl. And for Laurel. Maybe I shouldn't feel responsible, but I do.
Felicity: Yeah. That's going around.
Oliver: You mean John?
Felicity: I mean me. John was looking for someone to absolve him.Reassure him that what happened wasn't his fault. And I couldn't do it. I think, for a second, I let him blame himself, because for a minute it saved me from blaming me. (starting to sob) I should have been there. I wasn't there for the team, in The Bunker. I know I would have just been behind a keyboard. I know it seems like hubris, but I've made a difference before and I can't help but think that maybe if I was there, you know, maybe she'd still be here?!
Oliver: Do you know why I always blame myself in situations like this? Because at least it's an answer. Sometimes we need a reason... when a situation is completely unreasonable.

Oliver: Laurel is gone and there is no bringing her back!
Quentin: No, no, no! To hell with that! And if you don't want to help me, then to hell with you too!
Oliver: I am helping you -
Quentin: No, you're not! Because you know why? Because you do not know what it is like to lose a child! No idea!

Oliver: But I have lost a father! I have lost a mother! And I have lost Laurel! We have lost her!
Quentin: (stopping walking, the fight suddenly seeming to flow out of him) Yeah.  We have. 

Oliver: If there was a way - if there was ANY way to bring her back, I woul find it and I would do it... but there isn't. For either of us.
Quentin: (turning to Oliver) You don't understand! When I lost Sara? When I became a drunk? When no one else believed in me, she did! She's my rock!  I... (quietly) she was my rock.

(Quentin collapses to his knees, sobbing. Oliver puts a hand his shoulder.)

Oliver: I knew Laurel Lance for... almost her entire life. She was my friend. And I loved her. Before she died, I was lucky enough to hear her say that she loved me too. Laurel Lance became a lawyer to help people, who may have appeared helpless. She wanted to give a voice to the silent. But just being a lawyer wasn't enough! She wanted to do more for those people and for this city. Because she loved this city so much. By now, everyone knows that Laurel was killed in the Iron Height's prison riot. And while it's true that she was an assistant District Attorney, that's not what she was doing there that night. Before she died, Laurel told me the truth. Laurel Lance was The Black Canary! In the past few days, I have had to sit and listen to people try to paint the Black Canary as a criminal. She was not a criminal! She was a hero!  She was a hero in every way that a person can be, And if Laurel were here, I know that she would expect all of us to live up the example that she set. She'd want us to save our city.

Oliver: Are you ok?
Felicity: Are you?
Oliver: No.
Felicity: You know what you have to do, right? You have to kill the son of a bitch!
Oliver: I know. (pauses) I don't know how.
Felicity: Because of his magic?
Oliver: It's too strong. I've seen it before. Back on Lian Yu. And it is not just magic. It's darkness. And whenever I have come up against it, I have gone nowhere. He feels unstoppable.
Felicity: I refuse to believe that. And I refuse to let you believe that. If Darhk wins, Laurel died for nothing! I fell in love with you for many reasons and one of those reasons is that you always find a way. And you have to find a way now. For Laurel. For the city. For all of us. 

Dialogue Disasters

(After kissing Ollie a week after Tommy Merlyn's funeral.)
Laurel: I'm really excited about the future, Ollie


Continuity

The Merlyn and Lance families are apparently both Catholic, based on their funerals.

John Diggle refers to his sister-in-law, Carly, and nephew, Andy Jr., not seen since Season One.

Dr. Schwartz, the doctor who handled Laurel in this hospital, is aware of her secret identity and seems to know that Oliver Queen is The Green Arrow.

Evelyn refers to the events of 409 and how Green Arrow and Black Canary left the various people brainwashed by HIVE for dead in Reddington when he was focused on saving John, Felicity and Thea. This is a reference to Reddington Industrial - the building HIVE was using as a base.

Evelyn Sharp is her class President, a gymnast and an academic decathlete. Her parents were found dead of hypoxia, two days after Christmas 2015.

Nyssa seems to be unaware of Sara Lance's recovery, referring to Quentin having lost both his daughters.

Nyssa refers to the destruction of the Lazarus Pit in 403.

Laurel was elected Student Body President of her and Ollie's senior class. She won by exchanging gift-baskets for votes. Ollie says this was Tommy's idea.

Dinah Drake, last seen in 309, is seen at Laurel's funeral.

It is revealed that Oliver returned to Lian Yu in between Season One and Season Two because he feared holding Laurel back in her efforts to save Starling City.

It is also revealed that he left Laurel the picture of her that he carried with him during his give years of exile, along with his Dear John letter.

The flash-forward sequences from 401 and 410 are seen in-whole in the episode's final scene.

Laurel's tombstone has her full name - Dinah Laurel Lance - as well as her codename - The Black Canary - carved into it.


Location

The flashbacks are set in Starling City - May 2013, after the end of Season One.


The Fridge Factor

Averted hard with Evelyn Sharp, who proves to be hyper-competent as the faux-Canary.


The Winick Factor

Laurel is remembered in the flashbacks as the scheming opportunist she was back in Season 2. Some of Laurel's fans on-line may believe this was a disservice to the character. I believe the real disservice was in giving such a despicable character the same name as one of my favorite comic book heroines. I've said it once and I'll say it again - Laurel is Black Canary in name only.


The Bottom Line

Easily the strongest episode of the season to date. Laurel's death, for better or worse, has raised the stakes on this show immeasurably and for the first time in several episodes there is an actual sense of urgency to the plot. The subplot with the Black Canary impersonator is utter nonsense but - much like the better episodes of The Flash this year -  the villain is a brilliant framing device for the short, character-driven scenes and excellent performances that were what made Arrow great before the series began treading water waiting to reach this point. Now that it's here, I am excited about next week's episode in a way I haven't been for some time.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 18 - Eleven-Fifty-Nine

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



Plot

Andy Diggle tells Team Arrow about Merlyn's recruiting him to break Damien Darhk out of prison. John suggests turning him into their man on the inside, but Oliver wonders if Andy can truly be trusted. At the same time, Laurel is offered the District Attorney's post under the newly elected Mayor Adams - a position that will put her in a better position to spy on Darhk and his minions but will require her giving up being Black Canary.

In the flashback, Oliver and Taiana make their move to rescue the other prisoners and trap Baron Reiter in the caverns under Lian Yu.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (The Lian Yu flashback sequence), Saw (the booby-trapped warehouse Andy lures Team Arrow into) and every single cliche involving prison break stories you can imagine.


Goofs

Oliver says that Laurel had always dreamed of being District Attorney. Back in Season One, however, we were told repeatedly that her dream was to use her law degree to help the needy - hence why she worked with a legal-aid organization rather than as a prosecutor.

Laurel says that Oliver is the great love of her life. Nice to see that Thomas "Tommy" Merlyn still means so much to her after all these years. You remember? The man whose death drove her to drug and alcohol abuse back in Season 2? Because Laurel sure doesn't!


Performances

David Ramsey gets some great material here, torn between his belief that his brother can be redeemed and his trust in Oliver.  He winds up choosing poorly - ironically because of his belief in Oliver's ability to redeem himself, right up until the point that Ollie's suspicions break his faith in "his other brother".

This episode is also a great one for Willa Holland.  Thea's central conflict this season has centered upon her controlling her anger and not giving into her blood lust. Ironically, now she finds that she has successfully conquered it and her anger towards Merlyn... at the worst possible moment.

The final scene between Stephen Amell and Paul Blackthorne is some of the greatest non-verbal acting ever seen anywhere. Not just on this show but anywhere.


Artistry

The fight scenes for the episode are all top-notch and very well choreographed.


Trivia

In police scanner code, 11-59 is a warning that intensive attention should be paid to a high hazard area.

"Khushu" means "Humbleness" in Arabic.

Darhk makes mention of Homo Magi carving The Khushu Idol along with other magical artifacts.  In the DC Comics Universe, Homo Magi is a sub-species of humans who wield magic with natural ease. While any human can learn magic with time and training, Homo Magi are born to the art. The magical heroes John Zatara and his daughter Zatanna are both Homo Magi.

Darhk identifies the missing piece of The Kuushu Idol as The Ribulvei Stone. In the mythology of Shazam (a.k.a. Captain Marvel), Ribulvei was the name of one of the deities invoked by The Champion - an early champion of the wizard Shazam, who gained his powers by saying the magic word "Vlarem!"  Ribulvei's blessing was a blessing of Power. It enhanced the physical and mental abilities of The Champion as well as granting him physical invulnerability and resistance to most forms of magical attack.

The abilities granted by Ribulvei in the comics match up with the powers we've seen Damien Darhk manifest. Darhk has shown increased strength and durability and his telekinesis qualifies as an enhanced mental ability by most standards.


Technobabble

Homo Magi form their idols in the image of those whose powers they wish to channel. Attention to detail is essential and the idols will not function if a piece of it is missing.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: There's something I haven't told you guys.
Thea: (sarcastically) Shocker.

Thea: I’m going to hit the streets.
Oliver: Thea, no one is going to give up Merlyn.
Thea: Then I’m going to hit people on the streets.

John: (to a wounded Andy) Don't worry about it, man. We deal with this kind of stuff every week.

Merlyn: I don't think you appreciate what this cost me!
Darhk: Oh, come on. Stop being so high-handed.

Taiana: If he's found that idol, you won't be able to stop him.
(Oliver looks around and spies several crates full of C-4 explosives)
Oliver: We don't need to stop him. We need to trap him.

Andy: If I'm the man that you think I am then you know torture is not going to get me to say anything!
Oliver: I haven't started torturing you yet.

Oliver: John, you are the one who always tells me "Do not have a blind spot when it comes to your family."
John: And you're the one who told me to give Andy a second chance! You're the one who wanted to extract him from HIVE! You're the one who said he could come back from the darkness the same way you did!
Oliver: But I didn't. I've tried. I've tried harder at this than I ever have at anything. But at the end of the day, I am who those five years away turned me into. I'm what they turned me into!
John: So what, Oliver? Just because Felicity left you, I'm supposed to believe that all men are incapable of redemption? Not all men are like you, Oliver. Some of us change. Some of us grow. Some of us evolve! You are stuck, man! Stuck in your self-pity and your self-righteousness. And THAT is why Felicity left you.

Merlyn: (To Thea) You no longer have the drive to kill and it shows. You lost part of yourself when they cured you of that blood lust. And that is why you will never beat me.


Dialogue Disasters

John: Why does that thing (Darhk's idol) creep me out the way it does?
Laurel: Because it's creepy.

Laurel's whole dying speech about Oliver being the love of her life even if she isn't the love of his life. It's sickening to the fans of the Black Canary for the comics because Laurel is such a co-dependent wretch compared to the real Dinah Lance. It's sickening to the Laurel fans that she wishes Ollie well on wining back Felicity. And it sickens everyone that she apparently forgot about Tommy Merlyn in favor of the memory of the frat boy who cheated on her at least twice.


Continuity

Oliver confirms that Darhk's idol - The Khushu Idol - was the same one Baron Reiter found on Lian Yu.

Tiana has a photo of herself and her brother, similar to the photo Oliver had of himself and Laurel.  At the end of the episode,

Sara tried to teach Quentin Chinese, but he only learned how to say "no, thank you".

Murmur works in the prison library at Iron Heights.

Darhk figures out the secret identities of all of Team Arrow. Not because Merlyn told him but because it was quite easy to piece together once he knew that Andy Diggle's brother, who worked for Oliver Queen, also worked for Green Arrow.

Darhk recovers his idol, flees Iron Heights with about fifty inmates and fatajly wounds Laurel Lance.

Oliver promises that if Tiana does not survive the escape attempt he will tell her family what happened. She makes a simialr promise to travel to America and tell Laurel what happened to him if he does not make it.

Laurel kept the same picture of her and Ollie in a pouch on her Black Canary costume that Oliver kept during his time marooned on Lian Yu.

Laurel Lance's time of death is 11:59 pm. She dies just before Quentin arrives at the hospital.


Location

Iron Heights Prison, somewhere between Star City and Central City.


The Fridge Factor

Strictly speaking, Laurel's death doesn't count as a fridging because it was not done purely to give angst or meaning to a male character. It was clear from the first funeral scene at the start of Season Four that Oliver's reaction is not angst-driven and Laurel's death touches everyone directly, with Diggle and Thea perhaps having the strongest reactions as they both could have prevented this from happening through choices they made earlier.

That being said, Laurel's death bed speech is a blistering insult to the strong woman from the comics. Written properly, Dinah Lance was always her own woman. In her final moments, Laurel calls Oliver the great love of her life even if she wasn't the great love of his life - a line so utterly co-dependent I'm shocked Judd Winick didn't write it.


The Winick Factor

Honestly, the whole cast got downgraded for the Merlyn/Andy/Darhk scheme to work.


The Bottom Line

This episode was a powerful game-changer but for all the wrong reasons. We're supposed to be moved by Laurel Lance's death but the honest truth is that every other subplot in the episode  (John realizing his brother's betrayal, Thea's continuing fight with Merlyn, Ollie's struggle to keep the team united in the face of their own problems) is far more compelling and will have far greater effect on the end of the season than Darhk murdering Laurel.

It's a telling thing that, for hours after the episode ended when aired in the United States, #Oliver, #Felicity and #Olicity were trending on Twitter when various hashtags aimed at promoting Laurel and promising to never watch the show now if she died did not. In the end, Laurel Lance will be little more than a footnote in the character's history, on par with the infamous 1980's costume and the early 1990's butch biker bitch Black Canary comic. Laurel's fans may say that she deserved a better end than this episode gave her but the character of Black Canary deserved a better cross-genre translation than Laurel.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 17 - Beacon Of Hope

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



Plot

The Bug Eyed Bandit has escaped from prison and is after Palmer Tech's innovative new implant technology. The only problem is there's only one prototype and it's currently in Felicity Smoak's spine. But when Green Arrow becomes incapacitated by a deadly bee weapon, a new hero will arise to save the day.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the flashbacks on Lian Yu), Die Hard (people held hostage in a skyscraper, Felicity refers to the adventure as Die Hard with bees) and Independence Day (Curtis uses a virus to destroy the bee drones, Quentin name-drops the movie).


Goofs

As before, given her choice of weapon and costuming, it would make SO much more sense for The Bug Eyed Bandit to be called Queen Bee. Presumably the name is tied up in the Justice League film rights?

Wouldn't it have been far easier for The Bug Eyed Bandit to just go straight to Felicity's office rather than taking the Palmer Tech Board of Directors hostage? Particularly when we find out she already knew the only prototype was in Felicity's body.

The Bug Eyed Bandit's concern over bees dying out doesn't ring true, given the reason that she was fired from her job originally was that she took robo bees that were meant to help solve the agricultural crisis caused by bee deaths and weaponized them for the military to make money.

Curtis is remarkably agile for someone who was suffering a 104 degree fever and severe dehydration, when he's flipping around The Bunker trying to dodge the one drone.


Performances

The chemistry between Willa Holland and Emily Bett Rickards during their scenes together is great. I can't remember the two ever having any scenes together alone and it's nice to see the friendship between the two of them hasn't been hurt by the break-up... even if I can't recall their friendship ever being firmly established.

It's also a great solo episode for Emily Bett Rickards as a solo performer. It's great to see Felicity facing her arch-enemy with no back-up for most of the episode, holding her own and getting to be the big damn hero, saving multiple lives and staying behind to sacrifice herself. Heck, she even takes out the bee-man who takes down Ollie and Thea.


Artistry

The costume design for Bug Eyed Bandit this time around is an interesting one, with the honeycomb patterns and yellow/black color scheme.


Trivia

In the comics, the original Bug-Eyed Bandit was an inventor named Bertram Larvan, who invented a robot insect that could be used to eliminate real insects. Unable to secure the financial backing needed to mass produce his robots, he resolved to steal the money he needed with his prototype... then just kept on stealing, as he built more and more robotic insects and arachnids. He would go on to be a frequent nemesis of The Atom, until he accidentally dosed himself with amnesia gas and forgot all about his evil plans.

The DCTVU version of The Bug Eyed Bandit is similar, except that she is a woman named Brie Larvan. Also - in her first appearance, at least - she seemed to be less interested in money and more interested in revenge on the people responsible for her losing her job.


At one point, Oliver claims to have read a few of the Harry Potter books but to be unaware there were movies based on the books. Surprisingly, this is something of a nod to Oliver's character in the Mike Grell Green Arrow run, where Oliver was surprisingly well-read but his taste in movies tended toward classics like the Errol Flynn Robin Hood movie or Singing In The Rain.

Quentin asks if there's any chance that the robo-bees have anything to do with HIVE. In the comics, bee-themed armor and weapons are a part of HIVE's modus operandi.

Curtis once again voices his theory that The Green Arrow was someone in Palmer Tech's data-processing department named Neal Adams. This is the name of a famous artist, who re-designed the Green Arrow costume in the late 1960s and drew the now legendary Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic that largely redefined Green Arrow as a champion of the working class.

Damien Darhk makes reference to a town called Monument Point. In the Justice Society of America comic written by Arrow Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim, Monument Point was a large Metropolis located within commuting distance of Washington DC. The town was saved several times by The Justice Society, who wound up adopting the town as their base of operations and the city council appointed the Jay Garrick Flash as their mayor.


Technobabble

The implantable bio-stimulant which Curtis developed costs $250,000 per unit to manufacture.

12,000 people per year suffer spinal injuries that leave them paralyzed.

The bee drones are capable of remotely jamming all WiFi frequencies and cel-phone signals within a certain radius - at least large enough to cover a large skyscraper - by broadcasting hundreds of different kinds of radio frequenceies

The bee drones stingers are capable of penetrating police-grade Kevlar, as well as Green Arrow's armor.

Curtis uses the same cel-phone he was given to help Team Arrow with rescuing Ray Palmer in 406 to locate The Bunker.

The command console Felicity used in The Bunker is a STAR Labs 5000 Exostation.

The idol that Baron Reiter seeks allows him to command the primordial energies that flow through all things.

The bee drones are able to lock together to form a man-size armored figure.

The bee drones are capable of digging their way inside a human body and self-replicating, eventually bursting out of the victim's body as a swarm. One of the Palmer Tech Board of Director's dies in this fashion and Oliver nearly dies the same way.

The bee drones are also capable of adapting on the fly (no pun intended), so that any method used to disable them won't work a second time. This is why Curtis can't hack them after doing so once and instead develops a sonic-based solution to deal with the drones inside Oliver.

Curtis figures that if the bee drones are modeled on real bees, they'll operate on a singular frequency to orient themselves. If he can disrupt the frequency, they can disperse the colony. This requires a portable sonic projector (i.e. Laurel's Canary Cry choker)

Curtis explains that Laurel's Canary Cry choker works by reading her vocal emissions and then reprocessing them via digital output into a multi-channel sound. One Mariah Carey impersonation is all it takes to disable the drones.

Felicity uses an autonomous communication device that Curtis designed as a make-shift bomb to blow a hole in the elevator shaft so that they can evacuate the board room. Curtis had yet to figure out how to make the devices not explode.

The Bug Eyed Bandit now controls her drones through neural implants.

Bees are dying off at a rate of 30% per year.

The reason the Bug Eyed Bandit wants the implantable bio-stimulant is because she has a tumor on her L4 Vertebrate that can be removed with surgery but will leave her paralyzed.

The bee drones are made up of elastic nanotubes, ultarsonic motors and piezoceramic elements.

Curtis deciphers the upgrade protocol of the bees, developing a virus that - the next time the drones upgrade - will disperse throughout the swarm. He develops a trick arrow with a computer virus payload that will transmit when shot close to the drones.


Dialogue Triumphs

(As Thea talks about her boyfriend needing a new job.)
Laurel: Palmer Tech. They're hiring a new head of Public Relations.
Ollie: ... oh.
Laurel: (quietly) I just heard that from... someone.
Ollie: (smiling) Laurel. She's not Voldemort. And I'm fine. (To Thea) That's a good idea. You should tell Alex to talk to Felicity.
Thea: Mmm-hmm.
Ollie: What?
Thea: Nothing it's just... it's shocking you know who Voldemort is.
Ollie: Well, I'm not immune to pop culture! I've read a few of the Harry Potter books.
John: Really? I was going to bet Thea that you just saw the movies.
Ollie: There were movies?

(Darhk is chained down in a visiting room in Iron Height's Prison. Merlyn steps out of the shadows.)
Merlyn: I thought you just lost your magic, but your charm seems to be waning, as well.
Darhk: How in the hell did you get in here?!
Merlyn: I used to be Ra's Al Ghul.
Darhk: Yes. This I know. What I'm less clear of is why my resources haven't been deployed to get me out of here.
Merlyn: Well, that's what I'm here to explain.
Darhk: Although my time in here might be limitless, Malcolm, my patience isn't!
Merlyn: That's cute. As I was saying, I've been in touch with your resources. And they don't seem to have any love left for you, Damien. Something to do with "hocus" and "pocus"and "killing fellow members when you get miffed". HIVE is moving forward with Genesis but not with you. They like you here. Out of trouble. But they do wish you the best of luck with your trial.
(Darhk grunts and tries to grab Merlyn with the telekinesis he no longer has, on reflex.  Merlyn laughs at the pitiful attempt.) Merlyn: Don't be embarrassed. Performance issues are common for men of your age.

Laurel: Oliver, it's okay to miss Felicity.
Oliver: I-I appreciate what you're doing, but I don't think you're the-
Laurel: - person to help you through it? Why? Because of what we used to have?
Oliver: Yeah.
Laurel: I thought maybe that just gave me a little insight.
Oliver: Well, I mean, in fairness, I did wreck what we had too, so...
Laurel: In your defense, you were missing and presumed dead for five years, but that's not what I mean. I know how passionately you love and how much it hurts when that love goes away.
Oliver: Betweem Merlyn, Slade Wilson and Ra's Al Ghul, I thought that I'd be a little...tougher than this by now.
Laurel: That's a different kind of pain. And this takes longer to heal. But I'm here for you.

(After Curtis stumbles into The Bunker and passes out)
Quentin: So can anybody just walk in here?

Curtis: With Felicity trapped inside, you're going to need someone to hack them. But I'll have to "bee" careful.
(Curtis laughs. He is the only one who does.)
Curtis: It's too soon for bee puns, right?
Oliver: (coldly) Let's assume that it is.

Donna: They just got their butt kicked by that... bee man!
Felicity: (To Thea) This is why we leave the nicknames to Cisco.
Donna: What?
Felicity: Inside joke.

(Regarding the drones inside Oliver)
John: When these things hit critical mass, there's-
Curtis: It's gonna be like John Hurt in Aliens! Sorry! When I get nervous, I make pop culture references!

Oliver: It just doesn't seem fair that I can save a city and not save my relationship.
Laurel: Oliver, life's not fair. Whether you're in Star City or Ivy Town. But you're right. You can save this city. You do it every night. You're a beacon of hope to people. I just wish you would try and use some of that hope for yourself.

(After Murmur beats his two minions to death.)
Darhk: I know you're probably asking yourself, "Self, what the hell just happened?" It turns out your friend - my new friend - Mr. Amar, has a soft spot for his only surviving relative. A grandmother in Monument Point. It is amazing what people will tell you with a few phone calls and a kind voice. Anyway-
(Darkh glances down at the minions and realizes they aren't moving)
Darhk: Are they dead?  Are they dead?!  NO! (To Murmur) I had this wonderful speech about how I was gonna kill your grandmother had you not killed them. (sighs) Never mind...

Thea:  Ollie's going to be fine. He always is.
Felicity: Well, unfortunately, in Oliver's case,"he always is" isn't an accurate predictive meter.
(Thea sighs and steps away from Felicity.)
Felicity: Sorry. I'm just sick of worrying. I'm sick of the violence.
Thea: Yeah, and so am I, okay?  Of course I am! But we put up with it! We push past it. Because what we do is important, okay? We have to be that beacon of hope. Nobody else is.
Felicity: YOU'RE the beacon of hope. I quit the team because I couldn't stand to work with Oliver. But now that I'm out, I look at life from a different perspective. I mean, look around you! Thea, we're in a "Die Hard" movie with bees! Maybe I'm meant for great things. Maybe I'm not. But whatever it is, it's not this. (sighs) I'm sorry. I'm not coming back.

Thea: Don't you miss this? I mean, I know you said that you wanted to get away from it all... but how could you?
Felicity: What do you mean?
Thea: This? The thrill of it? The rush? I mean, we just took down a bad bee-yotch tonight. It doesn't get any better than this.
Felicity: I was never in it for that. Not ever. I wanted to make a difference. Be part of that beacon of hope you speak of.
Thea: So come back. Rejoin the team.
Felicity: I think I figured out another way. Actually, that insane bee-lady gave me the idea, ironically. To remake the company. To use the technology that helped me walk again to make lives better. To make Palmer Tech into the beacon of hope.


Dialogue Disasters

Every thrice-damned bee pun from The Bug Eyed Bandit and Curtis.


Continuity

The Bug Eyed Bandit appears for the first time since F118.

The Star City mayoral election is April 6, 2016.

Ollie is capable of fighting and defeating Laurel and Thea at the same time in an escrima stick fight. He can take down Diggle in a one-on-one match when Diggle is tired.

Murmur, last seen in 316, is seen in Iron Height's Prison threatening Damien Darhk with his gang. Eventually, it is revealed that he is now working for Darhk, due to his grandmother being threatened.

Curtis once again voices his theory that The Green Arrow was someone in Palmer Tech's data-processing department named Neal Adams, from 404.

Oliver calls the current Team Arrow hideout The Bunker.

Curtis recognizes Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance and Quentin Lance by sight. He recalls meeting John Diggle, but can't place remember his name.

Felicity kept files on various criminals on the computers in The Bunker. Curtis finds one on The Dodger - the jewel thief Team Arrow fought in 115.

The idol gives Richer super-strength, telekinesis and makes him bullet-proof.

The Bug Eyed Bandit figures out that Felicity was the hacker who put her in prison.

Curtis turns the been drones against The Bug Eyed Bandit. She is stung repeatedly and left in a coma.

Curtis decides he's had enough adventure and that he's done helping Team Arrow.

Felicity has an idea on how to use Palmer Tech to make people's lives better.

At the end of the episode, Merlyn speaks to Andy Diggle about how Dhark called him an ace in the hole.


The Fridge Factor

With Felicity out of the picture, it seems like the writers are trying to nudge Laurel and Oliver back together with the interaction between the two of them in this episode.  The only problem is that Laurel's speech - in which she gently encourages Ollie to be nicer to Curtis and to be the beacon of hope the city needs - flies in the face of every bit of characterization she's had in the past three years. Ollie even points out how she's the last person who should be trying to comfort him regarding his screwing up his relationship with Felicity and she's definitely the last person in the world who should be giving Oliver a hard time over lying to a loved one. Remember Season Three and the lengths Laurel went through to hide Sara's death from Quentin?


The Bottom Line

As a focus on Felicity, it's great. As a filler episode, it's okay, though The Bug Eyed Bandit is easily the most annoying special guest villain ever.. As an effort to set Curtis up as the latest member of Team Arrow, it's less successful, with the script trying way too hard to make Curtis into a Felicity/Cisco hybrid in spite of the character being relatively restrained in most of his previous appearances. In fact, most of the humor in the episode is forced even ignoring the bee puns.

The real shocker is that  Laurel gets a few good moments here and Katie Cassidy carries them off well. Which probably means the writers are actually putting some effort into making Laurel seem like the Laurel we liked in Season One before she is killed off.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 16 - Broken Hearts

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




Plot

Cupid is back and she's killing celebrity couples on their wedding day in an effort to destroy love in Star City. Despite their current troubles, Oliver and Felicity set themselves up as bait to bring her to justice, Meanwhile, Laurel Lance faces the fight of her legal career as she tries to find a way to deny bail to Damien Darhk without exposing Team Arrow or sacrificing her father.

In the flashback sequences, Oliver and Taiana steal the soul-sucking artifact that Baron Reiter seeks while trapping themselves in a dead-end in the caves under Lian Yu.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the island sequences), the Green Arrow/Black Canary comics of Andrew Kreisberg (creator of Cupid) and the Green Arrow comics of Kevin Smith (Oliver's speech about not being able to pick up a phone mirrors one from Green Arrow #11)



Goofs

Again, we have to wonder how Laurel is allowed to handle a case where she's a known associate of most of the witnesses - particularly her father.

When exploring the wedding dress storage facility, Oliver calls Cupid by the name "Carter" rather than "Cutter". This flubbed line is also in the Closed Captioning for the episode.

Oliver identifies the armor that protected him from Cupid's arrow as a Kevlar vest. While Kevlar is a fine material for bullet-proof vests, it offers virtually no protection from cutting or piercing weapons. In fact, many Green Arrow comics are built around this point including the very first story-arc of Mike Grell's Green Arrow title!


Performances

As usual, the chemistry between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards is fantastic and the final scene is truly heartbreaking.

Paul Blackthorne's performance as Quentin Lance on the stand is masterful.


Artistry

While the stunt-work and fight choreography for this episode is limited, what little there is proves amazing.


Trivia

When the episode opens, the usual green arrowhead in the show logo is replaced with one of the red heart-shaped arrowheads that tip Cupid's arrows.

At his trial, Damien Darkh claims to be Kenneth Bender - a citizen of Markovia. Markovia is a fictional European nation in the DC Universe - home to the superhero GeoForce.


Technobabble

Felicity determines that the sleeve of Cupid's costume contains fibers from at least sixty different kinds of white silk lace - i.e wedding dress fabric. There are also traces of acid-free polypropylene - a chemical used in treating fabrics in long-term storage.


Dialogue Triumphs

Cupid: Love is a bullet in the brain or an arrow to the heart.

(Upon telling the rest of Team Arrow that she and Oliver have broken up)
Felicity: It's fine. Which is universal code for "I don't want to talk about it."

Baron Reiter: The difference between insanity and belief lies only in the number of believers.

(Laurel has just told Quentin that the DA refuses to give him immunity from prosecution if he testifies against Darhk)
Quentin: I don't care about immunity.
Laurel: But I do. Dad, I'm not gonna let you incriminate yourself.
Quentin: You wouldn't be doing anything. It would be me. And it would be right. I'm the one that got into bed with Darhk. I made those decisions. I should pay the consequences for them, honey. And listen, it's the only way to bring him down.
Laurel: (sighing softly) Okay. Okay. If we do this, you will also testify that you acted under duress. That Damien threatened my life.
Quentin: Yeah. Cause that way I get to say, on record, how much I love my baby girl.
Laurel: Okay.

(To Darhk's lawyer upon being asked if he ever saw Darhk do anything illegal.)
Quentin: You know, the fact of the matter is I've seen your client in his little hidey-hole. With his little men - Ghosts he calls them. And I've heard him say, repeatedly, how he wanted to destroy this city. And that if I didn't help him do it, then he'd kill my daughter. By saying all these things, I'm setting a match to my career. Maybe my life. So why would I be doing that if everything I'm saying isn't true?

Oliver: Felicity...Before I met you, I had a plan.  I had a way I was gonna be. Then you walked into my life. Or I... I showed up in your cubicle and... you changed everything. I was in darkness. But with your kindness, your generosity, your compassion, your intelligence, your wit and your trust... you brought me into the light. You let me know that I deserved it. You were that light. And I don't know if I still deserve that trust. If I deserve you. But whatever has happened. Whatever will happen? The way that you make me feel is the best part of my life. You can ask me to say that I don't love you... but I will never lie to you again. You are my always. And I just want the chance to be yours.

(As Oliver reveals he isn't dead to Cupid.)
Oliver: Kevlar. Under the tux. My bodyguard insisted.
Cupid: What was his plan for C-4?
(Cut to Diggle in the control room)
Diggle: That's a damn good question.

Felicity:  From the moment he walked into my life, everything changed. I became a person that I didn't even know I was capable of becoming. I became the very best version of myself. That would never have been possible without our love. Our love gives my life meaning. It gives my life purpose. And it... brings us more joy than you can ever take away from us. And it's worth living for. All of it.

Oliver: I want you to know that what I said today?  During the ceremony? I meant every single word of it.
Felicity: I love you. (she takes his hand and squeezes it) With everything in me. But what I said doesn't apply to us. I can't be with you. I can't marry you.
Oliver: Yes you can. Yes you can, because that's what both of us want. You know, things can be different. I can be different! And I am promising you - I am swearing to you - there will be no more lies.
Felicity: You know, no matter how much you love me, there's always going to be a part of you that defaults to the man who is on the island. Alone. Who came back to save the city... alone. And sooner than we both think, you're going to be stuck in a decision where you have to make a decision that requires you to hide things from me. Again
Oliver: See, you can't know that -
Felicity: I do know that! And you know that! That's this life. (sighs) I'm sorry. You know, five months ago I convinced you that we could have it all. We could come here to this job and have each other. I was wrong. And then I thought we could just go back to the way things were before Ivytown. But, God, I was as crazy as Cupid.
Oliver: (pauses) So what does that mean?
Felicity: It means that it is too hard,to be here with you every night and not be with you. That's not fair to either of us. You told me how you worked some tech magic to return all the money that Adam Hunt swindled out of people. You... you don't need me. You're fine. (pauses) You don't give up. That's what makes you a hero. But there's no fixing this. We have to let each other go.
(Felicity gives Oliver her engagement ring)
Felicity: I want you to keep it for good this time. Please.
(Felicity begins to walk away)
Oliver: I don't want to let you go.
(Felicity stops but doesn't turn around)
Felicity: I don't want to let you go. But I'm already gone.


Continuity

Cupid was last seen in Episode 317. We find out that Amanda Waller kept her word regarding the Task Force X members being released in exchange for completing a set number of missions and that Cupid was released at some point within the last year.

Cupid's repeated catch-phrase in this episode - "Love is a bullet in the brain" - was said by Deadshot in Episode 317.

Felicity moves out of Oliver's apartment.

Baron Reiter was original part of a small African village in a nation whose name changed a dozen times in his lifetime. He saw it destroyed by soldiers and vowed never to feel weak again.

Oliver has the pieces of Darhk's idol.

Darhk's attorney somehow found out about Diggle buying drugs on Thea's behalf back in 404 as part of a Team Arrow sting to trap some corrupt cops.

Cupid is apparently an atheist, saying that the afterlife is eternal nothingness.

Cupid fails to recognize Green Arrow and Arrow as the same man.

Quentin testifies that Darhk asked him to upload a virus into a federal data bank (405),

Cupid is arrested.

Quentin is suspended from the SCPD pending an IAB investigation. The officer who informs him of this is Lt. Frank Pike, last seen in 319.

Felicity refers to the hacking Oliver did to rob from Adam Hunt in The Pilot.

Felicity refuses to get back together with Ollie and quits Team Arrow.

Damien Darhk is imprisoned with some kind of ring hidden in his mouth.


The Bottom Line

A powerful and painful episode to watch for all the right reasons. When Arrow finally ends its run, this may easily be one of the Top 10 episodes. Maybe Top 5.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 10 - Blood Debts

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



Plot

With Felicity in the hospital following HIVE's latest attack, Oliver begins tearing apart Star City's criminal underworld searching for Damien Darhk. But Ollie isn't the only one hunting Darhk. Lonnie Machin - now calling himself Anarky - has come out of hiding and he wants revenge on his former employer.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the Lian Yu sequences), Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (Oliver going over the edge dealing with people who nearly killed the woman he loves) and Batman: The Killing Joke (heroine is paralyzed to fuel hero's rage at villain).


Goofs

Despite Oliver's restated commitment to not-killing, surely kicking a HIVE Ghost into a live electrical box is pretty darn close to lethal?

How is Speedy unaffected by the Canary Cry despite being between Laurel and Anarky when it goes off?

Anarky says that "the blonde called you Speedy", when is alone with Thea. In fact, Laurel called Thea by her real name when she was saving her from Anarky and never used the name Speedy until after Anarky was unconscious.


Performances

David Ramsey doesn't get a lot of time on-screen this week as Diggle but he nails every scene he's in, as usual.

Also as per usual, the scenes between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Richards are the best parts of the show. Their chemistry is amazing and the final scene is all the more powerful for how different Felicity seems in the wake of everything that occurs four months from now. The contrast between how Felicity appears in that moment versus how she usually seems is truly astonishing.


Artistry

The fight sequences in the fifth segment - both the one between Anarky/Speedy and Green Arrow and the one between Green Arrow and Damien Darhk - are well choreographed.


Trivia

Oliver's battling not to lose himself in the wake of the woman he loves nearly dying is taken directly from The Longbow Hunters.

Felicity's being paralyzed mirrors what happened to Barbara Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke.


Technobabble

Anarky's boobytrap in his foster parents' home utilizes motion-sensors hooked up to machine guns.

Speedy makes use of a bola arrow to catch Anarky.


Dialogue Triumphs

Laurel: How are you feeling?
Felicity: I have never been more ready to have a bunch of guys poking around inside of me. (realizes what she just said) Doctors!  Doing doctor things!

Quentin: So you're back to dropping bodies?
Oliver: It's just this one.

Lyla: How's Felicity?
John: She's in surgery. It's a long procedure. I'm going to go to the hospital in a bit but I needed to come here to get something first.
Lyla: What?
(John just leans forward and kisses her.)

Laurel: I thought we'd already worked past this.
Quentin: There's no working past a father caring about his daughter.

Conklin: Well, I count five guns. And you've got one. What are you going to do?  You can't run.
(Oliver clicks the safety and puts the gun under his own chin)
Oliver: I'm not running.

Laurel: Have you completely lost your mind?
Oliver: I don't have time for a debate.
Laurel: Good. Because there's nothing to debate. What you did-
Oliver: What I did? I did what I had to do after you made it neccesary.Machin was only arrested by the SCPD because you gave him up.
Laurel: You were holding a man prisoner as some sort of personal vendetta!
Oliver: Do you have any idea how many people Damian Darhk and HIVE have killed over the past six months? This may be a vendetta, but it's not personal.
Laurel: I don't know what's worse - you actually believe that or you expect me to.
Oliver: I put a tracker on Machin. He will lead us to Darhk. And then we will take both of them down.
Laurel: And when your master plan doesn't work, you just sent a murdering psychotic back on the streets!
Oliver: Like you did with Sara?
Laurel: That's not fair!

John: Oliver, I know you're hurting, man. But you should know that whatever your play is, I've got your back.
Oliver: But?
John: But you've come so far, Oliver. You've recovered a humanity that you'd lost when I first met you. I know you want payback for what Darkh did to Felicity. And you should. But don't lose what made her fall in love with you in the first place.

Felicity: Tell me you haven't gone off the rails.
Oliver: Well... I just... I can't help but think that... the reason that Darhk is winning is that I haven't been willing to go far enough. And that... if I had, maybe you wouldn't be in here right now. I don't know what the point of what I'm doing as Green Arrow is if I can't protect the people that are closest to me.
Felicity: Well, what's the point of doing it if you lose yourself in the process?
Oliver: Yeah.
Felicity: There's something else we need to talk about.  The doctors... they say that I'm, uh...
Oliver: I know.
Felicity: My point being is we didn't really exchange any vows, so the whole "For better or worse" thing really doesn't apply here.
Oliver: What are you talking about?
Felicity: And maybe the real reason you haven't been here is because...
(Ollie shakes his head, reaches into his pocket, and pulls out Felicity's engagement ring)
Oliver: The nurse... she took this off of you in the E.R. How dare she...
(Oliver slips the ring onto Felicity's finger and squeezes her hand)
Oliver: For better or worse.
Felicity: Okay.

Darkh: Where's my family?!
Green Arrow: I saved them.
(There is a long pause as Darkh just stares at Green Arrow)
Darkh: I want to clear about something. I have shown you repeatedly that you cannot beat me. You saved my family? So I'll give you a few weeks to spend with yours. Enjoy your time. What's left of it.


Continuity

The episode opens with a repeat of the ending scene from 401, where Barry Allen meets Oliver by a grave side. The captions note that this scene occurs four months from now.

Taiana is confirmed to be Ukrainian.

Quentin Lance met with Damien Darhk on the 30th floor of an office building at 832 6th Street.

Lonnie Machin - last seen in 402 - returns.

Thea reveals that Darhk's life-sucking attack stopped her bloodlust to Laurel.

Laurel discovers that her father is dating Felicity's mom.

Laurel refers to the HIVE Ghosts scrambled DNA, which Team Arrow discovered in 403.

Lonnie Machin's foster parents are identified as Crystal and Michael Olguin. It is his blood he used to paint the anarchy symbols at HIVE headquarters.

Andy Diggle was apparently a drug-dealer before he joined the military and he only joined after John insisted in an effort to make his younger brother go straight.

Felicity is permanently paralyzed as a result of her injuries, according to the specialist who came in from Central City to perform surgery on her spine.

The magical tattoo that John Constantine put on Oliver in the flashback scenes in 405 flashes red when Oliver is being whipped. This causes Baron Reiter to order Oliver spared and agree to allow him and Taiana to live, albeit imprisoned, if Oliver helps him with finding what he's searching for on Lian Yu.

Damian Darhk's family lives in a place called Stonehaven.

Anarky escapes into the woods after his confrontation with Speedy.

Andy Diggle eventually gives John some information regarding Darhk. At the episode's end, the two play cards like when they were younger.

Thea reestablishes her romance with Ollie's campaign manager.

Damian Darhk's wife's name is Ruve.

Damian Darkh's wife has a fake ID and denies any connection to him when the police are called on their home. She is aware of his role in HIVE and their ultimate goals as well as whatever Genesis is.

Darhk buys out a hotel called The Fairmount for the month for his family to hide in.

The episode ends with another flash forward to four months from now and concludes with Oliver entering a car where Felicity is in the backseat and she cooling informs Oliver that he has to kill someone. This shows that whoever is in the grave, it is not Felicity.


The Fridge Factor

Felicity is paralyzed in order to give Oliver a more personal reason for hunting down Darhk.


The Winick Factor

It's hard to say what's stupider - Laurel's calling Thea by her real name in front of a villain (not that he notices - see Goofs) or Laurel's sudden decision to stand on ceremony and take Anarky into custody despite him being their best chance at hunting down Darhk because Oliver is indulging in a vendetta. It's not just stupid - it's hypocritical in the extreme given everything Laurel has done in the name of personal vendettas. And Ollie and Diggle both rightly call her on her bullshit given everything Laurel pulled regarding Sara.


The Bottom Line

Much ado about nothing. Anarky is as lame as ever and his efforts to get Thea to give in to her bloodlust are as pointless as they are nonsensical and nothing comes of them in any case. There's some minor progress between Diggle and his brother but most of that occurs off-camera. The Lian Yu sequences seem even more pointless than ever. Really, the only thing that saves it are the performances of Stephen Amell, David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards and all the magically little scenes between Ollie and Felicity.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but Olicity is the best thing about this episode.

Also - for everyone who told me I was wrong and Feliicty was sure to die?

Told you so. ;)

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 9 - Dark Waters

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




Plot

After HIVE's most vicious attack on Star City yet, Oliver takes the fight to them by outing Damien Darhk as the architect of the city's troubles. But things take a horrible turn when Darhk retaliates at Oliver's mayoral holiday party, kidnapping Thea, John and Felicity!


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the Lian Yu sequences) and the Green Arrow comics of Elliot S! Maggin (The idea of Oliver Queen running for mayor and fighting corrupt forces trying to thwart his campaign).


Goofs

How did Laurel not know that her dad was working deep cover in Damien Darhk's organization?  It didn't seem like Ollie was going out of his way to keep that fact a secret from the team.

How does Felicity get fatally wounded while Oliver doesn't get hit once when their car is shot up, when Oliver was trying to shield Felicity's body?


Performances

David Ramsey is phenominal in the scenes where John Diggle interogates his brother.

While the dialogue they're given in this episode isn't the best, Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards sell the hell out of every moment they're given as Felicity and Oliver together.

It's hard to say who is having more fun hamming it up among the villains - Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk or John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn. They're both fantastic though.


Artistry

The ending sequence where Darhk's men try to gun down Oliver and Felicity inter-cut with shots of Darhk and his family celebrating Christmas is truly horrific.


Trivia

Ollie taking particular offense at the idea of children being endangered is a long-running character trait from the comics.

The tactic of using an explosive arrow to catch a more powerful enemy off-guard is a time honored Green Arrow trick in the comics.  Oliver used this same trick in his fight with The Flash in F108.  Merlyn uses it here against Darhk.


Technobabble

Felicity says that if they could reduce 40% of toxicity produced by the bacterial micro-organisms that sprung up in Star City Bay, they'll be able to swim in just 12 days if the restitution rate stays consistent.

HIVE uses polyphasic-encrypted satellite phones to communicate.

As part of the Genesis project, HIVE had been cultivating a specific algae in Star City Bay - one that could be used to poison people secretly. This is referred to as The Bloom.

Oliver has Merlyn tag him with one of his own nano-tech tracker arrows, so they can use that to find where Darhk is holding the rest of Team Arrow.

The algae HIVE cultivated has somehow been used to make the air in a secret underground complex where corn is being grown breathable. This allows Phase Four of the Genesis project to begin.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: As today's tragedy reminded us, we are at war. For six months we have been besieged by a nameless and a faceless organization that seems hell-bent on destroying our city. You know them as The Ghosts. And while they me be anonymous, their leader is not. He has a face. He has a name. And I think that it is high time the people of Star City know the truth about who he is!
(Oliver holds up a picture of Damien Darhk)
Oliver:  His name is Damien Darhk. He controls The Ghosts on behalf of an organization known as HIVE. HIVE wants this city to die! Now, I will be distributing this - the only known photograph of Mr. Darhk - to every news outlet and social media feed in the country.  For months, this man has made us afraid to walk the streets. I suggest we return the favor.

(Alone in the Arrow Cave, Oliver drops to one knee next to Felicity)
Oliver: Can I ask you a question?
Felicity: (thinking he's about to propose) Now? Here?!  I mean... what's the question?  

Merlyn: Since you told me about your encounter with Damien Darhk, I had my minions looking into it.
Thea: You love having minions.

Oliver: Somewhere, someplace, there's a Ghost that's going to talk to me.
Laurel: And what if there isn't?
Oliver: Then I'm going to take great pleasure in trying to make them.

Oliver: You didn't kill my friends. You took them to make a point. You've made it!
Darkh: No. Not yet, I haven't.

Quentin: (To Laurel) Listen, sweetheart. You just be careful out there, all right? Cause I don't know what I'd do if anything were to happen to you. In fact, that's not true. I know exactly what I would do. And it would be ugly.

Oliver: We had a deal!
Darhk: Well, I think if you replay our conversation in your mind, our bargain was only, at best, implied. Even so - bad guy, remember?
Oliver: Let them go!
Darhk: I will. Existentially speaking.

(Merlyn is disguised as Green Arrow. He faces down Darhk and shoots an arrow at him. Darhk stops it easily with his telekinesis.)
Darhk: You really haven't learned anything, have you?
Merlyn: Oh, I might have learned a little.
(The arrow begins beeping before suddenly exploding and knocking Darkh off his feet.)


Dialogue Disasters

Ollie's questioning thugs after John, Thea and Felicity are kidnapped is goofy as all get-out, seeming like a bad parody of Christian Bale's Batman.


Continuity

Taiana was a diving instructor in Russia.

Donna Smoak finds Ollie's engagement ring from 401.

Thea refers to Dhark's death-touch not working on her in 407.

According to Merlyn, Darhk had contact with The Lazarus Pit but this had nothing to do with why Thea was able to resist his death-touch.

Curtis and Paul have been married for five years.

Curtis' husband, Paul, proposed to him with a ring hidden inside a sea-shell.

They refer to straight people hiding wedding rings in a dessert, which was how Oliver had planned to propose to Felicity in 401 with a ring hidden in a souffle.

Donna Smoak refers to Quentin as her boyfriend. This astonishes him as much as Felicity.

Malbec is Darhk's favorite red wine.

Merlyn uses the same nano-tech tracker arrow that Oliver used to track him back in 304.

It is revealed that one of Oliver's scars came from being attacked by a shark while diving to retrieve maps from a sunken ship.

The flashback sequence ends with Taiana's survival revealed to Conklin and Oliver captured.

Oliver proposes to Felicity before a crowd at a tree-lighting ceremony.

The episode ends with Felicity near death, if not dead, following Darkh's latest attack on her and Oliver.


The Winick Factor

Pretty much all of Team Arrow has to be neutralized in order to make Laurel out to be a useful member of the team.


The Bottom Line

The performances are about the only thing saving this episode. The script is mediocre and there's no real progress on any of the subplots. There's no progress on Thea's blood lust or Diggle's issues with his brother. And Laurel continues to just be there.

No, this whole episode exists for two reasons - to throw out a few more vague hints about HIVE (which don't really reveal anything) and to give us more Oliver/Felicity drama. Which might work if Felicity weren't almost certain to survive the cliff-hanger.

Yes, I'm calling this now - Felicity is going to be fine. Because it's way too obvious that she'd be the one Oliver is talking about in the funeral flash-forward. Because it would go against the lighter tone the show is trying to adopt. And because there's no point in leaving us in suspense for a month if they're just going to kill her in the next episode when they could kill her in THIS episode and have us stew for a month over what happens next.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 1 - Green Arrow

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


Plot

Several months have passed since Oliver Queen defeated Ra's Al Ghul and saved Starling City from The League of Assassins and much has changed.  Starling City has changed its name to Star City, in honor of Ray Palmer, presumed dead after a lab accident.  John Diggle now leads Laurel Lance and Thea Queen in protecting the city. And Oliver Queen has happily retired to a life of suburban bliss with Felicity Smoak. Alas, it can't last, and when a new threat proves too much for what is left of Team Arrow to cope with, Oliver Queen must once again become someone else.


Influences

The comics of Dennis O'Neil, Mike Grell and Kevin Smith (Ollie as a stay-at-home husband), the Titans comics of Devin Grayson (character of Damian Darhk) and the general theme of redemption that dominates so many classic Green Arrow stories.


Goofs

Everyone seems somewhat skeptical of Oliver's claims that the supernatural is real and that he's seen things when he says that Damien Darhk's powers are mystic in nature... considering that they all saw Thea come back from the dead six months earlier after being exposed to The Lazarus Pit.


Performances

Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards play Oliver and Felicity as two clearly different characters. It is clear the time away from Starling City has done wonders for both characters, with Oliver being happier and Felicity being more confident. The chemistry between both actors is incredible.

David Ramsey has often had a thankless job in playing the under-utilized John Diggle.  This episode, however, almost makes up for every episode where he had nothing to do but stand in the background and glare at Oliver in silent disapproval until the two of them were alone and he could let him have it. Diggle is front and center with his resentment of Oliver's actions against his family and every moment - from the quiet one with his wife and daughter - to his finally putting all his cards on the table with Oliver as they search for a bomb - is good stuff.


Artistry

The action scene of Laurel, Diggle and Thea chasing after the HIVE thugs in the Kord Industries truck is a good one.

The script for this episode is strong in one particular theme - redemption. Throughout the episode, Oliver is forced to confront his past mistakes (what Thea has become, how he destroyed his friendship with John Diggle, etc.) and seek a way to move past who he was to become someone else. Someone better. That idea - that someone can become a better person - is the defining characteristic of Oliver Queen's character in all of his various incarnations. And that transformation in this episode is handled beautifully.


Trivia

Ollie being a fantastic chef is a direct nod to the comics. While he's primarily famous for his chili recipe, Oliver was frequently depicted experimenting in the kitchen in his spare time in the comics by Dennis O'Neil, Mike Grell and Kevin Smith.

Ollie living as a house-husband is also a nod to the Mike Grell comics.  While nominally employed by Dinah Lance as a delivery man and assistant at her floral business after the two moved in together, Ollie mostly concerned himself with tending to their home when he wasn't playing vigilante.

In the original comics, Damian Darhk was an enemy of The Titans, making his first appearance in the first issue of the Devin Grayson run on that series. A mysterious figure and something of a tech-guru, Darhk was a major player in the criminal underworld and had connections with H.I.V.E. Curiously, he had the appearance of a 20-year-old man despite his apparent connections and experience. He was seemingly killed by Vandal Savage, but apparently gained immortality after his blood merged with that of the HIVE Mistress.

The DCTVU version of Damian Darhk is a decidedly different character, apart from being definitively identified as the leader of HIVE and a former member of The League of Assassins who was enlisted at the same time as Ra's Al Ghul. Darhk is a magician rather than a tech-based villain, capable of telekinesis (he stops the arrows Ollie shoots at him), teleportation (he disappears off the train after Diggle shoots him) and he possess some kind of ability to drain the life out of people with a touch. We see Darhk performing some kind of ritual that requires spilling his own blood before an idol near the episode's end.

HIVE - the organization that Damian Darhk runs - is a reference to another villain group that fought The Teen Titans and Superman in the comics.  HIVE stands for Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination and the group was involved in various criminal schemes with an ultimate goal of world domination. In the DCTVU reality, they apparently hired Deadshot to kill Andy Diggle, John's brother.

In the New 52 comics, HIVE stands for Holistic Integration for Viral Equality. Otherwise, they are much the same as the original HIVE.  The group formed an uneasy alliance with the psychic villain Hector Hammond and were responsible for the lab accident that turned Dr. Caitlin Snow into the villain Killer Frost.

Kord Industries - the company HIVE steals the cluster-bombs from - is a reference to the company of DC Comics hero Ted Kord a.k.a. The Blue Beetle. The truck HIVE steals is decorated in light blue with dark blue piping - the same colors as Ted Kord's costume in the comics.

Thea is still referred to by the code-name Speedy in the field. At one point she asks to be called The Red Arrow. In the original comics, Speedy was the first code-name used by Roy Harper, who later became known as The Red Arrow when he joined The Justice League.

The scene where Amanda Waller takes Oliver to a bar opens on a shot of a leather aviator jacket with the name Jordan sewn onto the chest. This is a reference to the signature jacket of Hal Jordan, who was Oliver Queen's best friend in the comics and also the first Earthling to become a member of The Green Lantern Corps.

It's also worth noting that Oliver and Amanda Waller were in Coast City - Hal Jordan's home town in the comics.

It is revealed near the end of the episode that the suburb Ollie and Felicity moved into is called Ivy Town.  In the comics, Ivy Town was Ray Palmer's home town and he was employed as a college professor at Ivy University.


Technobabble

The weapons stolen from Kord Industries by HIVE are cluster bombs with built-in GPS unites. These bombs are censor-fused and high-yield - the most powerful non-nuclear bombs in the world.

Oliver is given a backpack with AES-Encrypted Communication Gear before he is dropped back on Lian Yu, in the Five Years Ago flashback.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: (To Felicity) You're uncharacteristically quiet.
Felicity: What should I say? Our friends need our help. We should be in the car.

Oliver: I don't need a therapist.
Waller: The hood and eye make-up suggest otherwise.

(As they drive past a row of closed down businesses and boarded up homes)
Oliver: Jeez. It's tough not to look out this window and wonder.
Felicity: Wonder what?
Oliver: What did we really accomplish?

Diggle: That's pretty forgiving considering he kidnapped you six months ago.
Lyla: You know why he did. You have to let go of it sometime. I did.
Diggle: That's because you're better than me. That's one of the reasons why I love you.
Lyla: It was war, John. Maybe not against a country, but it was war. And in times of war, we do what we have to do.
Diggle: Really, Lyla? I mean, that include lying to me? Lying to Felicity? What was the point?
Lyla: Oliver did what he thought he had to do to defeat Ra's. I'm not saying he made the right choice. But if Oliver Queen always made the right choice, he wouldn't need you.

Oliver: Saw that you took my advice on the identity concealment...
Diggle: (sighs) Oliver, man - what are we doing? Pretending everything's normal? That we are normal?
Oliver; I'm looking for a way in.
Diggle: I was furious with you that you trusted Malcolm Merlyn more than you trusted me. But then I realized that I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at myself for thinking that you're someone that you clearly aren't.
Oliver: I don't know what that means.
Diggle: Oliver, after everything that we've been through, man, I couldn't fathom why you didn't trust me. But then I realized that you couldn't. That's not who you are. You don't trust. You don't love. You were able to fool Ra's and join The League because inside you are every bit as dark as they are.

Lance: The prodigal arrow returns.
Oliver: Captain Lance.
Lance: I thought that was you last night, some mask over your head. Felt like old times.
Oliver: I was only trying to help. 
Lance: If that were true, you wouldn't have come back. This town started going to crap the moment you put on that hood. You brought madness into all our lives and the monster you were inspired monsters.
Oliver: Maybe. But I'm not a monster anymore.
Lance: Then what are you?!

Felicity: I love our new home. And I love you. But I also love it here and you can't honestly tell me that you don't.
Oliver: Yeah, no, of course! I miss aspects of it. The sense of purpose. The idea of helping people. But Lance was right.
Felicity: About what?
Oliver: A few months ago he told me that all I brought back from the island was pain, misery and darkness. And of course I knew that the moment we came back here that darkness would be waiting for me.
Felicity:  Well, he's wrong. Dead wrong. You didn't bring the darkness back with you from Lian Yu!
Oliver: But, Felicity, I'm telling you that the only way I know to fight the darkness is to be darkness. That is why I left!  I don't want to be that type of person anymore!
Felicity: Well, maybe you need to be a different kind of person.  And you're not doing this alone anymore.

Damien Darhk: You can't be The Arrow. He died. So who are you?
Ollie: You're about to find out.

The Green Arrow: Six months ago, The Arrow died. But what he stood for didn't. It lived on in the heroes who took up his mantle. People who believe that this city should never descend into hopelessness. Who believe although life is filled with darkness, that darkness can be the key to find light. And tonight, I am declaring my intention to stand with them - to fight for this city! To be the symbol of hope that The Arrow never was. I am... The Green Arrow!


Dialogue Disasters

Thea: I thought I told you you guys to call me Red Arrow!
Diggle: A red arrow just means you can't make a left turn.


Continuity

Five years ago, Oliver operated as a vigilante in Coast City, targeting drug dealers who dealt to children. He was discovered by Amanda Waller, who drugged him and arranged for him to be dropped onto Lian Yu as part of a reconnaissance mission, where he was almost immediately captured by a man in camouflage.

Waller makes reference to Oliver's bloody killing of General Shrieve in 323.

As the episode opens, Ollie and Felicity have settled in the suburbs of Ivy Town. Ollie is a house-husband and Felicity is the Acting CEO In Absentia of Palmer Technologies, though she is trying to convince the Tech Board that she can take over the position permanently.

Ollie has become a brilliant chef in the past five months. Felicity is not so gifted.

Ollie had the dragon tattoo on his shoulder surgically removed, saying he didn't need it anymore. The tattoo was originally forced onto Oliver in 217 by Slade Wilson as a reminder of Shado's death.

Diggle now wears a helmet that obscures and protects his face along with black tactical gear and a black leather jacket as a costume.

According to Diggle and Thea, Kord Industries are one of the largest weapons manufacturers in the DCTVU. They also manufacture consumer goods, including "awesome cel phones."

Walter Steele - Oliver and Thea's step-father, last seen at Moira Queen's funeral in 221 - was apparently approached about running for Mayor of Star City. He declined.

Captain Lance notes that Star City has lost three mayors and one mayoral candidate in the last three years. We witnessed these events in 201 (Mayor Altman was killed by The Hoods), 220 (Moira Queen murdered by Slade Wilson), 222 (Mayor Sebastian Blood killed by Isabel Rochev) and 317 (Mayor Castle killed by League of Assasins to frame The Arrow for murder).

The foot-soldiers of HIVE are dubbed "ghosts" by the press, due to how quickly they disappear after committing a crime. They are all equipped with cyanide pills and will kill themselves rather than talk.

Captain Lance describes some of Star City's attempts to improve the image of their city in the wake of three disasters in as many years. Apart from changing their name (in honor of the presumed dead Ray Palmer), they've also begun a new tourism program and constructed a high-speed railway between Star City and Central City.

Captain Lance makes a reference to Central City holding a Flash Day event.  We saw this in episode F201.

All of the city leaders except for Captain Lance are killed by HIVE. These include the District Attorney, The Comptroller and Head of Emergency Services.

Ollie attempts to propose to Felicity twice over the course of the episode, using his mother's engagement ring that belonged to his mother. One attempt is thwarted by the sudden arrival of Thea and Laurel. The other is abandoned in the middle of moving into Thea's old loft.

Cisco Ramon made Oliver a new costume six months earlier.  Ollie dons this new costume to become The Green Arrow.

Thea Queen has become a much more aggressive fighter, nearly killing one HIVE agent before Ollie stops her during Team Arrow's raid on The HIVE Hideout they discover. Presumably this is a side-effect of her resurrection in The Lazarus Pit in 320.

Oliver identifies Damien Darhk's powers as magical and says that he has seen mystical things in his past without elaborating.

By the episode's end, Ollie and Felicity have moved into Thea's loft. We learn that Thea has apparently been living with Laurel, not wanting to stay in her old loft as she was killed by Ra's Al Ghul there.

When Ollie says that Ra's Al Ghul specifically identified Damien Darhk's organization as "a hive", this triggers a flashback in Diggle, who remembers Deadshot's words in 206 regarding HIVE - the group that hired him to kill John's brother, Andy.  He does not share this information with the rest of Team Arrow.

It is also revealed that Captain Lance is working with Damien Darhk.

In the final scene of the episode, we see a flash-forward six months. Ollie is seen at a graveside alone and is briefly joined by Barry Allen, who apologizes for missing the funeral, saying that he was busy dealing with Zoom. We do not see who the grave belongs to.


Location

Ivy Town.


Untelevised Adventures

Felicity apparently helped Diggle, Laurel and Thea with several cases during the five months she and Oliver were away from Star City.

At some point in his past, Oliver Queen has seen proof that magic is real.


The Fridge Factor

Laurel sucks at keeping her highly illegal vigilante lifestyle under wraps. She's abandoned any pretense of disguising her hair with a wig.

When the D.A. starts dying beside her, Laurel shouts for someone else to call 911 while she is getting on her own phone out.  She then begins talking on the phone, with several people in earshot, about Diggle and Thea needing to check on the other city leaders. Nobody finds the assistant DA's lack of concern for her boss at all suspicious.

Later on, after she's saved her father from the HIVE assassins who came after him, Laurel casually talks to her father, in costume, in front of several cops, who think nothing is odd about their vigilante-hating boss NOT shouting for someone to help him cuff the woman in the mask.

Thea's shooting a smoke arrow into the middle of a crowd before trying to evacuate them is an incredibly stupid move.


The Winick Factor

I was hard pressed on where to put the examples of Laurel and Thea's incompetence. Ultimately, I decided to put them in The Fridge Factor above instead of The Winick Factor simply because none of the male characters exhibited such issues.


The Bottom Line

A solid start with a lot of mysteries for the viewers to consider and an interesting wrinkle as magic is introduced into the DCTVU. Unfortunately, the show is still struggling to give Laurel anything useful to do and Thea is barely any better. Still, Darhk has a strong first appearance as the big-bad for the season and the chemistry between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards saves a lot of scenes that might otherwise have fallen flat.