Arrow Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 10 - Fadeout

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




Plot

With the Crisis over, Oliver Queen's friends and family gather in Star City to mourn his passing and celebrate a life well-lived and a new dawn in Star City. As what remains of Team Arrow contemplates how they will go on without the man who brought them together, they are forced to join together once more to save William Clayton after he is abducted by an old enemy of Green Arrow, who is out for revenge.



Influences

Crisis on Infinite Earths and Green Arrow: Quiver. (Oliver Queen in Heaven) 


Goofs

Rene is said to be favored to win the election for Mayor in April 2020, yet in 2040 Mayor Ramirez is running for a third term according to the Green Arrow & The Canaries pilot. It seems unlikely that Star City's mayors serve ten-year terms. (There's no guarantee Rene will win in 2020. Also, it could be a different Mayor Ramirez.)

Lyla Michaels is said to have been promoted to a new job in Metropolis. What's higher than Director of ARGUS? (It's likely a more powerful position in the Department of Defense not directly affiliated with ARGUS.)


Performances

The entire ensemble all have great moments, but the man holding it all together so all the tangents work is David Ramsey as John Diggle.


Artistry

The script is a work of art, with lots of nods to the show's history and many great character moments.

The flashback fight-scene of Oliver fighting John Byrne's men is a fitting capstone for the series' amazing action scenes.


Trivia

The episode title has a double-meaning, with a fadeout being the technical term for the slow shift to darkness before the credits at the end of a movie or television show and a part of a bow.

The title card for the episode features all 7 unique arrow-heads used over the course of the series.

The human trafficker Oliver goes after in the flashbacks of this episode, who later kidnaps William Clayton in the modern day is named John Byrne. This is a tribute to comic writer and artist John Byrne, who is perhaps most famous for his work with Chris Claremont on X-Men and for overseeing the reveamp of Superman following Crisis on Infinite Earths.

When Roy proposes to Thea, he does it on an industrial building with a sign in the back declaring that it is Van Wayne Enterprises. This is a nod to Van Wayne, a cousin of Bruce Wayne and one of the main characters of the short-lived series Powerless, which was set in a comedic version of the DC Comics universe. This would seem to affirm that the same characters (or at least Van Wayne) exist in the post-Crisis Arrowverse.

Roy and Thea make mention of Kord Industries - the oft-referred to business run by Ted Kord (aka The Blue Beetle). Brandon Routh was originally meant to play Ted Kord instead of Ray Palmer in Arrow season 3, but the rights for Blue Beetle were tied up in a live-action show based around the Jaime Reyes incarnation of the character.

The penultimate sequence in which John Diggle is knocked off his feet and finds a glowing green object where he thought a meteor had landed is a nod to a long-teased fan theory regarding John Diggle someday becoming a Green Lantern.


Technobabble

Curtis runs a quad-grid search tasked to a keyhole satellite array to track William.

Felicity implanted a subdermal tracking device in William's arm.

When fighting with escrima, it is important to use your whole body as the power comes from your hips.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: My name is Oliver Queen. After 5 years in hell I returned home with only one goal; to save my city. For 8 years, I've fought alongside brave men and women striving for justice, but then a Crisis came, and I had to become someone else. I had to become something else. I made the ultimate sacrifice, which helped birth an entirely new universe. Now my friends and family will have to go on without me, and although I have become a Spectre, there is a part of me that will always be The Green Arrow.

Rene: It's a hell of a legacy. Not just a city of heroes, a world of heroes.

Wild Dog: So how are things? It's been a while.
Ragman: Yeah. Well, a while is what it took for these rags to work again. Since then, I've been fighting for justice.
Wild Dog: To honor your father?
Ragman: To honor Oliver.
Wild Dog: We've had our differences over the years.
Ragman: Yeah, I assumed.
Wild Dog: Why?
Ragman: Of everyone, you're the most like him.

Mia: If Oliver Queen didn't kill you, than neither will I.

Oliver: Plenty of people in this book that deserve to die, plain and simple, but probably not everyone. Let's consider Mr. John Byrne to be proof of concept.
Diggle: That people can be redeemed?
Oliver: That one day I'll be able to trust you.

Quentin: For a long time I hated Oliver Queen. I blamed him for the death of my youngest daughter, I blamed him for the violence in my city, I interrogated him, I hunted him, persecuted him. I've never been more wrong in my life. Oliver Queen wasn't just a hero. He was a good man. He was an honorable person. The fact that he didn't start out that way makes him, in my book, even more honorable. He stands as a reminder to all of us that anyone can change. So will this.
(The cloth coverings behind Quentin are pulled aside, revealing a bronze statue of Green Arrow.)

Tommy: So you're from another Earth, is that it?
Black Siren: I know it's a lot to take in.
Tommy: Well, I just found out there's a reality where I was dead, so that's the curve I'm grading on these days. The Laurel of, well, this Earth, um... She was my wife.
Black Siren: So it must be strange seeing me.
Tommy: Ha! Yeah. Well, strange enough to blow the curve. (smiling) But there's something nice about it, too.

John Diggle: The Oliver that I met 8 years ago is not the one that we say good-bye to today. Oliver always told me that in order to save his city, he had to become someone else, he had to become something else. I always thought that meant becoming the Green Arrow, but today, I realized that meant becoming a better man. The best man he knew how to be. And he took all of us with him on that journey. He changed everything. Oliver brought heroes into the world, he inspired heroes, he inspired all of us here. I was his brother, and Oliver Queen was mine.

(We see John Diggle strapping his children into their car seats and kissing Lyla. She gets in their SUV and drives off, leaving John at their house with one moving van left to drive.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Of course, life will go on. It always does, but how, what twists and turns it will take, I can't say.
(We see Mia Queen, standing before the statue of Green Arrow. She walks through a time portal into her bedroom in 2040.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): I don't know what the future holds
(We see Digg getting ready to get into his van when he stops to look at a shooting star. A meteor crashes into the ground a dozen feet away from him, throwing him back against the van.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Except to say to expect the unexpected.
(We see Rene Ramirez in his campaign headquarters, looking at one of his political posters.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Oliver may be gone, but his mission endures.
(We see Dinah Drake getting on her motorcycle and driving out of Star City.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over):That mission lives on, Oliver lives on in the people he inspired. Some will take that mission to the rest of the world. Maybe even beyond that.
(We see Digg pulling himself off the ground and approaching the crater. He finds a box, which he picks up and opens. Something inside it glows with a green light.)
John Diggle (Voice-Over): Because if the past 8 years has shown us anything It's that this universe is far bigger than any of us could have dared imagine. Even if it is a little less bright without him in it.

Felicity: Not to complain. I just thought that the afterlife would look a little less like your old office.
Oliver: It's my mom's office. I wanted to be where I first saw you.
Felicity: Well, that would be in the I. T. Department, seven floors down.
Oliver: You sure?
(Cut to a flashback of Oliver Queen hiding around a corner in that same office years earlier.)
Felicity: (looking at a picture of Oliver Queen) You're cute. It's too bad you're, you know, dead, which is obviously a lot worse for you than it is for me.
(Cut back to the present. Oliver smiles at the woman he loves.)
Oliver: It's a long story. Lucky for us, we have all the time in the world for me to tell it to you.
(The two look out the window of the office together. It is a beautiful sunny day. All is right in the world.)


Continuity

The opening scene shows an alternate take on Moira Queen's death in 220. This time, Oliver is able to free his hands and stop Slade Wilson from killing Moira Queen with a sword.

It is revealed that Oliver's influence on shaping the post-Crisis Arrowverse allowed him to prevent the deaths of various people, including Moira Queen. Moira talks about how she apparently died in an interview for a documentary.

The documentary filmmaker from 712 has yet to finish her film in the post-Crisis reality. She is now turning Emerald Archer into a memorial film about Oliver Queen.

Dinah, Moira, Rene and John Diggle are all interviewed about Oliver for the documentary.

Crime in Star City disappeared virtually overnight post-Crisis. This has left Team Arrow with little to do.

Digg, Dinah, Rene, Roy and Black Siren meet in the Arrow bunker for a memorial wake. They drink Oliver's vodka and toast him.

Rene is apparently running for mayor now, instead of the city council, which he was running for pre-Crisis in 804.

It is revealed that Quentin Lance is alive again in the post-Crisis universe and that his term as Mayor ends in April. He is pushing for Rene to replace him.

Quentin has offered Dinah the job of Chief of Police in Star City

It has been one month since the Crisis ended as this episode opens.

In a flashback scene to eight years earlier, Oliver has just killed a man named Jimmy Tarallo who had 22 henchmen armed with machetes. Diggle tries to convince Oliver to take him into the field, but he refuses.

Oliver's next target is John Byrne: a beer company CEO who is using his shipping trucks to facilitate human trafficking.

In 2040, Mia has a dream of Robert Queen killing himself in front of Oliver Queen on their life raft after the Queen's Gambit sunk.

Sara Lance arrives in Mia's bedroom, having traveled via Time Portal, to take her to Oliver's funeral in 2020.

Digg, Roy, Rene, Dinah and Black Siren give each other The Mark of Four tattoo first seen in 708.

Roy says he imagines the funeral will be awkward with both of Oliver's sisters there. This establishes that Emiko Queen is still alive in the post-Crisis timeline. She originally died in 722.

In the flashback, Byrne is discovered to be employing Black Armada - a private security firm made up entirely of former Special Forces soldiers. He pays them $1 million monthly.

Diggle encourages Oliver not to kill John Byrne but to bring him in alive.

Mia talks with Dinah in the Arrowcave and reveals that, for her, it's been a few weeks since William was kidnapped in 809. She's had no luck tracking him down so far.

William is abducted from his grandparents' home in Central City.

Felicity, Curtis Holt, Rory Regan, Roy, Thea, Lyla, Digg, Laurel, Sara, Mia, Dinah and Rene pair off to search Star City for William.

Roy proposes to Thea, saying he's realized he can't live without her after his death and resurrection.

Rory Regan is fighting crime as Ragman again, as a way of honoring Oliver. He doesn't specify how long he's been doing it, but apparently his magic costume has repaired itself since he was forced into retirement in 512.

Rory says he isn't surprised that Rene and Oliver fought the most, saying that out of everyone in Team Arrow they are the most alike.

Mia is the one who locates William and John Byrne.

John Byrne spent 8 years in Iron Heights Penitentiary. He was apparently the first person Oliver Queen spared after deciding to stop killing every person on the list of people his father gave him.

John Byrne tries to provoke Mia until killing him. She refuses to do so.

Amateur video footage of captures Mia capturing John Byrne. Dinah repeats what she said earlier about being sure Oliver would be proud of her.

Felicity avoids approaching Mia for fear of saying something awkward. Ironically, Mia avoids her mother for the same reason.

Moira apparently likes Roy Harper much more in the post-Crisis reality.

Thea accepts Roy's marriage proposal.

Black Siren has a breakdown talking to Quentin, saying she doesn't understand why she's still alive and all these other people came back to life but not the Laurel Lance of Earth-1. Quentin says that Oliver didn't "fix" her because she didn't need fixing.

Diggle, Dinah and Rene shut down the Arrow bunker.  Dinah is the one who flips the switch for the power as they leave it for the last time.

Dinah decides not to take the job of Chief of Police. Instead, she's going to find another city that could use a hero like the Black Canary.

Diggle and Lyla are moving to Metropolis after the funeral. Lyla has been promoted to a new position there.

A candlelight vigil is held for Oliver Queen the night before his funeral. Quentin Lance unveils a bronze statue of the Green Arrow, with a plaque that reads "He saved this city." This is the same statue Mia and William met at in 809.

Before the funeral, while visiting Robert Queen's memorial, Thea asks why Oliver couldn't bring Robert Queen back from the dead. Moira speculates that Oliver could only change those events he was involved in directly and only change them so far. For better or worse, Robert Queen had to die for Oliver to become Green Arrow.

Emiko meets with Thea and Moira for the first time.  Moira welcomes Emiko into the family.

Tommy Merlyn is revealed to be alive in the post-Crisis reality. He was also married to Earth-1 Laurel Lance before her death. He talks to Black Siren and says that seeing her is weird but nice.

Nyssa introduces Sara Lance to Talia as her beloved.

Mia and Felicity do meet and hug.

Barry Allen and Kara Danvers attend the funeral in their civilian identities.

Oliver's body was never found. A casket full of mementos was buried in front of the tombstone erected in his honor, next to Robert Queen's memorial behind Queen Manor.

Diggle gives the eulogy at Oliver's funeral.

Dinah leaves Star City on her motorcycle. We see that the main freeway out of Star City has been renamed in Oliver Queen's honor.

Mia returns to 2040 through a time portal.

Before leaving Star City, John Diggle was knocked off his feet by a meteor crashing near him. Once he got near the crater, he found a box containing something that glowed with a green light.

20 years in the future, The Monitor fulfills his bargain and guides Felicity Smoak to the afterlife, as in the final scene of 722.

Felicity meets Oliver Queen in a place that looks just like his mother's office. When she asks why the afterlife looks like that, he says he wanted to see her as she was when he first saw her. When she says that they first met in the IT Department at Queen Consolidated seven floors down in 103. However, Oliver says that isn't the first time he saw her, as he thinks about seeing her while being undercover at Queen Consolidated in the flashbacks of 314.


Location

The Afterlife



Untelevised Adventures

Much of the history of Arrow has apparently been rewritten in the post-Crisis reality. For instance, one wonders how the events of William Clayton's being revealed as Oliver Queen's son played out with Moira still alive or if Laurel Lance developed the same drug problem she did in Season 2 without Tommy Merlyn's death weighing her down.


The Bottom Line

A fitting conclusion that brings everything to a happy ending for most of the supporting players, while still leaving ample room for development of many of these characters elsewhere in the Arrowverse. Some characters are given short shrift than others and some subplots remain untouched, such as Talia and Thea forming a new, heroically inclined League of Assassins. Still, the possibilities left open by Diggle and Lyla moving to Metropolis and the plot with Mia Smoak in the future offer many avenues for exploration. The Queen is dead. Long live The Queen.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 6 - Reset

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




Plot

Betrayed by Lyla Michaels, Oliver and Black Siren find themselves in a familiar life-and-death situation with Quentin Lance, which gives the Laurel Lance of Earth 2 a chance to repent as Oliver tries to make peace with the inevitable.


Influences

Groundhog Day (specifically called out by Quentin and Oliver, theme of a person repeating a day until they learn a lesson.) Edge of Tomorrow (a soldier is continually sent through a cycle with memories of how he died while accomplishing a mission) and Arrow Season 6 and 7.


Performances

Paul Blackthorne is a delight and it's great to see him back for one final turn as Quentin.


Trivia

This episode was directed by David Ramsey, who plays John Diggle.

Each time Oliver wakes up, he hears a basketball game on the radio where one of the teams playing is the Star City Comets. In the DC Universe, the Comets are a professional basketball franchise, which was mentioned once in Black Lighting: Year One. The team was apparently once the Metropolis Comets, but moved to Star City after the franchise declared bankruptcy and switched cities.

Quentin's first words to Oliver, asking him if he's seen a ghost, may be a shout out to Green Arrow: Quiver, where the first words Oliver Queen says involving telling the civilian he just saved that he looks like he saw a ghost, in the scene which reveals that Oliver Queen is alive and well after having died in the previous Green Arrow series. 


Technobabble

The detonator for the bomb under the police station operates on an detonator oscillating frequency. This means that the right frequency being projected at it should disrupt it.

ARGUS is able to analyze the bomb and trace the chemical signature back to a certain building, which they determine is the mercenary's hideout.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: We've had this exact conversation already.
Quentin: What are you talking about?
Oliver: (sighs, hesitant as he finally speaks) Fully aware of how this is going to sound. Quentin, I'm trapped in some sort of... time loop, where the same events just keep repeating themselves.
Quentin: Like Groundhog Day. 
Oliver: Sure, except this one ends a lot of people dead, including the two of us.
(There's a long pause as Quentin considers this.) 
Quentin: Okay. How can I help?
Oliver: You actually believe me?!
Quentin: Oliver, I've seen one daughter die and come back to life twice. I've seen another come from some other Earth. I've seen a guy in red run so fast he can reverse time. This is not exactly outside the norm, is it? Also, I'm done learning my lesson about doubting you because that always bites me in the ass. (chuckles)

(Dinah and Black Siren look at the bomb.)
Dinah: I have an idea.
(Dinah activates the Canary Cry device on her bracelet. It triggers a sonic attack which fries the bomb.)
Black Siren: (smiling) We did it.
(She gives Dinah the side-eye, apparently feeling her glaring at her.) 
Black Siren: (sighs) Okay. Fine. YOU did it.

Quentin: So you're telling me we're in some kind of a alternate reality based on the plot of a Bill Murray movie?
Black Siren: Well, I was gonna go with a Tom Cruise flick. But basically...

(Black Siren and Quentin have fallen back to a staircase. Quentin is wounded and bleeding out.)
Quentin: Oh, I'm sorry, baby girl. Looks like we lost this round.
Black Siren: No. No! I am not letting you die again.
Quentin: It's too late...
Black Siren: No!
Quentin: It... it's it's time to say good-bye.
Black Siren: I'm not giving up on you, Quentin. Quentin! I am not giving up on you. You never gave up on me. You believed in me when nobody else did.
Quentin: Well, that's what dads do. They believe.
Black Siren: I want you to know that you are the reason that I'm trying to be a hero. It's because of you.
Quentin: Sweetheart you are a hero. (firmly) You are.
Black Siren: (sobbing) Thank you. Thank you. I never had the chance to tell you how much you mean to me.
Quentin: Well...I think you just did.

(Quentin and Oliver are barricade in a stairwell. Quentin has been shot in the side, but it's just a flesh wound... for now.)
Oliver: We are gonna find a way out of this. There has to be a way to fix it, and we are gonna find it, Quentin. It doesn't matter how many times. We're gonna find it!
Quentin: (laughs) Yeah? Sure. What's it gonna be, 60 times, 100 times?
Oliver: It's gonna be however many times it takes!
Quentin: You know, getting hunted like this in a space like this is kind of like what I was doing to you all those years ago. Remember? (grunting as he forces himself to his feet) Sort of makes sense I'd go out like this now, don't you think?
Oliver: Would you please just save your strength-
Quentin: For what? Oliver, you take care of these guys, there'll be more behind them, there will be more behind them. There is no saving me from this! Okay? You ever think that's the point? Maybe you're not supposed to.
Oliver: I'm not giving up. And you're not giving up either.
Quentin: Oh, no, no, no. I'm not giving up. Maybe I'm giving in. You see, I've been outrunning death for a while now. The siege... the island... But when Diaz shot me, that felt different... like I was finally at the end. And I made my peace with that. And maybe it's time you did, too.
(Red sniper dots start shining through the windows)
Quentin: It looks like fate's knocking.
Oliver: (barely able to speak, finally growling the words out.) Just... just... You just get ready to move.
(Quentin closes his eyes and takes off his bullet proof vest, before moving towards the door with the snipers. Oliver looks at him, sad, but doesn't try to stop him.)
Quentin: I'll see you on the other side, Oliver.
(Quentin goes through the door to face certain death.)
Oliver: (quietly) Quentin.
(Everything goes white as the reset triggers again.)


Continuity

Oliver wakes up on a couch in his apartment in a suit while hearing a radio broadcast of the Star City Comets playing.

Mia, Connor and William return to the apartment from getting take-out at Big Belly Burger.

Connor says that Big Belly Burger in the past tastes better than in their time. Mia says it tastes the same. William says the taste of the food changed following a merger with Gwespin Foods sometime between 2019 and 2040.

Oliver attends a fundraiser the city council is holding for the SCPD/Vigilante Partnership, which is apparently intended to take their program global.

In this reality, Quentin Lance survived being shot by Ricardo Diaz and went on to become Mayor of Star City after Oliver Queen was arrested for being the Green Arrow. Apparently, the events of Season 7 played out exactly the same, with Oliver being freed from prison and Oliver and the SCPD spearheading a new program where vigilantes acted as deputized lawmen.

According to John Diggle, Oliver, Diggle and Black Siren were tranquilized two nights ago and Lyla was a double-agent spying on the Monitor. Oliver has no memory of any of this.

The fundraiser is being held in the Palmer Tech offices, which were apparently never blown up in this reality.

A group of mercenaries take a dozen officers hostage at the SCPD and their leader demands to speak to Mayor Lance.

In the first time through the cycle, the leader of the terrorists says the only way out is for Oliver to stop it before trigger a dead man's switch that triggers a bomb.

In the second time through the cycle, Oliver tries to tell both John Diggle and Quentin Lance about the time loop. Only Quentin believes him. He runs into Black Siren as he goes to disarm the bomb under the police station. She says that she's in the same time loop and this is also her second time around, but she woke up in the Team Arrow Bunker. They accidentally trigger a fail-safe on the bomb and agree to meet together at the fundraiser on the next trip.

In the third time through the cycle, Black Siren meets Oliver at the fundraiser. This time, they tip off everyone and Dinah and Black Siren are able to short out the bomb together. Unfortunately, a sniper kills Quentin once the bomb is defused and the mercenaries are arrested.

The fourth time, Black Siren tries to hide Quentin in the bunker as Oliver tries to figure out who hired the mercenaries in the first place. Oliver is able to get John Diggle to help him this time with analyzing the bomb. This leads them to the mercenaries hide-out, where they trigger a booby trap that blows up, injuring Oliver, Black Siren and Quentin. This time, Lyla shows up, tells Oliver he is missing the point and can't fight this before shooting Quentin and starting the cycle again.

The fifth time, Oliver tells Black Siren that he thinks this is a test but she thinks it's a punishment for defying the Monitor. Lyla is not at the fundraiser this time. They go back to the mercenary hideout with Quentin but don't trigger the booby trap. Oliver is able to hack the computers to track the mercenaries to the Anderson White - CEO of a company named Global Solutions, who has been accused but not convicted of money laundering and racketeering. Quentin is caught in the crossfire as the security team attacks them. As he is dying, Black Siren gets the chance to say goodbye to Quentin and tell him she is trying to become a hero because of him. He tells her she is a hero before the reset hits again.

The sixth time, Oliver goes to the Bunker and can't find Laurel. Lyla is there and tells Oliver that Laurel got what she needed out of this, so she isn't coming back. She tells Oliver once again that the only way to win is to accept the inevitable. Despite this Oliver goes to Quentin and takes him with him to confront Anderson White directly. Oliver gets on his computer and discovers that White is a middle man who organizes hits for other people as a side gig from his CEO job. They are caught by White's security and cornered. This time, Quentin tells Oliver that he probably was meant to die and that it's okay for Oliver to let go of him.

The seventh time, Oliver tells his kids and Connor how proud he is of them and how he's glad he got the chance to get to know them. He goes to the fundraiser and asks Quentin, in private, when he realized that Oliver wasn't the bad guy he thought he was. Quentin says his daughters vouching for Oliver helped. Oliver thanks Quentin for everything and excuses himself before Rene comes in with the news about the hostage situation.

Lyla approaches Oliver and confirms that this was another test to teach Oliver a lesson - to embrace the inevitable and not try to fight it. She says the test was necessary because Oliver has never been the sort of person to do what he's told and he had to be shown.

Lyla says she's been working with the Monitor for a while and hiding that has been the hardest thing she's ever had to do.

Lyla confirms that a great evil is coming and the Monitor has foreseen that the only chance they have of stopping it requires Oliver Queen be alive and ready to give himself for the ultimate cause.

Lyla says that everything Oliver has done so far - even retrieving the energy wave weapon in Russia - was part of the Monitor's plan and that he has one more mission to accomplish.

Lyla also confirms that the Monitor was responsible for bringing Oliver, Connor and Mia back in time and that it was a reward for Oliver's willingness to sacrifice - a chance to get to know the children he'd never see as adults otherwise.

Oliver wakes up in a tent with Black Siren, who is just waking up after having left Quentin behind. Oliver affirms his belief that the Monitor was rewarding them - giving him time with his kids and giving Black Siren the closure she needed with Quentin.

The two exit the tent to find John, Connor, Mia and William... and that they are on Lian Yu.


Location

Star City on an undetermined Earth, where Quentin Lance survived Ricardo Diaz's attempt to kill him and became Mayor of Star City, only to die several months later after Oliver Queen spearheaded an effort to see vigilantes made deputized lawmen.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode and possible contender for one of the best episodes of the series' history. The performances are all powerful and the tone stays serious while allowing for a little dark comedy. The final season continues to roll forward with all cylinders firing.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 23 - Life Sentence

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



Plot

With a new ally on his side, Green Arrow may be able to bring down Ricardo Diaz and save Star City, but even though the war may be won, not everyone may survive the final battle...


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick (invincible villains who win even when they lose) and Jeff Lemire (character of Ricardo Diaz, mention of Longbow Hunters)


Goofs

Again, one wonders why Diaz hasn't just killed Black Siren by now? It seriously undercuts the idea that he's a dangerous lunatic who overacts to any slight or act of treachery if he spares a dangerous metahuman serial killer with no qualms about killing who turned on him once or if he has enough coherence to try using her as a bargaining chip to manipulate Quentin.

I know Agent Watson is meant to seem unreasonable, but she's not wrong in pointing out that Black Siren is a known murder, a wanted criminal, a fugitive from justice and that the only person who believed her "I could be good" act is Quentin. And even he isn't buying it anymore and is just pissed because he does not want to see someone who looks like his daughter die yet again.

How in the name of the many ridiculous gods of the DC Universe did Diaz survive getting blasted off a roof by a concussive sonic blast at close range, after being beaten half to death to Green Arrow and still manage to survive a water landing to swim away to safety?

Why doesn't the FBI arrest Black Siren? (Did Oliver's deal give her immunity too?)

How did Black Siren get a hold of Sara Lance?

Why had nobody told Sara about Black Siren?

Katie Cassidy's expression (or lack thereof) as everyone else is having an emotional response to the news of Quentin's death and Oliver's arrest defies belief.

So... the next step is Team Arrow exposing Agent Watson for refusing to do her job without a quid pro quo, right?


Performances

Paul Blackthorne gives a stellar final performance as Quentin Lance.

Caity Lotz's presence in this episode is largely wasted, but she does a fantastic job with the brief moments she has.

Stephen Amell has a great performance here, but the scene between him and Paul Blackthorne as Oliver once again calls Quentin the father he never really had is truly heart-breaking.


Artistry

Good effects work and choreography on the opening fight scene, particularly in regards to the Canary Cry effects and the T-Sphers are used.

The script is solid, with a reoccurring theme of Oliver making his peace with everyone and shaking hands with them.

The lighting and rain effects during the final Green Arrow/Diaz fight look good, even if the slow-motion effects are a bit much.


Trivia

Once again, the title card only features Oliver's arrowhead symbol and not all the symbols of the other Team Arrow members.

The Longbow Hunters were a villain group formed by Ricardo Diaz during Jeff Lemire's run on Green Arrow, made up of villains who had a grudge against Green Arrow. The line-up included Diaz himself, Brick, The Red Dart, Killer Moth and Count Vertigo.

In The Arrowverse, The Longbow Hunters are some legendary group that Diaz has made contact with. Anatoly has heard of them but thought they were just a myth. Oliver says that they are three assassins whom even The League of Assassins were afraid of. The last one reportedly died in The 1950s.

Oliver makes a second Green Arrow costume for John, saying there's no rule that there can't be more than one Green Arrow.  For a time in the comics, there were two Green Arrows, with both Oliver Queen and his son, Connor Hawke, using the name. The same legacy ideal applies to Flashes, with both Barry Allen and Wally West using the name The Flash in the current DC Comics Rebirth reality. Even before that, there was the Jay Garrick Flash working with his younger counterparts.

Ricardo Diaz's third hideout is said to be an abandoned chemical factory on the border of Pennytown. In the Green Arrow comics by Benjamin Percy, Pennytown was a borough of The DC Comics version of Seattle. It also the name of a district in Star City in The Arrowverse - one that has fallen on hard times and lies near an airfield, but is not as bad as The Glades.

The prison Oliver Queen is sent to at the end of the episode is Slabside Maximum Security Prison. In the original DC Comics universe, Slabside Penitentiary was the name of a maximum security prison for Metahumans, which first appeared in Green Lantern #51 (May 1994). It is nicknamed The Slab, because those who are sent there only leave it once they are "on the slab". (i.e. dead)


Technobabble

Felicity is given control of the FBI's Keyhole Satellites.

The bombs in Diaz's booby trap are said to be made of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) As a dry solid, TATP is an extremely sensitive white crystalline powder that can explode under heat, friction or mechanical shock. Being difficult to detect and made from reasonably common chemicals it has gained notoriety as a weapon used by terrorists, some of whom have dubbed it ‘The mother of Satan’ because of its instability.

Felicity is able to piggyback of a radio signal going to the explosives, saying she can probably fool the triggers into thinking the people inside the warehouse aren't moving by cloning the signal. She winds up having to bounce the signal off of several satellites, delaying it long enough for everyone to flee the warehouse.

Oliver was able to get close enough to Diaz for long enough for a digital sniffer that Felicity made for him to read Diaz's drive. They have all the information on his entire network.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Green Arrow is addressing the FBI agents and everyone else in SCPD HQ. His mask is off and his hood is down.)
Green Arrow: Diaz clearly has a third base of operations we don't know about.
Wild Dog: Yo, Hoss? Mask?
Agent Watson: Mr. Queen and I have come to an understanding. Even if we didn't, your identity is hardly a well-kept secret, Mr. Ramirez.
(Wild Dog pulls of his mask.)
Wild Dog: So... you're done trying to throw us in jail?
Green Arrow: Everyone has immunity from prosecution, Rene. The FBI recognizes that Diaz is the clear and present danger.
Wild Dog: Better late than never, I suppose.

(John looks down at the second Green Arrow costume Oliver made for him.)
John: I really thought I wanted this mantle. It means something. (looks up to Oliver) You've made it mean something. When our city looks at it, it gives them hope, Oliver. And it would be diminished if there was more than one.
Oliver: For everything along the way... thank you.
(The two shake hands.)

Oliver: When I first met you, (chuckles) I didn't think you were much more than a thug in a - heh - ridiculous costume.
Rene: You're no prize yourself, hoss.
Oliver: I judged you. For far too long, I judged you. And that was a mistake. I'm sorry. I think that you're a good man, Rene. I think you're the type of man this... this city deserves.
Rene: I know it seems like I don't give a crap about what anyone thinks. But this means a lot.
Oliver: Good.
(The two shake hands.)

(Quentin hangs up his phone and looks straight ahead.)
Quentin: Anyone ever tell you it's rude to sneak up on people?!
(Behind him, Oliver has the decency to look embarrassed as he walks around in front of Quentin.)

(Oliver asks Quentin to trust him when he says he can save Black Siren.)
Oliver: We've known each other for a very long time, Quentin.
Quentin: (snorts) A lifetime. Yeah. We've come a long way, you and me.
Oliver: (smiling) It's been getting better, since the first time you arrested me.

Oliver: The FBI's only objective is Diaz. They're going to do their best to keep Quentin safe, but they don't care if Black Siren is collateral damage.
Dinah:Your point?
Oliver: My point, Dinah, is that it's up to us to keep her safe.
(Dinah gives Oliver a side-eye glance.)
Oliver: I know you have put your vendetta aside for the sake of the mission.
Dinah: And you want to make sure I keep it that way?
Oliver: I want to say thank you.
(Dinah looks stunned.)
Oliver: It takes a very big person to not... seek vengeance for someone they love. If I haven't always been sensitive to that, I'm truly sorry.
Dinah: I'm sorry I was so hard on you. (pauses) You know, the truth is... I respect you more than you could ever know. You've put together a team of heroes. That's no small thing.
(They shake hands.)

Felicity: What is going on?
Oliver: What do you mean?
Felicity: I mean you've been doing the Oliver Farewell Tour all around this place, including giving John "The Hood". You know, everyone is wondering what did you have to give Watson to get her to give us immunity? I'm just going to go out on a limb here... and guess that it was giving up being The Green Arrow.
Oliver: ... sort of.
Felicity: You can't be serious! What happened to becoming your best self?
Oliver: I don't know if I believe that anymore.
Felicity: Oliver, this is who you are! You can't let Watson get in the middle of that!
Oliver: She's not. It was my idea.

Quentin: You did good, Oliver.
Oliver: Thank you, but it's not over yet.
Quentin: It is for you.
(Oliver looks at him and just raises an eyebrow.)
Quentin: Am I wrong?
(Oliver shakes his head.)
Quentin: I've been dealing with Samanda Watson for months. There's no way she was gonna help you without strings attached. (sighs) But those strings, Oliver... that's a hell of a sacrifice.
Oliver: I had to look at the way I've been doing things. It's not working. I lost my city. I lost my team. There's a penance for that.

Oliver: Quentin, I hope I took the time to tell you , uh... you're a really good father.
Quentin: So are you.
Oliver: (choking up) I had a good example.
Quentin: Yeah, your dad was a good man.
Oliver: (on the verge of tears) I'm not talking about my dad.
(Quentin looks surprised but just nods.)

Felicity: During your trial, you said that you didn't want to go public, because you wanted a life after Green Arrow. This is that life! You could-
Oliver: I wanted to stop Diaz. And I wanted to save you and William more.


Continuity

The FBI and Star City's vigilantes all attack SCPD HQ and Diaz's hideout together.

Oliver secured immunity from prosecution for all of Star City's vigilantes.

Lyla, John Jr., Zoe and William are at the NORAD Bunker.

Oliver makes another Green Arrow costume for John, saying there's no rule that there can't be more than one Green Arrow. John refuses it, saying that having more than one would diminish it.

Anatoly gives Oliver the address Diaz gave him for the meeting with The Longbow Hunters.

Diaz threatens Black Siren to get Quentin to kick the FBI out of Star City. Quentin refuses.

Diaz somehow gained access to a metahuman power inhibiting collar.

The address Anatoly gives Oliver turns out to be a booby-trapped warehouse full of explosives. Wild Dog and Agent Watson are trapped inside when the trap triggers.

Diaz figured out that Anatoly was the traitor and promises to take days to kill him.

Ricardo Diaz can speak some Russian.

Rene becomes shell-shocked again, after nearly dying pulling an FBI agent who was paralyzed with fear from the exploding warehouse.

Oliver tells Quentin that he was able to beat the lie-detector five years earlier by controlling his heart beat.

It is revealed that Quentin has had a pacemaker ever since Season Three.

Quentin tells Diaz that The FBI is tracking him by satellite when Diaz doesn't bring Laurel to the meeting site and insists that Quentin hold a press conference to order The FBI to leave Star City.

Oliver realizes later that Quentin told him about his pacemaker, so that Felicity could track it, because Quentin knew that Diaz wouldn't honor his agreement and that he'd be searched at his meeting with Diaz.

Diaz's third hideout is revealed to be an abandoned chemical plant on the border of Pennytown - a district of Star City when has been mentioned before in 405 and 505.

Quentin is shot by Diaz when he refuses to deliver his press release.

Diaz is about to shoot Black Siren when The FBI and Star City's heroes arrive.

Black Canary removes Black Siren's collar and helps carry Quentin out of the base.

Green Arrow has Diaz beaten when Black Siren sonic screams him off of the roof and into the bay.

Diaz escapes, but Oliver got to him close enough with a digital sniffer to get all of the information from his drive.

Oliver hands the information on Diaz's network over to Agent Watson, who says that Diaz escaping doesn't alter their deal. Oliver says he is aware of that.

Quentin is septic as a result of his wound. He asks Rene not to call him Hoss at his funeral if the surgery goes bad.

Black Siren called Sara Lance to tell her she might need to come be there in case her father died.

Sara Lance had apparently not been told about Black Siren's existence.

Quentin Lance dies during his surgery.

Oliver is revealed to have made a plea bargain with the FBI - turning himself in and a full confession on a list of federal charges in order to save everyone else.

Felicity refers to how they broke John out of prison in 504.

Oliver says he's being transferred to a Supermax and that Agent Watson has already threatened to arrest the rest of Team Arrow if he ever tries to escape.

Oliver confesses to the public that he is The Green Arrow.

The prison Oliver is sent to is Slabside Maximum Security Prison


Location

Slabsite Maximum Security Prison


The Winick Factor

Heavy. From the invincible villain who accomplishes his goals even in defeat (Diaz has gotten Oliver Queen out of office and into prison is still running The Quadrant, even if he's lost his foothold in Star City's government) to the government officials that are more concerned with bringing a good guy down than serving the common good.


The Bottom Line

An ugly, bittersweet mess. There's a lot of good moments here, but they are moments that should have come earlier in the season and only serve to telegraph what is blatantly obvious - that Ollie sold himself to save the rest of his team. The grand irony is that after everyone else except Felicity abandoned him, he chose to sacrifice himself to save everyone... except the one person he should have spoken to before making this kind of decision. Then again, Ollie wouldn't be Ollie if he didn't do the wrong things for the right reasons for the sake of protecting people who don't need his protection.

It's apparent now that they are are going to use Season 7 of Arrow to play out the "Green Arrow in prison" movie that David Goyer never got to make. Hopefully that will be short-lived, because as the first few episodes of the middle half of Season 4 of The Flash proved, things get dull when your main hero is in prison.

Apart from that, it's pretty clear what happens next. John bcomes the new Green Arrow. Roy Harper comes out of hiding to help. Diaz continues to be invincible. New Team Arrow will kinda just be there. And they'll probably use Quentin's death to fuel Black Siren becoming a hero.... even though by all rights she should be in jail with Ollie, if only for having facilitated Diaz's escape.

I suppose it will be too much to hope that this was all according to plan. That Black Siren and Diaz are still working together and that everything we saw before was a play. That Black Siren didn't blast Diaz but carried him to safety with her cry (a trick we've seen Black Canary do) and that all of this is just to get her in with the rest of Star City's vigilantes so Diaz can stick the knife in later.

Unlikely, I know, but that thought will keep me warm over the next few months.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 22 - The Ties That Bind

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


Plot

With his plan to put Oliver Queen in prison thwarted, Ricardo Diaz decides to just kill Green Arrow and all of his former allies. The heroes of Star City must put aside their differences to finally join forces against their common enemy.


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick. (Invincible bad guys who are far more clever than the heroes.)


Goofs

Lyla says that she can't bring in ARGUS to help with the fight in Star City because what Diaz is doing is a law enforcement matter outside of their jurisdiction. While this does make sense from a legal and logistical standpoint (The CIA is not allowed to get involved in affairs on American Soil, to give a real world example), surely Ricardo Diaz is a person of interest as a known associate of the cyber-terrorist who recently threatened Star City - a matter which ARGUS could act on?

For that matter, surely as the Director of ARGUS, Lyla knows who to contact at the FBI, the DEA, the ATF or countless other government agencies that would be empowered to arrest Diaz legally? (It might have been easier for Lyla to say she'd have to coordinate with the FBI to operate and it would take too long or for Oliver to point out there's no way to know Diaz didn't have connections in the local FBI as well.)

Kirk Acevedo goes full Shatner with his pauses and line breaks in this episode. (Why would she tip off Queen (pauses) and then DRAAAAG OUR AAAAAASES (pause) out of the fire?)

Diaz surviving the explosion at point-blank range and going flying down a staircase into a stone wall is complete and total bullshit.

Lyla doesn't have authority to bring ARGUS agents in force to deal with Diaz yet somehow orders a forensics team to investigate the ruins of Helix?

Why do The Quadrant leaders agree to a meeting with Diaz on his own turf with none of their own bodyguards close at hand?


Performances

Honestly, the whole heroic ensemble is on point this week, but we'll given an MVP shout-out to Juliana Harkavy, who gets the first chance in far too long to show how awesome Black Canary is and should be played.


Artistry

All the opening action sequences are amazing.


Trivia

As is tradition for the penultimate episode of every season of Arrow, the title is taken from a Bruce Springsteen song. As usual, the song ties into the theme of the episode, as The Ties That Bind is about someone who has been trying to stand tough on their own because they're afraid of the pain that relationships with other people can cause.

The Arrow logo card at the end of the first segment once again only shows Ollie's arrowhead symbol and not the rest of the Team Arrow symbols.


Technobabble

According to Dr. Schwartz, all signs of the nerve damage, loss of arm strength and loss of motor control that John had in his injured arm are gone.

Helix Dynamics now owns a polyrase inhibitor. Felicity and Curtis had to take out three loans to get it.

Diaz's "necklace" is a GRV-657 Solid State Drive. Felicity describes it as a military grade data storage device with dynamic encryption.

Felicity reprograms her sniffer to specifically couple with the digital signature of Diaz's drive.

Felicity determines that the encryption on Diaz's drive is Corto Maltesian in origin. She guesses the drive is carrying Diaz's books.

The SCPD use a tricelic gas in order to drive Team Arrow out of the Helix hideout.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Open on a thug urinating in an alleyway. Black Canary comes up behind him.)
Black Canary: I'll give you the courtesy of putting that back in before we start this. 
Thug: (smirking) Does it have to be in that order?
(He starts to turn around, but Black Canary kicks him in the stomach, knocking the wind from him.)
Black Canary: You work for Ricardo Diaz.
Thug: (still smirking through the pain) Who?
Black Canary: You want to play that game? Good.
(Black Canary grabs the thug by his shirt.)
Black Canary: I need to blow off some steam.

(John runs into the hallway towards the sounds of the shots. He sees Lyla with her guns drawn, one aimed toward each end of the hallway.)
John: Lyla!
(John runs towards her, and grabs her, spinning around as he shoots a man who was coming from the other direction.)
Lyla: I had him!
John: I know you did, honey.

(Three of Diaz's men have their guns trained on Black Canary's back. She has her hands up.)
Thug: One bullet. Back of the head. You won't even feel it.
Black Canary: (smirking) You know the cool thing about sound waves?  They bounce.
(Black Canary lets out a Canary Cry against the wall in front of her. It echos and knocks her and the thugs back, but she's able to roll with the force and comes up in a roll as the thugs are sent flying and knocked out on the other side of the alley wall.)

Oliver: If we just press ahead like this.. we are going to die out there.
Felicity: We haven't worked together in months.  You know Diaz isn't expecting that, at least.
Oliver: But he's planned for everything. Us getting back together? Working as a team? It's a start, but this guy's got an army.He's got the officials. He's got the police.  He's got everything.
Curtis: Please tell me there's a "but" coming at the end of this pep-talk.
Oliver: Anatoly Knyazev.
Rene: I thought he hated your guts?
Oliver: I think we've come to an understanding. I also think he might be the one move Diaz does not see coming.
John: Well, Oliver, if that's our tactical advantage, we need to press it.
Oliver: Let me set a meet with him, ok? Let us make a move off of his intel. But until we have it, I want you guys to stand down, and... I'm asking you to trust me. I know that that trust does not come easy after everything that has happened. Let's put all of that aside... and get this done.

Anatoly: "You cannot wage revolution in white gloves." Lenin had his faults, but he was right about that.

(Felicity has just asked Lyla for advice on how to cope with Oliver being nervous about her going into the field.)
Lyla: We always knew our lives would be high risk. Eventually, we got to a point where worrying about that seemed less important than enjoying the time we had together. Even if it was on a battlefield.
(Felicity closes her eyes as if savoring the romantic thought.)
Lyla: (pauses) Also, getting divorced helps.
(Felicity's face drops.)

Oliver: You promised me you would stay put.
Felicity:Well, I didn't exactly promise -
Oliver: Fine. You promised me you wouldn't do anything stupid. You charged into a fire-fight.
Felicity:Which was a calculated risk.
Oliver:  Calculated - (stammers) Did you calculate how close Ricardo Diaz came to shooting you in the back of the head?!
Felicity: We got what we wanted.
Oliver:  That's not - (bites his lip)
Felicity:And if I'm right, what we wanted has the list of everyone in the city that Diaz controls.This could help us get our home back from Diaz, Oliver. We could actually save our city this time around. I think that's a little more important than "what ifs."
Oliver:  This is why I started working alone again.
Felicity:Yeah. You know what? I tried convincing myself that that was the right move too. But it's not. Because we're married and we're supposed to be each other's strength. So there is no "alone" for us anymore.
Oliver:  It's not that simple and you know it.
Felicity: God, I'm really going to need you to start seeing it that way.

(Dinah is trying to talk Curtis into resting.)
Curtis: He almost killed my man! What do you expect my reaction to be?
Dinah: Exactly the same as mine.
Curtis:... I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about Vincent. I'm so sorry, Dinah.
Dinah: You shouldn't be thinking about Vincent. You need to be thinking about Nick. (sighs) Just please don't go about this the same way that I did, Curtis - blind with rage. (pauses) Remember how you had to talk me down?
Curtis: I remember my advice not really taking.
Dinah: (chuckles) Yeah. Well, you're a lot smarter than me.

(Oliver is trying to justify his keeping Felicity out of the field.)
John: The truth is you were there for her tonight. The same way she's been there for you as Overwatch. (sighs) And, look, when I said that your focus was split, I didn't mean throwing away everything and everyone that gives you strength.

(Lyla and John are moving down a corridor, Suddenly, Lyla, grabs John, throws him down and spins to shoot one of Diaz's men who was approaching them in the same way John did earlier at the hospital.)
John: I had him, honey. (kisses her cheek)

Oliver: I shouldn't have pushed you away. I should have trusted you to keep yourself safe. And I should have trusted my abilities to help keep you safe.
Felicity: Thank you.
Oliver: Yeah.
Felicity: It's good to know that after all these years, you can still learn something. (kisses his shoulder)
Oliver: Well, I still have a ways to go.
Felicity: That's true.


Dialogue Disasters

Diaz: Should've done this months ago. (The sentence that pretty much sums up everything about his "plans".)


Continuity

As the episode opens, Felicity, Oliver and William are cooking dinner together, John and Lyla are meeting with Dr. Schwartz before their date night, Curtis has taken Nick to Helix Dynamics office, Rene is watching a hockey game with Zoe and Dinah is questioning one of Diaz's men alone.

Anatoly sends Oliver a text warning him of Diaz's attack.

Nick is wounded trying to save Curtis from Diaz's men. Lyla has them sent to ARGUS Med-Bay so he can get surgery.

Nick and Curtis are officially boyfriends.

Lyla has Zoe, William, Raisa amd John Jr. sent to the NORAD bunker in Colorado.

Diaz's men are seen trashing The Bunker before setting it on fire.

The ARGUS Charter does not cover law enforcement.  What resources John has were provided by Lyla stretching the rules as far as she could.

Anatoly tells Oliver that the the SCPD has "kill on sight" orders regarding him and the rest of Star City's vigilantes and their family members.

The Quadrant is not happy with Diaz's turning Star City into a war zone in a bid to take out the vigilantes.

Curtis is stabbed by Diaz after trying to fight him one-on-one. Somehow, the team is able to get away from the SCPD and Quadrant forces carrying him.

Felicity says she can use her data sniffer - last seen in 612 - to get the information from Diaz's necklace.

Diaz's "tech kid" is a younger man named Crosby, whose grandmother is being held hostage in exchange for his cooperation.

Anatoly convinces Diaz that the spy in their organization is Lydia Cassamento, after Diaz accuses him of slipping information to Oliver.

Dinah refers to Curtis talking her down during her fight with Black Siren in 614.

Crosby is able to trace Felicity's system to the former Helix hideout used by New Team Arrow.

Diaz kills Lydia Cassamento.

Curtis had the entire Helix hideout rigged to explode. Rene gives Oliver the trigger to activate it.

Oliver blows up the Helix hideout when confronted by Diaz.

Lyla sent a forensics team into The Helix hideout. They did not find Diaz's body.

Felicity did not finish the decryption in time. There was nothing salvageable after the Helix hideout blew up.

Diaz kills another of the Quadrant leaders. The last one swears loyalty to him.

FBI Agent Samandra Watson last appeared in 607.

Watson agrees to help Oliver retake Star City in exchange for two things. The first is his saying "I am The Green Arrow." The second one is unrevealed at the end of the episode.


The Winick Factor

Averted, but this episode only goes to prove that had it not been for all the forced drama making all the various heroes fight with each other for most of the second-half of the season, Diaz would have been easily dealt with in two or three episodes, tops.


The Bottom Line

The best episode in recent memory and not just because there's no Black Siren Redemption Arc nonsense weighing it down. The only downside of the episode is the forced stupidity of The Quadrant Leaders in the final segment, the plot contrivance that prevents ARGUS from being brought in gangbusters and that most of this episode proves how easily Diaz would have gone down if it weren't for all the forced drama that drove the heroes apart and kept them from working against a common enemy. The damnable thing is I'm actually excited for the finale, though I suspect I'll wind up not liking the direction of the show as we go into Season 7.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 21 - Docket No. 11-19-41-73

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




Plot

The Trial of Oliver Queen begins, with Black Siren posing as Laurel Lance acting as the prosecution's star witness! An unexpected ally may help sway the jury, but with Diaz running the DA's office and the judge in his pocket, does Oliver have any chance of getting out of this one


Influences

The Fall of Green Arrow storyline (Oliver Queen exposed as Green Arrow, facing murder charges) and the Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick (Oliver Queen forced from office after being revealed to have sponsored vigilante activities, general theme of heroes fighting each other instead of villains who are portrayed as being far smarter and more competent to a comical degree.)


Goofs

Rene's justification for suddenly wanting to help Oliver after being ready to see him die last week don't make a lot of sense, as Dinah points out. It would be far more believable for Rene to see he feels guilty for having betrayed Oliver (which he sort of hints at) than the wishy-washy "I still hate him, but I don't want to see him in prison" speech he gives.

Quentin tries to goad Black Siren into standing up to Diaz by saying that his Laurel is like Black Siren in that neither of them would tolerate being ordered around. This flies in the face of every bit of characterization we've seen of Black Siren so far, despite it being totally illogical that she should let a powerless punk like Diaz boss her around. The hell of it is Black Siren also has a point about Laurel having been kind of an idiot who got in way over her head and died because of it.

Reference is made to John Diggle's child being abducted at some point in the last four years.. Oliver abducted Lyla and left Baby Sara Diggle alone back in Season 3, but there is no story where either John Diggle Jr. or Sara Diggle was abducted. (Perhaps this was a change caused by Flashpoint?)

Diaz gets upset about Black Siren not saying Oliver Queen is Green Arrow on TV, yet he's having her held in reserve as a witness at the trial, where her saying he's Green Arrow would actually do some good in his grand plan to send Oliver Queen to prison.

There's so much irony to Diaz criticizing Black Siren for being an unconvincing actress.

Again, there's no reason for Black Siren NOT to kill Diaz once she has her breath and some distance.

It's unbelievable that Dinah and John would take the chance of attacking Diaz in broad daylight on the courthouse steps while the trial is going on, given how many cops are around.  Nearly as unbelievable as the fact that there's no media around to notice this happen!

Granting that it's possible for Diaz to have connections that let him get a hold of CIA records, how on Earth will they explain Laurel Lance - captive Assistant DA for two years - having access to those kind of records legally?

Again, we have to wonder why ARGUS isn't brought in to testify that "Laurel Lance" is a wanted fugitive from a parallel Earth after there's a threat of CIA files being turned in. It's not like the trial could get any more convoluted or crazy with the prosecution claiming that a master of disguise is impersonating a dead man to protect a superhero mayor's secret identity.

Black Siren and Quentin talk about her plan to "bury Oliver" some 15-20 feet away from a horde of reporters who are taking pictures and filming their conversation.

It's also unbelievable that nobody, except Curtis, thinks that Diaz might also be threatening the jury after also taking control of the judge and the DA's office.

Technically. since Oliver is being tried in a criminal court, Jean Loring should be requesting a Judgement of Acquittal rather than a Judgement Notwithstanding Verdict. They amount to the same thing, but a Judgement Notwithstanding Verdict is used in civil court cases.

Why doesn't Diaz kill Black Siren for turning against him once he has her powers neutralized?


Performances

Brief though it is, it's nice to see Colin Donnell smiling his way through a performance as "Tommy".

Emily Bett Rickards hasn't been given that much to do this season, but she turns in a powerfully understated performance in this episode even though she has little to do but be the dotting wife. Still, she gets some very powerful speeches.


Artistry

The muted camera tint on the opening sequence of John Diggle in Kasnia is a nice touch, putting a grey aura over everything that suits the gloomy tone of the episode.


Trivia

The episode title - Docket 11-19-41-73 is a reference to the very first Green Arrow appearance in the comics. Oliver Queen's first appearance came on November 19th, 1941 in More Fun Comics #73.

The episode's opening scene is set in Kasnia - a fictional Eastern European country which was first introduced to the DC Comics Multiverse in Superman: The Animated Series.

Jean Loring - Oliver Queen's lawyer - is quite a different character in the original comics. She was the original love interest and eventual ex-wife of Ray "The Atom" Palmer. She later went insane and became a host for Eclipso.

The episode's opening title stinger once again only has the Arrowhead symbol rather than all the symbols for Team Arrow.

The special prosecutor brought in to try Oliver Queen is said to have taken down Intergang and Bruno Manheim. In the classic Superman comics, Bruno "Ugly" Manheim was a crime boss in Metropolis and the leader of Intergang - a criminal organization who acquired high-tech weaponry from Apokolips.

Ironically, the end result of this episode is the opposite of the trial in The Fall of Green Arrow. There, Oliver Queen is found innocent of murder charges despite the evidence against him and a full confession, because the jury felt he was saving their city in the wake of an attack by the villain Prometheus who killed thousands of people in their city. The judge in the case says that he cannot send Oliver Queen to prison with a verdict of Not Guilty, but he can exile him from Star City for the rest of his life. This is, to put it mildly, a major violation of basic legal rights under the United States Constitution.


Technobabble

A pixel-level analysis of a digitally altered photograph will show almost undetectable light shifts and resolution inconsistencies that would not be present in a natural photo.

Judgement Notwithstanding The Verdict is a type of legal judgement that is sometimes rendered by the judge at the end of a Federal Civil Jury Trial. This allows the judge to override a jury's verdict in the rare circumstances in which a jury's response seems unreasonable in the face of the evidence presented. While defense attorneys often request this, it is rarely done. A Judgement Notwithstanding The Verdict can only be used to overturn a guilty verdict. A judge has no power to declare a person guilty after they have been found innocent by a jury trial.

It is revealed that Diaz has some kind of device that can cancel out Black Siren's sonic scream.


Dialogue Triumphs

(John enters into a hovel. He sees a shirtless man, his face hidden in the shadows, tied to a chair.)
Mystery Man: John!
John: I'm getting you out of here.
(John moves forward and starts to cut at the man's bindings.)
Mystery Man: (laughing) What the hell are you doing here?
John: I need your help. In Star City.

(Rene, Curtis and Dinah walk into the courtroom.)
Curtis: This looks bigger than The OJ Trial.
Dinah: How would you know? You were in, like, fourth grade?
Curtis: Yeah, but I watch American Crime Story.

Alexa Van Owen: Oliver Queen is a hero. He is. He's saved this city more times than anyone can count. But he's done it all from behind a mask, so that he could take the law into his own hands. In fact, he's taken as many lives as he's saved. So yes, Oliver Queen is a hero. But that doesn't mean he's not also a criminal.

Jean Loring: Three weeks ago, Oliver Queen was mayor of this city. In that time he has gone from being under indictment, to impeachment to being on trial. How?! How could everything go wrong so quickly for him? I think intuitively you know the answer. Corruption. It runs through this city like a cancer, compromising some city officials while discrediting others. Like...  ike the defendant. Even the anti-vigilante law that he's being charged under is the work of the corrupt men and women who are holding our city in their grip. This may sound like a conspiracy theory, but at the conclusion of this trial I'm going to ask you what is most likely - that our city's government has been compromised or that we elected a superhero as our mayor?

Oliver Queen: I'd be putting a target on my back. I'd be putting a target on my wife and son's back. I've been The Green Arrow for six years. I didn't plan on doing it forever! I thought that one day my mission wound end and I would finally, after all this time, get a chance to actually live my life! (pauses) That will never happen if I tell the whole world that I'm The Green Arrow.

Oliver: I don't want you in a position where you perjure yourself because of me.
Felicity: (sarcastically) Oh well. Let me add it to the long list of felonies I've already committed for you.
Oliver: Look, John has something planned. You don't have to take the chance.
Felicity: I will take any chance if it keeps you from being taken away from me and William.

Alexa Van Owen: If you're The Green Arrow, how come Rene Ramirez testified under oath that Oliver Queen is?
Tommy: Well, I would suspect that he was being pressured to.
Alexa Van Owen: Are you saying he perjured himself?
Tommy: Well, I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I'm just The Green Arrow. And I am telling you I am the only man that has ever worn this hood.
Judge McGarvey: Mr. Merlyn, you are  under arrest on suspicion of murder, assault, and violation of the Anti-Vigilante Act of 2017. The bailiff will remand Mr. Merlyn into custody.
Alexa Van Owen: Objection, Your Honor! It is The People's contention that Mr. Merlyn here is not The Green Arrow.
Judge McGarvey: Be that as it may, I can't just let him walk out of my courtroom.
Tommy: (smiling) You know, if it's any consolation, my team is going to extract long before I ever get to prison. So...
Judge McGarvey: Get him out of here!
("Tommy" obligingly puts his wrists out for the bailiff.)

(Felicity says that she can take care of protecting herself and William so Oliver doesn't have to worry.)
Oliver: That's not how wedding vows work.
Felicity: Well, we didn't exchange vows. But if we did, exchange means "goes both ways." So we fight for each other, Oliver. We protect each other. We're gonna save each other.

John: Thanks again man. I owe you another one.
Christopher Chance: Yeah, well - after Kasnia, let's just call it even.
Oliver: Chris. Thank you.
Christopher Chance: Yeah. Always happy to help. Just try not to need me again... for at least... another year. Okay?


Dialogue Disasters

Diaz: (as he strangles Black Siren) When you take the stand, I want you to give the jury a much better performance than the one you've given me.


Continuity

The opening sequence sees John rescuing an unseen man who recognizes him from a hovel in Kasina. John says they need his help in Star City.

Jean Loring, Oliver's lawyer, was last seen in 615.

Alexa Van Owen is a special counsel brought in to try Oliver Queen's case on behalf of the Star City DA's office. She has prosecuted both CEOs and Serial Killers in her day and employs a team of CIA-caliber investigators that can find out anything about anyone. She has a 99% conviction rating. Loring does not believe her to be in Diaz's pocket.

Oliver is offered a plea bargain - a single count of manslaughter with a 15 year minimum sentence. Oliver refuses to take it.

Loring says that Judge McGarvey, who is trying the case, almost certainly is under Diaz' control.

Rene and Dinah have both been called to testify against Oliver in court. They agree to lie to protect Oliver, because as mad as they are at him, they don't want to see him go to prison. Rene also feels guilty about having betrayed Oliver earlier in the year when dealing with the FBI in 609.

Quentin gives a television interview where he says that Oliver is not Green Arrow, pointing out that he arrested Oliver on charges of being The Arrow six years earlier and that Oliver passed a polygraph saying he wasn't in 105.

The first witness for the prosecution is John Diggle. He is not present and a bench warrant is issued to have him brought to court.

The second witness for the prosecution is Dr. Eliza Schartz - the doctor who has secretly helped patch up various Team Arrow members. She last appeared in 615. She is an attending physician at Starling General Hospital. She refuses to testify regarding Oliver's medical history and any injuries he might have suffered, citing Doctor/Patient confidentiality.

Dr. Schwartz is asked about the events of 418 and an incident in which The Green Arrow brought The Black Canary to her for treatment. Schwartz says she was too focused on treating Laurel Lance to pay attention to who The Green Arrow was under his mask.

John arrives at the courthouse just before he is declared in contempt of court. He apologizes for being late, saying he was delayed by business out of town.

John testifies that Oliver Queen is not The Green Arrow, saying that as Oliver's bodyguard from 2012-2016, he'd know if he were running around with a bow and arrow at night.

The prosecution brings up John's abduction at the hands of Damien Darhk (409), the abduction of his child (a lost adventure caused by Flashpoint?)  and his hospitalization with nerve damage (601), saying he either runs in dangerous circles or has the worst luck ever.


Dinah is the third witness called by the prosecution. She claims to have had limited interaction with Oliver as Mayor, despite being head of his security detail at City Hall. She is later questioned about the death of Sean Sonus in 511 (over Jean Loring's objections of relevance) and pleads the 5th Amendment when asked if she murdered him.

Raisa - Oliver's housekeeper - knows that Oliver is The Green Arrow.

Rene says he will go to jail before screwing Oliver over again. He changes his mind after Diaz shows up in the court room escorting Zoe.

Rene apparently still has immunity from prosecution, but Curtis says that won't mean anything if he tries to plead the fifth or refuses to testify.

Rene winds up testifying that Oliver is Green Arrow, that he was part of his vigilante team and that he saw Oliver Queen kill and/or maim too many people to count.

Oliver tells Jean Loring that he is The Green Arrow. She suggests he confess to that and they restructure their case around proving that he doesn't deserve to go to prison and hope they can nullify the jury. Oliver refuses, saying that he'll never be able to live in peace if the world knows he is Green Arrow.

Felicity graduated Summa Cum Laude from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Masters Degrees in Cyber Security and Computer Sciences. She is accepted as an expert witness who testifies that the photo of Oliver as Green Arrow from 601 is a fake.

The prosecution challenges the relevance of a faked photograph showing Oliver Queen is Green Arrow. Felicity responds by pointing out that there's no reason for anyone to create a fake photograph of Oliver Queen as Green Arrow if he actually is Green Arrow.

Felicity is questioned about her wedding to Oliver being rushed, occurring as it did one week before his indictment. She is also questioned about her father, The Calculator, and denies having known he was a master hacker criminal until he reformed.  She also denies having committed any cyber crimes herself.

Oliver testifies that Roy Harper was not a vigilante. He says that Roy sacrificed his life to protect the identity of a man who was alternatively called The Hood or The Arrow at that time. He says that he has learned since then that The Hood/The Arrow has taken up the name The Green Arrow. Oliver says that he is not The Green Arrow. He says he does know who The Green Arrow is but that he has promised to keep that information secret.

Alexa Van Owen acquired a photograph from Susan Williams - the reporter Oliver dated briefly during Season 5 - which shows him in Russia during his fifth year in exile away from Starling City, when he claimed to be trapped on Lian Yu.

Oliver admits that he spent part of his five years missing in Hong Kong and Russia.

The trial is disrupted by the arrival of Tommy Merlyn, who claims to have faked his death during the events of 123 so as to better hide his identity as The Hood. He confirms Oliver's story that Roy Harper lied and died to protect him.

"Tommy Merlyn" is revealed to be Christopher Chance AKA The Human Target, who was last seen in 505.

Black Siren tells Quentin that she is being forced to testify, pretending to be Laurel, and that Diaz somehow got his hands on The Human Target's CIA file to bring into evidence regarding the stunt they just pulled.

Felicity refers to how the team broke John out of prison in 504.

Oliver asks John to take Felicity and William into ARGUS Protective Custody if Oliver goes to prison.

Black Siren testifies that Tommy Merlyn is The Green Arrow. She claims that Quentin inspired her to stand up to Diaz.

Oliver is found guilty of all 26 charges against him.

Jean Loring moves for a Judgement Notwithstanding The Verdict. Judge McGarvey grants it, freeing Oliver.

It is later revealed that Christopher Chance replaced Judge McGarvey. He and John Diggle agree to call it even on the owed favors, but he does ask that he not be asked for any favors for at least another year.

It is revealed that the plan to have Chance replace the judge was all Rene's doing.

Rene and Oliver make their peace over everything that happened between them.

Diaz kills Judge McCready.

Black Siren tries to make a move against Diaz. It turns out that he has some sort of device that cancels out her sonic powers.


Location

Kasnia - 2018.


Untelevised Adventures

Apparently John Jr. was kidnapped at some point in the past. (Perhaps, as a result of Flashpoint, Oliver kidnapped John Jr. instead of Lyla when he was with The League of Assassins?)


The Fridge Factor

Black Siren finally stands up to Diaz, only to have her powers negated and be totally useless after that.


The Winick Factor

Black Siren's not killing Diaz long ago is justified by his just happening to have a device to negate her powers when she finally does turn on him. Despite this, he does not kill her.


The Bottom Line

It says a lot about a show when the most stupid and unbelievable aspects of it do not involve a master of disguise pretending to be a man that's been dead for five years in order to protect a superhero mayor's secret identity.

The fact of the matter is that this episode's biggest accomplishment is making the second half of Season Six an even bigger waste of time by having Diaz abandon his grand scheme of putting Oliver Queen in jail (something he could still presumably accomplish by having the police raid his bunker, which he should - based on this episode - know the location of) in favor of just killing him and all the vigilantes whose identities he's known for at least a year.

The one bright side in all of this is that the show is finally taking steps to bring Team Arrow back together, albeit in an incredibly rushed and half-assed way. Still, I'm beyond caring. Just as I'm beyond caring that Black Siren finally chose a side only to be rendered completely useless because it's more important to sell that Diaz as a threat than to sell her competency.

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

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



Plot

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


Influences

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


Goofs

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

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

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


Performances

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


Artistry

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


Trivia

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

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

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


Technobabble

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

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

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


Dialogue Triumphs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Dialogue Disasters

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


Continuity

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

Rene is release from the hospital.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quentin kicks Black Siren out of his home.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Location

Moscow


The Winick Factor

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


The Bottom Line

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

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