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 5, Episode 12 - Bartva

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




Plot

When the corrupt general who tried to frame John Diggle for treason escapes custody with his men and the trigger to a nuclear bomb, Team Arrow isn't going to sit idly by. The trail leads to Russia where Oliver's old friend and Bratva brother Anatoly isn't quite ready to roll out the red carpet.

Thankfully, Quentin Lance is fresh out of rehab and ready to take over as acting mayor of Star City whole Oliver is away. Yet when he falters at the prospect of an interview with the aggressive Susan Williams, it may be Rene "Wild Dog" Ramirez who may save the day...

Five years earlier, Oliver begins his training with Talia Al Ghul.


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Mike Grell.


Goofs

Dinah claims not to have much control of her sonic scream "beyond on and off", yet last week it was stated that her control and focus were far greater than Black Siren or Laurel. (Dinah is her own worst critic.)


Performances

You never realize how much you miss Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance on this show until he returns after having been gone for a few episodes. His interplay with Rick Gonzalez as Rene tries to help Quentin get ready for his interview works surprisingly well. The surprise has nothing to do with the acting itself (both actors are great) but more in how unexpected it is that these two characters would be interacting in the first place, much less bonding as they do.

Joe Dinicol hasn't always been given a lot to do as Rory Regan. This episode just about makes up for it, though, with Dinicol showing a determination not seen in Rory since his first appearance as he calls Felicity on her grey-hat hacking and his stopping Felicity from giving in to her guilt complex and trying to disarm a nuclear bomb on her own.


Artistry

The gunfight in the second segment of the episode is well shot and directed.

As far as exploding, flipping vehicle stunts go, the one involving the van Dinah hit's with her sonic scream is a great one.

The script for this episode is a solid one, with good parallels between the flashback story and the tale told in the present. The reoccurring themes of sacrifice and knowing when to cross a moral line to honor a greater good come up in all of the various subplots - nearly all of which are advanced a little bit in this episode.


Trivia

General Walker is said to have made contact with a group of Markovian seperatists. Markovia, in the DC Universe, is a fictional country located in Western Europe between France, Belgium and Luxembourg. It is home to the hero Geo-Force.

Curtis is revealed to have been studying the Russian language on the flight and picked up enough to know the Russian word for creepy off the top of his head. In the original comics, Mister Terrific was also a polyglot who knew several languages besides English fluently.


Technobabble

Curtis says that polyphonics doesn't begin to explain the physics of Dinah's sonic scream and how it works.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Oliver finishes fighting a group of drug dealers. As he walks away from the last one, Talia jumps off the roof and shoots an arrow at Oliver. He spins and grabs it just inches away from his face.)
Talia: (smiling with approval) You're beginning to understand now.
Oliver: Understand what?
Talia: That the man who embraces the dark is never without sight.

Diggle: Are you ready for this?
Dinah: When I signed on, I didn't think I'd be stopping a nuclear arms deal in a foreign country.
Diggle: (scoffs) Yeah. When I signed on, I didn't think I'd be dealing with aliens.
Dinah: Aliens?
Diggle: Yeah.

Anatoly: (holding his arms open) Oliver Queen!
Oliver: (holding his arms open) Anatoly!
(Anatoly suddenly reaches back and decks Oliver. Oliver looks up, stunned.)
Anatoly: (suddenly stern) You never should have come back to Russia.

Rory: What's the Russian word for creepy?
Curtis: Zhutko.
(Rory levels his gaze at Curtis.)
Curtis: (shrugs) I was studying on the plane.

(Oliver has a soldier chained up and blindfolded. He is holding two jumper-cables, hooked up to a car battery.)
Oliver: There are thousands - maybe millions of lives at stake. You don't want those deaths on your conscience.
Soldier: (laughing) My conscience? You've got to be kidding-
(Oliver sparks the jumper cables in front of the soldier's face. He feels the current and screams.)
Soldier: What's that?!
Oliver: This is your conscience!

Hideo Yamane: What do you want? Money? Drugs? I'll give you anything!
The Hood: There's nothing you have that I want.
Hideo Yamane: Why? Why are you doing this?
The Hood: Because you have failed Starling City.
(The Hood puts three arrows into the drug kingpin's chest.)

Dinah: This isn't the first time you've done something like this. Is it? I don't mean as The Green Arrow...
Oliver: You mean as a thug, right?
(Dinah nods.)
Oliver: No. It was... a part of my life that I thought I had moved past but... here we are.
Dinah: Right. (pauses) You know, the other guys said that when you get in one of your moods I should just let you be. But um, to be honest - brooding? Really gets on my nerves.
Oliver: They told you about me. Did they tell you about Prometheus?

Dinah: Yeah. They did. Why? Is this mood because you got pulled back into some Bratva drama?
Oliver: No, it... Dinah, I'm trying to move forward. But I'm back here. I'm in Russia. In the Bratva. And it just proves to me I can't seem to do that. 
(There is another long silence between them.)

Dinah: Prometheus got in your head. What was it? Some crap about infecting the people closest to you?
Oliver: Yeah! And tonight I watched John torture a man! And there's -something- going on with Felicity. There's...

Dinah: You affect the people in your life, Oliver. That's hardly a revelatory observation. Yeah, in fact, I think it's called living.
(Oliver snorts at that.)
Dinah: Prometheus has you so fixated on what's wrong with you that you've completely stopped seeing what's right.  You know  John and Felicity? They'll listen to you. Because you have more to offer (she takes his fist and raises it up) then just this.  Your past is a part of you. There's nothing you can do about that. You can't change it. It doesn't mean it has to be your anchor.

Rene: Look, I just came in here to tell you that Susan Williams' producer called to confirm that 10 A.M. tomorrow still works for the interview.
Quentin: When did you become my assistant?
Rene: When I answered the phone, I guess.

Quentin: My daughter, Laurel, is gone. And I've gotta figure out a way to live with that which doesn't involve booze. Or snapping at guys that are just trying to help. 

Diggle: Oliver, I still think it's a mistake not pushing this scumbag for the location of the sale.
Oliver: We don't have to. We're going to have it within the hour.
Felicity: What? How?
Oliver: Bratva.
Diggle: I thought Anatoly wasn't playing ball unless you did The Bratva's dirty work?
(Oliver just looks at Diggle.)
Diggle: ... which is where you took Dinah. Oliver, I thought you didn't want anything to do with The Bratva.
Oliver: I don't. But if it's a choice between me crossing the line or the two of you crossing one, that's a very easy choice.
Diggle: What did you do?
Oliver: It doesn't matter. Here's what does - I am who I am. Now, I'm trying to work past that. Maybe I do. Maybe I don't. But I cannot - I will not - have the two of you make the same mistakes.
Felicity: Oliver, you're the one who showed us that sometimes you have to get in the muck to make things right.
Oliver: Well, then Prometheus wins. Because he'll be right. I need the two of you to prove to him - and quite frankly, to prove to me - that he's not. I need the two of you to be better than me. Because you are.

(Oliver and Felicity run into the hangar where Ragman tried to contain the nuclear bomb blast. They see a pile of rags in the middle of the hangar.)
Oliver: Rory!
Felicity: Oh my God!
(The pile of rags moves. Rory looks up, dirty but otherwise fine.)
Rory: He always gets the credit.
Oliver: (astonished) Are you okay?
Rory: This means I get a promotion, right?


Continuity

Five years earlier, Oliver was capable of catching an arrow one-handed.

Star City's sister city is in Russia - as of 12 hours before Oliver had to fly to Russia.

While frequently seen in the flashbacks of Season Two and Season Five and referred to more than once in Season One, this episode marks Anatoly Knyazev's first apperance in the modern day since 206, when Oliver sought his help in rescuing Lyla Michaels from a Russian gulag.

Anatoly refers to the events of 216 and how Oliver's actions there destroyed any claim of Bratva membership he had. (Oliver refused to give a favor in exchange for a favor and Slade Wilson killed his Bratva contact in Starling City as a result of Oliver's request for help.)

Oliver says Anatoly still owes him for what happened with Gregor - the corrupt Bratva boss who tortured Oliver in the flashbacks of 510. Anatoly agrees to sit and meet with Oliver to discuss what he wants but refuses to help him without a favor in exchange.

Anatoly says that agreeing to sit with Oliver after what he did Alexi Leonov (the Bratva agent in Starling City that Oliver double-crossed) squares them.

Anatoly says that John Diggle is now his favorite American. Later, he changes his mind when he meets Dinah and discovers that she likes vodka and can hold it better than most men.

Hideo Yamane is one of the names on The List. He's a drug kingpin responsible for most of the designer drug trade in Starling City. Oliver says that he has failed Starling City before killing him - the first time Oliver has said some variant of "You have failed this city."

Oliver flashes back to the events of the flashbacks in 314 and how he killed Thea's drug dealer.

The Pandora Data Cache from 511 gives Felicity blackmail information on a Russian telecom network executive. She uses this to gain access to General Walker's phone network.

Dinah's codename on the Team Arrow coms is Backstop.

Oliver finally agrees to do some thug work for Anatoly in exchange for his learning the location of Gen. Walker's arms deal.

The Ragman suit is capable of containing the force of a nuclear bomb.

In the flashback, Oliver finds out that Anatoly was beaten to near death by Gregor's men. He tells Anatoly that they can kill him.

Oliver and Susan Williams have sex upon Oliver's return to Star City.

Susan grills Oliver for details on his tattoos but he says he's not ready to talk about it. There is some subtle implication that she already knows that are Bratva tattoos but was hoping to get a direct quote from Oliver about his past in Russia, which we know she already knows about from 505.

Rene reveals that Quentin changed his life when he was a kid. While working as a beat cop, Quentin caught a young Rene spraying gang tags on a building. Instead of hauling him in, Quentin told Rene that he could be something better than a petty thug. That talk apparently kept Rene out of the gangs and made him enlist. (It's possible, however, that Rene was making this story up to make Susan Williams go easy on Quentin.)

Rory leaves Star City, saying that the Ragman costume isn't working anymore since the bomb blast. He doesn't tell Felicity where he is going - only that he will return.

Felicity is contacted by Helix and told not to stop using Pandora as General Walker was just the beginning. Felicity says she doesn't plan to.

The episode ends with Susan Williams meeting with her contact, who confirms that all the people in the photo of Oliver from five years ago are part of The Bratva. He also shows her a photo of a figure the Russians called Luchnik - The Archer. The figure resembles The Hood a.k.a. Oliver Queen's vigilante identity in Season One. They both agree the odds of Green Arrow and Oliver Queen being in Russia at the same time are good... if they are the same man.



Location

Russia.


The Bottom Line

A solid episode that ironically moves all the subplots forward while looking back to the show's past and exploring the fallout of a questionable choice Oliver made back in Season 2 without suffering any apparent negative consequences. The ensemble performances are all solid and everything looks fantastic from a technical standpoint. The mid-season slump that usually effects most of the DC on CW shows seems to be skipping Arrow this year.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 11 - Second Chances

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



Plot

Team Arrow seeks out Tina Boland - a metahuman vigilante with a sonic scream who Oliver believes may be a worthy heir to the Black Canary legacy. Meanwhile, in order to retrieve evidence of John's innocence, Felicity must hack the computers of the NSA.

Five years earlier, Talia Al Ghul agrees to help Oliver in his efforts to kill Kovar but the price for her aid may be more than he can afford.


Influences

Mike Grell's The Longbow Hunters (sequence of Tina being tortured parallels similar scene of Dinah Lance being tortured), the Green Arrow/Black Canary comics of Andrew Kreisberg (character of Sean Sonus) and the Green Arrow comics of Mike W. Barr (Green Arrow fighting a vertigo-inducing metahuman).


Goofs

Again, Oliver seems to have backslided on his promise to stop killing. He also doesn't seem to have any objection to either Tina or Wild Dog making what appear to be some fairly lethal shots with their guns. The crowning moment of hypocrisy, however, comes when Ollie tries to plead with Tina to not seek revenge just about a minute after Ollie blew up a helicopter with an explosive arrow.


Performances

Lexa Doig gives a damn fine performance as Talia Al Ghul, giving the role appropriate gravitas.

Juliana Harkavy is everything we could hope for in a Black Canary - tough, a great fighter and sassy as all get out in dealing with Oliver. She's also got great chemistry with Amell, though the script doesn't do much with her until the final scene beyond give her generic tough chick dialogue. Still, she manages to sell that dialogue, cliched as it may be at times.


Artistry

Good effects work and direction on the opening sequence in which Tina gains her powers.

The special effects when Sean Sonus uses his powers are phenomenal.

The flashback fight-sequence of Oliver fighting all of the human-trafficker's bodyguards shows just how far Amell has come in being able to command a solo fight scene in the last five years.


Trivia

Tina Boland is revealed to be a former police officer.  In her original origin story in the comics, Dinah Drake was an aspiring police officer who was kept off the force due to sexism.

Mad Dog recommends an Air Force Pilot named Jesse Murray as a potential recruit to replace Black Canary.  Jessie Murray is the name of one of the Arrow's assistant editors.

Captain Singh - Barry Allen and Joe West's superior at the CCPD - has a quick cameo.

Barry Allen has an even quicker cameo, leaving a note on Singh's desk confirming Green Arrow's identity when Ollie calls Singh for information.

The Federal Prison at Lompoc does not house female inmates. Felicity speculates a female hacker caught working on the NSA computers would probably be sent to Hazleton in West Virginia.

The hotel room Curtis tracks Tina Boland to is #511.  This may be another reference to the number 52.

The drug kingpin who killed Tina Boland's partner is a man named Sean Sonus.  In the original comics, Sean Sonus was a Black Canary villain known as Discord. A concert violinist who was permanently deafened after accidental exposure to one of Dinah Lance's Canary Cries, Discord devoted himself to destroying Black Canary and Green Arrow, empowering himself with a variety of sonic-based gadgets.

Much as Tina Boland's sonic scream is based on Black Canary's "Canary Cry" from the comics, Sean Sonus's power on the show is reminiscent of Count Vertigo's ability to change the perceptions of people around him and inspire nausea. Count Vertigo, in the comics, is one of Green Arrow and Black Canary's more famous and powerful enemies.

The hacker group that gives Felicity the NSA file she needs calls themselves Helix.  Helix was also the name of DC Comics short-lived science-fiction and fantasy imprint. Helix folded after two years, despite some major writers and artists being involved.  The only Helix title widely remembered today is Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan, which was picked up by Vertigo Comics.

At the end of the episode, Tina Boland reveals that her real name is Dinah Drake. In the original Golden Age comics, Dinah Drake was Black Canary's secret identity.


Technobabble

Bashert is a Yiddish word meaning "destiny" or "fate". Depending on the context, when used to refer to a person, it can also mean "soulmate".

Team Arrow now has a sonic-dampener, "new and improved", which can repress the damage caused by a sonic scream attack. It is a hand-held unit about the size of a large cel-phone. It can also negate Sean Sonus' powers.

Curtis theorizes that Sean Sonues' power is based on the control of sonic waves. He can manipulate them to negate Tina Boland's sonic scream and to disorient both Green Arrow and Wild Dog.

It's worth noting that ultrasonic and sonic weapons that could non-violently disorient or inspire nausea as a means of crowd control are already in use in some police departments.

The hacklivist group Helix give Felicity a data cache they call Pandora - eight petabytes of information stolen from Echelon, the NSA computer. Among the information within it is the file that clears John Diggle of any wrongdoing.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Team Arrow is suggesting possible new recruits. Ollie keeps shooting them all down.)
Rory: What about this one? This woman got her engineering PhD at age 20, won Gold in karate at the Olympics, turned down offers from the NSA -and- ARGUS to join NASA as an astronaut by day while at night she secretly protects the citizens of Houston as, get this, a ninja vigilante.
(Oliver just glares at Rory.)
Rory: Oh, and she works soup kitchens on Saturdays and rescues puppies on Sunday.
Rene: Astronaut ninja? You're making that up!
Curtis: He did. Karate won't be an Olympic sport until 2020.
Rory: Fine. You got me. This is just some woman who teaches preschool in The Glades. But my point still stands!
Ollie: That point being?
Rory: That no matter how amazing they are, no one's is going to be good enough for you.

(Oliver has returned to The Bunker to find that Felicity is already at work hacking the NSA.)
Ollie: How did you even know where to start? All that I told you was that Chase might have something.
Felicity: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I hacked his laptop.
(Ollie sighs in exasperation.) 
Felicity: Saving Dig is going to break at least 12 federal laws. Hacking your D.A. is just small ball. Plus, you're the mayor. You can pardon me.
Ollie: Actually, I can't.
Felicity: It doesn't matter because I am having fun!

(Tina is about to kick in a skylight.)
Green Arrow: Stop.
(Tina turns as Green Arrow, Mister Terrific and Wild Dog step out of the shadows.)
Tina: (laughing) Wow... costume warehouse having a fire sale I didn't know about?

Tina: I can take care of myself. Oh, and uh - if you get in my way? I'll send the three of you back to Star City with your nuts in a sling.

(Captain Singh of the Central City Police Department answers his cel phne.) 
Singh: Captain Singh.
Ollie: I need information.
Singh: Who is this?
Ollie: It's the Green Arrow.
Singh: Or some nut job with a voice modulator. You want help, I'm gonna need proof.
(Ollie begins to text something on his phone. Seconds later, a red-clad figures dashes in and out of Singh's office, causing a slight rush of wind that knocks the papers off his desk. Singh looks at his computer monitor, where there is now a red Post-It note which reads HE'S LEGIT.)
Singh: Very clever. Fine. What do you want to know?

Ollie: You trained Yao Fei? How's that possible? You're half his age!
Talia: (smirking) Don't you know it's improper to talk about a woman's age? Let's just say it's a family secret.

Tina: You know, from what I hear there are plenty of nut cases running around Star City looking to make it a better place. What makes me so special?
Green Arrow: Maybe stay in the same spot for more than a minute and I'll get a chance to tell you.
Tina: (shrugs) Well, if you're going to make a sales pitch, make it good.
Green Arrow: You went through something traumatic. For the past three years, you've been trying to understand it. Because you're afraid. Of what happened to you. And of what you've become. So you're running from it.
Tina: How would you know?
Green Arrow: Because I've been there. And I can help you find your way back.
(Tina pauses, seeming to take this in before she steels her expression and smiles.) 
Tina: Ok. What's the range on that uh - what did you call it? Sonic Dampener?
(Green Arrow quietly takes a slow step backward.)
Tina: That's what I thought.
(Tina lets loose a sonic scream and knocks Green Arrow down before running for it.)

Oliver: We're walking into a fortress and you're going to use just a bow?!
Talia: To use a bow and arrow requires patience and discipline.
(Ollie cocks his gun loudly.)

(Rory enters the Arrow Cave to find Felicity where he left her, at her computer.)
Rory: Please tell me you didn't sleep down here!
Felicity: I didn't... sleep.

(Tina Boland is riding her motorcycle through a parking garage. She finds Oliver Queen, in the Green Arrow costume sans mask with the hood down, facing her.)
Tina: Let me guess - you're trusting me with your mask off, so now I'm supposed to trust you?
Ollie: No. I just... thought that if you weren't going to listen to The Green Arrow that you might listen to Oliver Queen. Nice to meet you. (pauses) I spent five years in Hell. Not unlike what happened to you when you were in Sonus' organization. Or what he put you through when he discovered you were a cop.
Tina: And what? You think you see a little bit of yourself in me?
Ollie: It's more than that. There is a man in Star City who is trying to convince me that I destroy the lives of everyone that I touch because I am beyond redemption.
Tina: Yeah, yeah. And you think if you can save me that you'll prove him wrong. Don't put your issues on me...
Ollie: Absolutely right. But if you think that you can take on Sonus and his men, then you are wrong. Let us help. Let us help and then... we're gone.
(Ollie offers Tina his hand. She reluctantly takes it.)

(Tina has Sonus at her mercy. Her gun is drawn. He's totally defenseless.)
Green Arrow: Tina! Don't do it! You're better than this.
Tina: You know I'm not. If we're as alike as you say, we both know you'd kill him.
Green Arrow: You're right. Maybe it's too late for me. And maybe I don't get a second chance. But you don't have to go down that road. Tina, what would Vince want you to do?
(Tina shoots Sonus three times before dropping the gun.)
Tina: He'd want me to do that.

Talia: You are afraid of what's happened to you. Of what you've become. And you're running from it.
Ollie: How do you know all this?
Talia: Because I've been there. And I can help you find your way back. You think yourself a monster.
Ollie: No. I am a monster.
(Talia reaches under the table and pulls out a green trunk which she places on the table.)
Talia: There is a monster inside you, yes, but it is not you.
Ollie: I don't see the difference.
Talia: No. You need to create one.
(Talia opens the trunk and removes a green bundle of clothing, which she passes to Ollie.)
Talia: You need to give the monster an identity. It's only when the monster becomes someone else... something else... that you're free to be Oliver Queen.
(Oliver changes into the clothes. They are the costume he first wore as The Hood when he returned to Starling City.)
Ollie: I don't know if I'm ready.
Talia: I will help you become ready.
(Talia hands Ollie her bow.)

Tina: So about that name? Tina Boland was my official cover for undercover work. It was to protect my family. My real name is Dinah. Dinah Drake.
Ollie: Dinah?
Tina: Does that name mean something to you?
Ollie: I had a friend named Dinah. She's the reason I sought you out.
Tina: What do you think she'd think about all of this?
Ollie: I think she'd be proud of both of us.


Continuity

In 2013, Tina Boland was an undercover cop in Central City. Her cover was blown and she was tortured for two weeks before her partner -Vincent "Vinny" Sobel - was similarly compromised.

Vinny and Tina were dating and Vinny was killed just before Tina was empowered by the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator explosion.

Tina quit the force the day after Vinny's funeral and disappeared, traveling around the country and trying to track down Sean Sonus - the crime boss responsible for her torture and Vinny's death.

Felicity visited John in prison and told him about her work to find a replacement Black Canary.

Yao Fei Gulong - the man who first trained Ollie on Lian Yu - was one of Talia Al Ghul's students. She recognized the hood Oliver wore as one that belonged to Yao Fei.

Oliver notes that Tina Boland is better able to focus her sonic screams than Black Siren and is a much better hand-to-hand combatant.

Tina apparently keeps up on the news regarding other vigilantes well enough to recognize Green Arrow, Mister Terrific and Wild Dog.

Rene has a fondness for multiple-patty cheese burgers. The Five-Stack at Big Belly Burger is his favorite.

Oliver has the phone number for Captain Singh of the CCPD saved on his phone.

Captain Singh notes that Tina Boland was a good cop and he was sorry to see her quit.

Sean Sonus moved to Hub City to fill the power vacuum left by the death of Tobias Church. He is a drug dealer who specializes in a new designer drug called "Slide" or "Sly-dee.

According to Rene, Slide got its name because it hooks kids young and lets them move to the big stuff faster.

Ghost Fox Goddess was Felicity's hacker handle in college.

Felicity tells Rory about her past as a hacktivist and goth, as seen in the flashbacks of 305.

Rory does not know what a goth is or what "IRL" stands for.

The hacker who contacts Felicity about hacking the NSA is called Kojo Sledgehammer. She is part of a hacktivist group called Helix.

Curtis once hacked all the traffic cams in his hometown on a dare.

Sean Sonus was also empowered by The Particle Accelerator Explosion, being given sonic powers that enabled him to distort other people's perceptions and induce nausea. Despite this, Oliver is still able to tag him in the shoulder with an arrow.

Tina Boland kills Sean Sonus.

The information Felicity got from Helix is able to free John Diggle.

The chest in which Oliver originally kept his gear as The Hood and his first costume came from Talia Al Ghul.

Tina Boland reveals to Oliver that Tina Boland was her undercover alias and that her real name is Dinah Drake.


Location

Central City - December 11, 2013
Hub City
Central City - CCPD HQ


The Fridge Factor

Logical as it may be given how people were empowered by The Particle Accelerator Explosion, it's still troublesome that Tina developed her power because she was screaming at the time she was hit with a dark matter blast.

Thankfully, despite a torture scene reminiscent of The Longbow Hunters (ironically, with a woman gaining powers this time instead of losing them), Tina is not made to look at all weak and only shows signs of distress when her partner/boyfriend  is placed in danger.


The Bottom Line

One of the strongest episodes of Arrow in recent memory. The two subplots fit together perfectly and all of the ensemble cast get at least one moment to shine. The effects work and fighting are great. The Flash cameo is hysterical. And both of the two female leads - Lexa Doig and Juliana Harkavy - prove great additions to the cast in their first full outings. As far as second changes to, this episode proves that Arrow, as a series, is worthy of a second chance from those who wrote it off.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 10 - Who Are You?

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


Plot

Worried that Prometheus's accusations of him being nothing but a common killer might be true, Oliver finds a single ray of hope in the apparent resurrection of Laurel Lance. Felicity is not so optimistic, being out for blood in the wake of the murder of her boyfriend, Billy Malone and skeptical of any apparent miracles in the face of her own loss. Meanwhile Diggle must face a new threat to his life and Curtis has a crisis of faith regarding his status as Mister Terrific.


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick (storyline with a doppelganger trying to throw Team Arrow into chaos) and The Princess Bride (Prometheus, a man in black, has built up an immunity to the drug Green Arrow tries using on him.)


Goofs

Ignoring the issues with getting past the security in STAR Labs in the first place (it's practically a running gag on The Flash how easily people are able to get into the building), just how the heck did Prometheus find out that Black Siren existed in the first place?

With all the secret information Prometheus was able to gather in order to make Black Siren pose as Laurel (i.e. The Legends, The Waverider, etc.) he somehow overlooked details like her being a recovering alcoholic?  (Her being fired for drug abuse back in Season 2 was a matter of public record and she attended AA meetings.)

Why doesn't Prometheus just kill Black Siren after she exposes herself when his whole master-plan is based around making Oliver suffer?  The murderous metahuman is nothing but a liability at that point - not that making use of her made much sense to begin with.

Oliver talks about how Black Siren lost her family, yet no mention of this was made in the episode. (A deleted scene?)


Performances

Emily Bett Rickards is the episode MVP.  She gets some nice non-verbal acting in, with Felicity's subtle reactions to recovering alcoholic Laurel not blinking at being served booze at the party. She also gets a chance to show the steely side of Felicity that we see so rarely, when she confronts Black Siren on her con-game.

Rick Gonzales runs a close second, however, showing more development as Rene Ramirez, ironically enough, playing opposite Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt has his first big breakthrough in turning Mister Terrific into a technology-focused hero rather than a physical combatant. We see the wise side of Wild Dog here and it is a welcome thing after so many episodes where he was the generic hot-tempered teammate.


Artistry

The twisted music used during the fight between Green Arrow and Prometheus is rather nice.



Trivia

Felicity makes a reference to her Q-mail account.  In the New 52 DC Comics Universe, Queen Industries was an Apple-style technologies firm which sold Q-phones.

Rory compares Prometheus to a dybbuk.  In Hebrew mythology, a dybbuk is a vengeful spirit capable of possessing others. They are believed to be the dislocated souls of dead people.

Wild Dog refers to Black Siren as "Trinity". This is a reference to the heroine of The Matrix Trilogy, who also wore a lot of black leather and long-coats.

The Bratva boss who tortures Oliver is named Ishmael Gregor. In the original DC Comics, Ishamel Gregor was a Russian gangster who took on the identity of the demonic supervillain Sabbac.

In the flashback, Oliver is saved from the corrupt Bratva by a woman who introduces herself as Talia. This is Talia Al Ghul - daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, in the comics, where she was a love interest of Bruce Wayne, occasional leader of the League of Assassins and the mother of Damian Wayne. She does not give her surname during the brief appearance we see here but we did see her as a young girl in L109.


Technobabble

There is a technical difference between an alternate reality and a parallel universe, according to Curtis.

Felicity laces Black Siren's water with tracking nanites - the same ones in Oliver's tracking arrow, which he used to follow Malcolm Merlyn in 304 and used to follow Anarky to Damien Darhk in 410.

Black Siren's cry works on a more powerful frequency than Black Canary's mechanical cry.

Curtis tries to build a portable power dampener to use against Black Siren.

The dart Green Arrow uses on Prometheus is treated with Diazepam - a drug used for treating anxiety disorders and muscle-spasms. The drug can be used as a mild sedative.


Dialogue Triumphs

Rory: I guess spontaneous resurrection is as good as any reason for a party....
Felicity: ... but?
Rory: But, we haven't even buried Detective Malone yet.
Felicity: It feels weird to be celebrating?
Rory: It doesn't feel weird to you?!
Felicity: Yes- Weird. Yeah. Weird or... I guess.... after the past four years, it's just hard for me to accept good news.

Rene: Weird, man! She was dead. Now she's not.
Oliver: That's time travel for you.
Rene: Well, I don't mean Laurel being back is what's weird. It's how you're all reacting to it, like it's happened before.
(Oliver just stares at Rene mutely.)
Rene: It's happened before?!
Oliver: (sighs) The Lance sisters have a habit of coming back to life.
Rene: ... wait, what?!

(Felicity explains that the party for Laurel was just a ruse to get a DNA sample.)
Rory: You know, there's looking a gift horse in the mouth, and then there's-
Felicity: - being driven by paranoid delusions, drawing comparisons on genetic base pairs? Yes, I'm aware. Thank you.

Oliver: Someone once told me that a circumstance could make something poison or nectar. What they meant was that we get to choose what we are. We get to choose who we are. So tell me... who are you?

Felicity: Oliver seems to think that because you look like Laurel that you can become her.
Black Siren: And what do you think?
Felicity: I think...you should get used to living in cages. There's a part of him that blames himself for Laurel's death. It's who he is. So when he looks at you, he doesn't just see Laurel. He sees a shot at redemption.
Black Siren: Wow. It must be really frustrating... that he doesn't listen to you.
Felicity: Oh, I'm used to it.

(Curtis describes his idea of building a portable power dampener to fight Black Siren.)
Rene: That's awesome!
Curtis: Yeah, well - ideas are one thing. Executing them is another.
Rene: You don't get it, do you?
Curtis: Get what?
Rene: That maybe instead of beating yourself up about what you can't do, take a moment and appreciate what you can do. Because it's pretty bad ass.

(As Black Siren's powers fail, she turns to see Mister Terrific holding up a small radial dish.)
Mister Terrific: You really need to shut your damn mouth!


(Two bikers play pool in a biker bar. A waitress walks up. A woman is sitting at the bar behind them.)
Waitress: You boys want another round?
Biker 1: No, I was thinking of ordering something that's ah... not on the menu, huh?
(The first biker steps in close and tries stroking the waitress' hair. She turns around and runs into the second biker.  The two close around her.) 
Biker 2:  Hey, where you going, baby?
Woman: Seriously, could you two be any more of a cliche?
Biker 2: Oh, don't worry, sweetheart. There's plenty of me to go around.
Woman: (still looking behind the bar, not turning to face them.) I thought people like you only existed in the movies. You know? Two guys trying to overcompensate for their lack of manhood by taking it out on a defenseless woman?
Biker 1: What are you gonna do about it?
(Close-up on the woman's face. She smiles a close-lipped smile.)
(Cut to outside the bar. The glass windows suddenly explode outward, as a piercing cry is heard and the two bikers are thrown out through the windows. The woman steps forward to inspect her handiwork.)
Woman: That.


Continuity

"Laurel" claims that she was teleported onto The Waverider by Sara Lance as she was dying and the advanced technology there was used to heal the embolism that killed her in 418. She then asked to be brought back to Ollie's present.

Rory says he doesn't sleep much - or at all - ever since he became Ragman.

"Laurel" turns out to be Black Siren - the Laurel Lance of Earth Two - last seen in F222.

The statue of Black Canary is destroyed during the fight with Black Siren.

The Attorney General in the DCTVU is a woman, as is The President.

Prometheus has built up a tolerance for Diazepam.

Black Siren is transferred into a secure ARGUS lock-up.

In the flashbacks, Oliver is saved by Talia Al Ghul.

The final scene shows an unnamed woman, who easily defeats two bikers showing unwanted attention to a biker bar waitress with a sonic cry.


Untelevised Adventures

Cisco Ramon apparently told Felicity about the battle with Black Siren in F222.and how she was being held in STAR Labs' pipeline at some point in the past.


The Fridge Factor

Black Siren is still an incompetent villain any way you slice it.


The Winick Factor

Pretty much the entire team has to be nerfed and Ollie's characteristic paranoid put aside for an episode in order for Black Siren to be any kind of threat.


The Bottom Line

A mixed bag. Even with a script that seems to have been written to her strengths as an actress, Katie Cassidy still overplays her part as Black Siren, once again coming off as a parody of Killer Frost. Despite this - and Prometheus' plan to utilize Black Siren not making a bit of sense even ignoring how the heck he found out about her in the first place (which the show does) - there's a lot here that works, despite the weakness of the script. Putting Curtis on the path to becoming the tech-based hero that Mister Terrific is in the comics is a good start and the scenes with him and Wild Dog do a lot to develop his character as well. Stephen Amell manages to sell Ollie's uncharacteristic optimism here and Emily Bett Rickards is on fire playing the more cunning and proactive Felicity. And after an entire episode devoted to showing everything Black Canary isn't, the final minute of the episode shows us everything Black Canary should be.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 9 - What We Leave Behind

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




Plot

When Curtis is attacked in his secret identity, it becomes clear that Prometheus has identified all the members of Team Arrow. Little do they realize this is the work of  Artemis, who has turned traitor in order to avenge her parents on the man she still blames for their deaths - Oliver Queen!  Meanwhile, Felicity and Detective Baldwin discover a clue to Prometheus' identity in Oliver's past... but will the revelation come soon enough to save them?


Influences

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (superhero team brought down by a traitorous new recruit) and the many pharmaceutical scandals involving Martin Shkreli.


Performances

The ensemble all do a great job here. Probably the best moment, however, is the group hug at the end where we see just how close this ensemble has become over the past eight episodes.


Artistry

The script for the episode is brilliant, with a lot of quotable dialogue and powerful scenes.

The special effects in the scene in which Prometheus splits one of Green Arrow's arrows with a throwing star are brilliantly executed, as are the slow-motion effects used for the flip Prometheus does.

The shot of Green Arrow silhouetted against the fire in the third segment is a great one.

The editing, direction and cinematography for the sequence in which Oliver is made to retrace his steps from four years early to confront Prometheus are astonishing. Ditto the fight between the two which follows.


Trivia

Artemis' betrayal of Team Arrow resembles that of Terra betraying The Teen Titans in the classic story The Judas Contract.

Justin Claybourne seems to have been inspired by real-world pharmaceutical company executive Martin Shkreli. Shkreli achieved infamy in 2014 after his company acquired the rights to Thiola - a drug used to treat the rare disease cystinuria. Patients with the disease need to take 10-15 of the pill daily. Originally, the pills were sold for $1.50 each. Shkreli hiked the price to $30 a pill.

After being fired by the company he worked for, Shkreli founded his own pharmaceutical corporation in 2015 and did the same thing again, hiking up the price on drug Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill.

It should be noted that Martin Shkreli has never released a viral weapon in order to increase his company's profits. Few would be surprised, however, if he did.


Technobabble

Prometheus injected Curtis with a drug called Dycloseral, which is used to treat tuberculosis.

Rory uses a DNA sequencer to analyze the bone fragments and ashes they found among Prometheus' belongings.



Dialogue Triumphs

(Artemis walks in on Prometheus, who is sharpening a sword.)
Artemis: I brought what you asked for. Addresses are on the back.
(Prometheus gets up and approaches Artemis. He takes the objects she holds and moves to a wall where a pyramid of photos is set up with Oliver Queen at the top and the rest of Team Arrow under him. He adds the photos to the pyramid, with Quentin Lance, Thea Queen, John Diggle and Felicity Smoak on the first level and the rest of Team Arrow under them.)
Artemis: I took those last two myself.
(Prometheus says nothing as he returns to his table.)
Artemis: What? That's it? We had a deal. I get you the intel. I get to be there when you take him down.
Prometheus: You think you can make demands of me?
Artemis: No. No, of course not. I know he's your kill... but I want to watch him die.
Prometheus: You haven't been listening. I'm not going to kill him.
(Prometheus throws a knife, which goes into the eye of the picture of Oliver Queen on the wall.)
Prometheus: I'm going to make him wish he was dead.

(After Thea is rather standoffish to Susan Williams.)
Ollie: She's... I mean,  she's just being... protective.
Susan: Well, to be fair I didn't make the best first impression.
Ollie: Well, I, of all people, understand that doing your job means pissing people off. It just means you're doing it well.

Rene: (Looking at John Jr.) Cute kid.
John: Yeah. He gets it from his mom.
Rene: I figured.
(John gives Rene a smirk. Rene returns it and nods as if to say, "Just messing with you.")
Rene: Must be uh... weird finding out about Flashpoint?
John: Yeah. I'm still not sure how I feel about that, man. I should be used to all the unusual things around here. Especially after last week, but... I could never imagine a daughter.
(John Jr. says something and starts to open one of his presents. Both men watch him.)
Rene: Being a father is the best thing in the world. Especially around the holidays.

(Ollie describes how Justin Claybourne has hiked the price on a vital medication in a time of medical emergency.)
John: Well, it's disgusting, but not illegal.
Ollie: (slammnig his book on the table-top) Claybourne is on The List. I'm not worried about illegal.
John: Just because your father wrote down his name?!
Ollie: My father explained this list. These are terrible people.
John: How would you know that? I thought he was dead?
Ollie: I am going to make sure that Claybourne isn't gouging people.
John: And what if he refuses to cooperate?
Ollie: You ask that like he has a choice.

Rory: You think Prometheus is Justin Claybourne?
Rene: Is that possible?!
Felicity: Well, in our town people who are dead turn out to be secretly alive almost every Wednesday.

(Artemis has just shot the gun from Wild Dog's hand.)
Green Arrow: Evelyn... why?
Artemis: Because you're not a hero. You're a fraud. This city needs to be saved from you!

(After Felicity gives them both a long, complicated and rushed explanation of how to use a DNA sequencer.)
Rory: Did you get all that?
Rene: You're the smart one, remember?

The Hood: Justin Claybourne - you have failed this city!
Claybourne: I - I think you got the wrong guy, pal. My company makes drugs that help people.
The Hood: Not the people in Lamb Valley.
Claybourne: That's not my problem some people can't afford it...
The Hood: It is now!
(The Hood forces Claybourne over a table and picks up a lit welding torch, holding it near Claybourne's face.)
The Hood: Your days of holding this city's health hostage are over! Do you understand me?!
Claybourne: Okay! Okay! Yes!
(The Hood allows Claybourne to stand.)
The Hood: You have until 11 PM tomorrow to make this right/
Claybourne: What happens if I don't?
(The Hood spins around and shoots Claybourne in the leg with an arrow. Claybourne falls to the ground screaming.)
The Hood: I'll aim higher.

(Ollie had just discovered that Justin Claybourne created an outbreak in order to sell his drugs.)
Ollie: He created the marketplace, Diggle. And he didn't care who died in the process.
John: And now you're going to kill him?
Ollie: How can you read what's in that folder and have a problem with that?
John: Have you thought about the ramifications of your actions? Of actually crossing names off your list? Of being judge, jury and executioner?
Ollie: Men like Claybourne buy judges! They buy juries! The law doesn't apply to them!
John: I'm not saying that you don't do some good...
Ollie: So what are you saying?
John: What I'm saying is that one day your actions may have some unintended consequences.

Thea: There's two types of every legacy. Two versions of what we leave behind. There's the good and then the bad. You just have a really lousy habit of focusing only on the bad.

Claybourne: You gonna tell me again I failed this city?
The Hood: You infected the people of Lamb Valley to turn a profit!
Claybourne: You want to make a city great again? This is how - with business, money.
The Hood: You are sentencing innocent families... children to death.
Claybourne: Nobody cares about those people. They're a blight... And I'm just thinning the herd.
The Hood: So am I.
(The Hood shoots Claybourne, sending his body flying into a swimming pool as a bell tolls in the distance.)

Prometheus: Did you hesitate at all when you killed him? Or was he just another name you crossed off your list?
Green Arrow: If you want revenge, I'm right here.
Prometheus: This is about so much more than revenge...

Prometheus: You're not a hero. You're a killer. And I'm going to show them that. I'm going to show them how everything you touch dies.

(Oliver has just confessed to the rest of Team Arrow that he killed Billy Malone.)
Felicity: (speaking firmly, steeling herself through her tears) This was Prometheus. This was all him.
Ollie: He's trying to prove to me that everyone I - I - I come in contact with...everyone close to me dies. And he's right! And... I think that, uh...  I think that all of you should get as far away from me as you possibly can.
(Everyone looks at one another as John moves to Ollie and puts a hand on his shoulder.)
John: Oliver, we are exactly where we are supposed to be.
(John hugs Oliver as Thea puts a hand on John's back while hugging Felicity with one arm as Rory, Rene and Curtis move in for a group hug.)


Continuity

Thea refers to the events of 308 (her and Ollie agreeing not to talk about the aliens anymore) and 109 (Moira Queen's amazing Christmas parties).

Curtis has been claiming that he and Felicity are working on a tech start-up together to excuse his late nights to his husband.

It is suggested, but not confirmed, that Wild Dog has children.

Ollie's favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard. His second favorite is It's A Wonderful Life.

In his first year back in Star City, The Hood targeted a man named Justin Claybourne. Claybourne was the head of a pharmaceutical company who hiked the price on a drug used to treat tuberculosis.

Oliver later learned that Claybourne was working with The AK Desmond Group - a black-market firm that developed biological weapons. Under Claybourne's direction, they released a weaponized strand of tuberculosis with the intent on causing an increased demand for the drugs he made.

There is some suggestion that Claybourne was a racist/classist who hoped to kill poor minorities with his actions.

Prometheus kept bone fragments and crematory ashes among his belongings in the old Claybourne building. Analysis later determines that they belonged to Justin Claybourne.

Neither Rory nor Rene knows how to run a DNA sequencer. Rory is able to figure it out, however.

Billy Malone is able to send Felicity a photo of a baby boy he finds in the Claybourne building before he is abducted by Prometheus.

Oliver authorizes a "shoot to kill" order for the SCPD regarding Prometheus, at Adrian Chase's urging.

Felicity identifies the baby picture as that of Justin Claybourne's illegitimate son, whose picture showed up in the court records of Claybourne's divorce. It is suggested - but not confirmed - that Prometheus is this illegitimate son.

Oliver recognizes the flip that Prometheus did as a maneuver that was taught to him by a woman in Russia in five years earlier. This suggests that Prometheus has spent four years seeking out the same people who trained Oliver Queen in order to match him.

Oliver once tried to land a helicopter on the grounds at the US Open to help Tommy impress Maria Sharapova. This caused Robert Queen to blow a huge acquisitions deal because he had to leave to bail Ollie out of prison. Thea recalls this as being the most disappointed their father ever was in Oliver.

The red pen which Oliver recalled during their first date (in 301) Felicity chewing on when they first met (in 103) makes an appearance in both the modern day and the flashback.

Felicity tracked the AK Desmond Group to 1853 West Maple Street. - the 30th Floor four years earlier. It is here that Oliver discovers Prometheus' lair in the modern day.

Oliver accidentally kills Billy Malone, who is set up as a target by Prometheus.

Oliver tells the rest of Team Arrow the truth about how he killed Billy. Felicity says that she blames Prometheus - not him.  To a person, the team refuse to abandon Oliver.

Curtis' husband Paul leaves him.

John Diggle is lured into an ambush at an ARGUS safe-house and facing off against a SWAT team as the episode ends.

Oliver goes to Susan Williams apartment and vents to her about being told that he causes everyone around him to die.

The camera lingers on Susan William deliberately selecting a certain bottle from her liquor collection after she prepares a drink for Oliver. This suggests that she may have given him a doctored drink.

When Oliver returns to The Bunker, he sees Laurel Lance.


Untelevised Adventures

The flashbacks in this episode depict an unseen adventure from Season One, where Oliver went after a corrupt pharmaceutical CEO named Justin Claybourne.


The Bottom Line

A solid stopping point for the season.  The action sequences are fantastic and the performances are wonderful across the board. The only real flaw is that the subplots involving Billy Malone's relationship with Felicity and Paul dumping Curtis seem somewhat forced into the narrative since we've had almost no time to recognize Billy as a presence (much less as a character) in the past eight episodes and this is the first sign we've seen of Curtis' night-life affecting his marriage all season.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 8 - Invasion!

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




Plot

Oliver Queen wakes up in a world where his parents are alive and well and Laurel Lance is his loving fiancee. It seems like the perfect life but something about it seems wrong somehow...

Meanwhile, Felicity and the rest of Team Arrow must deal with a new threat, with a litle help from The Flash and Supergirl.


Influences

Independence Day (Cisco, Curtis and Caitlin attempting to hack alien technology), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Curtis name drops the movie twice), Star Wars (Curtis refers to his translator device as The Threepio Processor in honor of the translator robot C3P-O), J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (universal translator technology, named-dropped by Cisco in describing The Dominator's ship), The Perchance To Dream episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman Annual #11 - "For The Man Who Has Everything", The JSA comics of Geoff Johns (Mister Terrific being an Atheist), The 1988 DC Comics crossover event Invasion and various Gardner Fox Crisis comics.


Goofs

There's a lot about the dream world that doesn't make sense. Why didn't the dream world give Diggle and Sara their perfect lives, like it did Oliver, Thea and - to a point - Ray? While John wasn't exactly unhappy as The Hood until Oliver showed up, it's hard to believe he wouldn't have Lyla or John Jr. in his life. Ditto Sara seemingly not having any role other than to revel in her sister's happiness.  Were The Dominators too cheap to generate each of the heroes their own perfect world? Was the confusion meant to prolong their time in the dream world as their minds were read? Why bother with hostile memories which threatened the reality of the dream world? And why bother having a portal out of the dream world in the first place?

When did Cisco get a piece of the Dominator's ship? (Possibly a scene that was cut for time?)

Why has Wild Dog's sudden hatred of super-powered people never come up regarding the guy wearing the magical costume made of rags who is on his team?

The villain of the week is beaten far too easy and serves no purpose other than to give Supergirl and The Flash a chance to show off.

Why does the dream world create ghosts of two people who haven't died - Felicity and Roy Harper - as Ollie is about to leave? (I know this was the only way they could give Roy Harper an appearance in the episode, but it doesn't make sense in the logic of the world.)

Cisco says that geographical coordinates don't have negative numbers. In fact, negative numbers are used to note areas south of the equator in latitude and west of the prime meridian in longitude.


Performances

Stephen Amell gives one of his best performances ever, trying to say good-bye to the parents he lost as he breaks away from a perfect world.  It gets even better later on, opposite Willa Holland, as she makes a convincing case for staying in the dream world and allowing themselves to be happy for once. It's a heartbreaking moment and a great performance for both actors.


Artistry

The editing team did a fantastic job of patching together the various clips for the flashback sequences.

The special effects for the Flash and Supergirl vs. Dr. Washington fight are top-notch.


Trivia

As the title suggests, the main inspiration for this four-part crossover event between all of the DCTVU shows was the 1988 crossover event Invasion!

Invasion! was based around the idea that an alliance of alien worlds - led by The Dominators - attacked Earth due to their concerns that Earth's growing metahuman population would become a threat to their planets.

The Dominators in the original comics had yellow skin, a red circle in the middle of their foreheads, claw-like fingernails and sharp fang-like teeth.

The DCTVU version of The Dominators resemble the comic-book counterpart for the most part, save that their skin is more grey than yellow. Also, they do not wear clothing, which the comic book Dominators did.

This episode was the 100th episode of Arrow.

This episode was the third part of a four-part crossover between all of The CW Network's DC Comics superhero shows.

The story for this episode greatly resembles the plot of Perchance To Dream - an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. In that episode, Bruce Wayne finds himself in a world where his parents are alive, Selina Kyle is his fiancee and he is no longer Batman, though he starts to have feelings that he was Batman after seeing Batman in the street. He eventually realizes he's in an illusion - one crafted by The Mad Hatter to give him a perfect life.

In this episode,Oliver Queen's parents are both alive and he is about to be married to Laurel Lance. He is no longer Green Arrow, but has visions of being Green Arrow after having an encounter with The Hood in the street. He eventually realizes he's an illusion - one crafted by The Dominators to keep him distracted.

There are a number of other common plot-beats between the two shows, including the search for an entrance to a hidden superhero hideout, an attempt to unmask one's own superhero alter ego and an incongruous building (a clock tower in Perchance To Dream, the Smoak Electronics building in Invasion!) leading to the way out of the dream world.

The story for this episode also resembles the classic Alan Moore Superman story For The Man Who Has Everything. In that comic, Superman falls prey to a parasitic plant called The Black Mercy that causes its host to hallucinate their perfect world as the plant feasts upon their body.  As in that story, any attempt to resist the reality created by The Black Mercy results in the dream world attacking the host or the host's loved ones appearing and begging them not to leave them.

Oliver name-drops the story, saying at one point that "he has everything."

For The Man Who Has Everything was adapted for the Supergirl TV series in S113 - For The Girl Who Has Everything.

In the comics, Oliver Queen had his own encounter with a Black Mercy plant in Green Lantern (Volume 4) #7 and #8. In that story, both Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen were attacked by a Black Mercy that primarily focused on Hal Jordan, creating a perfect world for Oliver Queen based on what Hal thought Ollie's perfect world would be like. Oliver Queen saw through the illusion and as able to break both of them free of the dream world. Something similar happens here, with John Diggle and Sara Lance both realizing there's something wrong with the supposedly perfect reality they are part of.

Curtis Holt expresses reservations about the idea of a divine plan that includes space monsters. This is a nod to the JSA comics where Mister Terrific was a staunch atheist despite working with colleagues who claimed to have powers granted by divine and magical sources.

In the dream world, Malcolm Merlyn says that Tommy Merlyn couldn't make it to the wedding because he's working triple-shifts in his new job as a doctor in Chicago. This is a nod to how actor Colin Donnell - who played Tommy Merlyn in the first season of Arrow - is now playing the role of Dr. Connor Rhodes on Chicago Med, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire and was unable to do a cameo in this episode due to his busy schedule.

Felicity tracks the location of Team Arrow to -3.127 Latitude, - 23.7987 Longitude. This indicates somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean... or above it.


Technobabble

The first attempt to hack the Dominator technology fails because the team tried to plug human technology into a Dominator power source. This caused a power overload, which requires them to find a regulator.

Van Horn industries developed a prototype regulator for NASA. It was perfected, but it was stolen by a Dr. Laura Washington - a scientist who has been augmenting her body with various stolen electronic implants. The implants give her enhanced strength, stamina and electricity-based powers.

The martial art Sara uses to fight Deathstroke in the dream world is Jeet Kune Do - a hybrid martial art heavily influenced by the martial arts philosophy of Bruce Lee.

Rory Regan identifies the "soup" created by Curtis' translator as Gamatria - a Kabbalistic method of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on those of their constituent letters. In Hebrew, each letter has a numerical value. Gamatria is the calculation of the numerical equivalents of letters, words or phrases.

Felicity tracks the location of Team Arrow to -3.127 Latitude, - 23.7987 Longitude. This indicates somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ray examines the technology The Dominators were using to keep them under and determined it used a neuromorphic interface similar to what he used to control the ATOM suit. This means The Dominators may have been probing their subconscious for intel while the shared hallucination kept their minds occupied. Ray further theorizes that the five of them (Sara, Diggle, Thea, Oliver and himself) were abducted because they were ordinary humans.

Gideon translates "Klic-Clac-To Nick-Lava Shack-too" to "We are nearing completion of the weapon."


Dialogue Triumphs

Curtis: I feel like Elliot in E.T. - "It's working! It's working!"
Cisco: Your tech guy quotes movie, huh?
Felicity: Yeah.
Cisco: Reeeeal original.

The Flash: What's your damage, man?
Wild Dog: My damage is that people like you two have the power of gods yet you think you can make the world a better place just by putting on a fancy costume.
Supergirl: No! We... we think we make the world a better place because, well... well, we do!

Ollie: These head games aren't over. They are going to push back against whatever we do.
John: Push back? Like how?
(Oliver looks to one side, where Deathstroke emerges from the bushes, twirling a sword.)
Ollie: Like that.

(Sara Lance catches Deathstrike's sword arm, disarms him and runs him through with his own sword. She then looks down in astonishment, holding the katana in a defensive kata whilst in her bridesmaid dress.)
Sara: How did I do that?

Thea: It's too bad Tommy couldn't make it, though.
Merlyn: Well, they've got him working triple shifts at the hospital these days. Besides, Chicago isn't exactly next door.
Thea: I can't believe he's a doctor now.
Merlyn: Well, he says the same thing about you, Miss Entrepreneur.
Thea: I don't think running Verdant makes me an entrepreneur.
Merlyn: No, but it makes you successful. Your father should be very proud of the woman you've grown into.

(Moira and Robert Queen try to talk Ollie into getting ready for the wedding.)
Moira: This is your life now.
(Oliver sighs and steadies himself.)
Oliver: No, it isn't.
(Oliver hugs Moira tightly.)
Moira: Oliver?
(Oliver moves to hug his father, fighting back the tears.)
Oliver: I'm so... I'm sorry.
(Oliver lets go of Robert and walks to where Thea and Sara are standing in one corner of the room.)
Oliver: Speedy...
Sara: She knows, Ollie. She knows and she doesn't want to go!
Thea: The better question is why would you want to?
Sara: Because none of this is real.
Thea: It's real enough, ok? (tearing up) It's - it's better than our real lives. In -in this life, Laurel is alive. My parents are alive...
Sara: But those are not your parents!
Thea: They remember the only lullaby that would actually work to put me to sleep. They remember every day of my life, okay? They even smell like them, Ollie!
Oliver: They're not them, Thea. I want them to be. But they're not. (To Sara) Where are John and Ray?
Sara: They're waiting outside.
Oliver: Give us a few minutes.
(Sara nods and heads for the exit.)
Oliver: We can't stay here, Speedy. No matter how much we want to, we can't.
Thea: Why not? What is waiting for us wherever we are right now? Nothing. Nothing but pain and suffering.
Oliver: Thea, we have responsibilities. We have people who count on us.
Thea: There's Flash and Supergirl and people with actual powers now. Whatever needs to be done, they can handle it. We - we finally have a chance to be happy. I mean, why - why can't you just for a second accept that maybe this is your reward for all the sacrifices you have made?
Oliver: I didn't make those sacrifices for a reward Thea. I did what I did because I thought it was right. And seeing all this... it has just... it has shown me that there is so much more to do. So please - I'm begging you to come with me because I cannot do it alone.
Thea: But... I can't lose them again. I can't lose my family.
(Oliver just stares at her but finally nods.)
Oliver: Okay. Okay. All right.
(Ollie hugs her)
Oliver: I want you to be well. I want you to be happy. I love you, Thea.
(Ollie lets go of her and leaves, leaving Thea alone.)



Dialogue Disasters

Wild Dog: Super powers are evil, man. And I don't want anything to do with them. Or with either of you.

Wild Dog: If super powers are a thing, it's good that there are guys like you to help the world.


Continuity

The episode opens with a scene of Oliver running through the woods on the Queen Manor estate. This mirrors the opening shot in the first episode, where Oliver was seen running through the forest on Lian Yu.

Rory tells the rest of Team Arrow that Felicity called him and told him that Oliver, Thea and Diggle had been abducted by aliens. This happened in F308.

When introduced to Rory Regan, Cisco says that makes him the second Rory he knows and the first one that isn't a douche. This is a reference to Mick Rory a.k.a. Heatwave.

Cisco uses his Vibe powers on one of Oliver's old broken bows to locate him. This gives him a vision of Oliver and company in some kind of statsis pod in some kind of alien environment.

Wild Dog has a hatred of metahumans. For some reason, it doesn't seem to apply to Ragman.

In the dream world, Thea gives Oliver a hozen as a gift before the wedding rehearsal dinner. This is the same arrowhead neclace that Oliver gave Thea in the first episode,

In the dream world, Robert Queen has just been elected mayor of Starling City and Oliver is supposed to take over Queen Consolidated when he takes office in two months.

In the dream world, Star City it is still called Starling City.

Oliver suggests Walter Steele take over as CEO instead of him. In the original universe, Walter Steele did take over Queen Consolidated after Robert Queen's death and married Moira Queen.

Oliver briefly has visions of his father's death and the sinking of The Queen's Gambit from the first episode,

Oliver briefly has a vision of Laurel as she appeared before she died in the hospital in 418.

In the dream world, Quentin Lance is still a Captain in the CCPD and he likes Oliver Queen.

Oliver briefly has visions of his establishing his first Arrow-cave and confronting Quentin for the first time as The Hood in the first episode,

Looking at a map of Starling City, Oliver briefly has visions of his campaign for Mayor of Star City during Season Four and the secret passageway to The Bunker in his campaign headquarters.

Sara Lance claims to only like girls. This may be a side-effect of The Flashpoint Reality because she had been bisexual during the first four seasons of Arrow and the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.

In the dream world, Ray Palmer is a business associate of Robert Queen, who is trying to put in a bid to take over Queen Consolidated. He is engaged to Felicity Smoak, though he has memories about his fiancee being a woman named Anna.

Both Sara Lance and Ray Palmer have visions of each other and their time together on The Waverider when they "meet for the first time" at the rehearsal dinner. The scenes of their visions include their first time riding on The Waverider together (L101), the two walking down a street in 1940s New York (L201) and a fight in the League of Assassin's headquarters (L109).

A Merlyn Global Group building is visible in the Starling City skyline.

While being strangled by The Hood, Oliver has visions of his meeting John Diggle (101), Diggle angrily driving after Ollie snuck off (102) agreeing to take him on as a partner (104), the two of them eating at Big Belly Burger together (103), John's wedding to Lyla Hall (317), the death of Andy Diggle (420) and John Diggle calling Oliver his brother (407).

Oliver also has visions of Felicity Smoak. The visions depict the first time he saw her (103), their first date (301), their first kiss (301), their first time making love (320), her near death at the hands of Damien Darhk's men (409) and their fake wedding (416).

In the dream world, John Diggle is The Hood and is working with Felicity Smoak out of The Bunker. He says he became The Arrow after returning from serving in the 105th Airborne out of Kandahar. He did things he wasn't proud of and came home to atone for his actions.

In the dream world, Andy Diggle is still alive and working in personal security.

While hugging Moira Queen, Thea has a vision of Moira's death from 220.

Diggle makes reference to a Russian lady downstairs when he intrudes on Oliver and Laurel. This is a reference to Rasia - a house-keeper in the Queen household staff, first seen in 101,who apparently did more to raise Oliver Queen than his mother did.

The creature that Diggle draws from one of his dream flashes is a Dominator.

Sara Lance knows Jeet Kune Do.

Sara Lance has a vision of the battle between The Flash and Green Arrow vs. The rest of The Legends and Team Arrow from F308. She also remembers Oliver, Thea, Diggle, Ray and herself being abducted by The Dominators.

In the dream world, Tommy Merlyn apparently moved to Chicago after getting his medical degree.

In the dream world, Thea is still running the night club Verdant.

Oliver has another vision from the first episode, after his father uses the phrase "that is not going to finish well".

The Smoak Technologies building was first seen in the Star City of 2046 in L106.

In escaping the Queen Estate, Ollie, Diggle, Sara, Thea and Ray must fight Merlyn, Deathstroke, Wintergreen, several of Eddie Fyer's mercenaries from Lian Yu and Damien Darhk.

Before leaving the dream world, Oliver has visions of various friends and family, who speak lines about who he really is and how much they meant to him. These include Moria Queen calling Oliver "her beautiful boy" and saying "she could not be more proud" (220), Felicity Smoak saying you honor the dead by fighting and that Oliver is not done fighting (222), Tommy Merlyn saying he was wrong to call Ollie a murderer and saying that he is a hero (123), Roy Harper telling Ollie that he saved his life and gave him purpose (212) and how this time they had to save him (319), Laurel saying that she knows who Oliver is in her bones - a person who doesn't give up (221) and Robert Queen telling Oliver that "It's your responsibility now."(101)

Nate Heywood picks up Sara, Ray, Thea, Diggle and Oliver in The Waverider. He was given their coordinates by Felicity.

Ray examine the technology The Dominators were using to keep them under and determined it used a neuromorphic interface similar to what he used to control the ATOM suit. This means The Dominators may have been probing their subconscious for intel while the shared hallucination kept their minds occupied. Ray further theorizes that the five of them (Sara, Diggle, Thea, Oliver and himself) were abducted because they were ordinary humans.

Gideon translates "Klic-Clac-To Nick-Lava Shack-too" to "We are nearing completion of the weapon." Gideon further determines that the Dominator ship is moving straight for Earth.


Location

A Dominator spaceship in orbit above the Earth.



Untelevised Adventures

Cisco somehow got a piece of alien technology off of the Dominator ship that crashed in Central City. This did not happen in F308.


The Winick Factor

The subplot with Wild Dog's hatred of people with super powers comes out of nowhere, doesn't make any sense given the presence of Ragman on the same team and is far too quickly resolved.


The Bottom Line

In looking back at Arrow's past, this 100th episode reminds us of many things best forgotten. For every novel touch (i.e. the wink and nod explanation as to Tommy Merlyn's absence referencing Colin Donnell's new gigs), there are glaring absences (i.e. no Manu Bennett as Deathstroke?) and a lot of plot holes regarding how the shared dream world works. Katie Cassidy still cannot convey any emotion but annoyance convincingly and fails to emote even when offered a script that requires her to do nothing but look sexy in a towel or look sad in a wedding dress.

Despite this, the dream sequence might have worked had the whole episode been focused on it, but the cuts back to reality and the crossover only serve to distract from the drama of Sara, Oliver and Thea having to pull themselves away from their loved ones. The subplot with Wild Dog suddenly hating people with powers only to change his mind after The Flash and Supergirl save him is nearly as lame as the villain of the week. Overall, this whole episode is a bit of a mess, made tolerable only by the excellent performances of the core ensemble in the dream sequence.