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 3 - Leap of Faith

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




Plot

Reunited with his sister, Thea, Oliver finds himself in a race against Talia Al Ghul and the Thanatos Guild in the catacombs of the League of Assassins' headquarters. Meanwhile, Diggle and Lyla embark on a special ops mission together, to save Bronze Tiger's family. And in the far future of Star City 2040, the new Team Arrow take the fight to the Deathstrokes.


Influences

Indiana Jones movies (name-dropped, general theme of exploring a booby-trapped tomb, the Phoenix tile puzzle is lifted directly from the "name of God" challenge in The Last Crusade) and the present-day storyline of Arrow Season 3 (focus on League of Assassins drama, Diggle and Lyla spywork)


Goofs

Many of the fights are shot too close. This would make it hard to see the action, if the poor lighting throughout the episode didn't make it impossible to see anything in general.

The Star City future storyline seems to suggest that the membership of the Star City Reunification movement is a big secret. Weren't they all present and trying to recruit new members at an incredibly open gala in the season 8 premiere?

The Thantos Guild die stupidly trying to get past Oliver (fully armed with a bow) and the booby trapped tomb of Al-Faith, by charging him one-at-a-time, while climbing down a rope.

Mia's throat-wound seems to heal up awfully quick when it's time for her to cradle Zoe and look anguished.


Performances

As always, Lexa Doig is a delight as Talia.


Trivia

This episode marks Katie Cassidy's directorial debut.

This episode introduces the Arrowverse version of Sandra Hawke - the girlfriend of Ben Turner and mother of Connor Hawke.

In the original Green Arrow comics, Sandra "Moonday" Hawke was one of Oliver Queen's many short-term girlfriends during his free-loving college days. She became pregnant as a result of one of their dates, but refused to seek support, being determined to prove she could make it on her own as a single mother. Her son, Connor, would go on to meet his father nearly two decades later and eventually take up his mantle, becoming the second Green Arrow.

This episode sees Lyla and John return to Kasnia - a fictional nation first introduced into the DC Comics lexicon by Superman: The Animated Series. It has been repeatedly used on Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow whenever they needed a setting in Eastern Europe. On Earth-38, Kasnia was the nation which discovered the Supergirl clone that become known as The Red Daughter.


Technobabble

Felicity hard-wired the power grid of The Bunker through the floor. This can be used to electrocute anyone standing in the main room through a control hidden in a safe room.

Zoe makes use of a device that creates a stunning sonic attack similar to the Canary Cry. Sara Lance originally used this same device as The Canary in Season 2.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Oliver explains his bargain with The Monitor)
Oliver: He asked me to help him, but he's not very good at sharing information with the people he's working with.
Thea: (dryly) Sounds like somebody else I know.
Oliver: I need to be 100% sure that I can trust him. I know it's a long shot, but I was hoping that Nyssa could tell me what, if anything, the League knows about him.
Thea: Okay. What are you not telling me?
Oliver: He's seen the future. He's seen me die. It's soon, Speedy.
(There is a pause as Thea looks at Oliver expectantly.) 
Thea: And?
Oliver: (deadpan) Take as much time as you need to be upset.
Thea: Ollie, come on. You've cheated death more than any of us have by this point.
Oliver: This is fundamentally different than anything that we've ever dealt with before.
Thea: Okay. Well, let's try to figure out what we're dealing with, but like I said, Nyssa's not here.
Oliver: Sara hasn't been able to help either.
Thea: We've kind of killed off every League member, haven't we?

Oliver: So now you're back to your old exploits?
Talia: With the League gone, the region has become quite unstable.
Thea: And you think training a bunch of assassins in a place like this is gonna stabilize it?
Talia: I think it a wiser course of action than declaring a one-woman war on the Thanatos Guild.

Thea: What is going on with you, Ollie? You were never this overprotective when I left Star City.
Oliver: Things have changed. I left my family behind, Speedy. And I miss them. And every day, I wrestle with whether or not I made the right decision because maybe I didn't. And I saw an entire world wiped out of existence. A world that you weren't in, by the way, because I wasn't around to protect you. I'm sorry, Thea, but the only way that I can bear this is if I become 100% certain that my sacrifice, that my death... will protect the people I love. I need my family to be safe.
Thea: You know, I've been thinking a lot about Mom and Dad lately, wondering what they would think about the lives we've chosen. All the mistakes they made, all the lies they told...In their own very, very messed up way, they thought they were protecting us.
Oliver: Well, they weren't. They didn't.
Thea: No, but it did help us become the people we are today. They turned us into heroes. We can't change the future, Ollie. The past teaches us you might as well not bother trying to.
Oliver: (chuckles) When you'd stop being my baby sister?
Thea: I never did. I just grew up a little bit. (sighs) Now can we please get off this mountain?
Oliver: Yeah.

Talia: It is your destiny.
Thea: Yeah, but, see, about that. I don't really believe in the whole fate, destiny thing. We can all make our own choices.
Talia: Meaning?
Thea: Meaning I don't think the world needs another League of Assassins. It could use League of Heroes. It wouldn't be a one-woman job.
Talia: You'd extend me that honor despite my betrayals?
Thea: You made a mistake. We've all made mistakes.
Talia: Not one but two women to wield my father's sword? He would be aghast. (Talia smiles and chuckles wickedly) I accept.

Oliver: I can't believe I'm saying good-bye to you again.
Thea: Well, you're not. Think of it as a "See you later, and please don't die."


Dialogue Disasters


The reactions to Zoe's death are pure hammy Narm.


Continuity

Oliver runs into Thea in the area around Nanda Parbat.

Oliver catches Thea up on recent events, including her new niece.

Thea makes reference to 303 and her time in Corto Maltese, where she used Mia as an alias.

Thea now has a scar on her right cheek - the result of a battle with Athena of the Thanatos Guild.

Nyssa Al Ghul is off dealing with some League business. Thea thinks she is in Thailand.

Thea saw Roy Harper, sometime after the events of 720, and he told her about the fight with The Ninth Circle. He is currently off "dealing with his demons/"

Oliver contacted Sara Lance regarding the League's history and any connection the Monitor might have to it. She didn't know anything.

Lyla has been keeping an eye on Sandra and Connor Hawke since Ben Turner was recruited to ARGUS. He's currently on a deep-cover mission and Sandra missed a check-in for the first time.

Lyla has pictures of Sandra and Connor at an airfield in Kasnia - far from where Ben is now and any mission he's ever run for any organization.

The plane in the photo of Sandra and Connor belongs to Abdul Nardoc - a Kasnia philanthropist who is believed to have terrorism ties.

Lyla needs John to work with her on this mission, because she's still ferreting out all the corruption within ARGUS and can't trust anyone else with this mission.

Oliver refers to the events of 705 and how Talia owes him a debt for helping her escape from prison. He agrees to consider the debt paid if she helps him find the answers he seeks regarding The Monitor among the League's records.

The Karan Shah is the formal name of the League of Assassin's fortress and central base of operations. It has been destroyed, but the catacombs underneath it remain intact.

Talia's father had the League's historical records moved into the catacombs to keep them safe.

One of Abdul Nardoc's associates is Farzad Qadir - the son of Gholem Qadir - the man Ben Turner killed to save Lyla Michaels' life while serving in the Suicide Squad in 216.

The Chronicles of Al-Fatih are the journal of the founder of the League of Assassins and the first man to hold the title Ra's Al Ghul. Legend has it that he was given advanced knowledge by one of the sky gods. Talia thinks this could be The Monitor. When the book is located, it contains a drawing of the Monitor and a note that the end times would come if the League ever abandoned their mission charge from "the sky god" to maintain the balance between good and evil.

Thea can read Arabic.

The Sword of Al-Fatih is a relic of equal power to the Ring of Ra's Al Ghul. Before the Ring of Ra's Al Ghul, whoever wielded the Sword of Al-Fatih was considered leader of the League of Assassins. It is believed to be interred in Al-Faith's secret tomb.

Burning the false Chronicles of Al-Fatih reveals a stone sphere, marked with constellations, which somehow reveal the true location of Al-Fatih's tomb. It turns out to be on top of the mountain where Oliver dueled Talia's father in 309.

Talia poisons Oliver to keep him from getting to the tomb ahead of her. He is found by Thea, who he previously ordered to go back to their camp.

Talia is captured by Athena, who then captures Oliver and Thea and intends to use them to test for traps in the tomb of Al-Fatih.

Talia and Thea enter the tomb while Oliver holds off the Thanatos Guild.

Diggle and Lyla save Sandra and Connor Hawke.

All of the Thanatos Guild die.

Thea beats Talia in a duel for the Sword of Al-Fatih.

Talia passes command of her students over to Thea, but Thea refuses to restart the League of Assassins. She suggests, instead, that she and Talia start a League of Heroes.

Ollie makes reference to the Queen Family Hozen and how Felicity gave it to William.

William was able to protect himself from the Deathstrokes swarming The Bunker, having remembered that Felicity hard-wired the electricity for the complex through the floor. This enabled him to use it to shock them as they entered the main room.

William determines that John Diggle Jr. and the Deathstrokes are killing everyone involved in the Star City Unification movement. 10 have been killed so far.

Mia pushes the team to make a direct assault on the Deathstroke's hideout.

Zoe is killed by John Diggle Jr. while saving Mia.

Mia, William and Connor are sent back in time to 2019 and the original Team Arrow bunker.

Oliver is seemingly teleported to the Team Arrow bunker by the same flash of white light.


Location

Nanda Parbat
Kasnia


Untelevised Adventures

Roy, Nyssa and Thea apparently destroyed the last of the Lazarus Pits some time between this episode and 616. They have been working since then to stop the Thanatos Guild from reforming the League of Assassins.

Ben Turner officially became an ARGUS agent sometime following the events of 722.


The Fridge Factor

Zoe Ramirez is unceremoniously killed off to give everyone else on Team Arrow 2.0 some angst. (Also, apparently, to not further confuse viewers with the presence of another Black Canary in the upcoming Green Arrow and the Canaries spin-off.)


The Bottom Line

A mixed bag, overall. The bits with Thea and Talia are good, but that owes more to Willa Holland and Lexa Doig nailing these characters out of the park with every appearance after so many years. The stuff with Diggle and Lyla is competently acted, but seems very repetitive. And the future storyline is as lackluster as everything else done with the flash-fowards since Season 7. Ultimately, it succeeds only because of some strong speeches and strong performances, which seem wholly separated from the overall direction and staging of the episode, which are outright horrible at times.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 16 - The Thanatos Guild

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



Plot

Nyssa Al Ghul returns to Star City to warn Thea that a League of Assassins splinter group is coming to kill her. This new faction, The Thanatos Guild, also seeks a mysterious box that was created by Malcolm Merlyn. Meanwhile, Oliver comes to a realization about his life.


Influences

Raiders of the Lost Ark (the traps in Merlyn's hideout) The Benjamin Percy run on Green Arrow (evil group seeking to recruit or kill Oliver Queen's half sister) and the New 52 Batman books (heroes warring with League of Assassins splinter group)


Performances

Katrina Law is as amazing as always.

As far as final bows go, Willa Holland gives a good one. The only downside is there's no final moment with Quentin, who has been more of a daughter to him than anyone else the past two seasons.


Artistry

The fight sequences are well-choreographed, even by the usually high standards of this show.


Trivia

The Thanatos Guild is named for Thanatos, the Greek God of Death.

The plot of this episode borrows somewhat from the recent Batman comics, which have seen the heroes contending with Leviathan - a new secretive group of assassins that employs many former League of Assassins members, including Talia Al Ghul.

The plot also vaguely resembles a plot thread from the Green Arrow comics of Benjamin Percy. There, Emiko Queen was head-hunted by The Ninth Circle - a cabal of Satanic bankers with a long association with The Queen Family, who employed Emiko's mother Shado.

The ball-cap worn by Roy Harper in this episode has a distinctive crown-shape icon on the front. This resembles the ball-cap worn by Roy Harper as part of his Arsenal costume in the DC Comics Rebirth universe.


Technobabble

Spartan has thermal imaging scanners built into his new helmet.

Iodine Dixonium is a component that is magnetically attracted to the same type of steel Ra's Al Ghul used to encase relics.

The League of Assassins cipher is based on The Fibonacci Sequence - a mathematical pattern dating back to Pingala's Formula in 450 BC. The Fibonacci Sequence is that every number is the sum of the two starting numbers.

Felicity attempts to scan the map to create a 3-D voxel-based re-creation of the original parchment. This might reveal some hidden markers.

Felicity is able to locate a bomb by tracking the frequency root of the detonator.

The bomb has a collapsible circuit. Since it has a mercury switch, it cannot be frozen. It can be short-circuited with an electricity arrow.

Merlyn's map was made with nanolithography - printed with bacteria. When the enzymes in it are exposed to Thea's DNA, the map reveals itself. This is, according to Felicity, cutting edge science requiring an atomic force microscope to create.


Dialogue Triumphs

Nyssa: I would so relish slitting your throat, Athena.
Athena: One thing we have in common.
Nyssa: Except I've grown a taste for the contemporary...
(Nyssa holds up a detonator and grins.) 
Nyssa: Such as plastic explosives.

(Roy and Thea are driving away through the streets of Star City.)
Thea: I can't believe we're actually doing it.
Roy: Yeah. I can't believe it either.
Thea: (purring) Happily ever after.
Roy: Yeah. (hesitatingly) Ever after.
Thea: Okay. That wasn't so convincing.
Roy: Look, Thea - I'm thrilled. I just don't want to jinx it.
Thea: Okay. And since when do you believe in superstitions?
Roy: Well, ever since I met your brother, there's not a lot I don't believe in.
(Thea scoffs as suddenly one of their tires blows out.  We cut away to see Roy struggling to control the car as it spins out. Close-up on the front passenger tire, which has been shot by an arrow.)
Thea: Okay. Now I may believe it too.

Tigressa: Your father had much faith in you.
Thea: Yeah, well... with that new league he created running around, I can't say the same for him.
Tigressa: So you've met Athena. She's not the leader your father desired. You are.
Thea: Yeah, well, I'm sure death has cured him of his disappointment.

(Athena and her men are standing above a dropped Roy and Thea.)
Athena: Make your father proud! Come with us!
Thea: (weakly) Felicity? I know you were wondering...(suddenly stronger) it's from Raiders. (To Roy) Kiss the floor.
(Roy and Thea both lie flat as Thea hits the trigger panel next to her. The darts in the hallway go shooting into Athena and her soldiers. most of them dropping dead instantly.)

Oliver: Nyssa.
Nyssa: Husband.
Oliver: (forced chuckle) You've got to stop doing that. I... I do have a wife now and...uh... she doesn't like it.
Nyssa: But that's the fun of it.
Oliver: Thea may want you to stay. Doesn't mean you have to.
Nyssa: Her point about Felicity's utility was well taken.
Oliver: So was her point about wanting nothing to do with Malcolm.
Nyssa: It is her life and she must find her own truth.
Oliver: I think her truth is a new life. That she's earned.
Nyssa: She's earned your support for her actions. Whatever those may be.
Oliver: I can understand why she would be conflicted with Malcolm. He was her father. I am not conflicted. He was evil. And Thea should not be charged with writing his wrongs.
Nyssa: My father was also evil. And I've dedicated the rest of my life to righting his wrongs. From what I understand, you have done the same.
Oliver: But my father asked me to! With his dying wish, he asked me to!
Nyssa: Back on Lian Yu, Merlyn gave up his life for Thea. Just as your father did for you. I believe Thea owes him the same debt!
Oliver: Well, it is convenient for you to believe that. Because Thea gets you closer to what you want, so do not pretend that you are selflessly supporting her. And never, ever lecture me on what I owe my sister.

(Felicity explains the code for the League of Assassins' Puzzle Box and The Fibonacci Sequence)
Roy: Wow.
Felicity: Yeah.
Roy (To Nyssa) When you said ancient, you were not kidding.
Nyssa: I never kid.
Felicity: Except where my marriage is concerned, apparently.

(Felicity explains the horribly technical thing she is trying to do to an oblivious Nyssa. She is clearly reveling in Nyssa being unsure of something for the first time since she's ever known her.)
Nyssa: That sounds... complicated.
Felicity: It is. Very.
(Felicity turns back to her computer, still smiling.)
Felicity: So it would be really great to not be distracted. You know?
Nyssa: Very true. (pause) I'll stay here to make sure you remain uninterrupted. Sister-Wife.
Felicity: ... okay.

(Thea asks Oliver why he's still The Green Arrow when John wants to take the mantle from him.)
Oliver: I don't know. I - I - I gave it up because I wanted to be a better father. But... William accepts the idea that I'm The Green Arrow. Plus, I don't want to give it up. I don't know why.
Thea: I do. Because being The Green Arrow is what makes you feel complete. For some reason when you... you put that hood on, it enables you to become the best version of yourself.
Oliver: We're supposed to be talking about you.
Thea: Maybe we are. I don't know...  Maybe that's the reason why I can't seem to give this... life up. I... (sighs) I dunno maybe I'm hoping that maybe I'll get the same thing... and find the best version of myself. Whoever she is.

Felicity: Don't forget guys - we have a bomb situation.
Roy: There's always a bomb situation!

Thea: One more piece of advice?
Oliver: Sure.
Thea: If you're going to wear that hood, you shouldn't string John along anymore.
Oliver: I thought I was the one who gave the wise sibling advice?
Thea: Nope. That has never been the case.


Continuity

The opening flashback from Four Years Ago with Thea talking to Merlyn took place in 223.

Nyssa Al Ghul is confirmed to still be alive following the events of Lian Yu's destruction. The last mention of her was in 601, where Slade Wilson said he saw her heading towards the cages to see if Artemis had survived the bombing.

Thea and Roy are planning to run off together, though they don't know where just yet.

According to Thea, Oliver was afraid of the dark and couldn't sleep without a light on until he was 16. Ollie says he just had a problem with pitch blackness.

Oliver makes reference to the two times he shot Roy Harper with an arrow in 208 and 220.

According to Quentin, Black Siren is as messy as Laurel but is a better cook.

Dinah and Curtis are working on figuring out which cops in the SCPD are working for Diaz, but Quentin fears that other parts of the city government might be under his control as well.

Quentin confirms that the Star City District Attorney is still going forward with the case against Oliver Queen being Green Arrow, even without Roy Harper as a witness.

One of the dirty cops working for Diaz is named J. Hester. Dinah recognizes him by sight from the fight to rescue Roy in 615.  He is the tenth dirty cop Dinah has identififed.

Nick Anastas is an SCPD officer Curtis thinks is cute. He has no blackmail pressure points and hasn't had any odd deposits into his accounts that Curtis can track.

Curtis has been taking care of Zoe since 615. He cooks Macaroni and Cheese far too much for her liking.

Rene is supposed to be starting physical therapy soon.

The licene plate on Roy Harper's car is JJV-467.

The Thantos Guild was Malcolm Merlyn's attempt to reform The League of Assassins following Nyssa's disbanding them in 413. His second in command was a woman named Athena.

Athena was a rival of Nyssa's in The League of Assassins.

Merlyn found a map to something he wanted to unearth with Thea. The Thanatos Guild wrongly believe Thea to have the map or knowledge of where it is.

Merlyn had one female associate in Star City with whom he confided - Tigressa. She is an assassin with over 200 confirmed kills, including her own brother, whom she killed because he had matched her record. She claims to have rejected the path of The League of Assassins. 

Captain Hill takes over a drug-related homicide which Dinah is investigating. This tips Dinah off that something strange might be going on, beyond her suspicion there's no way there can be this many dirty cops in the SCPD without the Captain being dirty as well.

The map is contained within a puzzle box made with an ancient cipher used by The League of Assassins. It utilizes 18 characters from three different alphabets.

Curtis is able to bluff his way into a tour with Officer Nick Anastas when he catches him standing watch outside the evidence room while Dinah is breaking into it.

The League of Assassins cipher is based on The Fibonacci Sequence - a mathematical pattern dating back to Pingala's Formula in 450 BC. The Fibonacci Sequence is that every number is the sum of the two starting numbers.

The starting numbers are 10 and 13. 1013 was the year The League of Assassins was founded. It is also, according to Thea, Malcolm Merlyn's birthday (October 13).

Roy Harper was always good at math.

Felicity holds the map close to a fire, hoping there is invisible ink in much the same way as utilized in other League of Assassins documents, such as The List from 106.

Nyssa was 25 when she first used a computer.

Curtis determines that the drugs Hill took from Dinah at the crime scene were Vertigo - not something Diaz manufactures. This suggests that Hill is clean.

Athena is able to escape despite an apparently fatal wound dealt by Thea.

The map requires Thea's blood as an agent to make the invisible ink visible.

The map shows a series of ley lines spanning the globe. There are three points which have the same confluence of ley lines as Nanda Parbat, suggesting that Merlyn discovered the location of three more Lazarus Pits.

Curtis asks Nick Anastas out to dinner. He says yes.

Dinah determines there are no cases involving Vertigo being handled. This means that Diaz is now selling Vertigo and that Captain Hill is working with him.

Thea decides to go with Nyssa to destroy The Lazarus Pits. Roy decides to go with them.

Nyssa gives Oliver a dagger that symbolizes the cutting of marital bonds among The League Of Assassins members. This officially annuls their marriage.


Location

An unnamed castle run by The Thanatos Guild.


The Bottom Line

A marked improvement over most of the episodes of the second half of Season Six, but that's likely due to the fact that it has nothing to do with the on-going story of Season Six. Even the bits with Dinah and Curtis investigating the SCPD seem far removed from the on-going story since it doesn't involve them butting heads with the Original Team Arrow and there's no Black Siren getting in the way.

This episode is almost entirely devoted to giving Thea Queen a proper send off . It does the same for Roy Harper and Nyssa Al Ghul to a lesser degree, but this is honestly Willa Holland's swan song and she makes it clear just why she was so essential to this show's success. Of course the show hasn't given her much to do in recent episodes but at least she's been given a good send off with a chance of coming back later.

Unfortunately, the preview for next week indicates more stupid bickering and heroes fighting heroes while the villains get away with murder.  For this week, however, Arrow was good.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 15 - Doppelgänger

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




Plot

Thea comes out of retirement as Speedy to save Roy Harper, who is now in the clutches of Ricardo Diaz. Meanwhile, Black Siren reveals herself to the world, claiming to be the deceased Laurel Lance!


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick. (Insane plot twists, villains doing things just to mess with the heroes, the villains having convoluted plans that put them three steps ahead of the heroes at all times, and even when the heroes win, it doesn't gain them any ground.)


Goofs

Katie Cassidy's ham-fisted over-acting as Black Siren tries to play what she thinks Laurel was like is almost as painful as her previous under-acted attempts to play Laurel seriously.

Zoe says her babysitter left her two hours earlier when Curtis comes over to tell her that her dad is in the hospital. What the hell kind of babysitter abandons their charge?  (A very bad one, clearly.)

It's awfully convenient that the grate to the vent which Thea uses to access the hotel is not bolted down and seems to swing on a hinge!

The police officers in Diaz' employ say they can torture Roy without leaving a mark, yet Roy already has a bloody nose and clear bruises on his forehead.

Black Siren says that all she ever wanted was to go somewhere she wouldn't have to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. If that's the case, as was asked last week, why did she come back to Star City after withdrawing the money from the bank in Corto Maltese?

The episode goes out of its way to tell us that nothing has really changed and that Oliver is still in trouble legally, even though the DA's Office no longer has their star witness in the "Green Arrow is Oliver Queen" trial.

Granting that we don't know the full details of Diaz' plan, wouldn't revealing Roy Harper is alive to the press be just as damning to Oliver as trying to get Roy to testify against Oliver and a hell of a lot easier? Roy is supposed to be legally dead, after being publicly exposed and arrested for being The Arrow.


Performances

Willa Holland steals the show as Thea this time.

The only thing lending the Black Siren storyline any credibility at this point is Paul Blackthorne's gravitas.


Trivia

Roy says that he was living in St. Roche when the Star City police found him. St. Roche was the hometown of Hawkman during the James Robinson/Geoff Johns run on the book.


Technobabble

Brady v. Maryland is the court case which determined that Defense Attorneys have to be allowed to see all the evidence that a Prosecuting Attorney has against their client.

Oliver makes use of a Fireworks Arrow to distract the balcony guards so Thea can enter the hotel where Roy is being held captive.


Dialogue Triumphs

Black Siren: Look, this is a lot simpler than you're making it. You're going to protect me. And you're going to help protect me by going along with this story that (changes her tone to sound overly sweet) I'm the real Laurel Lance.
Oliver: Yeah? Why would we do that?
Black Siren: I don't know. Maybe because of all the reporters that are just in the next room? (stepping close to Oliver and playing with his tie.) You know it's only a matter of time before they ask me who The Green Arrow is again. (mockingly) What would you like me to tell them?

Quentin: Look, I know what you're doing here, all right? You're going after Laurel because of what happened to your friend. And I get that, okay? It's what I would do if someone I loved was dead.
Dinah: You mean, it's what you'd do with a criminal, Quentin. Which, by the way, is what she is.
Quentin: Yeah, well, you and I both know that. But, you know, she's turned herself into a beloved public figure. She's also said that she's got no compunctions about outing Oliver and... (sighs) ... I don't think she'll stop with him.
Dinah: (sarcastically) Oh, so you're doing this for my sake?
Quentin: No. For all of our sakes. I've been making progress with her, Dinah, ok? I'm not finished, but if she lives as my Laurel...
Dinah: She is not your Laurel! Your Laurel wouldn't have murdered Vince or anyone else. She did. And you are delusional if you think you can change her.

Oliver: John, he's in there because of me. He's been on the run for three years.
John: Oliver, that's his choice.
Oliver: (sighs) I know, but did I learn anything from it? Roy put on the hood. He sacrificed himself. For me. And I asked you to do the same thing. At the expense of your safety. And your family.
John: Difference was I wanted to put on the hood, Oliver. Listen, I've been good for the past two months. Good! But instead of giving me back the hood, you had Cisco make me a new suit.
Oliver: (ignoring John as he points to the guards he's been watching) There it is! A 15 second opening.  That is our window!
(Oliver turns around and walks off. Diggle shakes his head, looks to the guards, then follows after Oliver.)

Anatoly: Is it Laurel or Laurel these days? So confusing this Doppelgänger business, but you seem to figure it out.
Black Siren: Diaz killed Cayden.
Anatoly: He told me. (shrugs) No honor among thieves. Or crime lords, I guess. Oh well.
Black Siren: Diaz manipulated the both of us. Lied to the both of us. The whole time, he's had his own agenda. That doesn't bother you?
Anatoly: I'm not sentimental. I'm Russian. I am in this city for two reasons only. One is revenge. Against Oliver Queen. And two is money. I'm happy to work with whoever can get me either.
Black Siren: You're in this city because the Bratva cast you out.
Anatoly: Well, there's that too.

Roy: Is that my hood?  It looks good on you.
(Thea leans in and kisses Roy passionately. Suddenly she breaks the kiss.)
Thea: I'm - I'm sorry. If you're seeing someone -
Roy: I'm not. I didn't take your advice. No kids, no wife and I really, really hate minivans.

Thea: You know, there are times that I feel like my life completely fell apart when Roy left? From my blood lust to Malcolm to the coma... knowing he was out there? That he was okay? It made my life just a little bit easier. Ever since Mom died, I haven't known much if anything, other than the fact that I want to make sure he is safe and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that happens!


Continuity

Jean Loring - Oliver's lawyer - was last seen in 607. She informs Oliver that she thinks she can get the Green Arrow case dropped since the FBI's case depended on leveraging Rene, with information that was obtained illegally from Cayden James, which can't be collaborated now.

That chance is blown out of water when Black Siren speaks to the press, claiming to be Laurel Lance and to have been held captive and for the past two years by people working for Damian Darhk.

Oliver confirms that Laurel Lance was the Black Canary, saying that he was told by Green Arrow, again denying that he is Green Arrow to the press.

Black Siren says the money she stole from Cayden James has been stolen.

Black Siren says she has no idea who was responsible for killing Cayden James and his son, but notes that it couldn't have been her who did the second killing since James' son died while she was being held by ARGUS, who took her into custody in 510.

Black Siren says that there is a Thea Queen on Earth Two, only she isn't as "pathetically naive" (i.e. idealistic) as Earth One Thea. It's been established before that Robert Queen was Green Arrow on Earth Two and that Oliver Queen honestly did die at sea on Earth Two.

Star City can't afford to pay it's police officers as of this week.

Captain Hill suggests auctioning off seized assets to cover the city's bills, saying the police lock-up has $30 million dollars in property.

Dinah asks to be assigned to investigate "Laurel's" kidnapping.

Rene's nickname for Curtis, according to Zoe, is C-Dawg.

DA Armand reveals that Roy Harper has been called as a new witness against Oliver Queen in the court case that he is Green Arrow.

Roy Harper was last seen in 412, where he returned to Star City after being blackmailed into committing a series of burglaries by The Calculator.

Thea notes she wasn't able to locate Roy and she tried to do so, to send him an invitation to Felicity and Oliver's wedding in 609.

Quentin makes reference to his ex-wife, Dinah, and says that while he did not give her the details, he told her to hold off on making a visit to Star City to see "Laurel".

Dinah questions Dr. Schwarz, Team Arrow's physician, about "Laurel". Dr. Schwarz confirms that she performed the autopsy on the real Laurel Lance personally and saw her die, but says that in a world full of metahumans, she thinks almost anything is possible. She says they are conducting a DNA test to see if "Laurel" is real.

The cop assigned to watch "Laurel" in the hospital is in Diaz' employ. He takes Black Siren to see Diaz.

Anatoly is now working with Diaz.

Anatoly confirms that he has been cast out of the Bratva and is only working with Diaz so he can get revenge on Oliver and/or make money.

Roy makes reference to his last conversation with Thea, from 412, where she told him to find a wife, have kids, buy a minivan and live a good life.

Roy was hiding out in St. Roche when the Star City police found him.

Felicity determines that two of the cops torturing Roy were on duty when Cayden James died and that they, and several other cops, have gotten payments from a shell corporation in Corto Maltese. This same corporation was responsible for financing the development of the drug that treated John's nerve condition.

Oliver tasks Quentin and Dinah with figuring out how badly the SCPD has been compromised, though he suspects the corruption is far worse than it was than even a year ago.

Ricardo Diaz is using an abandon casino as one of his hideaways.

Diaz is personally fighting every man who wishes to be part of his gang, saying he wants to build a family rather than a gang.

It is revealed that Black Siren is now working with Diaz, integrating herself into Team Arrow as she tries to make an honest go of being their Laurel - Oliver does not trust her but agrees to give her the space to try.

Roy and Thea seem to have reconciled.

The episode ends with a woman in the garb of The League Of Assassins, watching Thea and Roy make out, messaging her master that she has found the Heir of Ra's Al Ghul.


The Winick Factor

Diaz's working with Cayden James doesn't make a lick of sense. Anatoly, whose always had something of a code of honor suddenly going bandit in the name of getting revenge on Oliver when he had lines he would not cross in the past doesn't make any sense. Dinah, the only person who seems to consistently remember that Black Siren is a multiple-murderer who didn't show any signs of wanting redemption until she became a target of her fellow criminals, is still painted as being a vengeful hose-beast. Oliver says he doesn't trust Black Siren at all, but agrees to back off of her if she makes an honest effort at pretending to be Laurel.


The Bottom Line

A step up from last week, but only in so far as the Thea and Roy romance redeems a lot. The plot is still as stupid as ever but there are individual moments of sanity - Dinah and Quentin agreeing to work to clean up the police department despite their mutual distrust, Oliver making it clear he does not trust Black Siren at all - that make it work. I suspect the fact that Rene isn't in the episode and Curtis is barely in it help matters as well.

We know Black Siren is playing somebody - quite likely everyone - and if there's any justice, Diaz will kill her before her sudden but inevitable betrayal since she betrayed Cayden James by stealing from him and he's allegedly smart enough to realize that fact.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 14 - Collision Course

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




Plot

The conflict between Original Team Arrow and Black Canary, Wild Dog and Mister Terrific finally comes to blows when the two teams disagree about how to handle the murderous Black Siren.


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick. (Superheroes fighting each other while the villains give them the run around.)


Goofs

The entire episode is built around a faulty premise. Original Team Arrow is desperate to find Black Siren because of the footage that shows her withdrawing Cayden James' ransom from a bank in Corto Maltese. Black Siren couldn't have gone to get the money on a day's notice because there was no way out of the city thanks to Cayden James sealing every way out of the city, including the airport. Even if she did manage this to escape the city, why on Earth One would she have come back to Star City, even if she could have made it back in a day or two? And how did she accomplish this in the first place when she's been in Quentin's cabin since the end of the last episode?

Somehow, Rene is written as the smart one on "New Team Arrow", spotting tire-tracks that can be analyzed and being the one to come up with a plan to spy on Team Arrow. While the character is less of an idiot and more of a hothead depending on the writer, it's just out of character for him to be a strategist. Then again, since Dinah has been derailed into the team hot-head, someone had to be the strategist and it can't be Curtis because he's too busy being the comic relief.

Why does Dinah stomp on the listening device after they find it in the street once John ditched it?  They can reuse it again!

Oliver and John stopping Curtis and Dinah from chasing after Black Siren - who just proved she's fit enough to use her powers and run - doesn't make a damn bit of sense. They should have been close enough to hear Black Siren use her sonic scream.

How the frell does Black Siren - wounded and hobbled and tired - escape from Green Arrow, apart from Ollie being more concerned about taking down Curtis and Dinah than dealing with the escaping murderer who is holding the city funds hostage?  It's not like all of them were needed to get Rene to the hospital and it's not like Curtis and Dinah would have taken his help with an evac anyway.


Performances

The only reason Dinah's transformation is at all credible is because Juliana Harkavy treats the script with far more respect than it deserves.


Trivia

The alias "Siu Jerk Jai" is a reference to Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey. It was the pet name given to Dinah Lance by one of her martial arts instructors. It means "little bird" in Japanese.


Technobabble

Cayden James died from a severed subclavian artery.

Mr. Terrific's Supersonic Spectrograph is a new function Curtis built into his T-Spheres. It uses Earth-2 sonic frequencies emitted by Black Siren's sonic scream and combines them with light imaging to create a holographic replication of her position during her fight with Dinah. This is able to determine that someone dragged her from the crime scene while she was unconscious.

Team Arrow uses a luminol to follow Black Siren's blood trail.

Felicity performs a triple-worm blue-cobalt IP hack on Curtis' system.

Curtis hack's John's implant to use it as a tracking device.

John identifies one of Ollie's trick arrows as the Sonic Dampener Arrow.

Rene suffered a traumatic hemothorax.


Dialogue Triumphs

Dinah: I'm guessing Felicity had something to do with this?
Oliver: Yes. She did. Thank you for inserting yourself into this, by the way.
Dinah: Oh, yeah. Sure. Well, you never would have shared the information otherwise.
Oliver: No, I wouldn't have. Because I don't trust you to do the right thing.
Dinah: And what is that? Politely ask Laurel to give the money back?
Oliver: Not kill her.

Oliver: Dinah, I understand that you're hurting. I also know that I don't have the most credibility when it comes to telling people not to commit murder. But the city is on the verge of economic collapse, and we just found the key to fixing that!
Dinah: Laurel is never giving you that money.
Oliver: You don't know that.
Dinah: Yeah. I actually do. Because I know that when you look at her, you see the Laurel that you lost. And that's why you'll never be able to do what is necessary to get that money back.
Oliver: And you will?
(Dinah just glares at him.)
Oliver: Understand something. I will never let you cross that line.
Dinah: If you're going to threaten me, Oliver, you'd better be damn sure that you can deliver.

Oliver: Having second thoughts?
John: Best case scenario, man - Laurel avoids punishment for what she's done. And we put a hurting on the people who used to be our friends.
Oliver: But we keep the city from dying!
John: But at what cost?
Oliver: (pauses) If the people going after her didn't look like Curtis, Dinah and Rene, would you even be asking this question?
John: No. No. (bites lip) But I can't help but wonder - would we be doing this is the person they were after didn't look like Laurel?

(Black Canary is in the middle of strangling Black Siren.)
Mister Terrific: Dinah! We lose her, we lose the money. But even if we had the money, you can't do this.
Black Canary: Oh God... I have to, Curtis! You know I have to! I have to get justice for Vince!
Mister Terrific: Dinah, look around! Look at what we're doing to each other! Does this look like justice?
Black Canary: It's nobody's fault but theirs.
(There is a long pause as Mister Terrific just stares at her.)
Mister Terrific: Then you sound just like Oliver. We formed this team so we wouldn't be like that! Like him! (quietly) Dinah, I don't want to start today.
(Black Canary hesitates before releasing her grip on Black Siren.)


Dialogue Disasters

The entire exchange when Team Arrow storms the other team's bunker.


Continuity

Black Siren cleaned out Cayden James' account and withdrew all the money as bearer bonds.

Dinah and Sara Lance both loved noodle cups.

Black Siren also likes hot and sour noodle soup.

Thea immediately senses something is up with Quentin and follows him to the cabin, making her the first to see him with Black Siren.

Rene's wound from five months earlier reopens during the fight between the two teams and he has to be hospitalized.

The new D.A. of Star City is a man named Sam Armand. He is also in the employ of Ricardo Diaz.

The wedge between the two teams is officially confirmed with no more communication or cooperation between them.

The episode ends with Black Siren, still wounded, going to a trucker playing that she's confused and claiming that she has been a captive somewhere for two years.


The Fridge Factor

It is incredibly glib and disrespectful to Black Siren as a villain (such as she is) to suggest that all of her villainous tendencies are due to her daddy issues and need to have a man tell her what to do.

Dinah becomes an unthinking, overly emotional nightmare until Curtis gives her a pep-talk about how she needs to be better than that.


The Winick Factor

The entire plot is based around heroes fighting heroes while being totally oblivious to the villain's scheming until it is too late. Classic Winickian plotting.


The Bottom Line

Somehow manages to be even worse than the previous episode. Everyone is written as an idiot and completely out of character so that Black Siren can suddenly turn into some criminal mastermind despite never having been portrayed as that smart. More than likely she's in Diaz's employ and this is all part of is scheme but we''ll have another three episode of our heroes fighting each other in filler episodes before they reveal that.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 11 - We Fall

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




Plot

With Team Arrow split in two, Cayden James launches an attack on Star City's infrastructure. Though the hacking attacks are seemingly random, one directly places Oliver's son and a bus full of other children in danger, drawing Green Arrow and the rest of Star City's heroes out into the open.


Influences

The Green Arrow comics of Judd Winick. (Oliver Queen balancing being mayor and a superhero, a city under siege by super-villains storyline, the heroes being portrayed as dumber than the villains, reference to The Outsiders - a team he revitalized in the 2000s.)


Goofs

It appears to be awfully bright outside for almost 7:00 am in January for an American city (which would presumably be observing Daylight Savings Time) in the opening scene. (Sunrise usually doesn't come until around 7:45 am at this time of year in Seattle.)

Why aren't there any parent chaperones or teachers on the bus with William's class if they were going on a field trip? There should have been more adults than the bus driver.


Performances

Juliana Harkavy steals the show as Black Canary, once again. Another few episodes like this and I may think her a worthy successor to Caity Lotz.


Artistry

The new Spartan costume is a definite improvement on the old one.

The entirety of the fifth segment, with the fight choreography, the editing between Felicity's talk with William, the writing on Felicity's speech and whole scene as both teams (and Vigilante) fight to defend the safe zone.


Trivia

Dinah's Canary Cry is shown to be "more powerful than a locomotive" as she uses her voice to literally stop a train's velocity. This has become a standard metric of measuring the strength of super powers. It comes from the 1941 Superman radio show, which included the lines "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound" as part of its opening narration.

Curtis suggests that "New Team Arrow' call themselves The Outsiders. In The DC Comics Universe, The Outsiders is a superhero name that has been used by several different teams.

The first Outsiders team was formed by Batman following a falling-out with The Justice League over what the team's focus should be. Batman left the team, but it continued on without him for several years. The team included Black Lightning and Katana in its membership.

Years later, Dick "Nightwing" Grayson and Roy "Arsenal" Harper would form a new Outsiders in the wake of the collapse of The Titans and Young Justice. Judd Winick - the Green Arrow writer who wrote all the stories where Oliver Queen tried to continue being Green Arrow while serving as Mayor of Star City - also was responsible for the creation of the second Outsiders team. This team included Black Lightning's daughter Anissa, who fought crime under the codename Thunder.

In The New 52 reality, The Outsiders were a covert-ops branch of Bruce Wayne's Batman Inc.

In The New 52 Green Arrow comics, The Outsiders was also the name of a collective of clans based around various ancient weapons. The Queen family was tied to The Arrow Clan and the vigilante Katana's family was tied to The Sword Clan.

In The Rebirth reality, reference was also made in Dark Knights: Metal to The Outsiders being a team Batman established in secret to research the properties of various strange metals to The Multiverse.

When Curtis suggests the name Outsiders, Dinah says that she really liked that book. This is a reference to The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton - a classic coming-of-age young adult novel about gang violence.


Technobabble

One of the extra credit questions on William's prep sheet for his field trip involves a math problem about Hyperbolic Geometry in marine organisms like coral. Felicity says that it's a high-dimension math problem most people don't get until 12th Grade AP Math.

Vigilante is able to block New Team Arrow's communications system.

Vigilante uses the connection between Curtis' T-Sphere and his visor to send a message in Morse Code.


Dialogue Triumphs

(William is talking to Oliver and Felicity about his homework.)
William: Will you take a look at it?
Oliver: Yeah. Of course!
William: (sheepishly) I meant Felicity.
Oliver: (clearly disappointed) Sure you did. Yep.
William: I'm sorry. It's a math problem about Hyperbolic Geometry in marine organisms like coral.
Oliver: I do know what coral is. But that's okay.

(Dinah, Curtis and Rene are in their new base when Curtis' phone starts ringing. Curtis checks it.)
Curtis: It's Felicity.
Rene: She isn't bugging us again, is she?
Curtis: No.
(Rene and Dinah both look at Curtis skeptically.)
Curtis: ... I'll do a sweep.

Vigilante: I'm on your side. Cayden James is my target too. I'm undercover in his organization.
Mister Terrific: Do you think this 'T' on my face stands for gullible? (pauses) You know what I mean.

Oliver: What do you want?
Cayden James: I've already told you. Vengeance for my son. (He walks to the window overlooking the city.) I cared for him, protected him... loved him. Just as you do this city. But now... your city's entire infrastructure is under my control. Buildings. Institutions. Even people. All under my dominion.
Oliver: These are innocent people-
Cayden James: - and you can save then. (He places a piece of paper on the desk) By wiring $10 million into that off-shore account. No later than 11:30 tonight. (pauses) And every night. Until further notice.
Oliver: (barely maintaining control) That will bankrupt us!
Cayden James: Well, I certainly hope so. Please don't imagine I've gone through these lengths for money. No. This is for you. So that you'll suffer.
Oliver: I didn't kill your son.
Cayden James: Yes, you did. One year ago, this very day, right here in Star City. You missed your intended target, but your arrow found its way into my boy.
Oliver: Well, if you're seeking vengeance, if you want revenge... why haven't you just outed me as The Green Arrow?
Cayden James: If my understanding is correct, that's already been done.
Oliver: Star City will not negotiate with a terrorist!
Cayden James: Oh, spare me the political claptrap, Mr. Queen. By tonight that will sound hollow, even to you.

(Wild Dog and Mister Terrific are frantically pulling wires on the train controls trying to change the switches that are set to cause a collision. Black Canary is staring down the trains as they approach the intersection, clearly worried.) 
Wild Dog: Hey, what's Plan D?
Mister Terrific: There is no Plan D!
Wild Dog: What?!
Black Canary: Yes, there is!
(Black Canary stands in the middle of the train track, facing the oncoming train and lets loose with a Canary Cry.  The train begins to stop, eventually coming to a full stop right in front of her as the other train passes safely.)

Rene: Hey, man - New Team Arrow is kicking ass!
Curtis: You know what? I really have to say that I think we should change our name. What do you guys think about "The Outsiders"?
Dinah: Oooh. Ummm... I think it was a really awesome book?

(Felicity wants Oliver to talk to William right away about his broken promise.)
Oliver: Well, I've learned, several times, the hard way, that sometimes kids just want to be left alone. I know I have to talk to him. I'm just trying to respect that.
Felicity: Okay. And I might totally be projecting here, because my dad was a - you know - Super-villain Evil Hacktivist. He did a lot of things that I didn't like. Or approve of. And the way he chose to live his life? That's not the part that bugged me.
Oliver: Okay. What bugged you?
Felicity: The Lie.

(Wild Dog, Black Canary and Mister Terrific watch the crowd at the safe zone.) 
Wild Dog: Officers marching. Guns out. City under siege. It's like "Escape From Detroit"!
Mister Terrific: I don't know whether to correct you or to just embrace your attempt at referencing one of my favorite John Carpenter films.
Wild Dog: Huh?

Felicity: You know, I've loved your dad from the first time he brought me a bullet-ridden computer. Remind me to tell you about that one. That was a long time ago, which means I've loved him for a long time. Which means I've worried about him for a long time. And he... he hasn't always been truthful. He's lied. He's kept secrets. He's not perfect. This life... it's not ideal. But he makes his sacrifices so we have to make ours. I sometimes think to myself that's what makes this love deeper than other kinds of love. You know, it sounds cheesy, but... it does because we can't take things for granted. We have to live with the fear and the uncertainty that everything can be taken from us in an instant.
(As Felicity speaks, we see the two teams fighting Cayden James' men. As Wild Dog is taking down one man, he fails to see Sheck coming up behind him, aiming a gun at his head. Suddenly Vigilante, who is on the roof, shoots the man in the leg. He falls to the ground and looks up.)
Sheck: Traitor! (reaching for his dropped gun) I'm taking you to hell with-
(Vigilante shoots the man. Black Canary, who was fighting two thugs on the other side of the courtyard spins and sees this, smirking slightly as she sees Vigilante run off.)
Felicity: Because that's the price we pay for choosing the people that we love. Everything that he does, he does for a good reason. Or what he thinks is a good reason. You can worry about your dad, but you have to believe that he's going to be okay. Because that's the only way that this works. Okay?
William: Okay.


Continuity

William is practicing archery indoors with a toy archery set.

Oliver is hiding his return as Green Arrow from William.

William is going on a field trip to the Coastal Biology Center.

William has a Flash backpack.

Councilman Harold Grovner was the victim of the car hacking.

Six people were killed by Cayden James' cutting the power to the hospital.

Five people were killed by Cayden James' elevator hack.

One of the victims of the electrocuting elevator was Captain Frank Pike of the SCPD - Quentin Lance's former superior when Quentin was a Detective with the SCPD.

John refers to the bomb Cayden James stole in 607 and the amplifier he stole in 609.

Felicity refers to Cayden James taking over the port in 610.

Cayden James crashes a plane on State Street.

For the first time since 605, Curtis' T-Spheres are able to trace Vigilante's visor. Dinah immediately concludes this is meant to draw them into a trap.

Quentin and Thea take over running the SCPD and start setting up safe-zones around Star City.

Vigilante claims to be working with Cayden James to bring him down from the inside. He gives Curtis a tip on a future attack New Team Arrow might be able to stop where the Red Line and Yellow Line subways meet.

Star City has three councilmen named Gattis, McCaskill and Kullens.

Cayden James uses the alias Ben Gale to visit Oliver in his office.

Cayden James claims that The Green Arrow killed his son in Star City in January 2017. Oliver says this isn't possible since, on the day in question, he was in Hub City trying to recruit Dinah Drake (as seen in 511.)

Cayden James' son, Owen Post, was first mentioned in 607.

Felicity refers to the events of 604 and how Cayden James' actions there trying to break into The Internet Vault were a trick to set up the code that would let him hack Star City.

James' attacks are revealed to be blocking off all the ways in and out of the city.

Oliver had Cisco Ramon build John a new and improved Spartan costume.

Dinah is shown to have enough power and fine control of her Canary Cry that she can use it to stop a train without damaging it.

William learns that Oliver has become Green Arrow again.

Dinah learns where Curtis got the intel about stopping the train collision. She refuses to work with Vigilante. Rene says they need his help.

Alena says that Cayden James got a package from Corto Maltese in May 2017 which she thinks had a USB with fake evidence that Green Arrow killed Cayden James' son.

Felicity refers to Oliver bringing her a computer full of bullet holes in 103.

Vigilante kills Sheck before he can kill Wild Dog.

Dinah approaches Vigilante after he saves Rene's life. He asks where they stand now but the scene ends before she answers.

William says he understands why Oliver has to be Green Arrow now but that he isn't scared because he has Felicity as a step-mom now.

Alena is unable to find any record of the USB drive being used in a computer in Corto Maltese.

The episode ends with Oliver instructing Thea to wire the money to Cayden James' account.


Untelevised Adventures

Felicity makes reference to a Cayden James taking control of a crane when listing "hack-cidents" that are happening around Star City to John.

Off-camera, Felicity does what she assures Oliver was some very cool and exciting hacking to track the package containing the USB that she thinks holds the fake evidence that Oliver killed Cayden James' son.


The Bottom Line

A fantastic episode, which does much to take the taint off of the previous two episodes, if only because we have an explanation for why Vigilante has been working with Cayden James all this time. The episode also does a lot to make William into more of a character than a plot device, at least up until the end with his dickish remark about how Ollie can be Green Arrow because if he dies William will have Felicity to take care of him. Then again, that kind of thoughtless remark is proof that he is Ollie's son if nothing else does.

Strangely enough, the best bits of the episode involve New Team Arrow (who I am totally hip to being called The Outsiders) and Black Canary. If nothing else, I like that I'm still not sure where things are going with the Black Canary/Vigilante relationship and that sense of surprise is something novel that this series has lacked for a long time. It may be a coincidence that this episode is completely free of Black Siren and seems like the best episode in some time, but I doubt it.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 6, Episode 10 - Divided

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




Plot

Team Arrow has been broken in two, but Oliver remains convinced that he can tackle Cayden James with only Diggle and Feliicty backing him up. Still, he does concede he could use some help, turning to a most surprising ally as he discovers one of Cayden's secrets.

Meanwhile, as Wild Dog, Mister Terrific and Black Canary decide to start their own team to save Star City independent of Green Arrow, Dinah tries to reacquaint herself with her old partner, Vincent "Vigilante" Sobel, not knowing that he's part of Cayden James' new team!


Influences

The Judd Winick run of Green Arrow (Oliver Queen balancing being mayor and Green Arrow, the heroes being complete idiots while the villains get away with everything.)


Goofs

Dinah does have a point - why doesn't Rene lock his apartment door, apart from the reason that nobody on TV ever locking their outside doors?

Cayden James refers to it being evening, yet daylight is clearly visible streaming in through the windows and doors of the warehouse where he confronts Jerry Bertinelli.

Thea's 180 on the possibility of Black Siren being redeemed comes out of nowhere, suggesting a scene was cut for time in this episode.


Performances

I've missed the scenes of Willa Holland and Paul Blackthorne playing opposite each other and the scenes here where we see Quentin torturing himself with thoughts of trying to save Black Siren while Thea reminds him to think of the other daughter he still has (i.e. Sara) while affirming that she's come to view Quentin as a second father is the emotional high-point of the episode.


Artistry

There's some fantastic lighting in the ARGUS scenes.

The sequence of Green Arrow taking on Ricardo Diaz and his men is a fantastic blend of stunt-work and camera-work.


Trivia

In the episode's opening scene, we see Black Siren incapacitate Jerry Bertinelli with a "blown kiss"- a small shockwave that barely makes any noise which knocks him down and only stuns him. In the classic comics, Black Canary had such fine control of her powers that she could pulverize an ivory billiard ball without disturbing the hand that held it. This is the most control we've seen from Black Siren in the series to date.

Oliver goes to investigate a security system failure at 74th and Jansen.  This may be a nod to Master Jansen - the Buddhist monk and martial arts instructor whose Ashram Oliver Queen briefly stayed at on two occasions in the comics.

Jerry Bertinelli asks Green Arrow if he ever thought of getting a big signal in the sky that people could use to call him. This is a nod to The Bat-Signal, which is famously used in the Batman comics for Commissioner Gordon to call Batman if he needs his help.

While it is less famous than The Bat-Signal, the Star City police in the comics did use an Arrow-Signal to call for Green Arrow on several occasions. It was also referred to as "The Arrow Flare".

The license plates in whatever state Star City is located are stamped with the motto "Land of Mist". This could be a clever nod to Washington State, which is famous for its humid weather.

The Land of Mist is also the name of a science-fiction/fantasy novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his scientist hero, Professor Challenger.

Felicity makes reference to a Star City neighborhood called Adams Heights. This is likely a nod to Neal Adams - the artist who designed Green Arrow's Bronze Age "Robin Hood" style costume and illustrated most of the famous Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic that redefined Green Arrow as a modern day Robin Hood.

The unnamed associate of Cayden James' from 609 played by actor Tobias Jelinek is identified by the name Mr. Sheck. He is still identified on the IMDB page for the series as "Boots".


Technobabble

Curtis inserts the latest chip to correct John's nerve damage under the radial carpal.

Some kind of electromagnetic frequency interference from Cayden James' bug in The Arrowcave creates an echo that Felicity, John and Curtis notice, leading to its discovery.

Oliver makes use of a new trick arrow - The Garrote Arrow - to disable Black Siren. In actually, The Garrote Arrow is two arrows connected by a high-tension line. Shot simultaneously and anchored to a point, the wire between the arrows "locks" constraining whatever is between the two arrows... like the neck of a woman with a sonic scream.

Oliver also makes use of some kind of electric arrow to disable one of Cayden James' T-spheres. This causes a chain reaction that disables the other two T-spheres James has made.

Felicity reworks the T-spheres so they can be controlled remotely from a laptop. This enables John to help Oliver in the fight against Ricardo Diaz, by deploying the T-spheres as a flying taser.


Dialogue Triumphs

Dinah: You know, anybody in this office could arrest you. Hell, I could arrest you.
Vince: For what? I'm a Central City Police Officer. The only rap on me is that I am presumed dead. (pauses) Then again, I was, an undercover, so that death is probably bogus.
Dinah: The Vigilante put the fear of God into these guys.
Vince: At least The Vigilante isn't killing them.
Dinah: (smirking) Most guys just send flowers.

Green Arrow: Do you really think that I'm going to help you win a turf war?
Jerry Bertinelli: Well, I think you're the enemy of my enemy. Which makes us allies.

John: So we're getting in bed with The Betinellis, now?
Felicity: I remember the last time you got in bed with one of the Bertinellis. It did not work out well.
(Oliver just gives her a withering glare. Felicity is nonplussed.) 
Felicity: I have a long memory for these sort of things. Call me crazy.

(Cayden James stands up as Green Arrow stares him down.)
Cayden James: You've taught yourself some new tricks.
Green Arrow: No more games. (To Felicity) Overwatch, I have the target.
(Cut to John and Felicity, who are watching from ARGUS.)
John: (looking at Felicity's monitor) That's a whole lot of bad news.
Felicity: Arrow, you're about to get some company!
(There is a sound of reverb and static feedback as Felicity grabs her ear-piece, wincing.)
(Cut back to Green Arrow, still staring James down but looking a bit more unsure.)
Green Arrow: Overwatch, do you copy?
Cayden James: I'm afraid Miss Smoak can't hear you. You see, I also have some tricks, Mr. Queen. And I have friends.
(Anatoly enters the room behind Oliver with several of his Bratva.)
Anatoly: Hello Kapiushon. How were your holidays?
(From the other side of the warehouse, Ricardo Diaz enters with his men.)
Diaz: Funny you should mention that.
(Diaz pulls a knife and cuts Black Siren free of the garrote arrow.)
Diaz: Looks like we're getting a late Christmas present.
(A gun cocks behind Green Arrow, he turns and sees Vigilante on a scaffold overlooking the room.)
Green Arrow: I thought you only targeted criminals?
Vigilante: I thought you'd know vigilantes are criminals, Mr. Mayor.
Cayden James: You'll find that I don't play games, Mr. Queen. But I do win.
Black Siren: Enough! I am so sick of everyone not killing him when they have the chance!
(While everyone is focused on Siren, Green Arrow pulls his bow and shoots a Zip-Line Arrow across the room. He is propelled up and away as the gang fire their guns at him, futility.)

(Quentin is telling Thea about how Black Siren spared him a month earlier.)
Thea: Look, I mean, everyone - even Ra's Al Gul - had moments of kindness.
Quentin: Yeah.
Thea: Look, I'm not saying that this Laurel is that bad, but...
Quentin: I just can't stop thinking that if I abandon her, if I write her off as some kind of psycho... I dunno, it... It sounds crazy but if there is just some way to get through to her and I don't take it... it's gonna be like watching her die all over again.
Thea: You're like a father to me, you know that?
(Quentin shrugs, looking embarrassed.)
Thea: If you go down this road, Quentin, you could end up getting killed. Even if you don't care what happens to you, don't forget that you've got your other daughter.

(John runs to a computer opposite Felicity's work station.)
John: Send in the cavalry!
(Felicity begins typing away. At the battle site, a T-sphere flies into the fight, shocking Diaz's men.)
(Cut back to ARGUS, where we see that John is controlling the T-sphere from his computer.)
Felicity: So... how does this compare to Halo?
John: So. Much. Better.

(Green Arrow has just escaped the ambush after being double-crossed by Jerry Bertinelli)
Cayden James: Mr. Bertinelli...
Jerry Bertinelli: All right! All right! Just take the freaking port!
Cayden James: Thank you. Although you elected to betray me this evening, you ultimately made the right choice.
(One of James' men raises a gun to Jerry Bertinelli's head. We cut away as there's a volley of shots and Jerry Bertinelli's body hits the floor. Cayden James leans over to it and nods.)
Cayden James: Which is why I won't have your daughter killed.


Continuity

The episode opens in the office of Jerry Bertinelli - current head of the Bertinelli crime family. He was the nephew of Frank Bertinelli and cousin of Helena and Pino Bertinelli. He is the only member of the crime family who is not in jail or dead.

Jerry decides to name his new ship "The Huntress" after his cousin. This is a reference to Helena Bertinelli, who was last seen on the show in 217.

Helena did appear in the Arrow: Season 2.5, where she made her peace with Oliver Queen and it was suggested that she was going to be recruited to Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad.

Jerry Bertinelli has a daughter attending Columbia University.

As this episode starts, Felicity has just pulled 21 consecutive all-nighters trying to find Cayden James and Black Siren.

The latest microchip Curtis and Felicity developed to treat John's nerve damage costs 2.24 million dollars. This is their second attempt at fixing John electronically.

Quentin has fired Rene as his assistant.

Quentin rehires Thea as Chief of Staff for the Mayor's office.

The second chip fails.

John plays Halo. Felicity says she always imagined him as a Call of Duty fan.

Vigilante scared five wanted criminals into turning themselves in.

Oliver refers to the prototype T-sphere that was stolen from The Bunker by Black Siren in 601.

Felicity discovers the bug that was planted in The Bunker in 601.

According to Jerry Bertinelli, Huntress is "underground". This suggests that Helena got out of prison sometime since her last official appearance in 217.

Jerry Bertinelli asks Green Arrow to help him fight Cayden James' takeover of his docks.

Felicity refers to the events of 107 & 108 and Oliver's relationship with Helena Bertinelli.

The license plates in whatever state Star City is located are stamped with the motto "Land of Mist".

The Star City Zoo has a new reptile house with a Komodo dragon.

Rene has not told Zoe that he's lost his job.

The case against Oliver Queen being Green Arrow has been moved from the FBI to the Star City DA'ss office.

Curtis agrees to hack the DA's office files to delete any evidence they have that Rene is Wild Dog.

Dinah stopped being Black Canary several weeks earlier.

Thea says that she isn't ready to return as Speedy yet, but she intends to help Oliver as soon as she can.

The unnamed associate of Cayden James' from 609 played by actor Tobias Jelinek is identified by the name Mr. Sheck. He is still identified on the IMDB page as "Boots".

Oliver points out that Cayden James has known their identities for months yet done nothing with that knowledge and that they have no idea what his plans are.

The Red Lions are a Chechnyan death squad.

Jerry Bertinelli is killed.

Felicity's mother made her watch the movie Bull Durham over and over. Despite this, Felicity agrees it is the best baseball movie ever made.

Curtis, Dinah and Rene reject Oliver's attempt at reconciliation and move forward with their plans to make their own team of heroes.

Curtis gives John the third version of his reworked chip. It works, giving John full mobility with his arms again.

Thea gives Quentin copies of several pictures she had of Laurel for his photo album.

Thea offers to help Quentin with his plan to try and redeem Black Siren, though neither of them have any idea how they're going to do it.

Curtis builds a new lair for himself, Rene and Dinah into the old Helix hideout.

Cayden James is now aware that Dinah is aware of the link between Vigilante and himself.


Untelevised Adventures

Dinah refers to a nightmare stakeout that she once endured in Central City in a car with a broken heater in freezing weather.


The Fridge Factor

Dinah's confronting Vigilante without police back-up seems incredibly short-sighted on her part, to say nothing of being a violation of standard police protocol. As she points out later, this also outs the fact that Team Arrow is onto Cayden James's bug to the bad guys.

Averted in the case of Black Siren, who shows far greater control of her powers in the opening scene than she ever showed before.


The Winick Factor

The only way for the current chain of events in the series to work is for all of the heroes to hold petty grudges and forget about the power of working together, as the villains - all of whom have wildly different goals and methodologies - put aside their differences for a common goal.

This is especially nonsensical in the case of Vigilante, a killer of criminals who is now working with Russian gangsters, drug dealers, a psychotic metahuman and a criminal mastermind hacker... for reasons.


The Bottom Line

The only reason this episode works at all is that the ensemble cast do a fantastic job of selling the reality of their scenes even though the logic of it doesn't hold up at all. And granting that grudges are inherently illogical, the alliance of villains is still utterly nonsensical. Throw in the fact that Dinah is set to take the blame for the biggest failure on the part of the heroes, Black Siren is suddenly being built up to be far more capable than she ever was before yet still is capable of redemption despite being a psychotic lunatic who is somehow being held back by Cayden James... somehow....

Overall, Season Six is fast on the way to beating out Season Four as the worst season of the series and I'm starting to think cancellation might not be a bad thing.