This should go without saying but let’s talk about it anyway: Team Arrow is totally lost without Oliver. Oliver has been missing for three days and try as they might, they can not seem to operate with the efficiency they had previously. The image of Diggle dressed up as “Blarrow” once again was a nice touch, but his work with a bow leaves much to be desired (by his own admission and Roy’s, “what the hell?” look on his face as one of the criminals they were chasing got away). Diggle and Roy have braced themselves for the worst, but Felicity is still holding out hope. She is burying herself in as much work as possible to distract herself from the inevitable conclusion.
Malcolm Merlyn makes an appearance in the “Arrow” cave after Thea tells him she is concerned about Oliver and the fact that he is not responding to her calls or text. Initially it seems as if Merlyn may actually be concerned with how Thea is feeling, but in actuality all he cares about is if Oliver managed to kill the Demon’s Head, Ra’s al Ghul. You have to keep in mind Merlyn orchestrated this whole ordeal in the hopes of escaping the death sentence he has been given by the League. One take away from this is that Merlyn must hold Oliver fighting skills in high regard to try to use him as an instrument to kill Ra’s. If Merlyn didn’t think Oliver could win, there would be no real point in sending Oliver to his death. They are not direct enemies at this point and any harm coming to Oliver would destroy Thea.
In the midst of all of this, Thea reveals to Roy that she knows he is the guy in the red hood that has been seen with The Arrow. She asks him to ask The Arrow to help her search for him. This seemed like a throw away scene, but it could become a major plot point moving forward. What happens when Thea finally finds out who Oliver really is? How will the fact that Roy has been hiding this from her from the start affect their already nearly broken relationship?
Career bad guy Vinnie Jones joined the cast to portray long time Green Arrow villain Brick. For a show grounded in reality, it was hard to imagine how they would handle a character that is about seven feet tall, red, and made of a substance harder than stone. The writers basically threw their papers in the air, said yolo and made Brick a regular guy… That is somehow impervious to bullets… kind of. Execution aside, Brick’s plan here was reminiscent of something his comic book counterpart would do: steal the evidence on a ton of criminals to insure their release from police custody then blackmail them into being members of your gang. It is a simple plan, but quite brilliant.
In flashback we see Oliver and Maseo on a mission for Amanda Waller, which is par for the course as far as the flashbacks go this season. At this point it’s hard not to wonder if leaving them out for an episode or two would really hurt the flow of the show.
After Merlyn reveals to Team Arrow that Oliver is dead (he even brings proof of it) Felicity has a meltdown. Laurel refuses to believe it, even with the proof. She remarks that she has been told Oliver was dead before. Felicity takes out her frustration on Ray Palmer as he is still trying to get her to help him with his A.T.O.M. exosuit. It is becoming difficult to tell where the relationship between Ray and Felicity is heading. If it’s one thing we all know is that when it comes to romance and Felicity, it is destine to go bad.
Oliver’s body is taken from the mountain peak it fell to after being run through by Ra’s. Maseo swore a blood oath to Oliver for helping him save his wife so naturally felt obligated to try to save him after he was turned into a human shish kebab. Miraculously, Oliver is not dead, after being worked on by Maseo’s wife Tetsu. Finally the point of all of the team building exercise flashbacks has been revealed; in the end it was all a set up for Oliver’s resurrection.
In the end, Brick gets away with all of the evidence and Felicity quits. In what was one of the biggest nerdgasmic moments in the show’s history, Laurel steals Canary’s gear from the Arrow cave and kicks some bad guy butt to close the show. This wasn’t the first time she tried to be a hero, but this time it actually worked out in her favor. It was obvious that at some point Laurel would become Black Canary, but she hasn’t been training long enough to be an effective hero. How is she going to make up for that? At this point, Thea could probably kick her butt. Will Laurel somehow end up in Nanda Parbat for training? The writers are going to have to do something to make up for Laurel’s lack of skill.
Episode Rating: 8.3 out of 10
