This week on The CW’s Arrow, Oliver was subject to the unexpected perils of Level Two, while Felicity and Dinah each found themselves forming surprising alliances. Meanwhile in the future, Roy and William returned to Star City — for better or for worse.
THE SINS OF THE FATHER
In perhaps the least compelling part of the episode, Oliver arrived on Slabside’s ominous Level Two, only to not meet Demon but instead be subject to the psychobabble of a Dr. Jarrett Parker. In a series of scenes that to me covered much of the same ground as his torturing by Prometheus, Oliver was pressed to revisit that moment that the playboy billionaire became Green Arrow. Hearing the story of what happened on the raft after the Queen’s Gambit‘s sinking, Parker argued that Oliver was not saved by his father’s dying words but condemned — and that he in turn may commit William to a murderous life. Parker eventually uses “the machine” (a table with wires!) to make Oliver envision him and William on the raft instead. And what would Oliver tell his own son in that sitch? “You’re gonna get off this raft and have an amazing life, destined for great things…. Forget about me and go live your life.” Finally and seemingly “cracked,” Oliver says what Parker has been wanting to hear: “My name is Inmate 4587.”
BLONDE LEADING THE BLONDE
In the boiler room where Rene chained up Silencer, Felicity was warned by the Longbow Hunter that Diaz is only getting stronger (literally true!), and the good guys have “no idea what’s coming.” With Rene unwilling to cross the line into torture, Felicity recruits Laurel to do the heavy, brutal lifting. Alas, Silencer keeps mum even when faced with Laurel’s particular set of skills. Laurel counsels Felicity not to employ worse tactics, saying that she wishes someone had stopped her back on Earth-Two before she got the first blood on her hands. Encouraged to use her big brain, Felicity sets up Silencer to “escape,” though with a tracker on her. Laurel commends her unlikely ally, noting that on Earth-Two, everybody knows Felicity… as the ruthless leader of a business empire.
ALL FIRED UP
As Rene tried to help police captain Dinah reach out to the overlooked and underserved Glades community, they crossed paths with a serial arsonist who lit up Zoe’s school — though the new Green Arrow arrived in time to save Rene’s daughter. Later, Rene purposely stopped Dinah from getting the drop on this Green Arrow, owing the vigilante a solid. The two NTA alumni quarreled about their current ideologies (as well as Mayor Pollard’s anti-vigilante priorities), though they teamed up in the end — with a big assist from Green Arrow — to capture the arsonist and his sidekick. After she and Rene established a new, informal partnership, Dinah paid Zoe a visit, gifting her with a … canary pin. Hmmmm….
AFTER THE FALL
In the future, Roy and grown William arrived in Star City to find it in shambles. Even Smoak Tech is vacant and dilapidated. William manages to crack open a high-tech safe in the wall, just as vigilante-hunting cops arrive on the scene. They get KO’d by an older (but still smokin’) Dinah, who explains that “Star City fell when the Glades rose” up and erected a wall around itself, using SCPD to keep outsiders at bay. Just as William triggers a holographic map of the Glades (including secret access points), another Black Canary shows up, and it’s… grown-up Zoe (played by East Los High‘s Andrea Sixtos). When Dinah asks what led the fellas to Star City, William claims that Felicity put them on this path. Startled, Dinah reports, “I’m so sorry to tell you this – Felicity Smoak is dead.”
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