This week’s episode of Arrow erupted back into the realm of good storytelling. Slade Wilson begins his assault on all things Oliver Queen and Ollie truly is beaten at every step. And things are only going to get worse. With the last scene setting up some interesting scenarios, my new biggest gripe about the show (It’s Caty Lotz, if you haven’t picked that up) may be coming to an end, and a much-needed reconciliation between the comics and the TV series may be in the works.
1. What is it?
Arrow Season 2, Episode #218, titled ‘Deathstroke.’
2. Who’s in it?
Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen/Arrow; Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance; David Ramsey as John Diggle; Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak; Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson; Willa Holland as Thea Queen; Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen; Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance; Caity Lotz as Sara; Summer Glau as Isabel Rochev; Keving Alejandro as Sebastian Blood; Dylan Neal as Anthony Ivo; Artine Brown as Hendrick; David Nykl as Anatoly Knyazev; Adrain Holmes as Lt. Frank Pike; Sean Rogerson as Peter; and Celina Jade as Shado.
3. Who made it?
Deathstroke was written by Mark Guggenheim & Drew Z. Greenberg. The episode was directed by Guy Bee.
4. What is it about? (**spoilers galore**)
Deathstroke picks up at the end of last week’s episode with Thea (Holland) riding with Slade Wilson (Bennett) in his car. They have a conversation and then the car stops. Thea realizes that it isn’t at her house and Slade demands that she get out of the car.
She does and runs away, only to land in the arms of Brother Blood (Alejandro).
At the Arrow Cave, Diggle (Ramsey) is reading a news story that Iron Heights Prison is about to re-open the damaged wing. Roy (Haynes) is practicing with a bow (Yes!) and he is lamenting about breaking it off with Thea.
Felicity (Rickards) reminds Ollie that he has a board meeting at Queen Consolidated, and he says that he doesn’t have time to worry about the company with Slade on the loose. Felicity talks him into keeping up his professional appearances.
At Queen Consolidated, Ollie finds Isabel Rochev (Glau) in the conference room, and she tells him that she schedules all meeting early so he won’t be late. She advises him that the annual board vote is very important and he needed to be there. Moira (Thompson) visits and mentions that Thea has not been heard from, and the mayoral debate is being held that night.
At the debate, Sebastian Blood and Laurel (Cassidy) have a brief moment, and as the debate starts, the first question is from a kidnapped Thea, who is beamed into the debate hall via CCTV and Ollie (and the world) sees that a masked man has her tied to a chair. Ollie recognizes the man as Deathstroke.
Roy and Diggle meet up with the rest of Team Arrow in the public guises at QC, and Lt. Pike (Holmes) tells Moira that there have been no demands. Blood suspends his campaign and the SCPD begins their search.
Isabel tells Ollie that he has to make his board vote within 24 hours, and Ollie, obviously distracted, signs over his CEO-ship to Rochev on a temporary basis.
At the Arrow Cave, Felicity has tracked Slade’s car to an abandoned apartment house and Sara (Lotz) gives Ollie poison tipped arrows to take Slade down.
Arrow and Roy find Slade waiting and Arrow puts a poisoned arrow in his chest. He tells Roy to call Lance (Blackthorne) to come apprehend Wilson.
With Slade in custody at SCPD, Lance and Sara have a moment and Lt. Pike reveals that Wilson has an alibi and Pike accuses Quentin of working with the Arrow. Ollie sneaks into the interrogation room to confront Slade. Slade tells him how he got off the island (he swam) and the two ex-friends have a conversation about Shado and the events of the island. Ollie tells Slade to leave his family out of it and he begs–BEGS–Slade to tell him where Thea is. Lt. Pike comes in just as Slade is about to reveal her location. Pike releases Slade and Ollie watches as the man who took his sister walks free.
Once out of jail, Team Arrow try to follow Slade, but he slips their coverage. Slade goes to the warehouse where he’s keeping Thea, and he lets her go, but he tells her before she leaves that he has a secret about her brother. Thea decides to stay a bit longer.
Back at the Arrow Cave, Roy goes off on Ollie’s decision making, as he blames Oliver for everything that has happened, and decides that he no longer wants to be part of Team Arrow.
At Stately Queen Manor, Oliver and Moira have a moment together and they reconcile, but only because of Thea’s kidnapping. Moira admits she was wrong, and Oliver tells her that it’s not her fault.
Oliver goes to back to the Arrow Cave, only to learn that Queen Consolidated just changed CEOs permanently. He rushes to QC and confronts Rochev, who admits that this was all part of the plan and that she is working with Slade to break Oliver Queen. She and Ollie fight and Ollie threatens to kill her if she doesn’t tell him where Thea is. She gives up the location, and informs him that all of this has been planned out–and she tells him to go alone or Slade will gut Thea “like a trout.”
Team Arrow tries to help Ollie and he refuses. Felicity is the only one who has his back when it really counts. Arrow hits the warehouse and disarms–and presumably kills–a bunch of armed guards.
On a dark road, a bus full of prisoners bound for the re-opened Iron Heights Prison is hijacked by Deathstroke. The prisoners are then recruited into Deathstrokes’s army.
At the warehouse, Arrow finds an empty chair as Felicity calls to tell him that Thea just walked into SCPD safe and sound.
Ollie and Moira meet at the police station and Thea tells them that she knows the secret: she is Malcolm’s daughter. She is not happy, and she blames Ollie for not telling her.
Thea and Roy speed out of Starling City, and Quentin Lance is arrested for aiding and abetting the vigilante. Moira gets a huge sympathy push and leaps ahead in the polls, which upsets Sebastian Blood. Isabel Rochev dedicates QC’s Applied Sciences division to creating a serum based off of Slade’s blood sample.
With Team Arrow in near shambles, Ollie and Diggle and Felicity realize that Slade has the upper hand and Ollie admits that he cannot stop him. Digg and Felicity tell him that he’s not alone and Ollie says that now they fight back.
The episode ends with Laurel, at home in the unsafest apartment in Starling City, is visited by Slade Wilson, who tells her that Oliver Queen is the Arrow.
On the island, Sara, Peter (Rogerson) and Anatoly (Nykl) debate using Hendrick, with Peter arguing that it is a death sentence. Sara will not be deterred, no matter the cost. She and Anatoly devise a plan to rig Hendrick (Brown) with a Japanese mine to kill Slade once the exchange for Ollie happens. When Slade shows up with a beaten Ollie for the trade off, he can smell the TNT, due to heightened senses from the Mirakuru, and he disarms the unconscious Hendrick.
Upset at the ruse, he swears that each member of Team…well, whatever they are called now, will suffer and die on that island, and his last promise is to make Oliver’s family pay once Slade takes the Amazo to freedom. Oh, and Ivo (Bruce) is given up as part of the exchange, so he’s now part of Team Island of Misfit Heroes (that works!).
The big revelation here is that Shado’s (Jade) ghost is telling Slade what to do–word for word–which is obviously his Mirakuru-addled mind playing tricks on him. This actually helps me understand why his reaction is so over the top in regards to Ollie’s “choice” with Ivo. I hope the writers can get themselves out of this corner sooner rather than later.
5. Any revelations, tie-ins, easter eggs, etc.? (**SPOILER!**)
Not really, other than a Brittany Snow sighting.
6. Will we watch next week?
Arrow takes a week off, but promises to continue the Deathstroke storyline in the next installment. Roy and Thea are gone. Oliver Queen has been ousted from his family’s company, and now Laurel knows his greatest secret. Slade made a promise, and, unfortunately for Ollie, it looks like he’s the kind of guy who makes good on his word. See you all in two weeks.
