SPOILER ALERT! (stop reading if you don’t want to know what happens in this episode)
After what seems like the longest break ever (not really) we’re finally back and we get some answers… very few answers. Is Oliver alive? What’s the deal with Team Arrow? It’s all in the recap below!
Oliver and Maseo are with Amanda who’s upset about them taking a hostage. They want to find Tatsu and think she might be wherever the Omega is. She tells them that they need to recover the Alpha first and put Tatsu on the back burner. Oliver and Maseo are trying to break into the building where the Alpha is. Oliver glides down on a rope while Maseo shoots a hole in the window but when Oliver hits it, it doesn’t break. After kicking into it multiple times he finally breaks through and recovers the Alpha and Maseo and backup run in but they attacked by gun fire. Oliver lets one of the guys escape and they return to give Amanda the Alpha. Maseo is upset that Oliver let the guy escape but he tells him that he put a tracer in his pocket so he’ll lead them to wherever Tatsu is. Maseo tells him that he will forever owe him.
Meanwhile in Starling City
We start off in Starling City during an intense car chase between the police and a van of two guys. Roy rides up on the scene on Oliver’s motorcycle and Diggle is in Oliver’s suit. Together they catch one of the guys while one gets away. Back at the lair they’ve been tracking Olivier for but nothing is showing up.
Felicity walks in on Ray working on his suit and she tells him that she thinks he should reconsider trying to go out and fight. She doesn’t want anything to happen to him. He tells her not to worry, they’re not even at that point yet. Back at he lair, Felicity is trying to track down the guy who got away. She gets a lead and Roy goes to track it. Diggle tries to talk to Felicity because he doesn’t believe she’s preparing herself for the worse. She tells him that she has to believe that Oliver survived and he tells her that he went up against one of the greatest assassins of all time so there is a possibility that things didn’t go Oliver’s way.
We’re introduced to Brick brutally beats the guy who got away from Roy and Diggle during the chase for shooting at a cop. We cut to Laurel who overhears Fisher’s (the one who was arrested) lawyer telling someone on the phone he didn’t flip after she had the judge deny his bail. At Thea’s apartment, she’s training with Malcolm and she lets him know that she’s worried about Oliver because she hasn’t heard from him in awhile. He tells her he’ll have some of his old associates look into it.
Oliver is…?
Laurel tells Felicity about the lawyer’s call and she tracks it back to Brick and figures out it he called someone’s burner phone. Roy and Diggle go to the warehouse where they find the burned burner phones and some partially burned papers. They return to the lair so Felicity can check into it but they notice that someone has broken in. They run in and find Malcolm Merlyn who wants to know if Oliver is still alive. He tells them that if they haven’t heard from him by now he’s probably dead and Ra’s al Ghul does not take prisoners.
Felicity decides to continue with the task at hand since Malcolm didn’t tell them anything that they didn’t already know. Laurel shows up with information on the case and asks where Oliver is. They tell her that he left to fight Ra’s al Ghul and Malcolm told them that there’s a chance he’s dead. She tells them not to trust anything he says and that she’s been told he was dead before but he came back and he’ll comeback again.
Malcolm returns and shows them the sword he recovered from the cliff covered in blood. He tells them that it’s Ra’s custom to leave the weapon behind of his victims as a sign of their death. He tells them that Oliver fell into a ravine and his body is unrecoverable. They doubt he’s telling the truth so he tells them to test it to prove it’s Oliver’s blood. Felicity attacks Malcolm and tells him that he killed Oliver because he setup Thea. Malcolm tells them that he’s truly sorry but Diggle tells him to cut the crap. Malcolm explains to them that now that Oliver is dead that means he will die soon too because Oliver being alive meant he was safe from the League.
Diggle, Felicity and Roy are sitting in silence when the blood analysis comes back and tells them that the blood belongs to Oliver. Upset, Felicity leaves telling them she has to go to work assuring Diggle she’s fine. Roy is sitting in the club drinking when Thea walks in and asks him if he’s okay. He tells her that he’s heard bad news about a friend and she tells him that she’s just freaking out about Oliver. She asks him if he could ask the Arrow to look for Oliver since she knows that he’s the one who’s been riding around with him in the red hood.
Roy goes back downstairs and tells Diggle what Thea told him. Roy asks him why he’s still going over the case and he tells him that it keeps his mind off of Oliver. Roy thinks it’s different now that they’re doing this without Oliver instead of waiting for him to return. Diggle tells him that the case just seems familiar and looks at the numbers and connects them to cases associated with various inmates. He tries to call Felicity at work but she keeps ignoring him.
Ray walks in to check on her progress with the suit and she tells him that his plan won’t work and it won’t bring his fiance Hannah back. She gets more upset and tells him that when someone is gone they’re gone and you can’t get them back. He interrupts her and tells her not to tell him what Hannah would’ve wanted and she apologizes and tells him she needs to go. As she’s leaving she answer’s Diggle’s call and he tells her what they’ve found and it’s everything Oliver had been working for.
Brick and his guys breakan evidence room to steal the boxes of evidence connected to the cases Diggle found but Roy and Diggle interrupt them and it turns into a shootout. Detective Lance arrives with backup. Diggle runs out of ammunition and is hit on the back of the head by Brick who tells him he can use his gun if he can take him down. Diggle grabs the gun and shoots at his head grazing him. Brick runs at him and they go hit for hit. Roy is asking Felicity where Diggle is but she’s in shock watching the fight. Roy finds him and shoots Brick with an arrow knocking him off. They try to find him but he gets in the truck and escapes before they can get to him.
Disbandment
They return to the lair and find out that Felicity let Brick escape. She tells them that she did it for them to protect them. Diggle and Roy are upset but she tells them that she didn’t want to see her friends die. Diggle tells her that if they’re going to do this without Oliver they’re going to have stick together but she tells them that there is no this without Oliver and that she’s done.
Felicity returns to the office to apologize to Ray. She tells him that she just lost a friend on top of the one she lost three months ago. She tells him that if he wants to go out there and commit suicide she won’t stop him but she can’t help him. Laurel is at the lair and Diggle tells her that Oliver is not coming back, he’s gone for good. She asks him if he’s coming back and he tells her that for the first time since he met Oliver he doesn’t know what to do– that he still remembers himself as his bodyguard but he couldn’t protect him.
He leaves and Laurel sees the Black Canary costume and gets a look of determination. Thea returns to her apartment to find Malcolm there and he tells her that they need to leave Starling City and never return because they’re in danger. Brick meets with his team or guys and tells them that he now has evidence to hold over their heads if they try turn against him. After the meeting, as two of the guys are leaving, they come face to face with Laurel– or uh Black Canary, who attacks them.
Throughout the episode we see someone first show up where Oliver fell off the mountain and then carries him to an unidentified location. We finally arrive to a cave/house and we see it’s Maseo who saved him. He knocks on the door and tells the person that he needs their help. We see Oliver bandaged up and breathing, he opens his eyes and sees Tatsu. He asks how he got there and Maseo talks and tells him that he brought him to her so that she could bring him back to life.
Some takeaways…
– So Oliver is alive… I mean, who didn’t see that one coming? There was a lot of speculation that he would be brought back through the Lazarus Pit and then Stephen Amell himself came out and said that’s not how Oliver would return. What we do know is Tatsu is alive in the present and that she brought him back with probably some kind of mixture of herbs/medicine/mixtures.
– We’ve all ripped Laurel to shreds but I have to say, after seeing her in a little bit of action as Black Canary and then in the previews for the next episode– I’m kind excited to see how this comes about.
– y’all know I am Roy’s biggest hype-woman so I’m beyond ecstatic to see him kicking some actual but. He was taking a lot of L’s during the first half of the season and I know he’s going to bring it especially during this three episode arc while Oliver is away. I’m so excited about the rest of this season!
What did you think of the winter premiere? Let me know your thoughts and theories in the comments!
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