Arrow Recap: Birthday Oh Boy!
This week on The CW’s Arrow, the stage was set for quite a rumble in the jungle.
Fresh off throwing Adrian Chase into an A.R.G.U.S. cell, Team Arrow felt a wave of relief — enough so that they assembled at the loft to throw Oliver a surprise birthday party, share plans for their “summer vacation” (including fishing, camping, new socks) and, for Oliver and Felicity, agree to take some baby steps in the direction of a rekindled romance.
But the revelry didn’t last long. Rather, Curtis on his way home got KO’d and went missing after investigating a break-in at Dinah’s (and this is on the heels of Rene’s own vanishing act). Oliver gleaned that having told Chase that his team was his strength, his imprisoned adversary was employing minions to rob him of that. “You’re one loss from being destroyed,” Chase taunted Oliver from his glass cell. “Will it be Thea? Felicity? Someone else?” Next, Thea and Quentin were targeted by Evelyn and Black Siren, who really effed with her “Daddy” — even after being sent to an A.R.G.U.S. safe house for safe keeping. Lastly, Felicity and Diggle were driving out of town when they got detoured by a ninja army.
Oliver was resolved to not let Chase leverage his way out of prison, even when Malcolm surfaced in the Arrowcave to argue otherwise, saying he would do anything to save his daughter. And indeed, Oliver’s own kid comes into play when his phone rings, playing a video of a distraught William asking for someone to “please help me.” Having just watched Chase head off to his prison transport helicopter — with the promise to have his friends kill Oliver’s friends if he actually gets locked up again — Oliver thinks fast, commandeers an ARGUS van and, with Malcolm’s help, starts taking down (non-lethally!) the guards.
Having done that, Oliver confronts Chase about dragging William into this, and Adrian explains that he did so because Oliver involved his ill-fated wife. Chase then flies off to, Oliver later realizes, Lian Yu. Oliver enlists his own “backup” in the form of Malcolm’s adversary Nyssa al Ghul, who arrives unaware that she will be going head-to-head with her sister Talia.
On Lian Yu, Chase unloads a tied-up Diggle, Felicity, Thea and Curtis, who collectively wondered where Rene and Dinah are. Oliver meanwhile slips down to the island prison, to seek the help of, of all people, Slade Wilson (in a twist that would have been soooo much cooler if not telegraphed in the end-of-season trailer).
“Hey, kid…,” Oliver’s archenemy smiles. “I’m glad you came back.”
What did you think of the episode “Missing” and the promise of a monster melee in next week’s finale?
Black siren is everything!!!! So much potential I can’t wait to be slated! You don’t know if she’s telling the truth or lying!
I like her better than her E1 counterpart
Me too! They should play to KC’s strengths and that’s playing bitchy villain. I don’t mean that in a bad way either so I hope her fans don’t attack me, lol
K. Nice opinion. Like damn some shipper always has to be negative when it comes to KC.
Why do you say only shippers are negative about KC? Non shippers can and do share that opinion. Shippers are entitled to opinions too. They’re not different fans.
Katie Cassidy’s forte is playing the bad girl. Maybe if they had let her play Laurel like that, the character would have been received differently.
KC doesn’t have a forte. you can’t make up for bad acting. there is never anything in her voice or on her face, she can’t deliver any emotion.
compare that to Emily Bett Rickards btw, she does great work just with her facial expression. now that’s a good actress.
Aside from the fact that she is obviously busy with an alien invasion – I have to watch these shows and wonder why no one on Arrow or The Flash ever think to go ask Supergirl for her help. She could go rescue the team, have them off the island and capture Chase and this team in about 5 minutes.
Plus, she’s on another Earth.
Yes but Team Flash can get to her as easily as going to Star City. And I would be surprised if they did not give Felicity the same device that they gave Kara.
Yeah. But the thing is, they’ve got their own problems to deal with.
That’d be an exciting weekly solution. Could even just cancel Arrow and Flash, save lotsa moolah!
Yes – that would be the real problem!
and i thought super girl and legends of tomorrow was the one in trouble, no need for cancellation just the need to choose the right people in the game. this season of the arrow and Flash was good, problem is characters do not stay dead and the best characters like Slade and Nyssa they never stick around, just saying
Overall this was such an enjoyable episode. I LOVED the reunion between Oliver/Felicity. It was quiet, understated and just how I wanted their relationship to be in such a crazy show.
Loved the character interactions. Loved Chase picking people off one by one.
The only things I didn’t like were Black Siren and William who I didn’t really care about because I don’t know him at all.
I really liked this episode. The last few have been amazing. Even having some other Earth’s Laurel couldn’t dampen my mood.
We get it. You don;t like Laurel. Geez.
Solid episode! I loved the party and they had a Lord Mesa cake. So cute. The show needs more grounding moments like this. And Olicity are back together! Well, they’re dating again, taking it slow. I had lost all hope for them earlier this season so this is wonderful. Their scene was perfect and that chemistry is delightful still.
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I enjoyed seeing Nyssa again and weirdly, even Malcolm, though I think he’s gonna die next week. Strangely, he spoke a lot of sense. Sometimes Oliver is just too dumb.
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Chase continues to be awesome. Josh Segarra is amazing! I wish we didn’t have to lose him. He’s been a great addition to the cast.
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I don’t really feel much for Oliver’s kid though. That sounds so mean but we’ve seen him on screen twice. I feel no connection at all. It’s so weird they hinge the emotion on a character we’ve barely seen.
I enjoyed the Lord Mesa shout-out too. When I saw the cake I was shocked, I didnt think they would actually give him a verbal shout-out so the Lord Mesa bakery line was great.
Also, I wonder how Oliver will convince Slade to help him?
I have a feeling that Chase already got to Slade before Oliver did and that this is all part of his plan – make Oliver think Slade is on his side and then double cross him.
The Lord Mesa thing was so nice. I like fandom shout outs like that.
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I don’t know about Slade! Knowing Chase it’s highly likely he already got to Slade and Slade will be playing Oliver and that’ll be a twist next week. Anything is possible with those two!!
I am hoping that William becomes a bigger role …idk it probably wouldnt work that way but if you bring a character in for all of 15 mins of screen time over 2 seasons …. who also is a key part of Oliver’s life you need to build him. i dont mind how they have handled bringing him in the last few episodes but lets try to get him a storyline besides being the spawn in distress.
I don’t understand how we’re supposed to worry about William and be impressed that Oliver hold backs when Rene, Dinah, Curtis and everyone else is kidnapped but “my son” is the one that does it?
Oliver barely knows him and the audience has no investment in him other than as someone who keeps getting kidnapped because his mother never taught him Stranger Danger.
The stakes here are negligible.
Thought it was a great episode except for one thing. The way Felicity and Diggle was captured. I mean come on he couldn’t avoid running into a parked semitrailer lol.
The tires were slashed from the left side.
Sooo…wtf ever happened to the Vigilante? last I remember he was in that weird rooftop fight with Adrian Chase and then never seen again?
Never seen until season 6.
I hope thats revealed in an ode to the comics he is Dorian Chase and thats how Josh gets to stick around. I feel like that was a red herring though and wont meant anything since in the books Adrian was the original Vigilante. So they were just throwing us off.
unless Dorian poses as adrian/prometheus and the real adrian is still vigilante and that was just some bad sibling blood lol (whacked out theory , I’m just messin around lol
I always wondered if they’d ever mention Oliver’s birthday. And my friend crush Nyssa coming back, still calling Oliver “husband” even though I thought breaking up the league would dissolve the marriage. Loved this episode. Next week should be a fun finale!
This was a pretty good episode, and even though it ended with a slightly similar premise as 3×22 (the team left behind in chains) it was executed ten times better because there was no convoluted storytelling behind the characters’ motivations. Again recalling 3×22, it was amazingly refreshing to see Oliver flat out being completely transparent with everyone and letting them all know the situation instead of playing everything close to the chest.
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There were some real rom com vibes for the Olicity in the beginning of the episode, and it’s nice to see those tentative first steps back to each other. This show never indulges on quiet moments of the characters just being together, so the party was a nice change of pace from the usual amounts of ridiculous action and plot that leaves characterization in the dust. Nice shout out to fandom artist Lord Mesa–always nice to see this kind of meta nod in a show.
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Katie Cassidy’s best scenes have always been with Paul Blackthorne, and while I really don’t want a redemption arc for Black Siren (keep KC playing the bad girl!), it was a nice touch of vulnerability. The brief scene with Oliver remembering Laurel was… fair, I guess, but didn’t she forget to mention Tommy?
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Oliver wanting to keep Diggle and Felicity with him was actual character growth for him, though they ended up over-thinking it and trying to play mind games with a pro. Chase still has his sh-t-eating grin, which is always fun to see.
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While Malcolm had a pretty good entrance, the prize goes to Nyssa al Ghul, who’s biting sarcasm was spot-on (“hello husband,” Malcolm having “no title). I think I’m most excited for the Nyssa-Talia showdown in the finale. Also good entrance for Slade, though it makes all of Manu’s denials about being in Vancouver even more bizarre.
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This was the best penultimate episode since season 2, and I hope that continues through the finale. The show’s been on fire since 5×17, and it’s nice to be excited instead of frustrated with the narrative once again.
I am very excited for the Nysa – Talia showdown
And the return of Slade
Despite her too-infrequent appearances, I think Nyssa is the best female character to come out of this show next to fellow bad ass Sara Lance. Why Katrina Law isn’t a regular on this show but the meh actor playing the even more meh Curtis is will always perplex me.
I’m desperately hoping that because Training Day is dead we’ll get much more Nyssa next year.
I like Nyssa a lot but the league of assassins storyline bores me now.
I like Nyssa too but also because the actor that plays her is one of the few, if not the only actor on the show that actually has a black belt in a real martial art. The other actors have to learn on the set. I’ve taken several different styles myself and I can tell the difference clearly when the actor has to fake it or use a stunt double. She’s pretty good.
when you make the villains so perfect, it kinda of hard to take the hero seriously when he defeats them
I’ll take too-perfect villains over the weenies we had in seasons 3 and 4.
Man…if it weren’t for Black Siren and Malcolm (and very briefly Nyssa and Slade) this would have been an awful episode.
I wasn’t sure I was going to make it thru the whole thing.
New episode was good. Good to have Malcolm and Nyssa back on the show. Happy to see Slade at the end of the episode. So excited for the season finale next week!
Contestant: I’ll take Comic Book TV for $200 Alex
Alex: Leader of the most oblivious super team on TV
***Beep****
Alex: Michael!
Michael: Who is the Green Arrow?
Alex: Correct for 200 dollars!
I am concerned about how incredibly dumb Oliver is; his strategy of not backing down and then coming to the immediate conclusion that because he doesn’t know where his son William is, Chase won’t find him either. He knows Chase is beyond sociopathic and VERY resourceful because of Thalia. I’m sorry but that was sheer stupidity.
Oliver isn’t dumb. have you watched Flash? Barry is truely an idiot.
They’re both a special kind of stupid : )
Agreed. Oliver may be clueless at times but Barry is the most selfish.
I do get sick and tired of the crap thrown at Katie Cassidy by fans. She doesn’t deserve it.
I like KC. I also liked her on Supernatural
I do not think she has romantic chemistry with Oliver and I feel that the writers struggled with her but I like the actress. As a result I am happy she is back as Black Siren
stop blaming the writers. the actress is the real problem. the writers are only at fault for still keeping her around, not for her being terrible.
Exactly. She can’t emote. The only reason some people like her now is because she’s a “fighter.”
she totally deserves it. worst actress on all the CW shows. she needs to go.
Best line of the episode: Malcolm: “I admire you Oliver. It takes a special kind of idiot to actually get dumber with time.” LOL
Quick question: Shouldn’t that boomerang dude from the season 3 crossover with Barry also be on the island and to be more precise even in the same prison as Slade? So where is he?
Also another one: Why should Slade help him? It is good to have him back and all, but is helping Oliver not a bit to far?
Captain boomerang is in fact in the next episode
Great episode, but curious where Dinah and Renee were. Also, though I know Talia is there, I’m wondering if it’s someone else we were seeing in that league of assassin’s cloak? Maybe Susan Williams? The Showrunner did say Oliver is hit with a double whammy in the finale…
Maybe Dinah and Rene are part of the new Assasins or also part of Chase’s team?
That crossed my mind but I hope not Cuz i actually like them both at this point… and I kind of feel like it’s doubtful. As far as Susan goes I know it’s a little far fetched bcuz Chase kidnapped and tortured her and they usually don’t go that far too sell a misdirection on the show but I’ve been curious about her since they showed the Russian vodka at her house. And Talia hasn’t covered her face once on the show up to this point (though she hasn’t been on but a few times) but still why would she start now? Seems like there is something weird there. Also where is Williams mom? Why didn’t she contact Oliver when he went missing? Unless Chase has her too… As far as Slade goes it does seem that he would agree with Chase about Oliver add much as anyone and it seems odd that he would agree to help Oliver at all for any reason. So the idea that he could stab him in the back makes sense, again however I kind of hope not. I really enjoyed season 1 And part of 2 when Slade and Oliver were buddies. It would simply take Slade realizing (Also while no longer having Mirukuru in his system) that it wasn’t Olivers fault what happened to Shado.
They kept showing this flashback with Oliver and the red death drug so I kept waiting for it to come into play and it never did. I’d love for Chase to get injected with something like that.
Talia, Nyssa, Merlyn, Deathstroke, Prometheus, Green Arrow and and and – what a great lineup. hope prometheus and and black siren bite the dust, but deathstroke and the al ghul sisters should durvive, I want to see more of them. merlyn can also die, I think there’s nothing left for the character even though I like him.
two Laurels in one episode? when will the producers finally realise that Katie Cassidy sucks big time? they killed her off, now actually keep her away from the show. dragging everything down.
word. all Laurels need to be erased from all CW shows. nothing good comes from KC.
Since we found out AC is the bad guy how many times has Oliver gone up to him bellowing questions we (and he should) know he’s not going to answer only to have AC smile his smug slimy smile and taunt Oliver and then have Ollie walk away without ACTUALLY doing anything? They even made fun of it last night when they had Chase start mimicking Oliver’s questions. I get that it’s a “dramatic” confrontation but do they need to do the same scene soooooo many times?
Initially I was not ‘as excited’ about this episode as I ‘thought’ I was going to be.
First they are contriving the Olicity thing again (awkward scene setup at the party…should have let Curtis remain adorkably clueless until HE noticed/ felt their heat!) ….
They simply need to give these two some good dialogue, put them in close proximity to one another… and stand back… let that WOW chemistry flow!
Once again it feels like they don’t know how to simply surf their own momentum, and they continue to get in their own way….sigh.
Speaking of getting in the way….the only redeeming thing about this episode’s flashback was that I happen to bring my decades-long crush on Dolph Lundgren to the viewing table…other than that…huh? Lots of redundancy with the Oliver flashback personal arc there….Hope they tie that in better next week!
After reading these comments, I looked up Lord Mesa….
BRILLIANT MOVE ARROW PTB!!!
Bring the avid fans in for a warm embrace and make them feel like they are part of the ‘inner circle’… excellent job of ‘peeing on those fence posts and marking your territory’… you galvanized a large, visible, international and VOCAL fanbase…. clap! clap! clap!
again…BRILLIANT move!!!
Now pleeeeez don’t squander it? Pretty please?
I did enjoy the Nyssa, Oliver, Malcolm interaction in the bunker…and I am too excited about Slade Wilson next week!
I still love Segarra’s super-creepy villain portrayal…but it is starting to feel a bit redundant…it will be good to see him have the space (new set..hopefully fresh dialogue) to flex next week.
Lastly…I am on my knees begging here… please keep KC as the Black SIren…no ‘redemption arcs’….PLEASE?
KC is a lovely actress…but her acting style is only enjoyable as the villainous vamp. She is so much fun to watch staring down her victims/prey as she daggers them in the heart (or the back!)
Anymore ‘staring-off-into-middle-distance-heroine-love-interest-stuff’ there is going to make me claw my eyes out.
The same people who executed that brilliant Lord Mesa move should know how to recognize actor strengths and weaknesses… and play to them accordingly. Set your players up for success.. PLEASE?!
BTW…. am I the only one who thinks that Isabel Rochev and Susan Williams are biological sisters adopted by 2 different American families???
“KC is a lovely actress” – in what world are you living? is this one of thses trump/conway alternative facts. she’s not good as a villain either. she has no “acting style”, she has no acting skills. she sucks and needs to go for the better of Arrow. end of story.
but I guess that’s the time we live in now, you can just make the most outrageous and stupid claims and you might even get elected potus
Hmmm…angry digital rants and insults, while proclaiming one’s own opinion as objective fact…you may have a future in politics ….or I hear Fox news is hiring?
It is a sign of either weakness or desperation when your own opinion can not standalone…but must be propped up by insulting differing opinions. Good luck in your future endeavors leading with that approach.
some things are not a matter of opinion, snowflake. Trump is an idiot – fact. climated change is real – fact. Katie Cassidy is a bad actress – fact. deal with it.
if you don’t have a clue, maybe shut up once in a while. and you clearly know nothing about acting.
Why did Oliver recruit Merlyn, Nyssa and Slade when he could’ve recruited either Vibe, Kid Flash, Music Meister, Jesse Quick, Firestorm, Vixen, Martian Manhunter, Superman or Constantine? They all could easily defeat Prometheus, Talia Al Ghul and Evelyn Sharp since they all have superpowers?
If it was easy what do they do with the other 56 minutes?
what’s so difficult to understand about Flash, Arrow and Supergirl being seperate shows? these comments are so annoying. either you’re incredible stupid or you exactly know the answer and stupidly ask anyway. stop it.
also Merlyn, Nyssa and Slade are ten times cooler than the ones you named.
@Erin: You can make your point without the name calling by call me stupid.
@Erin: You can make your point without the name calling by calling me stupid.
Matt, what about the island flashbacks? There were so many quick memory flashes, i was hoping you had recapped them…
Also, why have they mentioned Isabel so many times in the last few episodes?
Nope, was watching live in hotel with no DVR to pause. Bare-bones recaps during crazy Upfronts week, gang.
In that case, great job and Thank You.
Oliver and Felicity are so getting back together! hope all the haters’ heads explode.