Arrow – City of Blood

The world of Arrow is wallowing in the death of Moira Queen. Everyone except Oliver, who is completely absent. Thea is particularly torn up because Mira died thinking Thea hated her. It may not have been the truth, but Thea was angry with Moira and she still sacrificed her life for her kids. Amongst the attendees was also Isabel Rochev, walking about like she was never shot.

Laurel is still on the persecution trail of Brother Blood. She is fairly sure that the only reason Sebastian is mayor is because Moira is dead. Laurel sees the connections and its nice that the lawyer on the show is finally showing her smarts and connecting dots.

With Oliver missing, Felicity is freaking out. She’s to the point that she thinks Oliver may be dead. Diggle is a bit quicker on his feet and realizes that there is one resource that hasn’t yet been tapped, Amanda Waller and ARGUS. Felicity was geeking out about their tech which was fun. The ARGUS team was able to locate Oliver and indicated that he was in his lair. A lair that was completely unknown to Felicity and Diggle.

Just when Thea lost her mom, Thea also is about to lose her club. As it is, her club was an asset of Queen consolidated and Isabel served up a vacation notice. There’s nothing left for her in Starling City.

Oliver has had his second secret base for a long time. It was meant to be a place if the first location was compromised. It became a place for Oliver to escape. Seeing a broken Oliver was a bit odd. Even after his return from the island he wasn’t so closed off. this is the most crippled we’ve ever seen Oliver as he is riddled with doubt and regret. Everyone important to him is in jeopardy because of him. Thus when Thea declares she is leaving Starling City, he pushes her out. But he doesn’t do it harshly, he makes it clear that he loves his sister and that she has the best chance away. their relationship is still rocky, but it’s being pushed in a better direction. Thea even promises to get in touch when she settles.

After yet another monologue of Oliver’s about how he’s going to do right and no one else will get hurt (how many times has he expressed this sentiment this season?), he is tranq’d. However it was his cohorts bringing him in. When he came to he saw Felicity, Diggle, and Laurel in the lair. Laurel is there to talk some sense into Oliver as he’s ready to sacrifice himself to Slade. She makes very valid points, but Oliver is so far gone and emotionally crippled that he’s given up. Laurel drops the news about Blood and Slade on Oliver. That seemed to give Oliver the kick in the ass he needed to get him to take action rather than give in.

Oliver met with Blood, while Diggle brought Blood’s guard to Felicity. Rather than have Diggle beat him, Felicity made millions of dollars in transfers and was going to sap away his livelihood. It made him shut up and work with them very quickly. Meanwhile, Oliver confronted Blood with the truth. Blood took it in stride, but he was more interested in his dreams for the city. Oliver spelled it out that Slade only used Blood. However, Blood was cocky and knew that in a restaurant, Oliver could do nothing.

The team was ready to go, but Oliver wanted to leave Laurel behind. He claimed that it started with the three of them and they needed to return to that. Laurel however, wasn’t too fond of being left behind, so she came along in her own way. As all of this happened, certain mirakuru men were being dropped around the city, including in the police department with Quentin Lance. Laurel followed the team and actually got Oliver out of a tough jam with one of the mirakuru. Diggle planted the bomb, but was interrupted as he was attacked by Isabel Rochev as a the Ravager. Quentin was attacked by the sketchy man in the PD. Thea was attacked by the man planted int he train station. Oliver ran as the mirakuru men were released on the streets.

The Flashbacks were the least interesting part of the episode. The group was within a bunker that was set to explode. There was a way out, however, one person would need to sacrifice their life. One of the men decides to do the dirty job. One of the men is going to get in the torpedo and steer it. This segment really focused on true sacrifice and the needs of helping others. In some ways it drove Oliver’s depression in present times.

What did you think of the episode?