Well considering how much of a downward spiral Team Arrow has been in ever since Slade revealed himself back in Episode 15, "The Promise," I'd say that things actually looked slightly up for the team.
Slightly.
I mean, they found Roy. That's a plus. And they have the potential to synthesize a cure from STAR Labs (which you know Cisco and Caitlin Snow are gonna somehow get chemically involved with to get their super-powers). Ivo's dead, though that comes as no surprise. But most importantly, Laurel didn't spill any secrets.
Yet where there is good news there is also a crap ton of bad news. Isabel Rochev looks to be in prime condition allowing the Queen family to lose all of their financial assets, Slade displayed an easy ability to take out Team Arrow without breaking a sweat (though, admittedly, they didn't have a Mirakuru powered Roy and were totally caught off-guard), and he kind of raised an army of the super men.
However, he seems to be drained. How drained is something we have yet to find out. If Mirakuru really does rapidly reproduce the cells then it doesn't really matter by next week because Slade will be back at full-strength.
I feel like there are going to be eventual consequences on both fronts of this war, though. With Isabel now injected with the Mirakuru, might she throw a bit of a temper-tantrum in office and make the "Fortune 500" company fall from grace? Did Felicity kind of man a no-no by handing the Mirakuru over to relative strangers and emotionally unstable scientists? Oliver might get a cure, but the problem also lies in getting that cure into Slade.
More importantly: will we see the end of Deathstroke? Or will this cure lower him down to a level where he can be of equal strength as Oliver and he will head-up the Suicide Squad like he does in comic lore? Personally I would like to see that, because I like to see Slade around. He's fun.
But, enough about that. Time to look back on what the heck happened.
So, basically, things kick off pretty quickly in the episode. Very early on, Team Arrow is attacked by a certain Mr. Deathstroke and are absolutely wiped out. Deathstroke leaves without killing anybody and most of the team is hospitalized.
While they are recovering, Laurel and Slade make advances in their plot. Laurel starts to put together the fact that not only is Oliver one of the vigilantes, but that Sara may be too, considering how she has a bunch of random scars similar to Oliver's, and that now that she knows he is really the Arrow, she may be his black-masked sidekick. This troubles her.
Then we get to the part of the show where I was geeking out. First of all, we get our first look at Killer Frost and Vibe, obviously before they get their powers. I can only assume that they will be getting early on in Flash if not the pilot, as they are to play major roles in the show (Killer Frost as a recurring villain and Vibe as Barry's partner/ sidekick). They are suddenly attacked by Deathstroke who is looking for a blood transfuser. Killer Frost (I'm just going to call them by what they will be called eventually) leads them to a secret little room where they can mount a defense. She hands Vibe a weapon, and when used, simulates the powers that Vibe has in the comics.
Interesting.
But that is not before they name-drop a certain Dr. Light, who I can only assume we shall begin seeing in either Arrow or Flash before long.
The two get away to prepare to be on a new show while Deathstroke gets what he was looking for. Felicity puts a scan on it to tell Oliver when it's active so he can handle bidness with Isabel and Thea.
First, we visit Isabel. Oliver comes to learn that she knew all along that Merlyn was Thea's father, which in turn meant that Robert knew Merlyn was Thea's father, but that he still loved her nonetheless. We get a good look at the obsessed Isabel Rochev from Green Arrow lore, who is making absurd assumptions about her and Robert being together forever, that he was going to drop everything to be with her. Instead, he went back to his family...you know, like a good person. Now she has come for revenge on the family that took him away from her. Oliver is asked to leave and sets up an appointment with Thea to tell her.
Meanwhile, at Iron Heights, Lance gets a visit from an old prisoner who proceeds to take revenge on him. Laurel meets with the Arrow but before she can reveal she knows who he is, she gets a call from Sara telling her to go to Iron Heights. There, Laurel is ready to spill Oliver's beans but Lance stops her, saying that if he knows the name of the Arrow, then he'll become human, he'll become flawed. He needs the Arrow to remain a symbol that the city will fight back, and that's why he gave up his pursuit and that's why he doesn't want to know the Arrow's real name.
Man, talk about Nolan's "Batman" trilogy, huh? First Sara says "You should mind your surroundings" and now Lance is saying the Arrow is a symbol, that he can be anyone.
Like Connor Hawke.
But I digress. Laurel manages to get Lance his job back and we'll be seeing more of him in his police uniform again soon.
Oliver, on the other hand, attends to Thea. Before he can explain his revelation, though, we find that Slade has begun to use the blood-thingy and is empowering the prisoners. Thea leaves out of frustration so Oliver leaves to go stop Slade. When he gets there, though, he finds that it is not Slade who is letting his blood be used but rather Roy. Slade arrives, trying to make Oliver feel bad that Roy ran away because of him, but, at this point I really don't think Oliver cares what Slade throws at him anymore. He's hit his lowest low and knows that it is all mind-games. Oliver manages to not only save Roy but good ol' Diggle puts a couple of bullets in Isabel. Also Oliver injures Slade using some trick arrows. So that was cool.
Back at the Arrow cave, Roy gets some more blood in him while the others wait for him to get better so they can have the gang back and fight the army that Slade is going to raise. Laurel goes to Oliver again but does not tell him that she knows his identity, rather gives a nice hug because we know he is gonna need it. Oliver tells Thea that Robert knew she wasn't his biologically, which also surprises Evil Mom (which surprised me that she was surprised), but Thea doesn't listen and leaves anyway because of teenage angst.
In the final scene we see a fully-recovered Isabel Rochev rising with the rest of the Mirakuru army to surround a weakened Slade, who seems to have all his pieces lined up nicely.
Essentially what this episode did was show that, hey, Killer Frost and Vibe are gonna be a thing and that Slade is geared up for war. It also, thankfully, showed that Laurel shouldn't be much of a problem where secrets are concerned and that Team Arrow is getting ready for it's full counter-punch now.
This episode also showed me a lot of potential for Season 3, ideas that can drastically change between episodes 20 and 23 of course, but I'll touch on those exciting ideas soon enough.
Oh, I suppose I should discuss the island as well. Uh...Ivo said there was a Mirakuru cure on the Amazo, Sara couldn't kill him and Oliver did for her because he doesn't want her to be a killer. Whoops.
All in all, we're all set up now for one more "ah man Roy stahp messing stuff up" episode before I think we're going to see Arsenal, Black Canary, and Green Arrow fighting Deathstroke in a battle to the death. And Isabel Rochev. And Brother Blood. And probably some Diggle splashed in there.
Who knows. Maybe Amanda Waller will realize the perilous situation and call in all two members of the Suicide Squad: Bronze Tiger and Deadshot. Will that provoke another super-hero to come into town? Like Nightwing? I don't know. But what I do know is, it's going down.
And nobody better be yelling timber.
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