The episode opens with Team Arrow at the Canary’s hideout waiting to see if the cure worked on Roy. All of a sudden the proximity alarm that Felicity set up in case Slade’s henchmen comes after them goes off and it is indeed Slade’s soldiers. Roy wakes up and tries to punch on of them but notices he hand hurts. Oliver shoots a cable arrow out the window and everyone ziplines down. Just then Lyla arrives via helicopter and shots an arrow at the clock tower, blowing it up.

When Team Arrow returns to the Arrow Cave, they see it in ruins. Diggle and Lyla go off to deal with Waller while Roy and Felicity find injection arrows to load with the cure.

At the precinct, Lance is gathering the troops when they hear over the radio what is happening out on the streets and it not good news. When Laurel goes off to find Sara, she sees she is talking to someone but gets tranqed. When she wakes up, Laurel tells her dad it is Nyssa, the woman that took her mom. But there is a commotion in the precinct and a mirakuru soldier is there and throws Lance across the room and takes Laurel prisoner.

Back at the Arrow Cave, Oliver is not pleased to see that Sara has brought Nyssa and the League of Assassins to the Foundry. But Sara says they need an army to battle Slade’s army. Oliver still doesn’t want to kill anyone but Nyssa thinks that is stupid thinking. Sara pulls Oliver aside and says sometimes to stop the unthinkable you have to do the unthinkable. Team Arrow then start to plan their attack on Queen Consolidated which is Slade’s base of operations. Sara also tells Oliver that she has agreed to return to the League of Assassins in exchange for their help.

We see Felicity and Roy load up injection arrows with the cure and Roy wonders what happened to him while he was out. The only thing Roy remembers was getting out of town. Felicity neglects to tell him the truth that he killed a cop and just says he was out the whole time. Later as the team starts to move, Oliver gives Roy a red mask and asks him to remember is training and that he is now a full-fledged member. Roy wonders about Thea and Oliver tells him she left town before any of this happened.

Meanwhile, the last time we saw Thea she was shooting two bullets in her father, Malcolm Merlyn. Unfortunately, Malcolm was wearing kevlar and survived. Malcolm is proud that Thea at the balls to shoot him when Tommy didn’t. This tells him that Thea truly is his daughter. Thea thinks this makes Malcolm safe and walks away from him. Thea then gets a call from Roy asking her to meet him at his place. Malcolm worries about Thea placing her trust in Roy and warns her but Thea warns him not to follow her or she will shoot him again.

When Thea goes to Roy, at first she is a bit skittish towards but all gets explained and the two reunite. Roy promises that he and Thea will leave town but first needs to take care of something. Also, Roy tells Thea that he is done with the Arrow. But when Thea starts packing stuff she finds a bow and arrow set.

At Queen Consolidated, Arrow, Canary, Nyssa and the League are making quick work of the mirakuru soldiers injecting them with the cure. When Arrow confronts Slade, Ravager aka Isabel and mirakuru soldiers, it looks dire for Arrow but his backup comes in. But Slade manages to escape. Meanwhile, we see Nyssa, Canary and Ravage battle it out. Nyssa and Canary want to kill Ravager/Isabel but Oliver tells them to stand down. As Isabel starts to gloat, Nyssa breaks her neck. Bye bye Isabel.

Lance has come to tell Sara that a mirakuru soldier has kidnapped Laurel when Felicity notes that the mirakuru soldiers are heading towards a tunnel. Arrow explains that Waller plans to level Starling City a drone to stop the soldiers from leaving and Arrow goes to stop them. But Lance wants him to find Laurel and suggests to Arrow to start killing again as that is the only way to stop Slade. When everyone leaves, Oliver tells Felicity that it is the only way but Felicity disagrees and gives a pep talk to him. Felicity tells Oliver that perhaps the only way to beat Slade is to have him outthink Oliver.

Before Oliver goes to the tunnel, he takes Felicity to the Queen Mansion for safety. Oliver tells Felicity that Slade took Laurel believing her to be the woman he loves. However, Oliver tells Felicity that Slade took the wrong woman. And it seems that the powers that be are granting our Olicity wishes as Oliver tells a clearly shocked Felicity that he loves her. As Oliver approaches, we think he is going to kiss Felicity but instead just whispers does she understand.

Island Flashback

We are on the freighter and Sara and Oliver are held prisoner by Slade. We see Slade keep on injecting various people on board on the freighter with the mirakuru but coming up empty. We see Shado appear to Slade telling him to kill Oliver because if it wasn’t for him she would still be alive. Meanwhile, Oliver is trying to appeal to Slade in the name of Shado but the Shado ghost is telling Slade what he wants to hear.

Anatoli has waited the designated time that Oliver told him to wait, in fact I think he waited longer, regardless, Anatoli fires the torpedo. This causes the freighter to take on water and start to sink thus allowing Oliver and Sara to escape certain death at the hands of Slade. Oliver wants Sara to leave but she won’t. Unfortunately, the freighter starts to lurch and take on more water and Sara gets swept out to sea exactly like how she was swept out of the Queen’s Gambit.

Meanwhile, Diggle and Lyla have gone to ARGUS HQ and break out members of the Suicide Squad and enlist the help of Deadshot, who was reluctant at first because of the exploding chip in his spine. The approach Waller’s drone command center where we learn earlier that Waller is calling an earlier strike. There is a standoff between Waller, Lyla, Diggle and Deadshot. Waller tells Lyla her actions are treasonous and what would her son or daughter think. Yes, Diggle is going to be a daddy.

We then are at the battle in the tunnel. Arrow containing the cure are flying everywhere from Arrow, Nyssa, the League of Assassins and Roy, who looks mighty fine in that mask and shooting arrows like a pro. Canary is just stabbing the soldiers with the arrows.

As the battle concludes, Slade calls Oliver and thought that Oliver went after strong women but after meeting the woman he loves, he can see the appeal and notes that it is Felicity Smoak. As Slade moves away, we see one of the mirakuru soldiers holding Felicity hostage. Slade tells Oliver that they are to meet at a specified location.

We see how Slade knew about Felicity. We flashback to when Slade was given a tour of the Queen Mansion and we see when Oliver was alone in am empty Queen Mansion when he notices the video cameras. We then flashback to the conversation Oliver was having with Felicity but this time from Slade’s point of view. We also see something that Slade doesn’t. When Oliver gets close to Felicity and says does she understand, it was a way for Oliver to slip Felicity the mirakuru cure. And our Olicity shipping hearts break.

Oliver arrives at some sort of sewage treatment plant, there Slade is holding Felicity hostage with the blade of his knife. Laurel also appears with a mirakuru soldier holding her by the neck. Oliver knows that Slade wants to kill the woman he loves and again tries to appeal to Slade in Shado’s good name and says that Shado would be ashamed of Slade. Oliver also knows what it is like to have his enemy right in front of him and not even know it. Slade looks confused for a second but we see Felicity pull out a syringe out of her coat pocket and stabs Slade in the leg with the cure. It also looks like the mirakuru soldier is going to kill Laurel but the Canary arrives and shoots him dead. Oliver then asks the Canary to take Laurel and Felicity to safety.

We then get an epic battle between Slade and Oliver in the present and back on the island. The fight mirrors each other in both timelines down to the throat choke. In the present, Slade tells Oliver that the mirakuru didn’t make him hate him but don’t hear the real reason as we see the drone approach Starling City. Slade wants Oliver to live long enough to see the city he loves burn. Slade keeps taunting him to kill him but Oliver won’t.

However, back on the Island, we see that Slade gets trapped underneath the rubble of the ship. Slade once again promises to kill all Oliver loves and that Sara was just the start. Slade tells Oliver that he can either kill him with the arrow in his hand or cure him with the mirakuru cure in his other hand. We see Oliver use the arrow to stab Slade in the eye. This battle is over but then an explosion occurs and Oliver falls into the flooded floor of the freighter.

Back to the present, Oliver manages to pin Slade down with some wire ropes but Slade still believes that he has won. Oliver then calls Waller to call off the drones as Slade has been captured and the army taken care of. We are back to the showdown at ARGUS and Waller capitulates.

We are outside another freighter ship, Sara is saying goodbye to her family. Lance wonders why Sara is going back to the League of Assassins and to Nyssa. Sara tells her dad that she is going by her choice and is going to determine her own fate. Sara and Laurel share their goodbyes too. Sara tells Laurel that Oliver needs him and as a parting gift, gives Laurel her Canary jacket and then boards the ship. Laurel notes that it is a perfect fit and Lance tells her not to get any ideas. After the night she has had, Laurel needs to go to an AA meeting. Lance concurs but need to get some antacids as he isn’t feeling so hot as see him clutch his side. Lance then collapses, start coughing blood and says he can’t breathe. Laurel opens Lance’s shirt and sees a pretty bad bruise in his abdomen. We learn that Lance got this injury from hie earlier encounter with the mirakuru solider. Laurel calls 911 and we are not sure of Lance’s fate.

Meanwhile, Roy has returned home and finds a letter from Thea near his bow and arrow set. In this letter, Thea basically says that she is no longer Thea Queen as that Thea was trusting and weak. This Thea trusts no one and vows to be stronger. Thea then asks Roy not to try and find her as she herself doesn’t know where she will be heading. While we hear her letter, we see Thea enter the stretch limo of Malcolm Merlyn. With tears in his eyes, Roy pulls out his mask. This probably means Roy is now going to be Team Arrow full-time.

We then see Slade in a prison cell, Oliver is outside and thanks Slade for making him a killer when he needed him to be, for saving his life that allowed him to reunite with his family. Most importantly, because of all the things that Slade has done for him, Oliver thanks him for making him a hero. Slade vows to break out and will keep his promise. Oliver states that Slade is in purgatory and we note that the prison is an ARGUS prison.

As Oliver emerges above ground, we see that this ARGUS prison is on Lian Yu. Diggle asks if this will hold Slade. Oliver believe it will and others too as Oliver believes that it is just the beginning for all of this. Oliver next step is to get his company back. Felicity wonders how he can because he is broke and suggests that Oliver get a job. Oliver then asks if anyone is hiring an ex-billionaire with superior archery skills. As the continue to walk along the beach, Oliver then asks about Lyla but Diggle says that can wait as he leaves Felicity and Oliver alone.

Felicity applauds Oliver on his trick with Slade; it even had her fooled. As they start at each other, there is a small moment where we think Oliver is going to say it was real but says that it was them together that sold the lie to Slade.

As they return to the float plane, Oliver wants to fly and Felicity wonders how someone who spent 5 years on an island knows how to fly a plane.

We get that answer in what I assume is going to be the season 3 flashback. We see Oliver wake up in a hotel room. Two armed Chinese men take him out where Oliver is met by Amanda Waller who tells him they need to talk and welcomes Oliver to Hong Kong.

Season 2 was definitely a great season. Every episode was great that makes me look forward to season 3. I am glad they didn’t kill Sara so that means we will see Caity Lotz again. And I think giving Laurel the Canary jacket means that it is possible that Laurel will take up that mantle because Starling City is aware of the Canary as a hero. Also, I don’t think Lance is dead. What do you think? Where you angry at the Olicity bait and switch? I was a bit.

Thanks for reading my Arrow recaps. See you in the fall for Season 3.