Tonight we got to see a softer side to Malcolm, a Flash mentiong, Oliver returning to Starling City and a bit of heartache for Olicity fans.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Before Oliver returns, he leaves the safe haven of Tatsu’s cabin to return home to protect his city and his sister. Oliver asks Tatsu to come with him but she declines his offer.

As Oliver treks through the woods, he is not doing that great. Luckily, Tatsu followed him and helps treats his wounds. The two talk about Ra’s Al Ghul and Oliver recalls her being goog with swords. Tatsu mentions that it will take more than being good at swords to beat Ra’s and that Oliver needs to become a student in order to defeat the master or something like that.

The next morning, Oliver manages to hitch ride to get home and once again asks Tatsu to come with him. Tatsu again declines as she doesn’t want to see him die again at the hands of Ra’s but leaves him with some sage advice.

More on Oliver’s return later.

Back in the Glades, it has been a week since the cops pulled out. We see a couple of Brick’s men put the squeeze on the Glades Dinner when Arsenal appears to stop them. One of the guys tells Arsenal that he’s heard of him, the red streak that has been all over the news. Arsenal tells him he’s got the wrong city and knocks the guy down. The Black Canary comes in too and the two of them take down Brick’s men. When Arsenal and Black Canary leave the scene, Sin sees them and thinks that her dear friend Sara has returned. At the Arrow Cave, Felicity and Diggle are monitoring the action and Felicity wonders why people bother calling 911. Diggle says that they don’t know what else to do.

Later, Arsenal meets up with Lance using a disguised voice but Lance calls him Harper as he can clearly tell that it is him in the Arsenal get up. Dropping the voice modulator, Roy wants to know what Lance wants. Lance gives him files of evidence against Brick that he hopes Team Arrow can possibly find where Brick is at. Before Roy leaves, Lance wonders about the Arrow and if he is coming back. Roy says that the Arrow is gone. Lance also asks him to keep Sara safe. Roy promises he will.

Back at the Arrow Cave, the team is combing over the evidence that Lance provided but can’t seem to find anything. When the team realizes that Brick’s men were communicating via walkie talkies. So Felicity uses the frequency used to pin point Brick’s location: the Glades Precinct. Felicity realizes the irony in that hideout.

At the Glades Precinct, Brick kills the two men that got beaten up by Arsenal and Black Canary.

Meanwhile, Malcolm is still training Thea and is trying to encourage her to not be afraid to kill as it is killed or be killed. Thea tells her father she didn’t sign up for that, that she only wanted Malcolm’s help so she can defend herself, have a way to fight back. But, Malcolm tells Thea that she needs to be a killer to go against the League of Assassins. Thea is still unwavering in not wanting to be a killer. Wonder what Thea’s reaction will be once she finds out she killed Sara. Malcolm shares that initially he was like Thea but when he killed his wife’s killer he felt no remorse, although he might have felt remorse. Can’t quite recall. Regardless, this leads us to our flashback for this episode.

21 Years Ago

Malcolm, sporting a total 1990s hair do wig, returns home from work to find that a young Tommy is having a nightmare and is missing his mom. Malcolm calms his son down with a magic trick and comforts him by promising not to leave him. The doorbell rings and when Malcolm goes to answer it and it is the cops delivering the bad news that his wife Rebecca is dead.

After Rebecca’s funeral, Malcolm is sitting alone when one of Malcolm’s men sits next to him to say the police have a suspect and leaves the guy’s picture next to him. Also, a young Tommy tells a young Oliver that he misses him mom. And those child actors weren’t really that great.

Outside a bar in the Glades, Malcolm confronts the man he thinks killed his wife and attempts to kill him but gets beaten up for his troubles. As the man walks away, Malcolm does finish the job. But this doesn’t make Malcolm feel better as he still feels angry so he tells his man that he needs to leave as he has heard of a place that can help channel his anger. Malcolm gives a tearful goodbye to Tommy and leaves.

Malcolm arrives at Nanda Parbat and we see a sword fight happen and when one of the fighter’s reveals herself, it is a young Nyssa. Malcolm performs his magic trick on her and Nyssa calls him the Magician.

But Team Arrow learns that Rebecca’s killer wasn’t the man that Malcolm killed but actually Brick who has been using the same gun for his crime spree. As Team Arrow learns this, so does Malcolm as he hacked into the webcam of Felicity’s computer.

Back to your main action, Arsenal and Black Canary arrive at the Glades Precinct to take down Brick. It starts out okay until Brick starts firing at them with flares and soon things catch fire. Just when it looks Brick is going to take down the Black Canary and Arsenal, the Dark Archer comes to their rescue but Brick gets away. If the Glades Precinct looks familiar to you it’s because that location in the Greater Vancouver Area has been used a lot in TV shows like Smallville (it was Granny Goodness’ orphanage) and Alcatraz.

When everyone returns to the Arrow Cave, Malcolm proposes that he and Team Arrow team up to take down Brick. Malcolm leaves to let them discuss. Everyone has their say where Laurel thinks it might not be a bad idea but won’t be setting up a glass case for him while Felicity is totally against as she believes Oliver would never work for Malcolm. Roy thinks they should because Malcolm saved Thea from the Siege, a fact he just learned after talking to his ex. It was during this talk that Thea sees Malcolm as someone who protects the people he cares about but goes about it the wrong way.

Team Arrow puts it to a vote and unfortunately for Malcolm, the team turns his offer down. Malcolm isn’t surprised.

Diggle returns to the Arrow Cave after telling Malcolm the bad news. The team wonders what they should do next against Brick’s army. Laurel gets the idea of using the people of the Glades to revolt against Brick and his tyranny of the Glades. So Laurel goes to visit Ted, who is mad at her for going out to fight when she isn’t ready, for his help. While Roy goes to see Sin. Sin is happy to see her old friend and mentions seeing Sara and wonders why she didn’t say hello. Roy says he has something to tell her later when everything is over.

The battle of the Glades begins as Bricks men goes up against Arsenal, Diggle, Black Canary, Sin, Wildcat and the people of the Glades. Before the fight begins, Arsenal, using his best Arrow voice, tells Brick that he has failed this city.

The fight seems to go in the Glades favour but there is some casualties. Like Brick almost beating Ted/Wildcat to death but when the Black Canary steps in to stop Brick and Ted is going to be okay. As the fight heats up, an arrow takes down one of Brick’s men and Arsenal and Black Canary know that Oliver has returned.

Brick runs away to an alley and is confronted by the Dark Archer who unmasks himself so he can see his wife’s killer.Malcolm does manage to beat up Brick pretty bad and learns that Brick killed his wife to get in a gang. Brick tells him that he killed Rebecca because she was weak. This only gets Malcolm more mad and is ready to shoot him dead. Arrow comes on the scene and tells Malcolm not to kill Brick. Malcolm says that he has already kiled 503 people that include his son so one more won’t make a difference. He continues on to say that if he killed Brick 21 years ago then he could have been a better father and maybe the Undertaking wouldn’t have happened. The only thing he wanted to do was protect his family and help the Glades. When Arrow mentions Thea, Malcolm knows she won’t forgive him is he kills Brick so Arrow says don’t and think of Thea.

Back at the Starling City precinct, Lance learns that Brick is down for the count and gets the police back to the Glades and rushes there himself when he learns that the Arrow has returned. We see a breaking news report that shows Brick in custody and the Arrow making a rousing speech about the Glades coming together to save the city. Arrow also apologizes for being away and promises never to do so again and ziplines away. Team Arrow is back at the Arrow Cave to watch.

After the battle is over, Sin speaks to Lance to say that the blonde fighting isn’t Sara.

Malcolm goes to see Thea and tells her that he didn’t go through with killing Brick. Thea is relieved. Oliver returns home and is reunited with Thea. Oliver’s excuse for being away: he was in Bludhaven on a bender with a friend and was in jail for a few weeks. Thea buys it because it would be something the old Oliver would do. While Thea makes some tea for them, Oliver and Malcolm talk. The gist is that Oliver needs Malcolm to train him to defeat Ra’s because once Ra’s finds out that he is alive, he will come after him and Thea and in turn Malcolm. Malcolm agrees to help and says the exact thing that Tatsu says to Oliver about the student needs to beat the master.

When Oliver is reunited with Team Arrow, it is a happy reunion as Felicity rushes up to hug him. But the happy mood is short lived once Felicity learns that Oliver has asked for Malcolm’s help. Felicity leaves to get some air but Oliver follows her out. Felicity is mad at Oliver for getting in bed with a man that turned his sister that he loves into a killer. That same sister killed Sara, a woman that he loved. Felicity tells Oliver that the last thing he said to her was he loved her and she hoped that when they reunited things will be different between them but now with this piece of news, she no longer wants to be the woman he loves.

With that I really hope that Felicity does get together with Ray. I really like them together.

Next week is Canary versus Black Canary and also the episode that I saw a bit of the filming.