After enduring four days of torture at the hands of Adrian Chase aka Prometheus, Oliver returned to the arrowcave. There he was greeted by Felicity and Diggle and made the decision to disband the team. As we all know this did not go over well and the team still continued to defend the city without Oliver.

At the beginning of the episode Oliver had completely given up on taking down Chase. The fact that Adrian continued to taunt him at the mayor’s office only reinforced that idea. The man even handed Oliver a knife, saying the only way to kill him would be in broad daylight. That is if Oliver was to do the job himself, which he wasn’t planning on doing. Oliver reached out to his old friend Anatole, who brought along his Bratva brothers to Star City, to have Adrian eliminated.

Meanwhile Felicity was working on her own plan to take down Chase. Helix kindly provided her with the video of Chase as Prometheus unmasking himself. Unfortunately the video was pixelated due to technology Chase was using and Felicity needed direct physical access to Chase’s tech in order to decode it. Luckily for her, Curtis snooped on her laptop and figured out exactly what she needed to decode Chase’s tech. He and his blueberries (metal balls) got the information and hand delivered it to Felicity and Helix.

The Bratva then began wreaking havoc in Star City. First they began by taking diabetes drugs in order to create another street drug to sell in Russia. Their plans were almost foiled by Team Arrow. Diggle then questioned Oliver’s morals and called him out for being a sellout. Oliver then told Diggle to stay out of it. Bratva will kill Chase and the team will remain disbanded.

Later on in the episode Diggle continued to press the issue of the Bratva being in Star City but Oliver was having none of it. Oliver told Diggle about his crusade being a cover for his murdering spree and says to stay far away from him, Chase, the crusade and the Bratva. Diggle being the hard-headed man he is goes against Oliver’s wishes. He wanted to bring in Chase the right way and save Oliver’s soul.

The Bratva then made their move on Chase and so did the team. The team managed to save Chase from the Bratva ambush. Unfortunately this got Chase put into the witness protection program and therefore untouchable, especially for the Bratva. Oliver showed up at Diggle’s place shortly after and punched him in the face for interfering. Diggle then told Oliver to stop pushing him away; he knows who he is and it doesn’t matter to him. He still believes Oliver can atone for his sins just like he did. Oliver just needs to work to be the man who deserves to wear the hood. The man Diggle knows Oliver can be.

Back at Helix headquarters Felicity and Curtis are unmasked by Helix members; they know she is Overwatch and that he is Mr. Terrific. Unfortunately the tech Curtis collected was not enough to unmask Chase on video. Therefore, Felicity and Chase needed to break into Kord (the same place Chase got his technology from) to decode Chase’s face in the video. They are successful and are able to unscramble Adrian’s face.

Unfortunately for Oliver and the rest of the team, the Bratva wasn’t leaving Star City without their 2^nd part of the deal. Oliver refused to give it to them and became an enemy of the brotherhood. He then reassembled the team in order to take down the Bratva. Anatole was prepared for Oliver and the team and took hostages in order to get the drugs they needed. This forced the team to split up. Spartan, Dinah and Wild Dog were on hostage duty while Oliver took on the Bratva and Anatole by himself. After freeing the hostages, Oliver sounded the alarms and forced everyone out of the building.

Oliver and the team returned to a newly restored arrowcave, minus Oliver’s Green Arrow suit. He then had a brief meeting with Anatole before the Bratva left Star City. In that meeting he told Anatole that he is no better than Gregor. Anatole then went on to say he became who he had to become in order to keep the Bratva together and himself alive. Sounds vaguely familiar to Oliver’s reasoning behind his crusade in the very first season.

Oliver returned to the arrowcave and Felicity informs the team that they have video of Chase as Prometheus. The team immediately brought it to SCPD and they attempted to round up Chase. Unfortunately he killed his federal details and escaped before he could be brought into custody by SCPD.

NEXT WEEK:

Diggle and Oliver attempt to get Felicity out of Helix but she isn’t going down without a fight. Felicity believes her involvement with Helix is the only chance they have at capturing Chase aka Prometheus.

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The post Felicity dives deeper into Helix – ‘Arrow’ Recap: “Disbanded” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Adrian continued to play mind games with Oliver in the latest episode of ‘Arrow’. We didn’t realize just how deep Adrian’s game was until Oliver traveled to a monastery to find Talia Al Ghul. Turns out that Talia trained Prometheus and knew that he was going to come for Oliver. Talia then revealed to Oliver that her last name is Al Ghul and that Raj Al Ghul was her father. She only trained Prometheus because Oliver killed her father. Talia then informed Oliver that Prometheus is Adrian Chase.

Oliver quickly returned to Star City only to discover that Adrian had taken Susan Williams hostage. He then informed the team about Adrian being Prometheus and taking Susan hostage. Oliver and Spartan checked Chase’s home and The Green Arrow was greeted by SCPD courtesy of Adrian. Oliver used a smoke bomb to escape and when he returned to the arrowcave Felicity finally made an appearance after being M.I.A.

Felicity was at Helix headquarters the whole time. Oliver pulled Felicity aside to tell her that he is worried about her. He knows that she is into something but she won’t tell him what she is doing…yet. However, Felicity’s connections came in handy once again and she was able to figure out Adrian’s real name; Simon Morrison. Oliver then gave that information to Captain Pike in hopes of getting Adrian arrested or at least removed from his position as D.A. but that backfired horribly.

Pike was attacked in an alley way by Adrian and is now in a coma. Of course Adrian was there by his side at the hospital. Adrian then told Oliver that if he kills him not only does he kill Susan but he also kills himself. He knows Oliver can’t handle another loss. Oliver headed back to the arrowcave after his chat with Adrian and proceeded to take out his rage on his suit and all his weapons.

In order to get a location on Susan Felicity had to redirect boarder control drones for Helix. She couldn’t do it alone so she enlisted Curtis’s help. He now knows what she is up to and isn’t pleased with the decisions she is making.

Luckily the team was able to use that information to find Susan and Oliver decided the only way to beat Adrian is to play his game. Rule #1, never try to beat a psychopath at their own game. They will always find a way to turn the tables on you. This was the exact case for Oliver. He thought bringing Adrian’s wife to see him as Prometheus would make him stop. Unfortunately for Doris Chase and Oliver that wasn’t the case. Adrian stabbed and killed his own wife to make a point.

This enraged Oliver and caused the two to get into a fist fight. Oliver was even willing to kill Adrian but before he got the chance Talia shot him in the leg with an arrow. The two then took Oliver hostage. Felicity once again had to use her Helix contacts in hopes of finding Oliver. Adrian began torturing Oliver toward the end of the episode as he wants Oliver to discover who he really is.

NEXT WEEK

Only confessing to being The Green Arrow will set Oliver free

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The post Adrian Chase’s True Identity Revealed – ‘Arrow’ Recap: “Checkmate” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

SERIOUSLY DON’T DO IT!

Now that that’s out of the way…. PROMETHEUS IS DISTRICT ATTORNEY ADRIAN CHASE!

Yes, you read that right. Good ‘ole D.A. Chase. The snake in the grass that no one saw coming and whom everyone believed was Vigilante. Props to the writer’s on this epic character reveal. It will definitely go down in the books.

The question remains, who is Vigilante then and why does he have a bone to pick with Oliver? He is obviously good with tech as his visor runs facial recognition software. Is it Tommy? A former Bratva member? A member of Helix (the group that gave Felicity the Pandora files)? Or someone we haven’t even met yet?

The team was close to closing in on the Vigilante thanks to Curtis’s tech. He created some metal balls that can attack and defend against other assailants. Unfortunately he got away. Felicity also used her own weapon in this episode; the Pandora files. The files were used to dig information on Collins who was the deciding vote on determining whether or not Oliver would be impeached. Oliver tells Thea not to use the information she got on Collins from Felicity. He warns her that fighting fire with fire is bound to get her burned.

Diggle then warns Felicity about using Pandora. That it is a dangerous weapon. Felicity lost all her empathy when Billy died and is in danger of going down a dark and dangerous path. Diggle tries to warn her about the consequences of doing so but she clearly doesn’t care. Felicity meets up with Kojo once more and officially joins Helix. What trouble is she going to get herself into and just how much havoc is she going to wreak upon those within the Pandora files?

Speaking of wreaking havoc, Prometheus forced Oliver to do one of three things:

1. Throw Adrian Chase under the bus for the cover up of Billy’s murder
2. Get impeached from office via throwing himself under the bus
3. Throw The Green Arrow under the bus and make him Public Enemy #1 in order to stay in office

Oliver chose the latter and blamed his alter ego for the murder of Billy Malone. Thus making his work as a vigilante that much harder. However, Prometheus’s game is just beginning. Adrian kidnaps Susan Williams, Oliver’s sort-of-still girlfriend, and tortures her.

Other happenings this episode:

• Thea resigns from office and leaves to work on herself before she gets any worse
• Oliver is still mayor
• Oliver saves Anatole and brings information on Kovar to the Bratva
• Paul hands Curtis divorce papers

NEXT WEEK:

Talia Al Ghul returns and tells Oliver that Prometheus is Adrian Chase

Adrian kidnaps Susan and tortures her. What is his endgame?

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Last week’s episode of Arrow showed us Bratva in 2017 and 2012. We start off in 2012 where Talia and Oliver are having a little target practice on low level drug dealers. She tells Oliver the man who embraces the dark is never without sight.

Back in Star City Quentin returns and sets up an interview with Susan Williams to address his absence and his stint in rehab. Diggle is then released from prison after he was exonerated. Unfortunately Walker also released himself from prison. He and his team broke out of custody and stole a nuke to sell to the Russians. This then forced the team, including Dinah, to take off to Russia. Well, all of the team except Rene who is babysitting Quentin. Rene and Quentin practice interview questions. Quentin gets fired up after Rene mentions his late daughter Laurel, leaves and tells Rene to be gone by the time he gets back.

When the team arrives in Russia Oliver is not welcomed by Anatole; he is greeted with a fist to the face. A member of Bratva and former brother of Oliver’s, Alexi Lenov was killed by Slade because of Oliver. He broke his oath and is told to go home by Anatole.

Later on in the episode Oliver meets with Anatole to make amends. Anatole still owes him for killing Gregor. Oliver asks for Anatole’s help. He offers if Oliver will help him. Oliver refuses and so does Anatole.

Felicity with her new found courage and knowledge (Pandora Files) ropes Curtis and Rory into going under cover as Bratva to get a location on Walker and the nuke. Rory tells Felicity that he is worried about her and that she needs to use that powerful information wisely. As Uncle Ben once said “with great power comes great responsibility”.

The team finds Walker and Oliver, Diggle and Dinah go after him. Oliver and Diggle are ambushed by Walker and his men. Dinah saves them by using her powers and they take a man hostage. They torture him to get information on the buy. Diggle goes rogue and beats Walker’s man to a pulp without getting information from him. Oliver is then forced to take Anatole up on his offer in order to gain his help with Walker.

The episode then jumps back to 2012 where Oliver goes after the man who sold drugs to Thea in Starling City years ago. He kills all the dealers.

Jumping back to 2017 Dinah reminds Oliver that he has more to offer than his past mistakes. Oliver tells Felicity and Diggle that they need to remain good. Anatole arrives with information on the buy. The team goes on the move again.

Ragman and Dinah use their powers to neutralize Walker and his men and take back the nuke. The Bratva orders them to drop their weapons. Unfortunately the team discovers the bomb wasn’t in the van and that it is in a hanger and armed. Felicity has to shut it down or she will have another Haven Rock situation on her hands. Rory realizes the bomb can’t be disarmed so he wraps his rags and himself around the bomb to absorb the shock. He survives the blast and saves the day.

Diggle has Walker at gunpoint but he lets him live so that he can face trial.

The team celebrates Russian style with Bratva. Dinah becomes Anatole’s favorite American (sorry Diggle) because she can hold her vodka. Anatole then tells Oliver that his oath to Bratva is for life. It isn’t temporary.

The episode then jumps back to 2012 Russia again. This time Anatole is in a hospital bed after being beaten to a pulp because he questioned Gregor about his loyalty. Oliver offers to kill Gregor for him.

The team returns to Star City and Oliver finally seals the deal with Susan. Quentin also has his interview with Susan and all goes well because Rene told her to go easy on him. He told her a story of when Quentin told him he could be more than a thug when he was a kid and caught him tagging a building.

When Rory gets back to Star City his rags no longer work; they got destroyed in the blast. Therefore he decides to leave for now and asks Felicity to let the team know.

Felicity receives a text from Kojo and confirms that she plans to continue with Pandora. What trouble will she get herself into? Will she be able to get out of it? Who else is in those Pandora files?

Susan “The Snake” Williams is still looking into Oliver’s past in Russia. She is beginning to piece together that Oliver is The Green Arrow. What does this mean for their relationship? More importantly, what will she do with that information?

Next Week:

The team needs to change their approach to save the city.

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The post ‘Arrow’ Recap: “Bratva” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

On this week’s Arrow, the team was on the hunt for a new Black Canary. They found their new vigilante in Central City. Turns out she is a Meta Human with the same abilities as Black Canary from Earth 2.

Tina Bowlen aka Dinah Drake got her powers on the night the particle excelorator exploded in Central City. She and her partner/lover were caught during an undercover sting operation and were taken hostage. Her boyfriend was shot and the particle excelorator exploded when she was screaming in agony. After the incident Dinah quit CCPD and began her quest to avenge her boyfriend’s death. Unfortunately when the team arrived she wanted nothing to do with them and promised to kill them if they got in her way.

Back at the military prison Adrian informed Diggle of a pending case against Walker, the man who is trying to get him killed. Unfortunately Adrian discovered that Walker has friends in high places and got the case slow-rolled so he won’t get the information in time for Diggle to be exonerated. Thank God the team has Felicity.

Felicity successfully hacked the NSA site only to discover that the file on Walker had been permanently erased. However, she didn’t give up and hit up the dark web for the information she needed. When on the dark web she was hacked by Kojo Sledgehammer (played by Kacey Rohl whom you may recognize from Hannibal or Wayward Pines), a huge fan of Felicity during her activist days. Kojo’s hacktivist group Helix gives Felicity the file she needs on top of information that can take down other politicians and high government executives hoping that Felicity will return to the hacktivist community.

The Pandora Files Felicity is given got Diggle released from jail on bail and allowed Adrian to file a motion for his exoneration.

Oliver refused to give up on Dinah and had Curtis create a sonic dampener to suppress her powers and attempt to talk to her. Once again this was a no go and Oliver was forced to take action after she killed one of the guys working for Sonus, another Meta Human who has the ability to control sonic waves and the man who shot Dinah’s partner. Sonus was also connected to Tobias Church and sold Slide (a drug) to children. Team Arrow offers their help to take down Sonus but Dinah wants to do it herself.  Oliver even gave her his road to redemption speech but that didn’t faze her.

Curtis adjusted the sonic dampener to suppress Sonus’s powers and Dinah killed him. Some other cool moments from this battle included: Oliver’s helicopter ride where he hooked on to the copter and shot arrows at Sonus’s men and then proceeded to blow said helicopter up after he was done playing with it. Later on Dinah visited Mayor Oliver Queen and took him up on his offer to join Team Arrow.

In “Second Chances” we also got to see how Oliver got his back in Russia. Talia al Ghul rescued Oliver from his captors and informed him that the hood he wears is from one of her former students Yao Fei Gulong; the man Oliver met on the island. Talia offered up information on Kovar to Oliver if he would hear out her offer. She is the one who trained Oliver to use the bow and arrow and who taught him to give the monster inside him an identity. This is where his famous opening slogan “I had to become someone else, something else” came from along with his first Green Arrow suit and bow.

Next Week:

Oliver and the team head to Russia in 2017 to stop a nuclear arms dealer

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The midseason finale of Arrow left us with the return of the beloved Laurel Lance or so we thought. In the opening scenes of “Who Are You?” Laurel tells Oliver that she teleported through the Waverider and that Sarah and The Legends saved her. They brought her back to Oliver’s present and gave her a second chance without causing an aberration.

Later in the episode we find out that this Laurel is not the Laurel from Oliver’s world. She is Black Siren from Earth 2. Thanks to Felicity’s detective work we find out that their DNA does in fact match but when she calls STAR labs to see if Black Siren is still caged in, she learns from Cisco that Prometheus broke her out the night before.

Word spreads quickly and Prometheus founds out about her failure. He proceeds to choke her for defying his orders when she used her powers against Team Arrow.

While this is going on Oliver visits Diggle in prison and pulls a favor with D.A.  Adrian Chase who is now Diggle’s new attorney.

Oliver is then contacted by Black Siren once again and assembles the team to capture her. Felicity then puts the team on another line and orders them to attack when Black Siren moves toward Oliver. However, they do manage to capture once again and bring her back to the arrow-cave. This time Felicity deliberately lets her go. She gives Black Siren a tracker via the water she gave her and sets Black Siren free in hopes it will lead her to Prometheus…. Which it does.

Curtis aka Mr. Terrific recreates a mobile damper in order to combat Black Siren’s abilities and subdue her. It works and Felicity punches her in the face telling Ollie “I kept my wrist straight”. Don’t you just love when she is in the field?

Unfortunately Prometheus was able to evade capture once more but the team sends Black Siren to A.R.G.U.S. where Oliver can keep an eye on her just in case she does have a glimmer of the Laurel he once loved somewhere inside her. Oliver then tells the team that they need to find a new Black Canary and train her.

Back on the military base the D.A. literally uses his face to save Diggle’s life and prevent him from being transported. D.A. He tells Diggle to punch him in the face in order to serve him with another indictment and keep him in his jurisdiction.

We also got flashbacks of Oliver in Russia in Wednesday’s (January 25^th). In the final moments of this episode we saw Talia Al Ghul rescue Oliver Queen from his captors.

Next Week:

The team finds a new Black Canary and she is feisty.

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The post Laurel Lance Returns – ‘Arrow’ Recap: “Who Are You?” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The past came back to haunt Oliver in the mid-season finale of Arrow. “What We Leave Behind” finally revealed who Prometheus is and brought back a beloved character.

In the previous episode we learned that Evelyn is working with Prometheus. In this episode we learn that she has been giving Prometheus intel not only on Oliver but the entire team. Evelyn brings Prometheus Oliver’s notebook (the one with his kill list back from when he was The Hood) and tells Prometheus she wants to be there when he kills Oliver; she wants to watch him die. Prometheus tells Evelyn he doesn’t wish to kill Oliver but he will uproot his life so much that he is going to wish he was dead. And boy did he live up to that promise in this episode.

After Felicity awkwardly introduced Billy as her boyfriend to Curtis and Oliver at the Mayor’s Christmas party, things really turned sour. Curtis gets into an argument with his husband Paul and then gets into a fist fight with Prometheus. He is seriously injured but his cover is blown. Not only does Prometheus know who he is but his husband now knows he is a vigilante and has been lying to him about it this whole time.

While he was being attacked by Prometheus Curtis was injected with Dycloserol. A man off Oliver’s list named Justin Claybourne, introduced the drug 4 years ago when Oliver was The Hood. Oliver went after this man and killed him when he would not lower the cost of the drug in order to save the community he purposely injected with tuberculosis. Oliver thinking Claybourne is Prometheus, heads back to the warehouse where he created the serum. There he ran into a trap from Prometheus. Wilddog and Evelyn are called to come to Oliver’s rescue and that is when Evelyn turns on them.

Evelyn helps Prometheus escape and Oliver informs the team of her betrayal. Rory warns Curtis about Evelyn and Paul overhears their phone call. Curtis finally comes clean and tells Paul he is working with The Green Arrow. Paul is then forced to give Curtis an ultimatum. Either he quits being a vigilante or their marriage is over. Unfortunately for Paul, Curtis has never felt more like himself then when he his Mr. Terrific. He can’t give up being a vigilante.

Billy, who doesn’t heed Felicity’s warning, goes off in search of evidence to bring in Prometheus. He can’t stop hunting the cop killer because it is who he is. Unfortunately for Billy, he is caught snooping around by Prometheus but not before he could send a picture of a baby to Felicity.

Prometheus takes Billy hostage and the SCPD is forced to go after him, this time with a shoot to kill order.

While Oliver and the team (with the help of Speedy, who seems to be coming out of retirement a lot) go out in search of Billy, Felicity runs the baby picture through facial recognition software. Turns out the baby and Prometheus are one in the same; they are the illegitimate son of Justin Claybourne. Prometheus is seeking vengeance for the murder of his father. Oliver finally puts the pieces of the puzzle together and goes back to the place where he murdered Prometheus’s father.

He arrives at the scene of the crime and discovers Prometheus is staging bodies exactly how Oliver left them 4 years earlier. The only difference is that Prometheus now stands in his father’s place. A battle begins and Prometheus leads Oliver into a room with mirrors. Oliver fires arrows into Prometheus’s chest only to realize he actually shot Billy. Prometheus pulled a play out of The Joker’s handbook and dressed Billy up in his suit and taped a weapon in his hand. Oliver had no way of knowing that it was Billy and reacted out of pure instinct. He returns to the arrowcave and tells Felicity that he accidently killed Billy. Felicity blames Prometheus and forgives Oliver, at least for now.

Oliver then tells the team that Prometheus said anyone Oliver goes near dies and that they should all get as far away from him as possible. The team refuses to leave his side.

At the close of the episode John gets a frantic call from Lyla and heads to their location only to be greeted by the feds. He was set up and is on his way back to prison.

After the team leaves Oliver is left alone in the arrowcave momentarily. As he nears the glass tubes where the suits are kept he is greeted by none other than Laurel Lance. How the hell is she still alive?!?!?!

Arrow returns Wednesday January 25^th, 2017.

To come on this season of Arrow:

Curtis will realize his full potential and the team will attempt another difficult Diggle prison escape.

Clip from the new episode coming Wednesday January 25^th:

For those that have the CW app (if you don’t download it, it’s free!), The CW has given app users an exclusive look into the next episode of Arrow which airs on Wednesday January 25^th:  Oliver is on a mission to find the Russian woman who trained both him and Prometheus. The team is slowly easing Laurel back into reality and filling her in on what she missed. Oliver gets Diggle a lawyer after he decides to fight his wrongful conviction.

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The post ‘Arrow’ Recap: “What We Leave Behind” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.