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.

Led by Liza Warner, China White & Cupid break out of prison. While in transit the trio kill their prison guards, let the other female prisoners on the bus off and hijack the bus back to Star City.

While this is going on Oliver pays a visit to Amanda Westfield, Prometheus’s mother. He asks her to give him her son’s name so that he can help him. She refuses to do so because she doesn’t want her son to be caged up like an animal.

After that failed mission Oliver is cornered by Susan Williams. She flat out asks him if he is The Green Arrow. He tells her no. Shortly after Oliver divulges this information to Thea who then tells Felicity. Thea has Felicity hack Susan’s laptop and place evidence of plagiarism on it. Pulling something out of Merlin’s playbook, Thea then passes this information along to Susan’s boss and gets her fired. Susan then tells Oliver about her evidence and that she was planning to go public with that information but now she can’t because she has been discredited.

While Susan lost her job, Dinah got herself one. She is now a member of the SCPD. There she learns about Quentin’s personal vendetta with Liza Warner. Warner is former SCPD and Quentin had thought he had convinced her to turn over a new leaf. We later learn that she turned back because she saw Quentin working for Damien Darhk.

Liza, China White and Cupid take out members of the triad in hopes of finding information on where Tobias Church left his 100 million dollars. While hunting the trio of villainous woman, The Green Arrow is surrounded by ACU and told he is being arrested for the murder of Detective Billy Malone. He is able to escape capture by using a flash/smoke bomb from his bow. Oliver finds out that Prometheus sent Pike Billy’s autopsy that had information connecting The Green Arrow’s arrows with the death of Malone.

Oliver as mayor is able to get Pike to back off and the team goes after Cupid and the lot. Dinah now equipped with the Black Canary mask, given to her by Felicity, is able to knock down China White after she shoots Wild Dog. However, the ladies came prepared with their own group of thugs. Luckily Pike had the ACU track The Green Arrow and arrived on location to arrest all three women.

Unfortunately the big battle has just begun. Prometheus leaked information to the media that Mayor Queen and D.A. Adrian Chase covered up the murder of Detective Malone. Oliver now faces possible impeachment.

Next Week:

Prometheus and Oliver face off

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The post Liza Warner, China White & Cupid Team Up – ‘Arrow’ Recap: “The Sin Eater” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

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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