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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Last night’s episode of ‘Arrow’ “So It Begins” slowly began to unravel clues as to who Prometheus is. The episode kicked off with Spartan (Diggle) and The Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) following Church’s cell phone to a message left by Prometheus. After finding the phone and listening to Prometheus breathe heavily into the other end of the line, all the torches in the building went out and flames on the floor displayed “And so it begins”.

Later in the episode we learned exactly what Prometheus was talking about. The menace killed a mother of two and continued to drop bodies throughout the episode. The team, well Oliver and Diggle, tried to work out a way to decode Prometheus’s message before a 5^th body turned up. Unsuccessful, Oliver once again learns that he can’t do this by himself and conjures up the team to take control of the chaos in an outdoor mall after Prometheus was apparently spotted there.

Riding down on Oliver’s line, which much be awesome, the team of Artemis (Evelyn Sharp), Mr. Terrific (Curtis Holt) and Wild Dog (Rene Ramirez) rescued civilians while Spartan, Oliver and Ragman (Rory Regan) disarmed other civilians. The team saves the city for the moment and heads back to the arrow-cave.

Back at headquarters Felicity enlisted the help of Curtis to decode what message Prometheus is trying to send Oliver. They discovered he is killing people whose names, specifically the letters in their names, rearrange to names on Oliver’s former kill list. Yet another thing Oliver didn’t disclose to his team. Rory, Rene and Curtis were mad but Evelyn took it hard. Oliver was the one who stopped her from seeking her revenge and killing the person who murdered her parents. However, the team had to temporarily overlook this deception and get back to work. Using the algorithm uncovered by Curtis and Felicity, the team was able to figure out who Prometheus may be targeting next. Each team member was then assigned to guard a person.

Trying to reach out to Evelyn, Felicity tried to get her to open up when she is on the subway for guard duty. Not wanting to hear Felicity anymore she turns off her com. This proved to be a huge mistake as Evelyn ran into Prometheus and was forced to fight him. Lucky for her Felicity tipped off Oliver and he arrived in the nick of time to save her and the man she was guarding. Unfortunately Prometheus escaped and left a present (a bomb) behind. Unable to disarm the bomb in time the three escaped the subway via parachute arrow before it exploded. Evelyn then chose to give Oliver a second chance after this incident; he did save her life after all.

In hopes of catching Prometheus, Felicity stole the throwing star left at the crime scene from Billy’s desk. She discovered that the throwing stars have a specific and rare type of alloy. Digging deeper Felicity determined that Prometheus gathered the arrows from Oliver’s murders in previous years and melted them down in order to make his own weapons. The only way that he could have had access to that was if he had access to the SCPD weapons vault. Therefore, unveiling that he is a member of the SCPD.

Later on she came clean to Billy about taking the throwing star and the fact that she works for The Green Arrow, hence her late nights and frequent disappearances. Billy told her she is a criminal but accepts it and her because it’s for a good cause. That went much better than anyone thought.

Later on Lance was visited by Prometheus; he woke up after an alcohol induced blackout with a cut on his arm and a throwing star on his coffee table. Why didn’t Prometheus kill him? Does he know Prometheus? Is this a warning of his impending death?

“So It Begins” also showed us the beginning of Bratva’s war with Konstantin Kovar. In Russia, Anatoly taught Oliver how to make a bomb. The two are ambushed by Kovar’s men moments after Oliver almost blows himself up. Kovar has declared war against Bratva and Oliver was forced to go undercover as his former playboy self to blow up Kovar’s new casino.

Oliver and Ishmael Gregor are captured by Kovar when trying to blow up his casino. Gregor was killed but Oliver is left alive. Could Kovar or a relative of his be Prometheus exacting his revenge on Oliver? If so, what did Oliver do to Kovar?

Next Week:

A new vigilante arrives and starts killing people. Like the team really needs this now.

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The post Prometheus Sends Oliver A Message, ‘Arrow’ Recap: “So It Begins” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

As we saw in last week’s episode of ‘Arrow’, Wild Dog (Rene) is being tortured by Church and the team is having difficulty locating him. However, Oliver is optimistic that they will find Rene in this week’s episode, “Human Target”.

The Green Arrow and crew kick off the episode by picking up some human targets of their own, specifically street thugs, in order to find Church. While Church tortures Rene he reveals his reason behind coming to Star City. He needs the city’s water access in order to build his drug empire. Unfortunately Rene also gives Church a bit of information. He tells him The Green Arrow’s true identity; Oliver Queen. Moments later Oliver comes to his rescue and Rene comes clean.

Back at the arrow-cave Diggle calls in a friend with a “unique skillset” to help Oliver deal with Church. Diggle also tries to talk to Rene about what happened when he was being tortured to see if he remembers anything that can help the team figure out what Church is up to. At first Rene doesn’t remember anything but Diggle tells Rene about when his brother tortured, which in turn gets Rene to open up. We finally learn why he was dishonorably discharged; He beat a P.O.W. to get answers.

Diggle helps Rene go back to when he was captured to help unlock repressed memories. He is able to remember Church mentioning a meeting with the head of crime lords from other cities at private airstrip outside Penny Town. Church is looking to create the largest drug empire on the east coast.

Mayor Oliver Queen also got into some hot water with a councilman. He was trying to convince him to vote yes on re-zoning to create lower income homes. The councilman won’t budge due to Queen Industries and the city building sky rises instead of low-income homes in the past. Later in “Human Target” Oliver discovers the real reason behind is no vote; the councilman wants the land for himself as he has investors interested in the land. Oliver manages to get the councilman on his side by the end of episode. Mayor Queen also convinces Susan Williams to give him 1 month without bad press in order to earn her trust and work to fix Star City. He then gets her number.

I don’t think this potential relationship will last long as Susan is already digging for dirt on Mayor Queen the minute she leaves his office. A source of hers, Ian, gives her dirt on Oliver’s past. He uncovers a photo of him from 5 years ago in Russia when he was supposed to be on the island.

We also got to see Oliver in Russia in this episode. Oliver meets the head of Bratva, Viktor and is threatened by him. Viktor tells Oliver he isn’t really Bratva and he will never truly be Bratva. He then attempts to have Oliver killed in an alley way by luring him with a young woman who seemed to be in danger. Oliver is saved by Christopher Chance who was hired by Anatole.

Back in Star City Church makes his move on Mayor Queen. He hires a man to take him out. Turns out that man was being impersonated by the guy Diggle was talking about; The Human Target aka Christopher Chance. The same man who saved him in Russia 5 years before.

Oliver fakes his death in order to get Church to move forward with his plan in order to figure out what he has planned.

The team then figures out Church’s plan and heads out to break up the party. Spartan (Diggle) rejoins the team and so does Wild Dog. At the airstrip Wild Dog goes after Church again and loses him after an RPG goes off. Ragman and Artemis are about to be taken out by the archer Church hired but they are saved by Chance who was in disguise as a thug.

Oliver finds Church inside an air hanger and takes him on mono-e-mono. After beating Church up, he tells Oliver about Prometheus and his quest to end Oliver. Mayor Queen returns to the podium and civilization after Church and crew are captured and the rezoning for lower income housing passes. However, in route to prison the transport van Church is in is attacked. Prometheus comes for him and Church gives him The Green Arrow’s real name in hopes of having his life spared. Prometheus thanks him for the information and then kills him. That escalated quickly.

“Human Target” also showed some trouble in paradise for Billy and Felicity. Billy tells Felicity he took a job at the ACU and asks if Oliver knows about the two of them. She lies and says he does. This comes back to bite her when Chance accidentally lets Oliver know about Billy and Felicity. Oops. Oliver later confronts Felicity about her relationship with Billy and the fact that she hid it from him. Did she avoid telling him because there is a chance she still wants to be with Oliver?

Next Week:

Prometheus tries to bait Oliver killing people to send him a message. He is saying Oliver is the serial killer. Who is this guy and why does he hate Oliver so much?

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

Trust has been a major theme in the last two episodes of Arrow. After recruiting a new team, Oliver quickly loses said team due to his inability to trust them and vice versa. His Bratva (Russian) style training tactics didn’t really help either. Only able to trust himself, Oliver is forced to face Ragman, the lone survivor of Havenrock who is out for revenge.

Amartech, the company offering to help with a health event for Mayor Queen has been doing some dirty dealing. One of which was giving Damien Dhark the bombs that blew up Havenrock. Hence why Ragman is slowly taking out members of the company. The CEO gets a taste of his fury when she is meeting up with Tobias Church. Oliver joins in the fight and let’s Church almost kill him in hopes of recruiting Ragman to team arrow. He is successful as Ragman saves his life.

After Church’s encounter with The Green Arrow, Prometheus confronts Church and tells him to lay off The Green Arrow; he wants him for himself.

We also got to see Diggle in action. Unfortunately he and his unit are ambushed by his lieutenant who are stealing the last known bomb. The young solider is killed and Diggle is taken hostage. He is then thrown into a cell with Floyd Lawten aka Deadshot. Well a hallucination of Deadshot.

Lyla visits Diggle and he tells her he isn’t well. He feels he deserves to be punished for killing his brother and clearly has severe PTSD because of it. Lyla then turns to Oliver for help; she wants him to break Diggle out of prison.

Mayor Queen hires Quentin as Deputy Mayor and that causes a political frenzy. Luckily Thea is there to handle it on Oliver’s behalf and puts that reporter in her place. Putting his trust in Quentin, Oliver realizes he needs to do the same with the new team.

Team Arrow assemble!… errr suit up. I’m gonna leave the catch phrases to Mr. Queen.

The team: Oliver, Evenlyn Sharp (Starfire), Curtis Holt (Fair Play), Rene Ramirez (Wilddog) and Rory Regan (Ragman) team up to take down Derrick Samson played by Cody Rhodes. Samson is a stardust dealer who was first attacked by Sharp and Wilddog and falls into chemicals becoming practically indestructible. The stardust drug mixed with the chemicals changed his body composition giving him enhanced strength and the inability to feel pain. Samson steals a molecular device in order to make everyone else like him and take back Star City from Church.

In action Curtis is saved by Rory when he is trying to disassemble a bomb. The Green Arrow also figures out how to make Samson immobile; he slices his tendons. Score 1 for new team arrow! As a reward Oliver shows the recruits the arrow cave.

This episode also showed us how Oliver gained his definition of trust. We are taken back to Russia where Oliver is mid-initiation into Bratva. He gets the team of guys he is with to work together to ring the bell. Next thing he knows they are all shot and killed. Oliver is then asked to trust Bratva and Anatole. He hesitates but later learns that all the recruits except himself were criminals who escaped justice. Oliver is then cut on his back by his Bratva brothers showing his trust in them not to kill him with his back turned.

Felicity puts her faith and trust in Rory not to kill her when she tells him the truth about Havenrock. She was the one who diverted the bomb from a highly populated area to the smaller region of Havenrock. Rory looked heart broken when he told her. Will this be too much for him? Will he leave team arrow? Will he seek revenge against Felicity even though it wasn’t her fault?

Felicity’s other half Billy Malone (Detective Malone) summons the Green Arrow with a fake B&E radio call. He then goes on to tell Oliver about Prometheus.

There was a lot of great comic relief in this episode. Curtis provided most of it a usual but Felicity and Oliver had some zingy one-liners. Especially the mention of hockey masks. Great TMNT Casey Jones reference.

Next Week

Oliver attempts to break Diggle out of prison but the new team is preventing him from doing so.

Church is planning something big and the team goes after him.

SIDEBAR: CROSSOVER PALOOZA (aka Flash-Arrow-Legends-Supergirl crossover) IS COMING!

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