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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Arrow’s 100th episode and the third installment of the 4 night DC crossover event took us back in time and into an alternate universe where many of fan favorite characters resurfaced while our abducted team members were in stasis in alien pods.

The first Arrow resurrection was Laurel Lance aka The Black Canary. In the dream-like hallucination The Dominators have put some of our characters in an alternate world where Oliver Queen and Laurel are engaged and are getting ready for their wedding day. Moments later Oliver is greeted by his parents Moira and Robert Queen. Oliver begins to feel like something is off but can’t put his finger on it.

Sarah then arrives at the Queen estate and reunites with her sister. She notices Laurel’s necklace with a black canary emblem and when she touches it she gets a vision of Laurel as The Black Canary. Sarah feels the pain of losing her sister and hugs her tightly. She also knows something is off but chooses to ignore it.

Back on Earth Cisco vibes the missing team member’s location using an old bow of Oliver’s. He then shows Felicity and crew the device he took from The Dominator’s ship. They attempt to track the mothership with that device but their human tech is overloaded and dissipates. They locate a suitable alternative but the problem is someone else has their hands on it already. That someone being Laura Washington. She has been making herself powerful with the stolen tech so Felicity calls in reinforcements.

Oliver is still dazed and confused in the shared dream he is in with the rest of the team. He runs into Diggle while almost being robbed and learns that he is now The Green Arrow. No wonder he is confused. Oliver once again has flashbacks of his two different lives; the one he is currently living and his actual life back on Earth. Unable to fathom what is going on Oliver heads to the arrow cave and meets Felicity and a very hostile Diggle in his Green Arrow suit.

Diggle grabs Oliver and begins to choke him but quickly releases him once Oliver starts telling John everything he knows about him. Oliver has an epiphany and realizes he is in an alternate universe. How or why he is in that state he doesn’t yet know.

Ray finally comes into the picture when he gets introduced to Sarah. He recognizes her from somewhere but can’t put the puzzle together just yet. He is also having visions of his life back on Earth.

On Earth the reinforcements come in the form of The Flash and Supergirl. They team up with Ragman, Wilddog and Mr. Terrific. Wilddog wants nothing to do with Supergirl or The Flash and their super powers that is until he needs them when he is attacked by Laura Washington. Cue the epic tag team punches from Supergirl and The Flash that incapacitate Laura and allow Mr. Terrific to grab the regulator off of her. Back at the arrow cave, on Earth, Curtis is able to decode The Dominator’s language but not into something he can decipher. Luckily Ragman sees that The Dominators language shares commonalities with the Old Testament. Maybe they can crack the code and communicate with the aliens.

Throughout the episode Thea really seemed to be enjoying this alternate version of her life. She is finally truly happy, that is until she has a flash of Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke killing her mother. However, like Sarah, she chooses to ignore that vision and live in the moment while her brother (Oliver) and Diggle start to put together the puzzle.

John shows Oliver a picture he drew of The Dominators and Oliver is able to figure out how this universe works. He realizes that The Dominators will push back at anything they try to do to get out of the mind game being played. Cue Slade Wilson’s entrance.

Oliver and Diggle battle Slade but are quickly losing the fight as they are not armed. Luckily Sarah arrives and kills Deathstroke much to her own surprise. Oliver and John explain the fact that they are in a shared hallucination to Sarah and she remembers them being abducted. They then realize the only way out of the machine is to head to the Smoak Technologies building; the only symbol representing their life back on Earth.

Tommy Merlyn’s (Oliver’s childhood best friend) absence is explained by Malcolm Merlyn (his father). He is working long shifts at a hospital in Chicago where he is a doctor aka Chicago Med. While this is going on Ray and Felicity, who are engaged in this dream, run into Sarah. Sarah pulls Ray away and talks to him about their situation. He begins to remember his life and jumps on board to exit this lucid dream.

Oliver tearfully hugs his parents’ goodbye and goes to get Thea. She doesn’t want to leave because this life is too good. Her parents are alive. Laurel is alive. She can’t lose her family again. Oliver is forced to leave her behind. He tells Thea he loves her and wants her to be happy with tears in his eyes. I’m surprised he didn’t take her against her will. He really is changing.

Oliver and the team begin their trek to Smoak Technologies but are stopped when Oliver is shot with an arrow by Malcolm Merlyn when they try to escape. He is not alone. Some of the toughest villains Team Arrow has ever faced surround them. Speedy (Thea Queen) rejoins the group and they battle Deathstroke, Damien Darhk, H.I.V.E. members and Merlyn.

An action packed sequence leads to a final shot where Ollie shoots Deathstroke in the eye with an arrow. All the villains are defeated. However, that isn’t the last of the challenges the team must face to escape. Laurel comes running out of the estate hoping to stop them all, especially Oliver, from leaving. Sarah tries to explain to her sister (Laurel) that they have to leave. She doesn’t want to hear it and continues to beg Ollie to stay. He tells Laurel that she deserves better, that he is not the man she fell in love with and leaves. Poor Laurel is left on the night of her wedding.

An injured John and crew, minus Oliver, walk through the portal to get back on the mothership. Oliver turns back a final time and is greeted by important figures from his past, both dead and alive. Via holograms we get to see Tommy, Roy Harper (Arsenal), Robert Queen, Moira Queen, Felicity and Laurel all telling Oliver not to give up.

Moments later the team wakes up and exit their pods. Shortly after they learn that they are in somewhere in outer space. They try to navigate the alien aircraft in an attempt to escape and run into Dominators. Oliver grabs a nearby laser gun and shoots them. They continue to navigate the mothership until they find escape pods and take one. Thea figures out how to make it take off and the pod heads out into the galaxy.

However, they are not alone. The Dominators follow them in other pods and fire at them. Luckily the Waverider arrives in time to snag them and save them.

Once on the Waverider they are introduced to Nate Heywood aka Citizen Steel and Gideon. Ray has Gideon translate something The Dominators said back on the ship; the weapon is almost complete. Gideon is unable to determine what the weapon is but tracks The Dominator mothership heading directly for Earth.

TO BE CONTINUED ON DC’s LEGENDS OF TOMORROW!

What’s to come in the final installment of the crossover:

Barry has to surrender himself and if he does The Dominators will leave the Earth in peace.

An epic battle ensues and Mick is saved by geeks aka Felicity and Cisco.

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DC Week’s 4 night crossover event continued on last night’s episode of The Flash. The invasion began in Central City when a spaceship landed in the center of town.

Barry approached the spaceship but was sent flying from a silver beam of light. Moments later The Dominators were unleashed, dashing off the spaceship. Lyla Diggle arrived in Central City shortly after the landing of The Dominators and she filled Team Flash in on what she knows. She then informed the team to stand down and let A.R.G.U.S. handle it.

Barry won’t back off that easily and heads out to Star City to recruit Team Arrow. While this is going on Iris and Joe watch as Wally reaches mock 2 during testing. Iris makes Caitlin and Cisco lie to Wally about his abilities hoping it will delay his use of his newly found superpowers.

Barry reaches Star City and saves Spartan and The Green Arrow from getting shot by a vigilante. He brings them both back to Felicity’s apartment and tells them about the invading aliens. Speedy aka Thea Queen walks in on their conversation and decides to come out of retirement to battle The Dominators. Oliver and Barry then have Felicity send a message to The Legends asking for their help.

The Legends arrive in Central City while Barry and Cisco go to Earth 38 and pick up Kara aka Supergirl. A new team assembles (Team Flash + Team Arrow + The Legends (minus Nate and Amaya who hang back to watch the wave rider) + Supergirl) and formulate a plan to take down The Dominators. Barry becomes team leader aka Oliver calls the shots and Barry repeats them. Oliver/Barry tell the team to prepare to train against Kara since she is an alien. The team battles Kara but nothing phases her.

While this is going on invasion continues. The Dominators ready a mind controlling device and prepare to use it on the president. They kidnap the president and take him back to a warehouse.

Barry learns that Snart died sacrificing himself for the team and also learns about the message he sent Rip in the future.

Wally shows up to try and train with the team. Iris is able to stop him from interfering. That is until he heads back to the lab and sees his test results; his powers are excelling and his body is adapting well to the changes. This only makes Wally want to get in the field more but Joe and Iris don’t want him to get involved, therefore Wally turns to an unlikely ally; HR. Wally tries to convince HR to secretly train him but HR turns him down not wanting to jeopardize his position with the team.

After his discussion with Barry, Martin starts having his visions again. Caitlin walks in mid-vision and Martin asks her to escort him back to his home to go see the woman in his visions. Martin arrives home and is finally able to confirm that the woman he is seeing in his visions is in fact his daughter. He is also still married to Clarissa.

Martin’s daughter is a direct result of Barry messing with the timeline. At least this aberration had a positive result for Martin. Unfortunately for the other members in the arrowverse it’s not the same story, which is why Cisco forces Barry to tell the team about his message and the changing of the timeline.

Diggle learns that he originally had a daughter and not a son. The rest of the team now distrusts Barry and therefore Barry sits out round one. Oliver refuses to go into battle without him and is forced to stay behind as well. The rest of the team lead by Kara go retrieve the president.

While in the field Kara tells the team about her x-ray vision. Mick being his usual repulsive self says he will call her skirt not Supergirl. That is right after he asks if she can see everyone’s giblets with her x-ray vision.

The team then heads into the warehouse and finds the president. Unfortunately for them it is a trap by The Dominators; the president was a hologram. They are then attacked by The Dominators and taken over by them.

Barry and Oliver have a heart to heart back at Star Labs. Barry shows Oliver the news article from the future where he goes missing. The news article from Barry’s future isn’t written by Iris West-Allen any more. What did Barry do in the future? Did he sabotage their relationship?

Oliver tells Barry that he isn’t a God and that he is going to make mistakes. What matters is that he learns from those mistakes. Moments later Barry and Oliver are alerted by Cisco that the team is under control of The Dominators. Barry and Oliver arrive on the scene and are attacked by their friends. They have to take them out one by one without killing them.

Seeing the trouble Oliver and Barry are in Wally goes out to help them. Wally gets injured by Kara when he tries to protect Barry. Ollie takes a now unconscious Wally and runs for cover while Barry challenges Supergirl to a race.

Ollie reaches a building but is cornered when he runs out of arrows. He is forced to compete in hand to hand combat with The White Canary aka Sarah Lance. On the other side of Central City Barry has Kara chase him back to the warehouse where The Dominators device is being held. Barry vibrates and Kara flies through him and the mind control device controlling the team breaking it, therefore breaking the mind control on them.

An injured Wally returns to Star Labs and is scorned by Joe and Iris. However all hope is not lost for Kid Flash as HR agrees to train Wally after he saw he was willing to sacrifice himself to save Barry and Oliver; he sees potential in the young speedster.

At the close of the episode Sarah is taken by The Dominators along with Ray, Oliver, Mick and Speedy.

TO BE CONTINUED ON ARROW!

More of what’s to come:

What remains of the crossover team searches to find its abducted members.

The Dominators play head games. Katie Cassidy aka Laurel Lance/Black Canary and Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke return for Arrow’s 100th episode. Who else will return for the 100th episode? Oliver’s mom? Tommy?

Look out for a recap of tomorrow’s episode of Arrow to find out!

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Arrow — “Legacy” — Image AR501a_0060b — Pictured: Prometheus — Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW — © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Season 5 of Arrow premiered last night [Wednesday October 5^th]. “Legacy” showed us the many faces of Oliver Queen: Oliver Queen as the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen as Star City’s Mayor and Oliver Queen as an assassin in Russia. We’ll start off discussing Oliver Queen as the Green Arrow.

Star City is being run by a solo Green Arrow, armed with new arrows, specifically a bomb decoder or computer and a parachute. There are also new emerging vigilantes trying to help our hooded hero, however Mr. Queen doesn’t want to create a new Team Arrow. He believes Thea and Diggle will come back.

Later in the episode Oliver must come to terms with the fact that Team Arrow is no more. Luckily for Oliver, Felicity has been looking into the new vigilantes popping up all over the city. She convinces Oliver to recruit and train them after Curtis is attacked by two thugs doing re-con. Curtis also demands to join Team Arrow to which Oliver agrees.

This couldn’t come at a better time as a new sharp shooter has just arrived in Star City. Meet Prometheus (not related to the DC Comic characters, this is Arrow’s own original character). Prometheus has an axe to grind with Oliver and will be stirring up some trouble in Star City for the vigilante. The question remains who is this villain and what did Oliver do to piss him off? As season 5 is tied to season 1, could this be a character we have seen before or could this be Mr. Kover? The man Oliver is seeking in Russia.

“Legacy” gave us another look into Oliver’s past. This time he is in Russia in some sort of fight club, killing for sport. On the hunt for a Mr. Kover, Oliver kills a man during a fight and is captured by Bratva. Thankfully an old friend and member of Bratva, Anatole, comes to Oliver’s aid and stops him from being killed. Oliver is then brought into another fight by Anatole and begins his initiation into Bratva. That is if he survives the 7-on-1 match.

Mayor Oliver Queen also did some bidding in this episode. He called out SCPD for being corrupt during their gala and said he was hesitant about setting up an Anti-Crime Initiative (a task force of sorts) within the department because of it. Now that Captain Lance no longer runs the unit, corruption and crime within in the force has increased significantly. Fortunately Captain Lance makes his return to Star City in time to see his daughter’s, Laurel “The Black Canary” Lance, commemorative statue. However, he is in no shape to run the department or anything else for that matter. Lance has once again fallen off the wagon after Donna Smoak left him. Oliver does convince Lance to come to the ceremony but it is quickly cut short thanks to Tobias Church and crew; they open fire at the service and take Oliver hostage in hopes to drag out the Green Arrow. If they only knew they had him in their possession already.

Oliver insults Church and gets himself isolated from the group. An SCPD officer takes him to a separate room and punches him in the face a few times. Oliver warns the officer about the dangers of hitting him again. The officer laughs as he believes the mayor to be zipped tied to the chair. Oliver shows the officer his now free hands and proceeds to kill the officer in order to keep his secret. Thea aka Speedy briefly comes out of retirement to help her brother only to arrive when he is killing the SCPD officer. Needless to say she was not pleased.

The duo escape and come back to where Oliver was held in order to rescue the other hostages taken by Church. This time Oliver has back up in the form of Speedy and 4 brave and loyal SCPD officers, hand selected by Detective Malone; a man Lance knows is squeaky clean, he doesn’t even double park, and trust worthy. After successfully saving the hostages and escaping before the building blew up, Oliver announces the start of the ACI, which is to be led by Detective Malone.

Church also gathers all of Star City’s criminals for a meeting, asking them to assemble and work together as one under one chain of command, presumably him. However, it seems like his reign of this team won’t last too long, especially with Prometheus in town. It won’t be long before he comes knocking on their door.

Other exciting things “Legacy” brought us:

We finally learned what Laurel made Oliver promise: “Please don’t let me be the last canary, that way a part of me will always be out there with you.” AWWWWW!!!!!!!

Felicity has a new man, ACI team member Officer Benton.

New CG which looks amazing and really added to the episode overall.

Next Week:

Training day for the new recruits

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