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.

Suggested Articles:

Third Installment of DC Week – ‘Arrow’ Recap: “Invasion!”

‘Arrow’ Recap: “Vigilante”

Prometheus Sends Oliver A Message, ‘Arrow’ Recap: “So It Begins”

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

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.

Suggested Articles:

DC Week Continues – ‘The Flash’ Recap: “Invasion!”

DC Week Begins – ‘Supergirl’ Recap: “Medusa”

The post Third Installment of DC Week – ‘Arrow’ Recap: “Invasion!” 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!

Suggested Articles:

Arrow Season 5 Premiere Recap: “Legacy” *SPOILERS*

The Flash Season 3 Premiere Recap: “Flashpoint” *SPOILERS*

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