(Author’s note: Sorry this one is late folks, I was traveling for work.)
Diggle and Oliver pursue some ghosts in the midst of a logging operation. Through some of Felicity’s computer trickery, they’re able to corner one and extract his cyanide tooth before he can gnash down on it, but he escapes anyway. At the Arrow Cave, they bring the tooth back and Felicity prepares to run it through the DNA sequencer. She tries to convince Diggle and Oliver to go out for a Team Arrow drink, but Diggle still isn’t having it, and Oliver says he’s done waiting on him to come around. Meanwhile in Nanda Parbat, Nyssa and Merlyn (don’t forget, he’s the new Ra’s now!) spar, though she is doing her best to actually kill him. Laurel and Thea are brought in by guards and it quickly becomes apparent that they’re there for them to resurrect Sara, which Merlyn flat out refuses to do. In our first island flashback, Oliver watches over the field workers and tackles one trying to make a run for it. Another guard knocks him out with his gun as a show of force toward Ollie.
That night, when Diggle comes home he finds a man waiting in his house, an ARGUS agent fulfilling a favor for Lyla, the identity of the person that hired Deadshot to kill Diggle’s brother: a woman named Mina Fayad. It won’t be hard for Diggle to find her either as she was just tracked as entering the country the night before. We see Fayad on her way to meet Damien Darhk and she brings an associate with her. To test the man’s skill, Darhk brings out the soldier from the beginning who is promptly killed by sharp playing cards from off screen. Darhk then hires the man to kill the Green Arrow. Back in Nanda Parbat, Laurel isn’t ready to give up on bringing Sara back. Nyssa tries to convince her to let it go, that she’s not acting out of love but out of grief, and appears to get through to her.
The tests come back in the Arrow Cave from the tooth, but there’s not enough DNA inside for a match, let alone a person. An alarm sounds for a robbery downtown and Oliver heads off without Diggle as backup. Diggle meanwhile ignores a phone call from Felicity as he spies on Fayad from a rooftop. In the middle of this tension, we flash back to the island where we learn the drug being harvested is called Slam and that some of it is missing. Back in the present, Oliver finds some dead mechanics and starts a fight with the would be assassin, who can pull the playing card tattoos off of his skin and use them as projectiles and who briefly drops Fayad’s name mid-combat. Diggle also gets into a spat and the pair are in over their heads by themselves to the point that they don’t accomplish their objectives.
Merlyn goes to see Thea and tells her that she needs to feed the blood lust that she’s been feeling, that the Lazarus pit is infused with the souls of the people that have used it, but giving in will subside it. He tells her of a healer in the mountains that they’ll travel to in the morning who might be able to help in lieu of taking a life though. Felicity tends to Oliver’s wounds while they talk about the card throwing metahuman, named Double Down by Cisco off screen (after the Blackjack term and not the KFC sandwich). When things get tense between Oliver and Diggle Felicity goes into full mom mode and demands that they work together or else, or else what, who knows. Oliver tries to bury the hatchet again but Diggle isn’t haven’t it, but in talking about Damien Darhk, Diggle sees an opportunity for Oliver to earn his trust again.
On the island, another guard threatens a man in front of the other works and kills him. Before he can off another though, Oliver convinces him to try torture instead of outright death. Felicity goes to see Curtis Hall at Palmer Tech where he’s working on some new inventions (notably the T-Spheres from the pages of DC Comics!) and asks him to analyze the playing card from the metahuman, coming up with a bad cover for where she got it while also commenting on a strange bug with her phone. At his home, Diggle explains to Oliver the circumstances of his brother’s death, its connection to HIVE, and that Fayad is his only lead in two years. At Damien Darhk’s HQ, he chastises both Double Down and Fayad before showing them his true powers by stopping one of the projectiles mid-air. He kills Fayad in front of Double Down and offers him one more chance to kill the Green Arrow.
Thea twitches in her sleep in Nanda Parbat when two ninjas attack her. She takes them down with ease, and kills them, only to realize that her father sent them in there to quell her rage and that there is no mystical healer that can help. Merlyn explains she won’t feel her “hunger” for a few weeks now, which will probably coincide with The Flash crossover, and tells her there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to help her. Team Arrow tries to track down Fayad and pings her phone to a location. On the island, Oliver tortures the man before one of the workers stands up and admits to taking the drug. Ollie then convinces the guard to make her disappear instead of plainly executing her, which he agrees to. Thea wakes up Laurel in Nanda Parbat and tells them it’s time to leave because Merlyn won’t help them, but he very quickly has a change of heart and agrees to resurrect Sara to prove his love for Thea.
Oliver and Diggle arrive at the location of Fayad’s phone only to find her already dead. Diggle blames himself, but Oliver reminds him what the theme of the episode is, that he’s not doing this alone anymore, they’re a team. Felicity goes to see what Curtis has found out and through a lot of nonsense science talk, they reveal the organic matter of the card which can somehow be traced – too bad Double Down already figured that out and showed up. He chases them through the lab and Felicity has to quickly explain she works with the Green Arrow when she and Holt ride the secret elevator down to the Arrow Cave. She manages to fend off Double Down by using a gun, though he does take out some computer monitors in the fight. Oliver and Diggle arrive just as they track down Tell, who is leaving town.
Sara’s body is lowered into the pit in Nanda Parbat, and despite Nyssa’s objections they carry it out. The pit bubbles up and Sara rises from the waters, leaping into the air and howling like an animal before Merlyn sedates her. As Double Down prepares to leave, Oliver and Diggle stop his ride and bind him up. Oliver earns Diggle’s trust again by taking one of the cards to the chest, which gets Double Down a couple extra licks to the noggin. Team Arrow finally assembles for their drink and Oliver teases a surprise for them, a third version of the beloved Arrow Cave. On the island, Oliver takes the woman out into the woods, making sure to walk far ahead of the attending guard who promptly steps on a land mine. They make off into the woods so he can help her.
Felicity goes to see Curtis in the morning who, despite the mess, was quite happy to find out his boss wanted to save their city as much as he does. The glitch in Felicity’s phone pops back up again and spells out her name on the screen, presumably a message from none other than Ray Palmer. Laurel tries to talk to Sara, who has been chained up after he trip through the pit. Merlyn and Thea stand behind when a guard alerts them to something, it’s Nyssa, she’s done something to the pit rendering it useless. Merlyn has his guards take her away while he stares furious at its smoking waters.
