Arrow’s mystery death revealed
At the Diggle house, Andy opens up a safe in the dead of night and takes out one of John’s guns. John finds him and asks what he’s up to, when his brother spills the beans about last week’s closing scene. HIVE knows he’s alive and they sent Malcolm Merlyn to talk to him. They want him to hijack a shipment of missiles and he doesn’t know what to do. The team dissects the problem in the Arrow Cave, where they’re storing Darhk’s idol, and Oliver reveals to the team that he saw it before. John ups the security since Merlyn knows the location of their base, and insists they use Andy as an inside man on HIVE, but Oliver isn’t crazy about it. They have to leave the safety of the cave, as Oliver attends Ruve Davis’ Mayoral acceptance speech. While there, a reporter reveals a write-in campaign gave Oliver 48% of the votes and Ruve approaches Laurel about becoming the new District Attorney. Good thing they kept up with this weird Star City tradition!
In our first island flashback, Oliver tells Taiana not to hesitate to kill any of Reiter’s men. She laments how the island makes monsters of everyone as she admires the photo of her and her brother. Oliver tells her of a photo he once had that he looked at often and it reminded him that the person he used to be wouldn’t survive here. Oliver and John stake out the missile hijack, but it’s quiet. Laurel and Thea monitor the situation from the cave when Malcolm Merlyn shows up with the last of his loyal ninjas to take the idol. Oliver, Diggle and Andy handle the crew going after the missile truck, but it’s all a little too easy to Oliver. Merlyn in the meantime goes for the idol and fights off Thea to retain it. When Diggle and Ollie return, he thinks they’ve been swindled, led by Andy to another location so Merlyn could get the idol, but he only reveals this to Laurel, who tells him best not to share with John.
Back on the island, Taiana runs out of the catacombs into the bunker and tricks some guards to run inside to be ambushed by Oliver. She releases the other prisoners and their uprising begins. Laurel meets with her father for dinner where they talk about her DA prospects. He’s certain she’ll turn it down, but Laurel thinks it would be a good way to get the inside scoop on HIVE and Ruve Davis. Captain Lance reminds her that the DA has a 24/7 protection detail and by assuming the role she’d have to give up being the Black Canary. Later, Andy alerts the team to Merlyn’s whereabouts in an old box factory. They chase after him and his remaining ninjas, only to spring a trap and Andy to dive in the way of an arrow aimed at Oliver. He then reveals Merlyn’s plan. He’s headed to Damien Darhk at Iron Heights with the idol.
Just like Andy said, Merlyn arrives at Iron Heights with Darhk’s idol, reminding him of their terms that he and Thea would be spared during Genesis. Darhk has one qualm though, there’s a piece missing from the idol. John stitches up his brother and reveals to him they deliberately took out a piece of the idol and he hid it himself personally. Oliver brings John aside and suggests not getting too specific with those details. John is dismayed by this but ultimately lets it go. Laurel takes off her mask to head to the prison to search the cell as ADA. Once more to the island. More soldiers enter and Taiana sends the other prisoners outside to free the others. Oliver on the other hand has a plan not to kill Reiter, but instead trap him in the hole.
At Iron Heights, there’s nothing to be found in Darhk’s cell and he toys with Laurel about her father before she leaves. Back at the Diggle house, Andy frantically searches for something only to be confronted by Oliver. In his best Batman voice, he interrogates him about searching for the missing stone for the idol and even presses on his wound to make him scream. With impeccable timing, John enters and sees the scene, drawing his weapon on Oliver. Ollie leaves only to be confronted by Diggle later in the Arrow Cave. He makes his case for why he thinks Andy is a double agent working for HIVE, again, but John has answers for all his accusations. Diggle goes on to point out that Oliver is stuck in his self-pity and self-righteousness, and that’s why Felicity left him. Cut a dude deep, John.
Back at Iron Heights, Murmur walks the book cart down the cell block and hands out reading material. Laurel reveals to Oliver she’s turning down the promotion, but he tells her the team they have is falling apart and the city could use a hero without a mask on. Murmur arrives at Darhk’s cell and reveals the idol, and we see the books he passed out featured shivs. When the prisoners are let out of their cells for playtime, they attack the guards and take another hostage. As the team gets the alert of what’s going on, Laurel decides to put on the Canary mask one last time.
Captain Lance provides a sufficient distraction for Team Arrow to enter Iron Heights, along with Andy who wants to prove to Oliver he can be trusted. They fight off prisoners as they make their way to Darhk, and Thea takes up round two with Malcolm Merlyn. Thea appears to have an edge, but Merlyn pins her and says she lost a part of herself when her blood lust was cured. Meanwhile, the team busts into the dining hall and fights off Darhk’s prison-goons. Andy gets disarmed and Darhk points his gun at his head, forcing the team to drop their weapons. Darhk asks for what he has and we see Oliver was right, Andy was working for Darhk and he has the missing stone for the idol. Thea puts two arrows in Dahrk’s stomach who goes to his idol to heal him.
The fights break out again and Andy shoots two prisoners to give the idol power. Darhk gets a sufficient charge to hold Team Arrow with his magic and reveals how he figured it all out, how Andy pointed him to John who worked for the Green Arrow and how he figured out it was Oliver. He then turns to Laurel and tells her about Captain Lance’s promise to him. Oliver, knowing that promise, fires an arrow at Darhk who catches it. Darhk takes the arrow and stabs it into Laurel’s side, and tells her to tell Captain Lance he’s a man of his word. Oliver runs to the bleeding Laurel and hoists her up, carrying her himself into a hospital.
In the final Island flashback, Oliver prepares the C4 and shows Taiana the photo he mentioned earlier: a picture of Laurel, saying she was his home before he came here. Taiana asks Oliver to go to Russia to tell her parents what happened to her and her brother if she doesn’t make it, and she will find Laurel if Oliver doesn’t. They agree, presumably setting up the flashbacks for Arrow season five. Underground, two guards find Reiter, who kills them to bring power to the idol as the blasts go off and bury the tunnels in rock. At SCPD, Quentin sits in cuffs and asks what happened at the prison. One of his fellow officers reminds him he punched lieutenant Pike but also reveals Darhk hurt the Black Canary, bad.
Felicity joins Thea and John at the hospital with Oliver, and they tell him Darhk is in the wind along with 50 inmates from Iron Heights. John can’t forgive himself for what happened with Andy and not trusting Oliver. The good news is the doctors say Laurel will be fine and wheel her into recovery. They all share a moment and Oliver stays behind to be with Laurel. She points him to a pouch in her suit where she carried that photo of herself that Oliver held on the island. It was a reminder for her of when things were simpler. Laurel tells Oliver she’s glad he found Felicity and hopes he finds his way back to her and that she may not be the love of his life, but he is the love of hers. When asked why she’s telling him this, Laurel asks Oliver to promise her something though we don’t hear it. The doctors soon rush in to a seizing Laurel and try to revive her. She eventually flat lines and they pronounce her time of death at 11:59 PM. Oliver enters the hallway, lost and confused, only to meet Quentin Lance, who doesn’t even need to hear the truth to know what happened.
You can watch a preview for the next episode of Arrow, set to air April 27, in the player below!
