Synopsis:
When a masked thief with superhuman strength steals a centrifuge from Queen Consolidated, Oliver and his team investigate, with the help of Central City CSI Barry Allen. Oliver suspects that Barry is hiding something and has him investigated. When confronted, Barry reveals that he is searching for super-powered beings in the hope that he will find the one responsible for the murder of his mother. Oliver realizes that the thief was enhanced using the same serum that Dr. Ivo was searching for on the island. Roy and Thea stumbled upon Oliver's case after helping Sin to find her missing friend, but Oliver shoots Roy in the leg to prevent him getting further involved. Oliver tracks the thief, but is injured and injected with an unknown toxin. In order to save Oliver's life, Felicity contacts Barry to help find an antidote. Meanwhile, Merlyn puts pressure on Moira to tell Thea that he is her father. Moira instead contacts Ra's al Ghul, who wants to kill Merlyn for breaking the League of Assassins' code of honor by destroying the Glades. As a result, Merlyn leaves and warns her that the issue regarding Thea is not over. In a flashback to the island, Oliver and Shado find the serum, but when they inject Slade with it his heart stops, just as Dr. Ivo arrives with his men.
Well, the writers have done it again - just when it looks like the TV series may be about to plumb the depths of soap opera melodrama, they pull back quickly and resolve it, rather than drag things out.
A few stand-out elements of this episode:
1. Oliver tells us what's going to happen on the island, before we see it - I think this is the first time it's happened. And his explanation can only fill us with foreboding - not only is Arrow going to kill everyone on the island who was injected with Miracle, and survived, but he also burned the very last one himself. And yet - at the end of this episode he's injected Slade. Although they give the impression that the injection may have killed him, it all looks set up for Slade to become a greater enemy on that island than any before. Not only does his face mirror his previous mask, but by not applying the sedative first, something must go wrong. Slade as a psychotic Two-Face derivative character on the island? That would work, and allows for plenty more tension on the island.
2. Moira - again she surprises us. When it appears that Malcolm has her under his thumb, she comes back with some different - the threat of Ra's al Ghul. Now that was interesting.
3. And, of course - and at last - Barry Allen finally makes an appearance. His later importance being clearly underlined by the Harry Potter music that plays everytime we see him! I was hoping the lab experiment incident would occur in this episode - but I don't mind waiting, and plainly the writers want to give us more of a flavour of him first.
Overall, a good episode - and by The Flash crossover and the beginning of whatever Slade will become, quite an important one I should guess.
When a masked thief with superhuman strength steals a centrifuge from Queen Consolidated, Oliver and his team investigate, with the help of Central City CSI Barry Allen. Oliver suspects that Barry is hiding something and has him investigated. When confronted, Barry reveals that he is searching for super-powered beings in the hope that he will find the one responsible for the murder of his mother. Oliver realizes that the thief was enhanced using the same serum that Dr. Ivo was searching for on the island. Roy and Thea stumbled upon Oliver's case after helping Sin to find her missing friend, but Oliver shoots Roy in the leg to prevent him getting further involved. Oliver tracks the thief, but is injured and injected with an unknown toxin. In order to save Oliver's life, Felicity contacts Barry to help find an antidote. Meanwhile, Merlyn puts pressure on Moira to tell Thea that he is her father. Moira instead contacts Ra's al Ghul, who wants to kill Merlyn for breaking the League of Assassins' code of honor by destroying the Glades. As a result, Merlyn leaves and warns her that the issue regarding Thea is not over. In a flashback to the island, Oliver and Shado find the serum, but when they inject Slade with it his heart stops, just as Dr. Ivo arrives with his men.
Well, the writers have done it again - just when it looks like the TV series may be about to plumb the depths of soap opera melodrama, they pull back quickly and resolve it, rather than drag things out.
A few stand-out elements of this episode:
1. Oliver tells us what's going to happen on the island, before we see it - I think this is the first time it's happened. And his explanation can only fill us with foreboding - not only is Arrow going to kill everyone on the island who was injected with Miracle, and survived, but he also burned the very last one himself. And yet - at the end of this episode he's injected Slade. Although they give the impression that the injection may have killed him, it all looks set up for Slade to become a greater enemy on that island than any before. Not only does his face mirror his previous mask, but by not applying the sedative first, something must go wrong. Slade as a psychotic Two-Face derivative character on the island? That would work, and allows for plenty more tension on the island.
2. Moira - again she surprises us. When it appears that Malcolm has her under his thumb, she comes back with some different - the threat of Ra's al Ghul. Now that was interesting.
3. And, of course - and at last - Barry Allen finally makes an appearance. His later importance being clearly underlined by the Harry Potter music that plays everytime we see him! I was hoping the lab experiment incident would occur in this episode - but I don't mind waiting, and plainly the writers want to give us more of a flavour of him first.
Overall, a good episode - and by The Flash crossover and the beginning of whatever Slade will become, quite an important one I should guess.
