DC COMICS: Arrow (s2 ep 23 Unthinkable)

DC TV CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

ARROW

TEAM ARROW

PLOT:
Oliver stresses about the cure’s apparent lack of effect on Roy, just as Slade’s men storm the clocktower and prepare to invade. Roy suddenly awakens, notably lacking his super strength, as Oliver orders the team to evacuate by rappelling to the street. Once downstairs, a helicopter takes aim at the men in the clocktower and destroys it, revealed to be the work of Lyla.XXXWith the city in chaos, the team returns to the foundry to find it in shambles, as Oliver tasks Diggle and Lyla with getting through to Amanda Waller, while Felicity and Roy gather up the injection arrows. Elsewhere, Thea walks away from Merlyn’s bullet-ridden body, only for him to get back up and reveal his Kevlar, expressing admiration that Thea had the conviction that Tommy lacked. Back at the SCPD, Detective Lance readies his men to face the worst, as Laurel finds Sara just outside, and gets darted by Nyssa al Ghul at Sara’s request.XXXFelicity lies to Roy in claiming that he’d been unconscious ever since being kidnapped by Slade, just before Sara appears with Nyssa and the League Assassins, alarming the others. Oliver warns that the League’s help always comes at a price, to which Sara reveals that she agreed to go back with them in exchange, and that Oliver should be ready to do the unthinkable as well. Oliver urges Roy to remember his training and hands over his very own red mask, for having survived his own crucible. Roy calls Thea to confirm her safety, but upon learning of her whereabouts, asks her to meet him at his home. Malcolm assures Thea that Roy is every bit a liar as her brother and mother, but he’ll understand if she needs to see for herself.Sara and Oliver make their attack on Slade’s forces at the Queen office, finally coming face to face with the man himself, but even with the help of the League, Slade gets away before Oliver can hit him with a cure. Nyssa manages to incapacitate and unmask Isabel Rochev, but even as Oliver demands she be spared, Nyssa snaps the woman’s neck. In the past, Slade continually injects men with the Mirakuru serum in front of Oliver and Sara, as Oliver attempts to appeal to Slade’s better nature and their mutual memory of Shado. Still seeing visions of the girl demanding he kill Oliver, Slade masks up and prepares to fire, only for the boat to be hit by one of Anatoli’s torpedoes.XXXIn the present, Quentin finds Laurel just as Slade’s men attack the precinct, incapacitating Quentin and taking Laurel hostage. Shortly after, Oliver, Nyssa, Sara and Felicity arrive to find Laurel kidnapped, as Felicity gets word that all of Slade’s men have begun gathering in a tunnel, likely to escape the blast that Slade anticipates. Quentin implores Oliver to return to killing in the interest of getting Laurel back, but when Oliver briefly considers the notion of killing Slade, Felicity reminds him that he has a choice, and only needs to make Slade believe he’s out-thinking Oliver in order to get close.XXXThea finds Roy at his apartment, as Roy denies the Arrow having had anything to do with his recovery, and suggest the two of them get out of town forever. Thea agrees, but just as soon as she does, Felicity texts Roy that the time has come, and Roy tells Thea he loves her, imploring that he only needs to do one more thing before they leave. Meanwhile, Oliver brings Felicity to the Queen mansion in order to keep her safe, but when Felicity insists on joining him, Oliver reveals that Slade took the wrong woman whom he believed Oliver to love. Elsewhere, Diggle and Lyla exchange their own “I love yous” before infiltrating the A.R.G.U.S. facility, and Waller discovers that her men in Starling City have been killed.XXXOliver leads Roy, Sara, Nyssa and the League fighters into battle against Slade’s army, armed with cure shots to disable the soldiers’ super-strength. Everyone does their part (including Quentin!) as Oliver and the others defeat Slade’s army, while Diggle and Lyla free Deadshot and the other criminals to even the odds against Waller. Diggle demands that the A.R.G.U.S. leader call off the drone strike, before Amanda in turn reveals that Lyla is pregnant with Diggle’s child. Meanwhile, Oliver discovers that Slade managed to kidnap Felicity as well as Laurel, while Thea discovers a bow and arrow hidden among Roy’s possessions. In the past, Oliver and Slade fight amid the sinking ship, before Oliver destroys the Mirakuru and Sara is once again pulled out to sea.XXXOliver arrives to the facility wherein Slade has Laurel and Felicity, and agrees to drop his bow on Slade’s order. Oliver insists that he remembers Shado as someone beautiful and kind, who would be disgusted by what Slade has done in her name. Slade remains adamant on making Oliver feel what he’s been through, to which Oliver suggests that his hate has blinded him to the danger right in front of him. Just then, Felicity manages to inject Slade with one of the cure shots, having been given the syringe back at the mansion, as Oliver had anticipated that Slade had cameras observing their exchange, and would target Felicity.Sara frees Laurel, as both past and present Oliver and Slade come to blows, the past Oliver vastly outmatched by Slade’s strength. Amid the fighting, Slade ends up pinned by a bit of falling Amazo debris, but insists that even if Oliver cures him, he’ll still fulfill the promise to kill those Oliver loves. Given the choice, Oliver stabs Slade in the eye with an arrow, but is knocked off his feet by an explosion. Back in the present Oliver fights the de-powered Slade all the way to the roof, where Slade insists he’ll win regardless due to the drone strike. Oliver manages to pin Slade with a number of restraining arrows, refusing to kill him in the end, before calling Amanda to cancel the drone strike.XXXShortly after, Quentin and Sara see Laurel off with the League of Assassins, Sara assuring that it was her own decision to make this time, and bequeathing her leather jacket to Laurel. Quentin and Laurel depart the dock for a meeting, until Quentin suddenly coughs up blood and keels over, having been wounded internally during the earlier fight with Slade’s men. Meanwhile, Roy returns home to find a note from Thea atop his bow, wherein Thea explains that she can no longer trust anyone, and has since fled the city for good. That morning, Thea gets into a car with Malcolm Merlyn, departing to find her own source of strength.Slade awakens in a cell to find Oliver waiting outside, as Oliver thanks Slade for making him a killer when he needed to be, but also for pushing him to develop the strength to become a hero, and let the villain live. Slade insists he’ll escape and fulfill the promise, as Oliver climbs a ladder to reveal that the cell is below a hatch on Lian Yu. Felicity jokes that Oliver will need to find a job until he gets back Queen Consolidated, as Diggle offers the two a minute to sort out their feelings. Felicity admits that Oliver nearly had her convinced when he told her he loved her, and Oliver wryly returns the sentiment.XXXOliver volunteers to fly the plane home, leading Felicity to wonder when he might have learned to pilot, given the five years spent on the island. Back in the past, Oliver awakens from the Amazo’s sinking in a hotel room, as armed men escort him outside to meet Amanda Waller, who welcomes him to Hong Kong.