‘Arrow’ Recap ‘Disbanded’

After that mildly heartbreaking and disturbing cliff hanger last week, I was finally happy to have my Arrow back this week. I can’t help but feel extreme heartbreak for Oliver… feeling as though he can’t save anyone (including himself) and that he no longer knows who to trust.

The episode opens with Oliver breaking the news to his team (After he finishes patching himself up) to go home; as he is disbanding the team. Curtis wants an explanation, so Oliver tells him that Chase is right and that he makes everyone suffer or die just by being around him. Diggle politely asks the rest of the team to leave, so that he can speak to Oliver alone. Diggle asks Oliver what Chase did to him, but Oliver simply tells Diggle to leave… and that he doesn’t want anyone close to him to be near him.

The next day, Diggle meets the rest of the team in Felicity’s apartment and tells the rest of the team about Oliver’s current situation. Diggle tells the team that Oliver is not in the right state of mind and that the team is far from over. Felicity tells the team that she’ll handle Prometheus and tells the rest of the city to keep protecting Star City, as they still have a job to do.

Lance walks into Oliver’s office and asks him about what they are going to do about Chase. Oliver tells him they’re not going to do anything, as Chase has ‘won’. As if on cue, Chase enters the office and puts up a front, thanking Oliver for letting him take a leave of absence of his wife’s death. Lance tries to get  Chase’s face, but Oliver tells Lance to give them some privacy. Chase puts a knife down on Oliver’s desk and asks Oliver if he is going to kill him now….being as that Oliver has admitted that he actually likes killing. Oliver doesn’t respond, and Chase leaves to head out to his protected custody detail.

Felicity journeys to Helix and asks them for their help in bringing down Chase. Felicity’s co-hacker says she has a video of Chase unmasking as Prometheus, but he has used a scrambler to hide his face. Felicity states that if Prometheus is using technology, Helix can reverse-engineer it, and get the footage to become unblurred… which would ultimately bring down Chase once and for all.

Susan comes to see Oliver and begs him not to let Chase win. She tells Oliver that she has given her statement to the police, and that all Oliver needs to do is collaborate her statement. Oliver tells her that Chase has probably already planned for that, and it won’t work… he needs to do something that Chase hasn’t planned for. Oliver then breaks up with Susan and apologizes to her, saying that he should have known better than to let anyone get close to him.

Later, Oliver meets up with Anatoly in the bunker. He tells Anatoly that he needs the Bratva’s help, and he asks them to kill Chase. Anatoly says that he’s surprised that Oliver has given up the hood, to which Oliver admits that Anatoly was right; wearing the hood wouldn’t hide anything. Anatoly says that Oliver has run out of favors, so Oliver needs to do something for him first.  Oliver agrees to the first part of the ‘payment’ tonight and the second part when Chase is dead.

At Helix, Felicity figured out how Chase was able to scramble his face, but she needs physical access to the scrambler to reverse the algorithm and to clear up the tape.

While Oliver is at city hall, Team Arrow suits up to stop a break-in at one of the medical facilities. After attempting to stop the heist, they discover that Anatoly and the Bratva are the one stealing the drugs… after given permission by Oliver. Diggle rushes over to Oliver and asks him what kind of stuff he was getting into. Oliver admits that he invited the Bratva into the city to kill Chase. Oliver then tells Diggle that he doesn’t want his team to get involved, because he doesn’t want Chase’s death on their consciences. Oliver orders Diggle to stand down and let the Bratva do their job.

The next morning, Diggle tells the team that Oliver is compromised, and Prometheus has poisoned his mind…but despite that, they’re not going to give up on their city. Diggle asks Felicity to help him try to convince Oliver that hiring the Bratva is the wrong choice, but she tells Diggle she isn’t getting involved.  While they talk, Curtis sneaks on Felicity’s computer and finds out that Felicity is planning to get physically close to Chase.

At the Arrow Cave, Anatoly tells Oliver that he needs the drugs to create a new street drug that is more addictive than heroin. Diggle shows up and attempts to reach out to Oliver, but Oliver tells Diggle that he doesn’t know the kind of man he really is. Oliver tells him that Chase broke him and showed him the truth… and that his ‘crusade’ was just an excuse to kill. He  disbanded the team because he didn’t want them following a murderer and tells him once again to stay away from Chase and let the Bratva do their job.

Diggle tells Team Arrow that they’re going to bring Chase to justice. They get a bead on Chase’s security detail and they head out so that they can protect him from the Bratva. They arrive just in time, just as the Bratva attack Chase’s convoy. When Chase attempts to run away from the chaos, Curtis chases after him. He plants a T-Sphere on Chase, to gather information and get access to his scrambler. While this happens, Anatoly confronts Diggle for interfering with the hit.

Star City’s police chief meets with Oliver at his office and tells him that they’re turning Chase over to the feds for protection. As Oliver heads to walk out of his office, Chase whispers to Oliver that he’s impressed he attempted to have him assassinated.

Oliver heads to Diggle’s apartment and immediately confronts him by punching him across the face. Diggle says that Oliver can atone for his past, just like he did when he killed his brother. Oliver admits that he doesn’t know how to do that, but Diggle says that all he has to do is just to ask for help.

Curtis shows up at Helix (much to their anger) and gives Felicity the code for Chase’s scrambler. Felicity can’t crack its encryption, so she and Curtis head out to break into Kord industries.

Oliver meets with Anatoly, and asks him to back out of the deal. Anatoly refuses, telling Oliver that a deal is a deal and that he can either be a Bratva brother or a Bratva enemy.

Oliver gathers his team together and informs them that the Bratva aren’t going to back down, so they are going to need to work together to stop them. Oliver says they’ll find a way to stop Chase, and that Diggle was right… they’ll do it the right way. Dinah and Wild Dog both express their support, and tell Oliver that they are there for him.

While Oliver and Diggle enter the medical warehouse to search for the Bratva, Felicity and Curtis break into Kord Industry. Oliver and his team encounter Anatoly, and Anatoly threatens Oliver by saying if Oliver stops them, he’s going to shoot all the hostages his fellow Bratva members are holding in the building lobby. While Renee, Diggle and Dinah head out to go help the hostages, Oliver and Anatoly have a brief standoff. Anatoly tells Oliver to kill him if he wants to prove that he’s given up his old life. Oliver hesitates, and then shoots an alarm instead, telling Anatoly to run.

Felicity and Curtis returns to the Arrow Cave with the cleaned footage, proving that Chase is Prometheus. Dinah offers to take the footage to the SCPD, and Oliver officially puts the team back in business.

Anatoly and Oliver meet on a rooftop one more time, and Anatoly tells Oliver that he’s left his best men behind in Star City. Oliver tells Anatoly he thought Anatoly would lead the Bratva on a better path, and change the way they worked…. but instead he is just like Gregor. Anatoly says he did what he had to do to survive, and he warned Oliver before that he was worried about who he would become without Oliver at his side.

Lance and Dinah show the video to the SCPD, and Lance confirms that the footage has been proven real by 3 different analysts. They then contact the US Marshalls who are holding Chase in their protective custody. Somehow Chase finds out that something isn’t right, and he turns around and kills them both. The episode ends with Chase driving back to Star City, smirking while he listens to his music.

Flashback Oliver

Oliver tells Anatoly that he’s going to go back to Lian Yu to give him a cover for the last few years. Anatoly asks Oliver to help him rebuild the Bratva, to which Oliver responds that he only has 48 hours.

Following this, Anatoly shows Oliver a young boy who has been diagnosed with TB patients and says that he needs Oliver’s help to steal drugs to help keep them alive; one last heist for Oliver.

Following the heist, Oliver tells Anatoly that he still needs to leave. Anatoly tells Oliver that he’s worried what he’ll become without Oliver in Russia with him.

 

Arrow will return on Wednesday, April 26th at 8PM/EST on The CW.