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‘Arrow’ Recap ‘Checkmate’

Did anyone else feel a sense of deja vu when they saw Oliver climbing up the snowy mountain? Last time we saw Oliver climbing up a snowy mountain, he nearly met his maker when Ra’s Al Ghul stabbed Oliver in the chest, and then pushed him off the mountain… so it was only fitting that he would do the same when he sought out Talia.

After entering Talia’s lair, Oliver found himself facing off with several of her students. Talia enters, and Oliver pleads his case in regards to where he currently stands with Prometheus. Oliver tells Talia he recognizes Prometheus’s fighting pattern; a pattern that Talia herself taught Oliver. Oliver immediately questioned Talia, asking why she agreed to train him. Talia states that she agreed  to train ‘Prometheus’ because both of their fathers had been killed by Oliver.  She then tells Oliver that her full name is actually Talia Al Ghul, and she then tells Oliver that she will tell him who Prometheus is, so she can watch him suffer. She tells him that Prometheus is Adrian Chase.

While Oliver is on his quest, Felicity walks with her Helix friend through their base of operations, and they equally state that they are excited to ‘save the world’.

 Oliver heads back to his mayoral office, on the hunt for Chase. He finds him in the conference room, and asks to see Chase in his office. Chase smugly declines, stating that he has more business to attend to. He then states that Oliver looks exhausted… and asks if he’s been ‘asleep’ the whole time.
'Arrow' Recap 'Checkmate'
Image: The CW

Oliver confronts Chase in the parking garage, dressed as The Green Arrow. Oliver tells Chase that he is going to arrest him, not kill him… like Chase wants im to do. Chase makes a joke saying he doesn’t know how his ‘alter ego’ can handle this, revealing that he knows the Green Arrow is really Oliver. He gains the upper hand by informing Oliver that he is holding Susan hostage. If Oliver attempts to hurt Chase, or bring him in… it would lead to Susan’s death; or worse.

Oliver gathers his team in the Arrow Cave and tells them the news about Chase. The team feels an overwhelming sense of guilt, saying they should have been paying attention more. Oliver asks the team where Felicity is, and Curtis says that she isn’t answering her phone and no one knows where she is. Oliver tells the team that they need to work together to find Susan, so that they can officially bring in Prometheus. He urges Diggle and Curtis to find Felicity as soon as possible

Diggle suggests that they send Curtis and Dinah to go after Chase’s mother. Oliver discovers through blue prints that Chase’s house has a secret basement, so he and Diggle head out to go scope it out.

Curtis and Dinah walk through Chase’s mom’s house, and discover that it is empty. Curtis sends one of his devices up the steps, to start scanning the house for data. They suddenly hear a woman screaming, and immediately run up the steps of the house. They then see a live video of Prometheus holding Susan hostage, with a knife to her throat.

Lance and Wild Dog confront Chase at City Hall, revealing that they know the truth. Chase smugly states that he is pleased all the ‘cards are on the table’. He then requests some deposition papers, and walks away like it was just an every day conversation. Lance calls Oliver and tells him that Chase is at the office, so he and Diggle are clear to enter Chase’s house.

Oliver and Diggle enter the house, and they find Mrs. Chase. Oliver tells her the truth about her husband; that he is the throwing star killer. Before they can talk any further, the Anti- Vigilante Task force interrupts them, and Oliver and Diggle narrowly escape via flash grenade.

'Arrow' Recap 'Checkmate'
Image: The CW

Dinah and Curtis show Oliver and Diggle the video they discover of Prometheus holding Susan hostage. Oliver regrets getting involved with Susan and Diggle tells Oliver not to be sorry. He was lonely and everyone deserves someone. Felicity returns to the Arrow Cave, flustered. Oliver asks to speak to her alone, and the rest of the team leaves. Oliver  tells Felicity that he is worried about what she is getting herself into; especially since she is keeping it from everyone. She is supposed to be the light of the team, and she’s headed into a dark spiral. Felicity tells Oliver that now is not a good time for her to tell him what is really going on. She then tells Oliver that Chase’s birth name is Simon Morrison, and that by having a fake identity as a ‘governing’ official is plausible enough for his arrest.

Oliver heads City Hall and he makes a statement about the Green Arrow breaking into D.A Chase’s house. He tells states that the Mayor’s Office will support Chase, and that the Green Arrow needs to turn himself in in 24 hours or be he will be shot on site by the SCPD; as he will not let anyone ‘terrorize’ the city.

Oliver meets with Captain Pike, and he gives him the flash drive containing all the information Felicity provided him on Chase. Pike questions where Oliver got his information from, but Oliver refuses to tell him. He orders him to go through it and make an arrest if necessary, and not to tell anyone where he got the evidence from.

Felicity shows her friend at Helix the video of Susan being tortured; and she asks for help with the case, since she is unable to figure it out on her own. Her friend tells Felicity that they gave her Pandora, and that she needs to do something for them to prove herself to Helix. They then tell Felicity to decrypt files from the Department of Homeland Security.

Captain Pike leaves the police station, and he is greeted by a supposed homeless man. The man then stabs Pike in the chest with a knife, and then walks away… leaving Captain Pike to bleed out on the street.

'Arrow' Recap 'Checkmate'
Image: The CW

Oliver heads to the hospital, where he meets Lance. Lance tells Oliver about the attack, and informs Oliver that Captain Pike is now in a coma. Oliver enters Pike’s room, where Chase is already there. Chase informs Oliver that Susan is still alive. Oliver tells Chase that as soon as they get back Susan, he is going to put an arrow through his heart. Chase retorts by saying that killing him will only tack onto the list of those killed because of Oliver. He mentions Laurel, Tommy, Billy and Oliver’s mother. Chase sneers that by killing him, Oliver would only be killing himself.

Oliver enters the Arrow cave, obviously enraged. He grabs the mannequin on which the Green Arrow costume stands and hurls it across the room.

Felicity asks Curtis for his help in decrypting the Homeland Security files. Curtis asks why they are doing this, and Felicity lies. She tells Curtis that it will help them find Susan. (Well I guess you could call it a half truth).  As she begins her decryption. Curtis then asks Felicity one more time why she is doing what she is doing. Felicity finally tells Curtis the truth, and that if she helps out Helix by doing this hack, they will help her find Susan. She urges that Curtis keep it to himself, and not tell Diggle or Oliver about it. She gets a mysterious phone call, and walks away.

Diggle enters the Arrow Cave and discovers that much of the equipment has been destroyed. He sees Oliver sitting on the steps, and Oliver confesses that he feels powerless to stop Chase. He feels as though by trusting in people, he has created more ‘targets’. Diggle says that they aren’t targets; that they are teammates. He tells Diggle that the strength that he gets from his teammates is frequently a weakness that his enemies love to target. Oliver states that being a human may not be a luxury he gets to have.

Felicity calls Oliver and tells him she knows where Chase is keeping Susan. As Diggle makes to head out with Oliver, Oliver stops him. He tells Diggle that in order to take Chase down, they need to play his game. He asks Diggle for his help in exploiting one of Chase’s weaknesses.

Team Arrow gathers together on the location where Susan is believed to be held. Felicity discovers that there are several heat signatures in the building, and Oliver states that it is odd because Prometheus usually works alone. Lance states that they should be careful, because any of those signatures could be Susan.

'Arrow' Recap 'Checkmate'
Image: The CW

Dinah and Wild Dog find a bomb inside one of the rooms, and it immediately detonates; leaving Wild Dog and Dinah trapped.

Oliver finds Susan tied up in an elevator, and she tells him that Chase is Prometheus. Oliver states that he already knows, and then frees her. Oliver tells Susan to escape the building before it explodes, while he heads out to find Chase. He walks out and finds himself face to face with Prometheus.

Chase unmasks, and then he tells Oliver that he’s actually pleased that Talia told Oliver the truth about who he really is. Oliver tells Chase that he intends to keep both of them inside the building until it explodes; killing them both. Chase presses a remote detonator, disabling the bombs.

Just as Prometheus thinks that he has won, Diggle enters the room with Chase’s wife. Chase looks shocked, asking why his wife is there. His wife then begs Chase to turn himself in, and she will stand by his side through it all. Chase hugs her, and begins to lightly sob. He tells her that he is going to take care of it all, before stabbing her in the abdomen.

Chase and Oliver begin fighting, while Diggle rushes Chase’s wife outside. Oliver gains the upper hand, nearly beating Chase to a pulp. Chase tells Oliver that he can’t kill him, to which Oliver responds that he can. Before Oliver can make a move he is shot from behind… by Talia.

Curtis and Dinah run inside to discover that both Oliver and Chase are missing.

Diggle and the team return to Arrow cave, where Diggle tells Felicity that he believes that Chase has him. Felicity tells the team that Susan is at the precinct with Lance, but Chase’s wife died enroute to the hospital. Dinah asks Felicity to use her resources to find Oliver, and Felicity immediately heads out to Helix.

Lance and Susan walk through the police station, where they run into Chase. Lance attempts to confront Chase, but says that he doesn’t have time for anything because he’s in mourning at the fact that the Green Arrow killed his wife and that they mayor has disappeared. Lance asks Chase why he shouldn’t just arrest him already, and Chase explains if he wants Oliver back in one piece, then he shouldn’t.

In the final scene, Oliver is held in shackles in a cell. Chase and Talia enter, and Oliver tells Talia that her father would be ashamed of her. Chase explains  to Oliver once more that he doesn’t want to kill him. He wants to help Oliver discover who he really is.

Flashback Oliver

After Oliver helps the Bratva in a bar fight, he and Anatoly debate on the best way to go up against Gregor. Oliver suggests they kill Gregor before he becomes too dangerous. Oliver hoods up, explaining that he is going to use his alternate identity to fight Gregor. Anatoly warns Oliver that he should not keep those parts of him separate. he and Anatoly head out to the hockey rink, where they start fighting Gregor’s men; killing them all. Oliver  finally finds himself facing off with Gregor, and draws up an arrow. Gregor recognizes Oliver and even tries to reason with him. Oliver explains that he is not Oliver… he is a different man; one who’s going to kill Gregor. He then fires an arrow into Gregor’s chest.

 

What did you think about tonight’s episode?? Tell us in the comments below!!

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