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‘Arrow’ Recap ‘Lian Yu’

I believe that it is safe to say that this episode was one of the most anticipated episodes of Arrow that has ever aired. Sure, this season had its ups and downs in the beginning just like any other television series but I have got to say that the craftings from this gifted writing team were absolutely phenomenal. This season finale was everything that we have been waiting for, and I cannot praise it enough.

The episode opened with Oliver talking to Slade about how he needed his help in his fight against Adrian Chase. At first, Oliver was surprised that Slade seemed as ‘put together’ as he was. Slade disclosed to Oliver that the effects of the Mirakuru wore off a long time ago; and now everything just felt like a bad dream. Oliver released Slade from his cell, and was soon confronted by an ARGUS guard. He told the guard that he was taking Slade and Digger Harkness (Captain Boomerang) with him, before knocking the guard out. Oliver handed Slade a flash drive, stating that it contained all the information on Slade’s son Joe… including his current location. He tells Slade that they are going to find ‘both of their sons’, and then he hands Slade his old Deathstroke armor.

'Arrow' Recap 'Lian Yu'
Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW

Oliver brings his both Slade and Harkness to meet up with Nyssa and Malcolm. As they prepare to strategize, an RPG flied in and destroys Oliver’s plane; destroying their only way off the island.

Oliver sets out with his group to search for his son and his friends. They quickly locate Thea, Curtis, Felicity and Sammantha; who were being held hostage in wooden cages.

Before Oliver can do anything, Artemis and Evelyn approach from the treeline. In a surprising turn of events, Digger pulls out a pistol on Oliver, revealing that he had been working with Chase all along. Captain Boomerang extends the invitation to Slade; to join the ‘winning side’. Slade tells Evelyn to put a gun to Oliver’s head. As we think Slade has betrayed Oliver and switched sides, Deathstroke seizes the opportunity to disarm Captain Boomerang. Nyssa and Malcolm arrive on site, which results in Talia popping smoke. She and Captain Boomerang disappear, leaving Artemis behind.

Slade escorted Artemis to her cage, telling her that she should choose her friends wisely. Oliver asks Merlyn to escort Curtis, Thea and Felicity to find the plane that Chase used to get to the island. Thea questions Oliver’s morals and asks him why he chose to bring along both Slade and Merlyn, when they are responsible for the death of their parents. Oliver tells Thea that he doesn’t have a choice, as Chase has Oliver jumping through hoops. Felicity runs up to Oliver and kisses him before she leaves, saying that she already regrets enough about their relationship and she doesn’t want to regret anything else.

While all this is occurring, on the other side of the island, Black Siren escorted Lance and Diggle to a holding cell where Rene and Dinah were being held.

Back in the woods, Nyssa tracks down Talia’s trail through the woods. She suddenly states that it has gone cold, so she headed off into the woods. Slade and Oliver have a brief discussion about how Oliver has survivor’s guilt and that until he forgives himself for the death of his father, his past will keep haunting him. Nyssa came back and informed the two that she had picked up the trail once more, and the group set off.

'Arrow' Recap 'Lian Yu'
Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW

Samantha and Felicity had a brief conversation in which Samantha told Felicity that when they get to the plane, she isn’t getting on. She is staying on the island and she was going to help Oliver find William. While they have their discussion, Malcolm attempted to reconcile with Thea. During the discussion, Thea stepped on a landmine, activating it. Malcolm offers to take her place, but Thea refuses. Malcolm states that all he wants to do is keep her safe…. before shoving her off and quickly taking her place on the land mine. Before Thea can argue with Malcolm much more, Captain Boomerang appears with some of Chase’s men. Malcolm tells Diggle to get them out of there, and to leave. When Captain Boomerang approaches Malcolm detonates the landmine… seemingly sacrificing himself to save Thea and her friends.

Nyssa, Slade, and Oliver stumbled upon the plane in which Oliver and Slade lived in for a while. Slade states that it felt like ‘old times’. Nyssa then points out a monastery in the distance. They trek to it, and Oliver tells Nyssa to split up. The moment she leaves, Slade knocks Oliver out and Black Siren approached. He told her to tell Chase that he has a ‘gift’ for him.

Slade, Black Siren and some of Chase’s men dropped Oliver off with the other prisoners. After they left, Oliver informed his teammates that Chase has William somewhere on the island. He then gives Dinah her sonic dampener that Curtis made for her. She uses it to break the team free of their bindings.

Thea and Felicity mourn the death of Malcolm. Thea wishes she could have seen more of a fatherly figure in Malcolm as opposed to the psycho that she knew. Felicity tells Thea that in the end, Malcolm proved that he loved his daughter. Curtis discovers the plane, but discovers that Chase has already thought ahead. If they try to fly off the island or operate the plane, the C4 planted throughout the entire island.

Talia hears Dinah’s scream, through the caverns. Before she can investigate, she is confronted by Nyssa. After Nyssa tells Talia that she felt betrayed when Talia left her to suffer at the hands of her father, the two face off in a sword fight. When Nyssa gets the upper hand, Talia’s followers attempted to intervene. Luckily for, Slade appeared just in time to take out the assassins. Nyssa takes the opportunity to knock Talia out. When Oliver shows up, he explains that he needed Slade to ‘betray’ him, so that he could get the sonic dampener to Dinah. As they head out to find Chase, Chase himself appears with a dozen men along with Black Siren. Oliver asked Chase where William was, to which Chase responds that Oliver will have to kill him to find out. Oliver refuses, which starts the major battle.

'Arrow' Recap 'Lian Yu'
Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW

Somehow Black Siren and Dinah wind up in a separate hallway and have a scream-off. Black Siren gets the upper hand, and approaches Dinah. Before she can do anything further, Lance appears and knocks her out from behind.

During the battle, Oliver puts Chase in a headlock. Oliver tells Chase that no matter what Chase does, he is not going to kill him. He may have been a killer before, but he’s not that man anymore. Oliver admits that he may be at fault for Chase’s father’s death, but he isn’t going to be blamed for the death of anyone else. Chase tries to get smart, telling Oliver that William is dead. At this moment, we saw a fatherly look glaze over Slade’s eyes as he stood behind Oliver. Oliver immediately called his bluff, saying that he is not going to kill Chase.

Felicity gets in touch with Oliver from the other side of the island and tells him that Chase has rigged the explosives to a deadman’s switch. She tells him that the reason as to why Chase is so desperate to have Oliver kill him is so that the switch will trigger, blowing all the C4 on the island and killing them all. While Oliver is distracted, Chase uses a smoke bomb to escape.

Oliver sprints after Chase to see him on a motor boat. Oliver catches up to the boat and jumps on board. He confronts Chase once more, asking where William is. Oliver begins to beat him up some more, and Chase begins to laugh. He tells Oliver that he played right into his hands. The plan was to get Oliver off the island, so that he could watch all his friends die on it. In fact, he even sabotaged the plane so that Oliver’s friends couldn’t escape. Oliver quickly radios to Felicity telling her to follow Slade’s lead, and that he will take them to a supply point on the other side of the island.

He turned his attention back to Chase, who pulled William out of the boats cabin. He puts William in a headlock and tells Oliver to choose. He either kills Chase and saves his son, or let Chase live and kill all of his friends. Oliver drops his bow, and shoots Chase in the foot. This forced Chase to release his hold on William, who immediately ran into Oliver’s open arms.

'Arrow' Recap 'Lian Yu'
Photo: Dean Buscher /The CW

Chase states that he is happy that Oliver has his son, but he will be pretty lonely without the rest of his friends and family. Chase pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head. This triggers all the explosives on Lian Yu, engulfing the entire island in flames.

Oliver embraces William, looking extremely distraught. Can you say, Cliffhanger??

Flashback Oliver

Kovar discovered that Oliver has escaped his prison and ordered his men to find him. While this occured, Oliver ran to his trunk in the woods containing his bow. Kovar’s men attempted to corner him and stop him, but Oliver stabbed them all with a knife. He then grabbed onto one of the dead man’s rifles, and took out some more of Kovar’s men. Just when Oliver thought all was said and done, Kovar himself showed up in a chopper.

Oliver immediately shot the chopper down with his rifle, causing it to crash. Kovar crawls out of the wreckage. Oliver attempts to shoot him, but realizes that he is out of bullets. Kovar laughs, and the two engaged in hand to hand combat. Oliver eventually gained the upper hand and put Kovar in a headlock. The pair exchanged a few harsh words, before Oliver’s watch started beeping… indicating that the 48 hours were up. Oliver snaps Kovar’s neck, and rushes back over to his trunk. He quickly dons the wig and the beard, and then grabs his bow. We see the exact same scene as in the pilot episode, where Oliver fires the flaming arrow and catches the attention of the fisherman.

 

 

The final flashback scene showed Oliver calling his mother (how about that cameo) and he tells her that he is alive, and he is coming home.

 

Arrow will return in the fall.

 

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