Welcome to the Legion!

Legion contributor Andrea Levine is recapping and reviewing Arrow for us this season. Follow her on Twitter @wysefyre!

Hello, Arrowheads! We have a lot to talk about, so let’s get caught up on Arrow.

As it stands, the WHOLE team knows about Diggle’s injury, which is much worse than originally thought, because of the drugs. Diggle is going through withdrawal, Curtis is trying to figure out a cure in a manner similar to how he helped Felicity, and Oliver has temporarily rejoined the team.

Cayden James staged a phony bomb threat, so he could get an audience with the Green Arrow. In doing so, he framed the team to look like they attacked SCPD officers (they were thugs in disguise), which was uploaded online, and viewed by the citizens of Star City, leading the way for the anti-vigilante legislation to pass. Also, Cayden blames Oliver for the death of his son, but we have no clue how that happened.

Oliver was arrested for his crimes committed as The Arrow. This was done at a public food drive and in front of William. Felicity used Angel Investor money from hers & Curtis’ start up to bail Oliver out. This has caused some tension between Felicity and Curtis. They’re working on it.

And finally, two most excellent bits of news, Thea woke up from her coma, and in the glow of Barry and Iris’ wedding and the events which took place during the most epic of crossovers, Crisis in Earth-X, Oliver and Felicity got married alongside Barry and Iris. Diggle was their officiant. Now, let’s dive into Irreconcilable Differences.

Irreconcilable Differences begins in the best of ways, with Oliver and Felicity’s wedding. It’s party time! Everyone is in on the action, including cameos by the great Mama Smoak and Papa Smoak (awkward), and Oliver and Felicity’s neighbors from Ivytown! It’s a true wedding, complete with exes dancing together, Quentin and Donna, Curtis getting drunk over his divorce and trying to make a drunken wedding toast, Curtis being rescued by Rene, and in the best moment of the wedding, Quentin finally completely takes on the role of surrogate father and presents Oliver with the watch his father gave him. Given their history, this is a beautiful and well-deserved moment.

But as with all things Arrow, you know this happiness isn’t going to last for long. And it doesn’t. Quentin gets word there is a witness who is willing to testify against Oliver. This leads him to go into panic mode. He believes someone on Team Arrow has betrayed him. He has Felicity set up surveillance on Rene, Curtis, and Dinah, because he knows OG Team Arrow wouldn’t betray him. Diggle isn’t happy about this, but goes along. As much as I don’t how Oliver still has so many trust issues, which almost always screws him up, when you consider how Evelyn betrayed the team, I can’t say I fault him too much in this case. Especially when the spying reveals Dinah has been secretly seeing Vigilante. Of course, Oliver believes she’s the witness. Of course this means she’s not.

To make matters worse, Cayden James has resurfaced and ordered Faux Laurel to kidnap Quentin. Thea is with Quentin when this happens and tries to fight Faux Laurel, but she’s not strong enough yet. Instead, Faux Laurel gives Thea a phone to deliver to Oliver.

Cayden calls Oliver and informs him, if he wants to get Quentin back, Team Arrow will break into ARGUS and steal a nano-aluminum amplifier for him. In case you’re wondering, it is a real kind of thing. Google it.

Thinking they have no other choice, Team Arrow, with Diggle’s help, head into ARGUS. However, they don’t inform Dinah. Dinah is furious to learn they left her behind. This leads to a confrontation, where cards are laid out on the table. Oliver admits to spying on everyone, and accuses Dinah of betraying him. Dinah is hurt and pissed Oliver would think that. And Rene is revealed to be the real betrayer. Apparently, Agent Watson has the dirt on Rene being Wild Dog.

She threatened to use the information to make sure Rene never saw his daughter again. It wasn’t an easy choice for Rene, but he figured since the case against Oliver was solid, and because he loves his daughter more than Team Arrow, Rene complied.

This is a difficult situation, because it’s perfectly understandable why Rene turned, but at the same time, the betrayal hurts. I think of all the new members of Team Arrow, Rene is the one who has come the farthest along. But it also makes perfect sense, Oliver would boot Rene from the team, which he does.

Later on, Thea has a talk with Oliver about what happened. She helps put Oliver on the path to forgiving Rene, because quite frankly, there’s a very good chance Oliver would do something like that if it was William at risk (and he’s done plenty of things to protect William). So, when Curtis finishes sabotaging the nano-aluminum amplifier, Oliver assembles the WHOLE team to head to the meet.

Oliver instructs the team to stay back while he meets with Cayden. Rene, in a thoughtful yet stupid move, leaves his post to go in search of Quentin, who didn’t need to be rescued. Following an emotional moment with Faux Laurel, instead of killing him as instructed, Faux Laurel tells him to run. And he does.

Quentin’s safe and Cayden’s men are dealt with, but Oliver is still pissed at Rene. He once again kicks Rene off the team for not being trustworthy. Like he’s one to speak. This upsets Curtis and Dinah, who are fed up with Oliver’s trust issues, so they quit too. And now Team Arrow is no more.

And who else is watching this break up occur? None other than Cayden James, as well as Black Canary, Vigilante, Dragon, Boots, and surprise, surprise, Anatoly. That’s right, folks! Cayden James has assembled his own League of Bad Guys (still workshopping the name).

And there you have it! This is certainly one heck of a twist to drop on us for the midseason finale. For an overall, uneven episode, the twist helps make it better. Every one of the people with Cayden have an Oliver or Team Arrow connection and I’m assuming those connections will be exploited in some way when Arrow returns.

I wonder whether we’ll have a significant time jump when we return or if it’ll only be a short while. I’m hoping for a little time, but that’s mostly because I want Rene to enjoy his time with his daughter. He got her back at the end of the episode. He’s earned a little time with her before she’s sent or torn away from him. It feels inevitable. I hope I’m wrong.

What are your thought and theories of whats happening with Arrow? Where do you see the season going? Sound off in the comments! Until next time…

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Andrea Levine

Andrea Levine is an East Coast based geek, who has more fandoms than she cares to admit. When she isn't talking about the latest geeky news, she's obsessing over musical theater. Her dream is to successfully bring geekdom and musical theater together (I'm looking at you, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). You can read more of her exploits as Wysefyre over at [insertgeekhere].