After clocking in last week with ‘Time of Death’, one of the best episodes this season so far, ‘Arrow’ keeps their momentum going with yet another awesome episode. With Team Arrow stronger than ever (minus Roy, who was off doing who knows what while everyone else was fighting Clock King), a wrench was quickly thrown into their bliss when Oliver arrived at the Queen Estate to see Slade Wilson sitting in his living room and talking to his mother!

That’s where this week’s episode picks up. It’s revealed that Slade wishes to make a contribution to Moira’s mayoral campaign, but in reality, he’s there to make good on a promise he made to Oliver back on the island that involves making our hero suffer the same way he did when Ivo killed Shado after when Ollie “chose” Sara to live. Of course, the two former companions put on an act and play like they’ve never met before as the whole Queen family gives their new benefactor a tour of the house. Meanwhile, Team Arrow (including Roy this time) springs into action to save the Emerald Archer and his family.

Look! Roy’s back! And without a shirt.

If you look at the Starling City side of this episode, it surely is the calm before the storm. We all know that the big face off is coming, but not just yet. However, the episode as a whole was nowhere near calm. There were some huge reveals in this episode, especially regarding how Slade came to be alive and in the present. We still don’t know how he lost his eye, but I’m sure that we’re getting there. And speaking of Slade’s eye, how creepy was that last scene? Eep.

Anyway, the best thing about the way this episode was put together was that there was a nice balance between island time and city time. They managed to spend the right amount of time in each location and both stories were equal amounts of interesting so you weren’t craving for one over the other, which is something that I’ve been seeing a lot of in this season. Well, mostly whenever it involved Laurel because I’m just not into whatever they were doing with her before she started going to her meetings.

Once I finished my initial viewing, I was really confused as to why Slade would believe Ivo over Ollie when it came to Shado’s death. But after thinking about it more, I understood that the Mirakuru was the culprit that twisted Slade’s way of thinking basically moments after he had called Oliver his brother. He’s not fully in there, and then add five years to that hatred, then it’s easier to buy Slade’s master plan, which is turning out to be awesomely more complex than initially anticipated. Chances are that Diggle’s participation in the Suicide Squad in the next episode has to do with whatever Slade is planning too, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Now the only downside is that we have to wait until the 18th to get the next installment. I don’t know what it is about shows this season, but everything has been on such a wonky schedule and showing a new episode every other week or every two weeks is starting to get frustrating. This is why people wait to watch everything on Netflix when the season is over. Regardless, I’m still excited to see where ‘Arrow’ is going and I hope the quality of the show remains at this level when it comes back.

Final Score:

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‘Arrow’ starring Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Katie Cassidy, and Manu Bennett airs every Wednesday at 8:00pm on The CW.