Arrow – Missing

By: Stacy Miller

Team Arrow had a rough season with Prometheus running amok and killing. And the discovery that trusted D.A. Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) turned out to be Prometheus complicated matters and forced Oliver (Stephen Amell) to admit some truths about himself. But Mayor Queen’s capture of the Throwing Star Killer has caused his approval rate to go up and given the city renewed confidence in his abilities. Team Arrow needed to take some take off from saving the city and what better way to do so then with a party.  As it turned out, it was Oliver’s birthday so the team throw him a surprise birthday party.  But the surprise is on Curtis (Echo Kellum). Oliver thought he was just picking Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) for dinner so when he finds the door cracked opened and is approached by an intruder, Oliver’s reflexes take over and he responds to the attack. Poor Curtis, now he’ll have to attend the party in pain!  That’s what he gets for sneaking up on Green Arrow!  Thea (Willa Holland) notices the looks that Oliver and Felicity are giving each other.  She suggests that the rest of the team go for more cake in the other room to give the two alone time. Felicity and Oliver talk about the change in their relationship and agree to take things slow.

In the flashback, Kovar (Dolph Lundgren) tells Oliver about a torture drug called the Red Death that the KGB uses for interrogation.  He explains that this drug causes its victims to experience some sort of physical hallucination of all the pain they have received. “Every cut, every bullet, every wound, like you’re feeling it for the first time,” Kovar warns him, telling Oliver that no matter how strong he is, the Red Death is a very powerful drug that has been known to break strong men.  Then, Kovar gives Oliver his gun; he makes sure has only one bullet.  He challenges Queen to end his life and says that the last person that was in this position only last until fourteen minutes before he killed himself.  Oliver’s hallucinations begin.  He first sees Yao Fei (Byron Mann), who urges him to kill himself and save the people who love having someone like him in their lives. But Laurel’s (Katie Cassidy) voice breaks through to his anguish; if Oliver kills himself then Robert Queen and Sara’s deaths would have been in vain.  Her words break Oliver out of his hallucination and he uses the single bullet from the gun to shoot the lock of his cell door to make his escape.

Back in the present, Team Arrow enjoy Oliver’s birthday cake while they talk about their summer plans (they feel that they now can have a summer now that Adrian Chase has been caught and locked up). Curtis wants to go to Florence, Diggle (David Ramsey) wants to teach his son how to fish, Felicity has a dream of seeing the Pacific Crest Trail Stars and then a mani/pedi. And Oliver, he needs some socks so the only thing he wants to do is buy those socks. But all the talk of summer plans have to be put on hold. It seems that Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) is missing and also Rene (Rick Gonzalez).  This looks like something that Adrian Chase would do, but how could that be possible? Chase is locked up. Oliver knows that Chase is behind his friends’ disappearances, but he can’t be doing it alone. Oliver gets his answer that Chase is getting help when he finds an arrow belonging to the League of Assassins. That can only mean one thing, Talia (Lexa Doig) has to be in Star City.  Oliver goes to Adrian Chase’s cell and demands that he tell him where his friends are. Of course, Chase pretends that he doesn’t know what Oliver is talking about. Then, Oliver goes to the Arrow Cave and wants Felicity to stay where he knows where she is because he is worried for her safety as he is for the safety of his son, William.  Oliver fears that his past is coming back to haunt him and his son will pay the price.  Felicity discovers that Black Siren (Cassidy) is not in her cell. Where could the Laurel lookalike super villain be?

Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) is shocked when he comes face-to-face with Black Siren. She is wearing Laurel’s clothes and is calling him daddy.  Thea tries to explain to Quentin that the woman he’s seeing is not his daughter no matter how much Quentin wants her to be Laurel. Then, Thea and Quentin are rendered unconscious by Black Siren and Evelyn Sharp (Madison McLaughlin) and put in a storage container.  Thea tells Quentin that although it’s hard to believe, there are such things as parallel universes where others wear the faces of the people they love. Quentin listens to what Thea has to say and knows that it’s true but a small part of him secretly wishes that the woman in front of him, Black Siren was his daughter that came back to him like his other daughter Sara (Caity Lotz) did.

Chase’s strategy is to separate Oliver from Team Arrow because he feels Queen gets his strength from his team, hence he is removing them one-by-one. Oliver decides to send John and Felicity out of town in order to keep them from Chase’s grasp. When Oliver comes back to Chase’s cell, Adrian tells him that his friends will live if lets him go. Oliver refuses to deal with him. As John and Felicity are on their way out of town, their car is overtaken by Talia’s men and they too are captured.

Oliver is alone in the Arrow Cave.  All his friends are gone and he finds himself looking at their Team Arrow costumes. When he senses that someone is there, Oliver fires an arrow into the air.  Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) appears. Merlyn apologizes to Oliver for revealing to Damien Darhk that Oliver had a son. He tells Oliver that he came to Star City to get Thea back. Oliver and Malcolm finds the wreckage of John and Felicity’s car and realize that they have also been taken. Malcolm gets annoyed hearing Oliver constantly saying about the people he loves being in danger because of him. “It takes a special kind of idiot to actually get dumber with time,” Malcolm says angrily, telling Oliver that if he didn’t have personal connections (like those he loves) he wouldn’t be human. “It’s sad that it’s a sociopath who has to point that out to you.” No man is an island, even though Oliver once lived on one.

Adrian Chase is being transferred to Idaho and warns Oliver that his friends will be killed if he doesn’t stop him from being transported. Oliver refuses to let Chase strong arm him.  That is, until Queen’s phone rings and a video appears of his scared son William pleading for help.  Since the transport car has already left, Oliver has to fight with some marshals in order to borrow their car. And Malcolm even helps by tranquilizing the guards.  Oliver and Malcolm arrive at the helicopter pad where Malcolm subdues the marshals guarding Adrian Chase. Oliver asks Chase why he targeted William, a child. Adrian says it was because Oliver got Chase’s wife involved in what was going on between them (and then you killed her Chase). Adrian says that once he has gotten away, Oliver may see the people he loves again. Since he currently has no Team Arrow, Oliver needs replacement backup so he placed a call and Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law) enters the Arrow Cave. That means Nyssa will be going against sister Talia.

Team Arrow (except Rene and Dinah) are on Oliver’s island where Adrian Chase greets them. Will Oliver be able to rescue his friends? As the episode closes, Oliver goes to a cell to get one more member for his replacement Team Arrow. “I need your help,” Oliver tells the man. It is Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett).