Arrow – Promises Kept

By: Stacy Miller

Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett) is shocked to see that his beloved son Joe (Liam Hall) is the leader of the Jackals.  Joe points a gun at his father and tells Slade that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; in other words, Slade was a killer as Deathstroke and now his son has become one. Joe is deciding whether he will commit patricide. “If I had wanted a family reunion, I would have sent an invitation,” Joe tells Slade. “Maybe you did,” Slade says, vowing that he’s come all this way to talk with him (Joe) and is not leaving until he says what he has to say. He tells Joe that he (Joe) has a decision to make: Either let him join the Jackals or kill him. Joe comments that maybe they should talk. Hidden, Oliver (Stephen Amell) watches the exchange.

We then get a flashback from six years ago showing Slade waking up in a hospital after being injured.  He is sporting an eye patch and finds his son Joe at his bedside.  Joe is relieved that his father is going to be okay and hugs Slade.

Team Arrow fights with some bad guys who they think of as  just thieves but it turns out that they were after a three dimensional printer that has the ability to print anything, including weapons. They wonder what these criminals are planning. John (David Ramsey) experiences tremors in his hand. Later when John returns home, his wife Lyla Michaels (Audra Marie Michaels) comments that she now understand show he felt when he worried about her being in danger after she took after Amanda Waller’s job.

Slade questions Joe about the Jackals, which he calls “an unruly bunch.”  When Slade is alone, Oliver comes out of the shadows.  Slade tells Oliver that he (Oliver) should have gone home. Oliver reminds that he doesn’t abandon friends.  Even when those so-called friends drug him like Slade did. Oliver tells Slade that he can’t believe that he (Slade) has offered to join the Jackals.  Oliver thinks that Joe is dangerous. “He’s just a younger version of me,” Slade says. “No, you were never a gun for hire,” Oliver reminds Slade, who encourages him to walk away from this before he finds himself in trouble he can’t get out of. But Oliver Green doesn’t walk away from people who need his help.

It seems that Joe and the Jackals are making a delivery of Semtex, which is a high level explosive. Joe (which I’ll now refer to as Kane for the rest of this recap except in the flashbacks when he was still known as Joe) tells the Jackals that they will have no problem intercepting the Semtek truck with the infamous Deathstroke to show them how it’s done.  Slade tells Kane that once he packs up some gear, he’ll be ready to leave.  Slade whispers to a hiding Oliver the Jackals’ plan with the Semtek so Oliver decides that he’ll get to the truck first before it falls into the wrong hands.

Another flashback shows Slade sparring with his son with quarterstaffs. Son is no match for father. “How are you better with one eye than I am with two?” comments Joe, amazed at Slade’s sparring ability.  But this is around the time when Slade was under the influence of the dangerous drug Mirakuru and was having hallucinations of Shado (Celina Jade) in which she reminds him of the promises her made to her about killing Oliver Queen to avenge her.  “I keep my promises,” Slade says then puts on the Deathstroke outfit.

In the present, Kane, Slade and the Jackals attempts to intercept the Semtek truck is met with opposition.  Kane orders anyone who sees them to be killed because as he says “We don’t leave witnesses.”

Meanwhile, John meets with his supplier for the drugs that help with the tremors in his hand. But this time, Diggle also gets to meet a man named Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo), who is his dealer’s boss.  Ironically, Ricardo Diaz is also known as Richard Dragon according to Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards). And Dragon is the man who stole the three dimensional equipment in an attempt to make synthetic drugs in order to undercut his competition.  This means that John has an involvement with the bad guys Team Arrow is trying to stop! Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) notices the strange expression on Diggle’s face. “Are you okay John?” she asks.

Back at the Jackals’ lair, Kane questions his father about not killing the man who saw the Jackals high jacking the Semtek truck. Kane says that his men think that Slade joining them is about motives that have nothing to do with wanting to be reunited with his son.  In order for Slade to prove his loyalty, Kane presents a tied up Oliver for his father to kill.  “Oliver Queen, I’ve waited a long time for this,” Slade says as he looks into Queen’s eyes before knocking Oliver out.

John returns home and tells his wife that the synthetic drug he has been taking to help his hand tremor is really an illegal drug and the man behind it is a bad guy.  He also admits that he became Green Arrow before he had the chance to come clean to Oliver. Lyla reminds that the man she married isn’t the type of guy who would let a criminal remain on the street to hurt innocent people.

It looks like Slade is going to kill Oliver as he stands over a tied-up and seated in a chair Oliver.  Slade talks about how it’s been a long time for him to get his revenge.  But when Slade raises his blade, Wilson uses it to cut Oliver’s binds and the two begin fighting their way to freedom.  Kane makes a hasty retreat.  Oliver and Slade talk outside as they try to catch up with Kane and the Jackals. Slade is beaten as he failed in making a reconnection with his son.  He explains that when Oliver talked about William (Jack Moore), he’d hope that things would be the same between them (Slade and Joe).  But now he realizes that it could never been like Oliver and William because Joe is not William, he’s Kane and he’s evil and this can only end in one way. Oliver tells Slade that he doesn’t have to kill his son; maybe he can reason with Joe.  But Slade tells Oliver what happened all those years ago between him and Joe. It seems that even though the Mirakuru was cleared from his system, Slade still was under its effects and broke his promise to his son that he would never leave him.  Slade thinks that years of pent up resentment over him (Slade) becoming Deathstroke is what is driving Joe now to be Kane.  Oliver assures Slade that he (Slade) is a good man and now must show his son the man he (Slade) has become.  If Oliver hadn’t believed that Slade had changed, he would have never left Star City and his son (William) to help him.

John gives Team Arrow an address for Dragon but only says that he got it from a source who he can’t name. Then, Team Arrow converge upon the Dragon’s hideout and in the melee, the drugs that John needs to help his hand tremors are destroyed in an explosion.

Slade catches up to Kane. Joe/Kane can’t believe that his father has chosen to forgive Oliver Queen for all he’s done. Slade says that Oliver has forgiven him for far worse things. The actions that Slade committed against Oliver are so heinous and he’ll (Slade) will have to take them to the grave. But he’s not that man anymore, he’s not Deathstroke Slade assures so Joe needs to get over his bitter resentments.  He’s not Joe, he’s Kane says Slade’s son and Deathstroke is who he wants to be! Oliver arrives just in time to keep Kane from killing his father. Then, Kane creates a diversion and escapes. “He’s gone,” Slade says sadly. Later, Oliver tells Slade that he spoke with the warden and the Jackals are in custody.  Slade looks at a photo of himself and Joe and says to Oliver that his (Slade) son saw him kill a man before the Mirakuru, he was lead down a dark path. Slade vows that he’ll find his son and won’t give up until he gets him back on the right track.

At the Diggle home, John tells Lyla that he wasn’t responsible for destroying the drugs. Dragon blew up the lab to keep them out of the hands of the authorities.

Oliver returns home to William, gives his son a hug and then tells Felicity that he knows he made the right decision giving up being Green Arrow for his son.

John finally admits to Rene (Rick Gonzalez) and Curtis (Echo Kellum) about the hand tremors. Rene forgives John even though Diggle’s action almost got him killed. And Curtis promises to uses his techno savvy to create something to help John with his tremors.