Arrow – Reset

By: Courtney Groom

Oliver (Stephen Amell) wakes up in his apartment. Mia (Katherine McNamara), William (Ben Lewis) and Connor (Joesph David-Jones) walk in having just returned from lunch. Oliver is confused and asks them how they got there, as the last he remembered he was on a roof with John (David Ramsey) and Laurel (Katie Cassidy Rogers) before they were tranquilized. Connor tells him that John said it was all just a big misunderstanding. Oliver asks what they did with Burov’s plan for the weapon and William tells him he said they didn’t need it anymore. Mia asks Oliver if he’s okay because he seems like he doesn’t remember any of this. Oliver says he needs to talk to John and Connor tells him he’s waiting for him at a fundraiser.

Oliver gets to the fundraiser and asks John if he remembers getting tranquilized the previous night. John says Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) feels awful about that, but it wasn’t the previous night. It was two days ago. Oliver tells John that was the last thing he remembers before he woke up in his apartment. Oliver suspects that it’s The Monitor’s (LaMonica Garrett) doing and he tells John that Lyla is working with him. Lyla comes up to them saying she thought they already settled this. She has been working with The Monitor but as a double agent, which she told him on the roof. Oliver says he doesn’t remember that and demands to know why he is the only person who doesn’t remember anything. Rene (Rick Gonzalez) comes up to them telling Oliver the mayor is looking for him. Another familiar face pops up as Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), who died in the season six finale after taking a bullet for Laurel, reveals himself to be the Mayor of Star City.

Oliver is more confused than ever. He tells Quentin it’s been a while since he’s seen him and Quentin tells him maybe a couple days, but Oliver is looking at him like it’s been years. Oliver asks Quentin if Diaz shot him. Quentin replies in the affirmative and says that he almost died in the OR (But he DID die). Oliver tells him he remembers it differently. Quentin says the doctors called it a miracle because he was without oxygen for so long. He should have been six feet under. Rene tells them there’s something they need to see. While watching a news feed Rene tells them there’s a hostage situation at the SCPD and the leader’s demanding to meet with the mayor.

At the SCPD Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) meets up with Oliver and Quentin and tells them armed mercenaries stormed the precinct and took a dozen of her guys hostage. She explains that the only demand was to speak to the mayor. Quentin says he’ll go talk to him. Dinah tells him she appreciates that, but there is no way she’s sending him in there. Quentin tells Dinah he’ll distract him and, in the meantime, Oliver sneaks around the back and does his thing. Quentin says the longer this drags on that the worse it gets.

Quentin enters the precinct while Oliver takes out multiple guys around the back telling Quentin over comms to keep the guy talking. Oliver comes up from behind the guy and shoots the gun out of the man’s hand and tells him it’s over. The guy says it isn’t over until Oliver stops it. Oliver asks him what he’s talking about and the man reveals an explosive. Oliver wakes up in his apartment with Mia, William and Connor walking in having just gotten back from lunch. He’s reliving the same day.

Oliver gets to the fundraiser, experiencing the same things he already did. He finds John and tells he’s been there before. John asks him what he’s talking about. Oliver says he’s talking about The Monitor dropping him into some sort of alternate reality, a time loop where everything is different and where Quentin is still alive. John assures Oliver that Quentin has always been alive. Oliver tries to explain that he died saving Laurel, but he just doesn’t remember. He thinks he knows the way out of this, but he needs to stop a bomb at the SCPD. John says if there was a bomb that they’d know about it. Oliver finds Quentin and tells him they need to talk. He tells Quentin he’s trapped in some sort of time loop where the same events just keep repeating themselves – “Like Groundhog Day,” except this one ends in a lot of people dead, including the two of them.

Oliver asks Quentin if he actually believes him and Quentin starts to list off all the crazy things he has experienced since finding out Oliver is the Green Arrow. Oliver tells him they are going to learn that there is a hostage situation at the SCPD. They’re going to insist that they talk to Quentin and only him. There’s a hidden explosive device that Oliver didn’t know about the first time though and judging from the blast it’s underneath the building. Oliver will find it and keep them from exploding and hopefully he breaks out of the loop.

At the SCPD Oliver tells Dinah that the criminals have a bomb and that it’s not in the building, it’s underneath it. While Quentin is in the precinct distracting the criminals Oliver is underneath the building trying to find the bomb. He notices someone walking towards it and it turns out to be Laurel. Oliver tells her it’s his second time experiencing this exact moment and Laurel says same as her. Oliver points out that clearly The Monitor is doing this to punish them. Laurel tells him they are the only two people who have royally pissed him. In Russia she disobeyed him and Oliver tried to destroy him. Oliver tells Laurel he thinks disarming the bomb is the way out. They activated some kind of fail-safe, so Oliver tells Laurel with the next loop they need more time. Laurel says it would probably help if they found each other faster next time. He tells her there’s a party at the Palmer Tech building and to meet him there.

The loop happens again and Oliver and Laurel are at the fundraiser with no sign of Lyla this time. Oliver said John told him she got called away on a last-minute A.R.G.U.S. mission, which means she’s never even been at the party. Oliver asks Laurel if anything in her conversation with Lyla stood out. Laurel recalls Lyla said how Laurel feels towards Lyla was on her, like it’s her fault that she’s stuck there. Oliver thinks saving Quentin isn’t the key, but that Lyla is. Oliver thinks this whole thing is a test. There is only one way out and he’s going to find it.

Oliver, Laurel and Quentin figure out a CEO named Anderson White is behind the bomb situations and wanting Quentin dead. They go to one of the company’s warehouses and Quentin is shot. She tells him she’s not giving up and that he is the reason that she’s trying to be a hero. She tells him she never had the chance to tell him how much he means to her, but following their real reality Quentin dies. Laurel tells Oliver she’s done since all she ever wanted was to say goodbye to Quentin and now she has.

The loop happens again and this time Oliver goes to the bunker to find Laurel, but she’s nowhere to be found. Lyla tells him she’s gone. Oliver demands that Lyla get him out of there too. Lyla tells him she can’t the only way to do that is to accept the inevitable. She tells him that if he learns that then the loop will end.

Oliver brings Quentin to the Lion’s Den, saying he couldn’t think of a better way to keep him safe. But they get caught in a crossfire and Quentin is shot. After getting trapped, Oliver says they will find a way out no matter how many times it takes. Quentin tells him if he takes out guys there will just be more as there is no saving him because Quentin is meant to die. He’s been outrunning death for a while now. When Diaz shot him he thought it was finally the end and he was at peace with it. Maybe Oliver should be too and accept that he will always die in the end. With that Quentin takes off his protective gear and walks towards a bomb.

Oliver wakes up in his apartment in another loop. When Mia, William and Connor walk through the door Oliver tells them what a gift it has been getting to know them. Before Oliver leaves Mia tells him he’s going to be fine and that they all will be. Oliver finds Quentin at the fundraiser and asks to talk to him. He asks Quentin what made him decide Oliver wasn’t his enemy anymore. Quentin says it was his daughters, Sara and Laurel. If they were okay with him, he should be too. Quentin asks Oliver if there is any particular reason for the trip down memory lane and Oliver replies that he’s been hanging on to something and someone told him recently it’s about time he made peace with it.

Lyla finds Oliver and tells her that now he understands. Oliver says he couldn’t change Quentin’s fate and he can’t change his either. Lyla responds that she’s been working with The Monitor for a while. She did it for the same reason Oliver left Felicity and Mia in the cabin – to protect her family. Lyla says that’s the only way and the Crisis is coming. All they can do is try to survive it. She says there’s an evil coming that is greater than anything they’ve ever faced. Oliver asks if they can stop it. Lyla says she doesn’t know, but he is the only chance they have. Lyla says everything Oliver has gone through has been a test and that he just needs to complete his final mission now.

Oliver and Laurel wake up in a tent, finally out of the loop. Oliver tells her they got out by learning their lessons. Now they have one final mission – the crisis. They get out of the tent as Mia, William, Connor and John are walking up to them. Oliver tells them they’re on Lian Yu.