- Title: Arrow – What We Leave Behind
- wiki: link
Arrow‘s mid-season finale moves beyond the Vigilante and Invasion! story arcs to center its attention back on the season’s looming big bad, Prometheus. Offering flashbacks to Oliver‘s (Stephen Amell) early days as Starling City’s vigilante (his costume has certainly gotten better), “What We Leave Behind” begins to fill in gaps about who Prometheus is and why he has a vendetta against Green Arrow (although I would have been more impressed if they actually tied it to First Season episode rather than filming new scenes). From their encounters it’s obvious the Church didn’t tell the villain anything he didn’t know, as Prometheus would have had to know Oliver’s identity years ago to retrace the man’s steps and train with at least one of the same masters (which doesn’t quite jibe with the villain’s actions since arriving in Star City as he only begin to focus on Oliver after Church’s deathbed confession).
Continuing to attack Ollie through his friends, Prometheus jumps Curtis (Echo Kellum) outside the Christmas party forcing the tech geek turned vigilante to come clean to his husband just how he’s been spending his nights. Evelyn‘s (Madison McLaughlin) betrayal is revealed (to honestly not much effect), and for his grand finale Prometheus sets up Green Arrow to kill Felicity‘s (Emily Bett Rickards) new boyfriend (Tyler Ritter who, as predicted, was always either going to turn out to be a villain or meet a tragic end).
If the episode has some logic holes in the main story (including an awkward sequence where Prometheus’ identity is revealed), it certainly ends on a strong note with the villain earning a big victory over our hero. There are also some strong subplots including Thea (Willa Holland) getting Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) into rehab and more of Ollie’s time in Russia where he learns an important lesson about perspective, and shifting allegiances, from Konstantin Kovar (Dolph Lundgren). And, just as things progress in Ollie’s relationship with his reporter friend (Carly Pope), the show throws one last curve ball into the equation with the unexplained return of Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy).
