Wednesday nights mean one thing for Oliver Queen fans… an all new episode of The CW’s Arrow. The show’s amazing second season has already brought us a number of unforgettable episodes, including the revelatory “Crucible,” the Barry Allen two-parter “The Scientist” and “Three Ghosts,” and last month’s “Heir to the Demon,” which featured Nyssa al Ghul. However, tonight’s all new episode raises the action and intrigue bar to an all new level. In fact, while the title of the episode, “The Promise,” may officially be a reference to a promise made in the episode, it could just as well be a promise to us… that everything you expect from an episode of Arrow is about to change.

We don’t want to ruin the episode for you, but we do want to amp you up a bit. So without spoiling anything, here are five things to watch for in tonight’s must-watch new Arrow.

A lot more time on the island.

All Arrow fans know that the show is really telling us two stories at the same time. The main one is set in the present day and concerns Oliver’s battle to save Starling City. The other concerns his time spent on Lian Yu, the island upon which he was shipwrecked for five years. Usually, the present day story takes center stage, but every now and then the producers like to switch things up and devote an episode largely to the past. Last season, this episode was “The Odyssey” and was hands down one of the season’s best episodes. “The Promise” is essentially this season’s answer to “The Odyssey,” and man if it doesn’t manage to top it.

Since escaping his ship, Oliver, Sara and Slade have become determined to take down Dr. Ivo and use the Amazo to escape from the island.  “The Promise” covers this endeavor, and as you can probably guess, things don’t go quite as smoothly as they’d hope.

But lest you think all the good stuff in tonight’s episode is in the past…

Edge-of-your-seat present day sequences

If we were to make one criticism of “The Odyssey,” it’s that the present day moments in that episode couldn’t hold a candle to the action in the flashback sequences. It’s not that they didn’t matter, exactly, but we knew that Oliver wasn’t going to die. In “The Promise,” the present day stakes couldn’t matter more. If you saw last week’s Clock King episode “Time of Death,” you know what a cliffhanger it ended on. “The Promise” picks up right at that moment, and the contrast between present day Slade Wilson, and the island’s version of Slade is compelling.

Even better, the action in the modern day is of a different sort than what we’re seeing in the past. So it doesn’t feel like too much of the same thing. It’s a great balance that results in a truly don’t-look-away sixty minutes. (Okay, 48 minutes. We won’t fault you for looking away during the commercials.)

Action that just doesn’t quit. Seriously. It doesn’t.

Yeah, we know that statements like that show up so often in reviews that they could start selling them as rubber stamps. But it’s really true in the case. There’s not much in the way of slow build up here. The action starts early and it doesn’t end until the credits roll. If you’re an action junkie, and we suspect most of you are, this is the episode you’ve been waiting for.

The return of a certain gold and black mask.

This isn’t really a spoiler, as you can see it in the trailer. But yes, Slade dons the Deathstroke mask in this episode. And for good reasons, since his first appearance in Season One, fans have been wondering when Wilson would officially become Deathstroke. With the mirakuru now in his system and his emergence in the present day storyline, it seemed really likely that it would be soon. Well, the wait’s over. He may not don a full body suit and start calling himself the world’s greatest assassin, but this episode is a turning point for the character, and the moment is everything you’d want it to be. Dark, violent and tragic.

Even better, this episode could very well prove to be a turning point for other characters as well. Roy fights alongside Arrow’s full team for the first time. And Dr. Ivo… Well, we’ll let you discover what happens to him on your own.

More cliffhangers in the present AND the past.

While “The Promise” may not end quite as excruciatingly as last week’s episode, it does leave us really wondering what happens next. Obviously, we’re not about to ruin it for you. But expect to find yourself wishing you can fast forward a week when the screen fades to black!

There you have it! So will you be watching? Well, we definitely want to know what you think, so feel free to comment with your thoughts on this episode below.