Hey, we’re back! Arrow took a little break while we all watched our countries attempt to win gold, but it’s time to return to Star City and to its superhero mayor.

It’s been a little while and I might jump all over a bit after tonight’s episode, but we’ve waited long enough. Let’s get to it…

There’s a show that’s been pretty popular for the past few years. It’s called Game of Thrones. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Well, there are all these people in the show fighting for power and superiority over land and each other. They all want to be THE guy or gal in charge. They’re petty, power-hungry people. But, out of all of them, there is a guy that looks past all of it and sees the bigger picture; that being that there is this very real and serious threat that’s coming to wipe out every living thing, and it doesn’t matter how powerful you are, how much money, land or goats you own, you’ll be dust if this threat is able to succeed.

Tonight’s episode had some parallels of that same theme to me: a lot of people squabbling, but guys like John and Ollie being able to see the bigger picture.

Look, I’m glad the teams finally clashed. Sometimes things need to boil over so that it’s all out there and you can move on, whether that means patching things up or going your separate ways. I’m happy it went down the way it did because I was getting a little nervous we were going to see the he-said-she-said, finger-pointing stuff from both sides accusing the other of this and that and everything in between.

BTW—I’m still Team Ollie.

When everything was hitting the fan, it was Ollie and John (especially) that made the most sense to me. The bottom line is that they believed Laurel was the key to the missing money and the person who pulled the strings to set the frame-up in motion, and they needed to act fast. I don’t blame them for going in to Curtis’ hideout guns blazing—we all know Dinah wouldn’t have turned Laurel over if they had her—so it had to be a surprise entrance. 

I backed Ollie’s decision to agree to help Laurel get to safety, too. It’s obviously not ideal, but sometimes you have to play the game to get what you want—something that Curtis, Rene and the rage-blinded Dinah don’t understand. (Clearly, they don’t watch Game of Thrones.) The three of them never thought that maybe Ollie had a backup plan in place and that maybe he was agreeing to help her just to get what he needed, and then he’d flip the script. Curtis and team see everything as black and white/cut and dry, despite the fact that they operate in a very gray world. Gotta admit, it drives me nuts at times!

Anyways...about the money…how isn’t the FBI or some higher form of law (outside the SCPD) involved in this case of MULTI-millions being handed over to a terrorist—which Cayden certainly was? Ugghh—as I typed that, I just thought this is probably how they’ll re-introduce that FBI Director into the show…bummer.

Speaking of law enforcement, what’s up with the new police chief being on Diaz’s payroll? Should be interesting to see where that goes—especially when that guy walks in and says he has enough evidence on “Queen” to take him down, but he’ll need the STPD’s full backing. I’m really curious to see what he has and where this will go.

I told myself I wouldn’t go down this path, nor would I dedicate a lot of time to the whole Quentin-Laurel thing (insert eyeroll)…but that ending was odd. So, I guess it has been her the whole time? What are you guys thinking? Mind control? Some kind of disorder that affects her brain? Dual personalities? I said it last week and I stick by it: regardless of what it is and if it’s really “good” Laurel, she has an awful lot to atone for and she should not be let off the hook. Honestly, if Quentin helps her escape, hide or whatever, he should be held accountable, too. He probably already should be with his behavior in this whole thing.  

Finally, anyone think Wild Dog’s exit was a little odd? Let me know your thoughts on this and other minutiae from this week’s episode in the comments below.

Until next time,
Matt
 

Matt Ross covers Arrow as a part of the #DCTV Couch Club. Catch new episodes of Arrow Thursdays at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. CST) on The CW.