It’s been a long time since we last heard of Arrow, but thankfully the show is now back to take us away from those winter-finale cliffhangers. Since there was no recap of the previous episode, you should be – and probably are, aware of Oliver Queen’s death during his epic battle with Ra’s Al Ghul. All we have to do is see where we go from there.

The comeback episode, “Left Behind”, kicks off with a couple of criminals giving detective Lance and the rest of the police a tough time. The Arsenal is after them though, while Diggle is in the green suit, ending up with one of them caught and the other escaping. Back at the lair, the team has no clue of Oliver’s defeat and despite the two gents’ worrying, Felicity stays positive, as she heads to her office.

With the first flashback quick to arrive, we see Maseo devastated by his wife’s abduction and desparate to get her back. However, Amanda Waller is not the sensitive kind of girls though and gets Oliver and him on a mission to extract a dangerous weapon from the military.

Back to reality, Ray Palmer is trying to make his superhero suit work and Felicity gets to help, despite her initial worries. With Laurel kicking some ass in court, A.R.G.U.S. is also looking for Oliver. Felicity is confident for his return though and gets them back at work, looking for the criminal that got away. Roy once again makes his sweet escape to the streets, while John chats a bit with our blonde, making her worry a bit.

As far as Oliver Queen goes, we get to see his injured, dead we suppose, body lying under the cliff he was dropped from. Strange thing is, someone’s there to pick him up.

Meanwhile, the criminal that got away is killed by his gang’s leader, Brick, for doing a side-mission and shooting a cop while at it. The other one is safe for now in jail, telling Laurel that his boss is the one giving him a scare, not her. At the same time, Thea is having her regular swordplay with her father and expresses her worries for Oliver, with Malcolm offering to have people look for him – that son of a bitch!

As team Arrow gets into finding that Brick guy, another flashback arrives. With Maseo and Ollie on the field, ready to complete the mission, it seems things are not as easy for them as expected.

As John and Roy pay a visit to the warehouse where Felicity located Brick’s phone, they find it empty with all the evidence of the gang’s whereabouts destroyed. When on the way to the lair, they find the door open and assume Oliver is back. However, it’s only Malcolm Merlyn, looking to find out if the vigilante is alive and implying he’s dead, after finding out they haven’t heard of him.

Soon enough, Laurel jumps in to help with the case. The team breaks the news to her, but she manages to bring new hope to the table by reminding everyone that Oliver has been “dead” before and came back. Malcolm is then seen making his way to the battlefield of Mr. Queen’s falling, to see the blood-filled sword and assume he’s dead at the bottom of the cliff.

The third of flashbacks find Oliver twisting things around during his mission. With him and his pals inside the military’s building and ready to get the weapon they’re looking for, some other gang appears and starts the shooting.

Malcolm once again breaks into the team’s lair and delivers the sword of their leader’s death, causing the three to further lose hope. With accusations made, he only leaves after reminding that his head is next for Ra’s al Ghul. Despite their mourning, Oliver is probably far from gone, with the strange black-dressed man carrying his body away from the place of his fall.

Another flashback finds Oliver, Maseo and the rest of Amanda Waller’s men managing to make it out of the military’s building alive and with the weapon. For a bit, we get to see some of Ollie’s humanity, as he doesn’t take the life of one of the opponents, even though he’s on the ground.

Thea finds Roy drinking alone and goes for a chat, with soon asking him to get the Arrow to look for her brother. With that Brick guy looking to get a whole lot of criminals out of jail by destroying evidence, John and Roy get deeper in the case and prepare for action. Felicity’s having an emotional chat with her boss, but she soon heads back to the lair to help her pals.

While the bad guys are on to perform their task, Diggle and the Arsenal jump in to save the day, with the police also arriving soon. Even though the two of them do a pretty impressive job, Brick gets away with the evidence. Felicity reveals that it was her that let him do so, in order to save her friends’ lives. Even though they’re mad at her, she is completely blacked out and explains the whole mission thing is over for her now that Oliver is gone.

It turns out Maseo is the one to recover Oliver’s body from the cliff and he turns to someone else for help. Well, maybe we haven’t seen the last of Mr. Queen, have we?

Felicity pays Ray Palmer a visit and reveals she won’t be helping him with becoming a superhero, ’cause she’s too young to lose yet another friend. With Laurel and John having a final chat about Oliver, we get the very first hint that she’s ready to wear the Black Canary’s suit and fight crime.

In the meantime, Malocolm Merlyn pays Thea a visit and even though he doesn’t say a word about her brother, he intends to get her to leave Starling with him as they’re in danger. Brick has gathered all of the criminals and is looking to create a super gang and take over the Glades. However, Laurel’s already in action as the Canary and ready to bring them to justice.

The final of flashbacks finds Amanda Waller satisfied with the outcome, despite giving Oliver a hard time for letting one of the enemies go. Even though he claims to have hesitated, he only made sure that the guy would lead him and Maseo back to Tatsu, the latter’s wife. Thank God he did, ’cause he wouldn’t owe Ollie one otherwise!

Years later, Maseo’s time to return the favor has come, with Mr. Queen seen opening his eyes! It turns out Oliver’s dead body was carried all the way to Tatsu, who somehow managed to bring him back to life.

And what an episode that one was! Make sure you don’t miss Arrow next week, ’cause this is all getting real folks!

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