Arrow does it again with another high action-packed episode. The last we saw of Oliver Queen, he had to come to terms with a lot of different things. The major impact in his life was the death of his mother.  So, in simple Arrow fashion, the beginning of the episode shows us Oliver, Diggle and Roy in action trying to defend the city. This is the first time we see Roy (Colton Haynes) in his Arsenal suit. Let me tell you, it looks pretty good on him!

After the action we head back down to the “Arrow Lair” as we find out two major things: 1. That Oliver has been living down there for quite some time, and 2. The crime has become more drastic in Starling City. With reassurance from Oliver that he is doing a good job, Roy and Felicity both leave, letting Diggle and Oliver to have a moment. In this very warm moment Oliver gives Diggle a hand crafted necklace for his unborn baby girl.  Diggle then returns the favor, telling Oliver to take a chance when it comes to women–especially Felicity.

The following morning, Laurel has a surprise for Oliver as they go to see her father. Laurel’s father, Captain Lance, gives a press conference, where he formally recognized the Arrow’s efforts to defend the city. He announces the disbanding of the Anti-Viailante Task Force. With smiles, Oliver thanks Laurel for everything. But with the good also comes the bad: there are some new criminals in town, along with a new formula of Vertigo.  The leader, Werner Zytle , wants to demonstrate the new formula of Vertigo, which shows people their worst fears.

On the flip side, we finally get to see Oliver and Felicity on their dinner date. Oliver tells Felicity that he wasn’t on the island for the entirety of the 5 years he was missing. When Felicity asked him where he was, Olivier simple states that he was in Hong Kong.  As Oliver and Felicity have their date, Zytle had found them due to bugging the Arrow suit. They fired a bomb at the restaurant leaving Oliver to push Felicity away and knocking her unconscious.

After getting Felicity back to the Arrow Lair, Oliver sends Roy to investigate and gather more information about what is out there. When Diggle asks him where he should go, Oliver simply side lines him because he is getting ready to become a father any day now, and he doesn’t want Diggle to miss out. As angry as Diggle was, he just storms out. Oliver goes out and finds Zytle. Their showdown results in Zytle injecting some Vertigo into Oliver, causing him to fight with.. well…himself.

In attempts to try and win back his company, Oliver gives the board a fantastic speech, but his speech wasn’t good enough when Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) comes in and gives his speech (complete with flashy Power Point). Ultimately, Palmer wins and Oliver feels defeated. When he and Felicity leave the conference room, Oliver beats himself up about everything that has happened. He tells Felicity that he can’t fool himself into thinking he can be both the Arrow and Oliver Queen.

After another team meeting, and yet another Diggle sidelining, the team finds out that Zytle is getting ready to make another Vertigo move, this time in a heavyweight title fight. To no one’s surprise, there is a bomb getting ready to go off under the spectators. Arsenal said he would take care of the bomb while Arrow took care of the criminals. While facing Zytle yet again, Zytle gives the Arrow another dose of Vertigo, but this time, it has no effect on its target. As he overcomes the effects he gets a little help from a friend… The Canary.

After all the battling was over Oliver and Sara catch up and talk about what had just happened. Sara ends up giving Oliver some advice: “We’re not our masks, and we need people in our lives that don’t wear them.”

We next see Felicity, who is in the hospital going to see Diggle and his new baby girl. When she runs into Ray, Felicity gives him a mouthful, and we discover she hacked his entire system. She leaves him and walks into Diggle’s  room, where he and his ex-wife are admiring their baby girl. Oliver comes in next, and congratulates his friend. Diggle takes Oliver aside to apologize, and says that Oliver was right. Once he became a father, everything changed.

Once Oliver and Felicity leave Diggle, Oliver tries to have “the talk.” The chat between the two of them leaves Felicity walking away from Oliver looking very upset. Before Oliver could do anything else, he get a call from Barry Allen asking for some advice and to meet up.

If you watched the pilot episode of The Flash, you’ll remember that advice.

In our final scene, we get to see the lovely Lance sisters, Laurel and Sara, enjoy a sister reunion. After parting ways for the night, something happens that none of us ever had seen coming. Now you didn’t think I would spoil that for you, did you?!

So there you have it! What do you expect to happen in Season 3? Let us know in the comments below!

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