I thought Arrow had kind of dropped off the last couple episodes with some moments I had a hard suspending my disbelief for. But this episode totally made up for it all and was one great scene to the next with moments I expected handled well combined with ones not expected.
I think everyone kept expecting Barry trapped in the particle accelerator. Then when he was watching the news from lab with all the bottles and lightning striking, I was wondering how or why he would suddenly get there. Were they actually going to go with the classic Flash origin? In a way, they found a way to blend that classic with new. But I had hoped to see Barry Allen using his powers before once.
Things are happening on the island much faster than anticipated. I thought the Shado/Slade/Ollie triangle would play out this season and end with some division between Slade/Ollie. With Oliver spending 5 years on the island, I wondered if the island flashbacks would carry on for 5 seasons and then at the end of those 5 seasons, we'd either know if Slade is dead or alive and see him arrive as the big villain for a possible season 6 at that point. The way the island story is going now, I wonder if the writers are deciding to wrap it up and keep everything in the present. The flashbacks were often a great part of the show but this episode, I found the present scenes more exciting and interesting which is rare.
Unless there is a surprise with Shado, I did not expect her death so soon especially with all that has happened this season for her to go out suddenly like this was a woah moment. I kept thinking Slade was going to pop out at any moment and save her and Ollie but he came too late instead. My only problem with it is that I never got that much sense of a relationship formed between her and Ollie or her and Slade. Just the beginnings of a possible relationship with either one. So, her death wasn't as impactful as might be hoped. Tommy's death was much bigger in comparison since he got a whole season to grow and have more of a connection with viewers and the main characters. It was actually really great seeing him again briefly this episode. In fact, I think I like his cameo more than Malcolm's from the last 2 episodes.
Again, the fact that Slade was shown to be a prominent business man of some kind in Starling was not something I saw coming or anticipated having Slade join the present day so soon. I thought Rochov was going to be the main villain of the season but then that changed to Brother Blood and then possibly Ivo who could be aiding Brother Blood in the present day from his time on the island but now it could be Slade. The threats to Ollie are piling up. And there is still the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul to come into play yet. On the subject of Rochov, I wonder if she is also working for Slade and sent to take over Queen Industries for Slade's plan of taking down Oliver.
With the way things are going on this show, probably won't have to wait long for an answer. And I'll just say that Felicity is now my favorite character on this show. The writers always give her some funny line each episode usually a double entendre of some sort. In this case, her Jewish background. Any plans for Christmas? Light my menorah. Comedy gold.
Even Laural wasn't annoying! Top notch stuff.