This week on The CW’s Arrow, Oliver seemed to go off the deep end in the wake of Diggle’s departure from the team. But what was really at play?
After Felicity tries but fails to “Parent Trap” Oliver and Dig with a reunion, Oliver takes a meeting with Councilman Kullens, who scoffs at the idea that some two-bit drug dealer like Ricardo Diaz compromised not just a police captain but also the DA. In desperate need of damning evidence that connects Hill and Armand to Diaz, Oliver gets from Felicity just that — though to present it to the city council would be to out himself as Green Arrow. Agitated by the false hope, Oliver snaps at Felicity, then accidentally knocks over William’s science fair project. “Get out,” Felicity tells her testy husband.
Later finding Oliver at the bunker, Felicity reports that William won’t come out of his room, and then drops the bigger bombshell: she thinks the two of them should “take some space” in the wake of him showing himself to be not the man she married. After a pep talk from Quentin, Oliver is visited at the bunker by… Adrian Chase! The arch enemies get into a nasty brawl, at the end of which Chase taunts Oliver into snapping his neck, as he failed to do last time. Only this go-round, Oliver follows through! Chase then pops back up alive, leading Oliver to run a blood test that proves he’s been dosed with Vertigo, via his handshake with Kullens, and now is facing his worst fear — himself, Chase says.
Chase guides Oliver on a Christmas Carol-like tour of his life and the people he has forced or led to abandon him. That journey includes a return to the Queen Mansion and “innocent” Laurel; the NTA members; and then the Hood himself aka Old-School Oliver. The Hood rails at his future self for going off-mission, that the idea was to never have partners let alone a whole team! “You have failed this city,” he barks. “And you know what you have to do to get it back.”
Oliver attempts to make his case to the city council by producing the evidence Felicity gave him — claiming he got it from the Green Arrow — but he is met with skepticism. Quentin yanks him out of the meeting and sends him away until he dries out from the drug. Oliver makes tracks for the SCPD that night, knowing that Diaz will be there at 10:13 to meet with his dirty cops. Returning from William’s science fair, Felicity gets an alert that Oliver is heading into a suicide mission and informs Quentin. Quentin is KO’d by his pal upon trying to interfere, and when Felicity arrives on the scene immediately thereafter, she darts into the SCPD herself, to stop Oliver from opening the door to a small army of dirty cops.
Oliver is naturally skeptical that his wife is truly there, until she urges him to think with his heart and not his Vertigo-addled head. When he does so, he gains the clarity he needs to turn heel and zip the two of them through a skylight to safety. Afterward, the TV news reports that Oliver will face impeachment from Kullens & Co. Back home, Oliver informs Felicity that in keeping with the “back to basics” message of his Vertigo-induced stupor, he must go it alone for now— meaning, no Overwatch even! They will discuss it further, he says, but first he needs to make things right with William, who other than failing to know the difference between impairment and impeachment, is A-OK. When asked, William assures his dad that their family will stay together, forever.
The next day at the SCPD, Diaz tells Laurel that the impeachment is but the latest step in his plan to dismantle Oliver piece by piece. Next, they need to spread the word that with the mayor in flux, “Star City is open for business.” Whatever that means.
What did you think of the episode “Fundamentals”?
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