Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: A- | 416 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT War Games
By Tippi Blevins | Season 9 | Episode 17 | Aired on 2010.04.09
A delivery truck rumbles down a deserted highway. Inside, a man is attaching battery cables to the handcuffs that bind an unconscious Green Arrow's wrists around the back of a chair. Tess stands in one corner of the truck, sans wig, and tells the man to "radio ahead" that they'll be at the airfield soon. He nods and heads into the cab, closing a sliding door behind him. Tess paces around her prisoner, removing the black bag from his head. He's still got on his sunglasses and leather hood. Tess reaches out to pull back the hood, but Waller's voice warns her away. Tess looks behind her at a monitor that now displays Waller's sneering countenance. Waller reminds Tess she doesn't have the clearance to peek. "I was just making sure that our acquisition is still secure," Tess says. Waller snorts at that, but congratulates her anyway for being able to get the job done after being "dormant" for so long. Waller dismisses her and Tess goes into the cab. The moment the door closes, electricity shoots through the cuffs and into Green Arrow's body, jolting him awake. He jerks so hard that his sunglasses fly off. "Welcome to Checkmate," Waller says through the monitor. She tells him she's working with the government. "The time has come to do your patriotic duty," she tells him. Oliver tries to snark his way out of the situation as he surreptitiously fishes a lock pick out of his gloves and gets working on his handcuffs. Waller gives him a spiel about recruiting people like him to help protect the nation's security. Oliver's about as enthused as you'd expect, but Waller doesn't care. She signs off and the Checkmate symbol replaces her image on the monitor. Oliver finishes picking his way out of the cuffs, grabs his sunglasses, and pulls a small explosive device from his glove. Is there anything he doesn't have in there? He blasts the back door off its hinges then hurls himself at it, using it like a toboggan as he lands on the freeway. Sparks fly between the metal and the concrete. Eventually he comes to a stop on the side of the road and hightails it out of there on foot as the truck comes to a screeching halt. Commercials!