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It's five weeks after the events of the last episode, and Oliver is still working the streets, trying to find the identity of the mysterious man in the skull mask. He doesn't get anywhere, because he doesn't realize that the person who's threatening to fill the streets of Starling City with superpowered mayhem is none other than Sebastian Blood. But Blood isn't fooling everyone, because Laurel is starting to dig into his background. She thinks that instead of being an orphan, Sebastian killed his father and then incarcerated his mother. She's also got an addiction to pain pills, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.
Felicity has been spending her downtime at the bedside of Barry Allen, who's still in a coma after being struck by lightning. Oliver's really bothered by this, but he won't admit to liking her. She comes back after a building gets blown up by this week's bad guy, a model train dealer who calls himself "Shrapnel." When another building explodes, she's able to track Shrapnel's van until she loses it. Oliver blows up at her back at the Arrowlair, but he's just covering up for his jealousy over Barry Allen.
Sebastian Blood decides to hold a giant rally in the middle of the city to show that the city won't be intimidated by someone with the ability to cause a large amount of destruction in a specified area. Everyone tells him it's a bad idea, but he goes ahead with it anyway. If the plan were to lure the bomber into a trap, it would be genius! It's not, though, so Diggle has to find the bombs himself while the police stand around doing nothing. Felicity's all set to disarm the trigger when all heck breaks loose. In this case, the heck includes Oliver shooting a grenade in mid-air so it causes a picturesque fireball right above the crowd. It also includes Roy accidentally having super-strength and super-regeneration to save Moira Queen from a falling light tower. Nobody but Thea notices, because this is not a very observant town.
And in the flashback story, Slade gets angry, steals all the Mirakuru, and goes on a solo mission of vengeance to kill Dr. Ivo. So he's not around to hear Ivo threaten to destroy the entire junge if he doesn't get his Mirakuru back.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Arrow is back! It's been almost a month since the last episode, which makes all that talk about the "mid-season finale" almost justified. In the last episode, Oliver chose to let Shado die; Barry Allen got superpowers; and Roy Harper...also got superpowers. Oh, and Oliver finally got a mask instead of that eye makeup he's so into.
A goon drives his car straight at Oliver while shooting a gun. Oliver responds by blowing up his car with an arrow, although the car seems unharmed by the explosion. Then it veers off into some rubble and flips over. When Oliver gets there, the goon has escaped into the convenient half-finished warehouse. After some running around, the goon is hanging upside down so Oliver can shout at him in what I think is an even sillier raspy voice than before. It's like the people who make this show think the best part of Christian Bale's Batman is the voice. Oliver says that the upside-down goon is "the biggest street dealer in Crescent Circle" and demands to know who the guy in the skull mask is. This neighborhood does not look like a Crescent Circle to me. Mr. Upside-Down denies all knowledge and begs for mercy on the grounds that he's still on parole, so Oliver punches him out.
When he returns to the Arrowlair, the television news explains that it's been five weeks since the explosion at STAR Labs. It breaks my heart to see these people with an incredibly powerful computer always just using it to stream a local news show. Diggle tells Oliver that Felicity is still looking after Barry, so I guess he doesn't have his superpowers just yet. He's still comatose. Oliver complains about how none of the thugs he's beaten up has been any use. But he needs to push on to find the man with the Mirakuru. Diggle thinks Oliver's more freaked out than usual. Oliver leaves, grabbing his coat off a chair. He's still in his Arrow suit, though, so he ought to change before leaving.
Flashback to the Island. Slade has constructed a grave for Shado, and Oliver says some nice things about her. Slade's face is all one color again, which is significantly less goofy. Oliver reluctantly takes a green hoodie from Slade, who walks away. Sara stops Oliver from going after Slade to tell him about how the nefarious Dr. Ivo made Oliver choose who would get killed. It's weird to have a scene that's all exposition for something we've already seen. Sara moves on to new business: if someone's injected with Mirakuru and doesn't die, they become deformed. I think we knew that already, since the bones in the cave were all twisted up, but it's nice to have it confirmed.