The bad tonight: Rezoning.
We open with some shirtless torture time.
Its not the pain that breaks people.
Credit: Dean Buscher/The CW
Fear of the pain.
Of what that pain brings.
Of what happens next, Church says.
(Im sorry, did I accidentally turn onThe Walking Dead?)
Thats cold, Fi.
Meanwhile, Theas stuck talking about a rezoning vote to expand low-income housing in Orchid Bay.
It needs four-fifths approval from the city council.
Sorry, I dozed off a bit.
Someone free Thea from this dull plotline, like.
to track Rene to where hes being forced to dig his own grave in a forest.
Hes just waiting for Green Arrows imminent death to make his move.
The hood in question shows up, slinging arrows and sending Church and his crew scurrying.
Bad news, though: Rene broke.
He knows youre Oliver Queen, he says.
Oliver takes this news surprisingly well.
Actually, he takes all of tonights bad news surprisingly well.
Felicity and I both nervously LOL over his plans poor track record.
Plus, John points out, his new team is a little lacking: What do we have?
A Laurel Lance wannabe, a weird rag guy, a lunatic, and Curtis.
Curtis just wasnt who I pictured.
But John does more than insult; he also proposes solutions.
Specifically, he offers to contact a guy he knows who could help.
Okay, maybe you should just put an arrow in him, Thea mutters.
This plotline, I swear.
Let our Thea go!
I thought you hired me to kill the Green Arrow, says the new mask.
(If hes a DC Comics character, I didnt recognize him.
Church replies, Nope.
Youre gonna kill the mayor.
Oh, Mayor Handsome.
Hes agreed to an off-camera interview with Susan Williams, to which I say,huh?
Shes a TV reporter; she cannot do her job without using video.
Thats…not how journalism works.
Turns out he opposesthisrezoning because he wants to redevelop the area in question for commercial businesses.
Oliver threatens to turn the information over to Susan Williams, and Kullens capitulates.
Cut to Quentin telling the press corps Oliver died in the attack as a shell-shocked Thea stands nearby.
Um, this is not the way to handle this situation.
This is not how government works.
What is happening tonight?
Of course, Olivers just fine.
TV nerds will recognize him from the Fox TV showof the same namethat ran for two seasons in 2010-2011.
Either way, hes delightful.
Unfortunately, we dont get enough time with Chance this week.
Hes the one who cowed Kullens and got Susans phone number.
Hes also the one who met Billy and learned the cop is Felicitys new sidepiece.
(Why couldnt we have seen more ofthatunfold and less of Thea fussing about council votes?
Its a shame so much of this happened off camera!)
He says hes not upset shes seeing someone; its that she didnt tell him.
She clarifies that she wasnt keeping the door open for the two of them.
Instead, she was waiting until she was sure it was something real, which hasnt happened yet.
So…good talk?
Rene is torn about betraying Oliver, but John gently prods, saying his own brother tortured him.
He screwed up then, he screwed up now, and he doesnt want to relive it with John.
Still, John takes him back to his imprisonment.
He remembers hunger and pain from the zip ties.
Then he remembers Church saying something about Brace, and it all falls into place.
They all mount up, but Rene wants to stay behind so he doesnt screw up again.
John tells him to snap out of it.
When it comes to guilt and recrimination, the line forms behind me, he says.
Im wearing this suit again because I think its a path to redemption.
And it could be for you, too.
Chance is there, too, dressed as one of the gang members in a ridiculous gold chain.
Church escapes into the hanger, where he encounters a breathing Green Arrow.
Fight, fight, fight.
Green Arrow shoots him in the shoulder.
This is not how governing works, Oliver!
Oh, and the low-income rezoning passed, so yay.
and starts to babble at Oliver.
Things are awkward, and they agree they should embrace new romantic opportunities.
Still, Oliver says, I care about you.
And I will always care about you.
Its a mortal lock.
Okay, Olicity haters, like skip this paragraph: Yeah, uh, does anybody buy this?
They simply must be end game.
Its safe again, non-Olicity folks.
Oh, and he also gives her pictures of Ollie in Russia when he wassupposedto be on an island.
Seems like a good time to flash back to five years ago.
In Russia, Oliver and his wig are sitting through the worlds scariest job interview.
Anatoly replies, We are Bratva.
Hes so non-fraternal, in fact, hes hired two dudes to murder Ollie in an alley.
(Ollie in an Alley is the name of my new bluegrass band, by the way.)
Oliver wants to know what he got himself into.
So do we, Mr. Queen!
Okay, back to the present.
Church begs his guard to stay inside and avoid getting killed.
The guard doesnt listen and, unsurprisingly, is killed immediately.
You will be the only person who knows, he says.
Never say Prometheus isnt a man of his word: Church doesnt get a third warning.
Instead, Church gets a throwing star to the neck, and thus dies my favoriteArrowvillain inforever.
Farewell, Tobias Church.
You were a delicious menace.
Thoughts for your quiver:
