A final showdown with Gen. Walker finds everyone exploring their dark side
So!
Starting, for example, with Hideo Yamane, the supplier whose drugs Thea was using in season 1.
Did we just see the first incident of everyones favorite catchphrase?
Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW
And has season 5 not been an absolute trip because of all of these firsts and callbacks?
Oliver crosses off Yamanes name and frets to Talia about how hell be able to leave the Bratva.
Since Gregors Pakhan (mob boss), theres nothing they can do.
Um, except kill him, Oliver points out.
Anatoly ponders this, and Oliver bails on telling Anatoly about his plans to return stateside.
Now, to the present.
Reporter Susans back after the show forgot about her for a couple of weeks.
She info-dumps that she and Oliver havent slept together yet.
Someone were glad to see return, though?
Hes fresh from rehab and so dry that hes almost dust.
That Susan is one busy lady.
Word is, hes headed to Russia to sell the still-missing nuke to Markovan nationalists.
Oliver immediately starts planning a field trip.
Quentin loses it and tosses him out, naturally, but they eventually reconvene and apologize.
The interview itself goes well, and Quentin says its because of something Rene told Susan beforehand.
Turns out, years ago, beat cop Quentin caught a juvie Rene tagging a building.
Even though Quentin has no memory of this, it set Rene on a better path.
Then Quentin reminds us that Rene still got dishonorably discharged from the military, and Rene shrugs it off.
Nice little character reveals there, but it still preserves the mystery of Renes discharge for a future episode.
Now, to Russia!
Ah, Russian hospitality.
Mayor Handsomes shocked, and Anatoly clarifies that its for Alexi Leonov.
(You remember him, right?
Theres nothing for you here.
Oliver ignores this advice, and the team sets up shop in an old Argus safe house/ornate Russian mansion.
I feel like somebody died of tuberculosis here, Felicity says as she sets up her hacking gear.
At Dinahs suggestion, Oliver tries one more time to get Anatolys help in locating Walker.
Ms. Blackmailer, if youre nasty.
Blackmail may not be a good look for her, but that dress/hair/makeup combo certainly is.
Curtis and Rory are the least threatening Bratva ever, though.
Walkers location in hand, the team move in.
John wants to jump right into the torture, but Oliver yells at him to be smart.
He threatens the guy with sparking battery cables, and then they let him stew for a bit.
Theres more team tension elsewhere, as Rory calls out Felicity for her blackmail.
Felicity argues that the people in the data dump deserve whats coming to them.
Hell bust some skulls in exchange for Walkers location.
Back in the van, Dinah observes that this isnt the first time Olivers been a thug.
To be honest, brooding gets on my nerves.
You might be on the wrong team, Dinah.
Dinah tells him to snap out of it.
She insists that hes more than just his fists.
Guys, I like her.
More of this, c’mon.
Then we get to the best scene of the night.
I need the two of you to be better than me.
Thats why we work together.
The love that leads a man to step into his hated past to keep his friends souls clean?
Its gorgeous and sad and exactly whatArrowdoes best.
They rush into a hangar where Walkers making a deal with the nationalists.
Rorys rags fly, and Dinah screams an entire van into rubble.
This is solid advice.
Oh, but the nukes not on there.
Johns the one who ends up with Walker in his crosshairs.
But the teams not out of the woods yet.
Felicity and Rory discover that blah blah, Hollywood science, the nuke got tripped.
When she tries to disarm it, blah blah Hollywood science, the countdown speeds up.
They rush inside to find Rory, only lightly charred.
And how do you celebrate your friend stopping a nuclear bomb with his spooky-ass magical rags?
With vodka shots, of course!
Me too, Anatoly.
You, me, Felicity?
We make each other better.
Wonder if well see that wrinkle pop back up at some point this season?
Ugh, hate this.
like like like make her actually evil and not misunderstood or whatever.
Since hes a liability when hes powerless, hes taking off for parts unknown.
He tells Felicity hell be back, though.
Felicity replies in the affirmative.
Darker and darker, Miss Smoak.
This was one solid hour of show.
Applause, all the way around.
