Arrow Recap S2E22: Streets of Fire

The after math of the explosion has Arrow pinned. He crawls his way from beneath the rubble, looking for Laurel.

Diggle takes on a crazed Isabel, still wielding swords and a mask.

Laurel calls out, she’s trapped, but luckily she has Arrow’s bow and quiver. He has her locate the explosive arrow, one he wants her to use to blast her way out.

Isabel gets Diggle down, but before she can finish him, Felicity hits her with the van. Diggle gets in, and Isabel gets up. The pair drive off as Isabel rises.

More of Deathstroke’s men attack Quinton at the station. Quinton is forced to use grenades to clear the room.

City Hall battens down the hatches as Mayor Blood tries to mollify everyone. The DA wants the National Guard called in, but Blood thinks the police can handle it, that Starling City can get through the crisis if they just keep calm. Blood tells her to get her shit together, that the city needs them.

Arrow tells Laurel to aim at the middle of the debris. She worries about her skills, but he has confidence in her. He soothingly talks her through the process, and Laurel draws back the bow and fires. She creates a hole big enough for Arrow to get through and rescue her. Arrow checks in with his team.

Past. Oliver and Anatoly are in the submarine. Oliver tells him that Slade has taken Sara and the two hatch a plan to sink Slade’s Freighter after Oliver rescues her.

Thea tries to get out, but one of the masked men grabs her and chokes her. She’s saved by an arrow shot by a masked man, her father, Malcolm Merlyn.

Laurel checks in with her father, she tells him that she’s safe with Arrow. Team Arrow go over the events. Felcicity tells them that STAR labs have finished the cure for Mirakuru and are sending it via courier. She calls the courier, but he’s been in an accident, and Team Arrow set out to save him while Laurel plans to go to her father. Slade hears it all on his super scanner, and he sends his goons to intercept The courier.

The reports of masked men terrorizing the city continue to pour in and Arrow worries over Laurel.

Past. Oliver plans to set out for the freighter. He says goodbye to Anatoly. It’s been a good partnership. Anatoly is grateful for everything that he’s done, and he tells him that he has a friend for life. Olive goes over the plan one more time, give them some time to get Sara, but to sink the freighter and get the heck out of there.

The police try to hatch a plan. Quinton knows that Blood is behind the chaos, but there is no one who can bring down a man that high in station. Quinton also knows that its going to take a mask to take down the masked men terrorizing everyone. He’s effectively told to light the bat signal, and gets his detective badge back as well.

Canary finds Laurel, and after she’s brought to safety, Laurel confesses that she knows she’s Sara.

Deathstroke’s men invade City Hall. When one of them grabs the DA, Blood tells the man to stand down, but he snaps the DA’s neck anyways. He doesn’t follow Blood’s orders.

Quinton places a call to Arrow, telling him that the police are officially behind him. Arrow has a plan,  and he could use the police to take out some of the smaller threats so he can go after the big fish. Felicity continues to speed towards The courier’s location, but she has to go through a death chute with Deathstroke’s Mirakuru goons all around them. The van get’s flipped, and the men close in. Felicity is knocked out. Diggle drags her to safety, and Arrow heads out to put up a fight. He takes out two goons with a single arrow, and carries Felicity off.

Thea runs from her father. He tells her that he’s not there to hurt her, but she doesn’t believe him, holding all of his past crimes against him. He needs more time to explain his master plan. She asks how he’s there. He came after he heard of her mother’s death, to protect her. He asks that she at least let him take her somewhere safe.

Slade looks at his handy work with Isabel. Blood comes in complaining that he killed his entire staff, and the DA. This was not the plan, and he does not think that they need to kill all those innocents, but Slade won’t stop. He vowed to take away everything that Oliver loved, and Oliver loves the city. Blood reminds him that it’s his city too, but Slade will destroy it all, reduce it to nothing more than graves.

Alone, Laurel asks Sara where she’s been, but Sara won’t answer it doesn’t matter, she thinks that there is nothing left in Starling City for her. Laurel thinks otherwise, her family is here. She calls Sara a hero, but Sara thinks that she anything but a hero. She removes her mask and costume. She thinks that she’s so far gone, but Laurel sees otherwise.

Past. Oliver sneaks aboard Slade’s freighter, and makes his way to Sara’s cell. Oliver opens her door, and he wants her off the ship. Oliver can’t leave Slade behind, they injected him, caused all of this. She wants to get away to see her family, but Oliver won’t turn his back. Sara chooses to stay and help oliver.

Laurel tells Quinton that Sara is with her. The courier calls Felicity with an update, but someone gets to him before she and Arrow can. He and the cure are gone.

The new reports nothing but gloom and doom. The cure is delivered to Slade’s office. STAR labs has no other options for the Mirakuru cure, and worse there is no way to make more. Diggle knows that they will find another way. Oliver apologizes to Felicity. He has failed the city, and all of the people that he loves. Felicity will not let him walk away from this fight. He’s found a way to stop everything that has tried to bring down the city, and he will find a way to stop Slade.

Laurel and Sara hear a woman crying for help. Her daughter is trapped in her apartment. Laurel goes to the mother, as explosions rock the building. Her father arrives, and he tries to call for help, but Canary emerges from the burning building with the little girl in hand. She is a hero whether she believes she is or not. Canary runs off, and Laurel takes pride in her sister.

Thea doesn’t want anything to do with Malcolm. When one of the masked men attacks, he strings into action to protect his daughter. Malcolm kills the man, but falls himself.

Blood reaches out to Oliver. He has decided that maybe he chose the wrong side after all, but Oliver doesn’t trust him. Blood has one heck of an olive branch in the Mirakuru cure, which he’s swiped from Slade. Diggle brings Roy to the Clock tower for safety, and for Felicity to watch over while they meet with Blood. They don’t have much venom left to keep Roy asleep. She points out that it could be a trap, Oliver is well aware of it, but they don’t have a choice.

Oliver and Diggle head off the meet with Blood, he’s back in his office with the dead still around him. He is looking out over his city, watching it be torn apart. He talks about his past, about his own mask that haunted him, until he found a way to use it. All he ever wanted was to help people, he never thought Slade would do any of this, and now Slade won’t stop until everyone is dead. Oliver thought Slade was only going to kill Sara, but she’s not the only thing that he loves. Blood promises to rebuild the city into the image he always thought the city could achieve once this is done, but Oliver doesn’t plan on letting him do anything. When Slade is neutralized, he plans to take down Blood too. But Blood knows that sometimes to do the right thing, bad things have to be done, and if he is exposed, he’ll expose Oliver in return.

 Laurel and Quinton are at the Police Station, and Sara is there too. An officer is talking of the heroism of the Canary.

Isabel catches up with Blood. She knows that he gave the cure to Arrow. She phones Slade, who isn’t happy to hear the news. He tells Blood goodbye, and Isabel stabs him through with her swords, leaving his body as he utters his love for the city. His mask falls to the floor. Surely, that’s not the end of Kevin Alejandro.

Oliver and Diggle return with the cure, and there’s only one way to know whether or not they got it right. They have to test it out on Roy. Felicity worries that they could kill him, that he could wake up worse and kill them all, but it’s a chance they’re going to have to take.

Past. Oliver and Sara look for Slade. Oliver finds his quiver, and Slade and his men find them. Slade asks what they’re looking for, holding the Mirakuru in his hands.

The National Guard has arrived, but it may not be the answer they’re looking for. They’re taking up defense positions, but it may not be the army. The arrival is too close, there’s no way the nearest army base could be mobilized and there already.

As Oliver prepares to inject Roy, Quinton calls. He alerts Felicity to what they’re seeing on the news. Oliver calls Amanda. He knows the men are not army, but hers. Amanda admits that she cannot let Slade and his men out of the city. She plans to level the city, sacrifice the few to save the world. Amanda needs to wipe out the Mirakuru army. Oliver tells her that he has the cure, he can stop them all. He asks for more time, but she’s only giving him until dawn. Oliver injects Roy.

Malcolm awakens with Thea holding a gun over him. He advises her to click off the safety if she plans to use it, she does. He sees the pain in her eyes, the same that is in his. He lost everything in his life, and he knows that she has too, but he reasons with her that she still has him. She shoots him repeatedly.