most of the important stuff, definitely left us hanging on a few big things and we got

a pretty good idea for what’s going on in Season 3. So here’s what I’m going to

do. I’ll start with Top 5 moments, then do my review and then talk about Season 3

theories.

If you’re finding me for the first time I do Arrow videos every week. Now that The

Flash is coming I’ll be doing bonus videos for that too. Probably still on Wednesdays.

Be sure to subscribe to get everything and leave me suggestions for bonus vids.

So careful for spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode yet, but here are my top 5 moments.

Number 5 - Roy Gets His Suit

That speech Oliver gave him was the same speech Barry Gave to Oliver back in episode 9 during

the Flash crossover. That’s when Barry gave Oliver his Green mask. So Roy’s mirakuru

crash and burn is going to inform his character in season 3. And since Thea is gone he’s

sticking around. You don’t get a hero shot like he did in the tunnel and then just dump

the character. Although there have been some live action Young Justice rumors.

I think the costume is great. It’s basically a version of Stephen Amell’s costume. He’ll

probably be hoodie bound for most of season 3. But it’s really the mask that makes it

a costume. I think his bow and arrows are the same type Oliver uses. They’re just

going to have to order double the supply from now on.

Number 4 - Thea goes with Merlyn

I think we expected this a little. But I had no idea what was going to push her over that

ledge. And it turned out to be the revelation that Roy was also lying about his relationship

with the Arrow. There’s a whole lot we can unpack in the comments, but the big takeaways

are that she’s toughening up. Like she’s on the same character arc Sara was on when

she joined the League of Assassins. She’s the daughter Merlyn always wanted.

He’ll probably help her become the Artemis persona. From a comics standpoint it makes

the most sense.

I’ll talk about this more in my Season 3 theories, but she still doesn’t know who

the Arrow is and now that she’s going to turn into a stone cold killer. She and Merlyn

could become the Season 3 antagonists.

Is Merlyn going to tell her that Oliver is the Arrow though? I think they’ll leave

that moment for Season 3. So they’ll both be back.

Number 3 - Amanda Waller Versus The Suicide Squad

Because we got so much Amanda Waller this season and given Lyla’s new baby and that

post-credits flashback scene. I think it’s safe to say we’re going to see a lot of

them next season. The squad is probably going to evolve with a new member or two and we’ll

learn more about Oliver’s history with them.

Diggle and Oliver are both Fathers now and that’s weird. I thought season 3 would play

into the sins of the father theme even more just based on Merlyn and Thea and Oliver and

his son. But adding Diggle to the baby list makes it almost certain.

Which also pretty much guarantees we’ll see Felicity’s father. Waller and Oliver’s

history is going to be a lot of fun to dissect. It sounds like she either contracted him for

special missions or something to do with the list. So Waller is going to be the island

of season 3. Even though we still have a link to the island.

Number 2 - Slade To The Wrong Woman

This was a total fake out but I loved the way they played it, start to finish. I think

twitter exploded when they had the “I Love You Moment”. It was all just clever editing

and Felicity was in on the fake out the whole time. But boy did they take a long time to

pay off that secret camera plot from the promise episode.

And when they were on the beach Stephen Amell reacted to Felicity in just the right way

as to let you think that he might not have been acting when he said I love you.

In my opinion he does love her, but not totally in a romantic way.

and my Number 1 moment - Slade Helps Oliver Become A Hero

This all goes back to the heroes don’t kill people thing. It’s just Oliver getting close

to that Justice League level of hero. Slade taught him that he can defeat evil without

killing. That there’s a better way. That’s why when they were jumping back and forth

between the flashbacks and their fight at the end. Oliver ended the flashback by throwing

the serum away and trying to kill him. Consider that the low point.

They never really addressed the Shado hallucinations other than Slade said he hated Oliver before

those started. The big teaser now is that he’s tucked away in Argus’ new supermax

prison on the Island. In case you didn’t catch the reference, when Oliver said, there

will be more. He meant they would fight more Deathstroke level villains and stick them

in the underground prison too.

People way worse than the Suicide Squad members.

I think that eventually each future season will escalate the number of supervillains

until the series finale in season 7 or 8 or whenever they end the show. Will be like Arkham

Prison when all the supervillains were let out at the same time.

Like Oliver’s going to slowly fill that Argus prison till it’s full. Then some supervillain

will come along and free everyone and it will be Hell on Earth.

Prison Break Injustice Society Edition.

But now it’s your turn, let me know what your favorite moments were and whether or

not you think Thea is going to be a villain next season?

I’ll say the funniest moment was probably Felicity Versus Nyssa in the battle of introductions.

Felicity Smoak. MIT, Class of ‘09.

Overall the episode was a solid A. It did a great job of capping off a season that kept

escalating the stakes to infinity each week and at the same time setting up Season 3 in

a really exciting way.

Don’t you feel like if you combined a few scenes from the last 15 minutes or so it would

be a perfect Season 3 trailer. You have Thea and Merlyn’s new arc, Roy as a fully realized

Arsenal and Team Arrow moving to a new location with babies. And Amanda Waller off to the

side just staring daggers at everyone.

The only things I wish they had spent more time on were Slade and Oliver’s final moments,

not the prison scene, but Slade’s breakdown and their dramatic moments. The fight was

great. Both the flashback fight and the current day one. We got a peek into Slade’s mind

during episode 18 when we learned about evil tinkerbell Shado. But they might be saving

a lot of the cerebral Slade moments for Season 3 and beyond.

I think it would be fun if it turned into like a Blacklist thing, where Slade becomes

like James Spader and his daughter is an Argus person.

On to Laurel and Thea, those two characters went through the biggest transformations this

season. Thea’s really just happened in the last couple of episodes. As for that jacket,

it was definitely the most on-the-nose reference to the comics. Especially Quentin’s response.

I think it means that Laurel isn’t going to be Black Canary for at least one more year.

Think about how long it took Roy to become Red Arrow. All Season. But Thea and Merlyn

are really the thing I’m most excited about. I’m more excited about them than Oliver’s

baby.

So let’s talk Season 3. I’m just going to blast through these really quick and we

can follow up in the comments.

Starting with New Arrowcave, the foundry was trashed, Thea doesn’t own it anymore and

she’s left town. So they’re not going back there. Cut to that other site Oliver

went to during Moira’s funeral.

Getting the company back. I'm not expecting Oliver to be Mayor, but I think there will

be a new cast member that will help them get the company back. Or they'll do like in the

comics where Oliver creates a new company and then just buys back Queen Industries.

New arrow cave new company. Seems like it fits.

Thea as Artemis. She’ll probably have a season long arc where she becomes a version

of the Dark Archer. Like Father like Daughter. It’s possible that they could become the

season 3 villains, or at least antagonists for Team Arrow.

Flash Crossover. We saw the trailer during the episode. Stephen Amell was helping Barry

train. Plan on him and Felicity being in Flash episode 1 and there to be at least one or

two direct crossovers. They will have a shared universe.

Argus, The Suicide Squad and Amanda Waller will all continue to interact with Team Arrow

a couple times a season. Also, now that we have Lyla and Diggle’s baby, it’s one

more reason to throw to them in a story. She’s Argus, so any episode Lyla’s in, automatically

becomes a back door suicide squad Amanda Waller episode.

Which leads me to Flashbacks. Now that we know Oliver spent time with Amanda Waller

after he left the island, but before he returned to Starling. All the flashback moments will

pull from that time period. I’m thinking Oliver Argus Agent in China type stuff. More

opportunities for him to bump into new villains in the past.

Baby Time. The mother of Oliver’s child moved to Central City. We’ll probably learn

more about them and it will probably be part of a Flash Crossover. Also Diggle’s baby

will probably get tied up in some new plot too. He’s not leaving the team. And Lyla

isn’t quitting ARGUS.

The League of Assassin’s and the Canary. Will cameo at least once. I’m hoping Team

Arrow goes on a road trip to Nanda Parbat. That would be sweet.

That’s pretty much it, but if you think I forgot anything, just write it in the comments

below.

In case you didn’t see it, I posted a breakdown of the Flash trailer. and I’m posting my

Q&A video tomorrow. So ask me all your questions for either Arrow or the Flash.

Right now click here for that Flash Trailer and Click here for the Q&A. I’ll add the

annotation as soon as I post it.

Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow. High Fives!