Team Arrow finally realise that Cayden James has seen, and heard, everything they‘ve done for months. They also discover the true scale of James’ plan and army, as a relative of an old ‘friend’ comes to Olly for help.

Team Arrow are outnumbered, outgunned and in over their heads. They need to stand united. But Team Newbie have other ideas…

Much like The Flash’s mid season premiere this is an episode defined by what it doesn’t do. The reset button is toyed with here, brought out into the open, unlocked and then? Absolutely unpressed. Ben Sokolowski & Emilio Aldrich Ortega’s script instead becomes a story about the problems of the past and what happens when Oliver refuses to let them go.

A lot of this works, and works very well. The return of the Bertinelli crime family (And a welcome cameo from Louis Ferrera) ties the episode to Oliver’s past and gives some extra resonance to his inability to move on from it as well as continuing the show’s multiple year plan to redeem just how badly they treated Huntress back in the first season. It also leads to a great, John Wick-esque pair of fight scenes which see all out war break out between Bertinelli and James while Oliver and Vigilante try very hard to beat each other to death.

What works even better is the rise of Team Newbie. Curtis, Rene and Dinah have been left out in the cold and they’re done with it. Oliver’s total lack of apology at the end of the episode, as well as his need to remind the others of the bad choices they made, is especially revealing. It could be read as the straw that breaks the camel’s back and a lesser episode would have made it so. Here though, Team Newbie have already decided to go out on their own and Oliver’s bloviated arrogant mansplaining is simply proof they made the right choice.

This is all really smart, involving storytelling and it’s there whatever direction you cut through the episode. Well, all but one but we’ll get to that. The other highlight is the C plot, which sees Quentin and Thea decide to try and reach out to Black Siren. The Arrowverse shows have been playing fast and loose with alternate versions of characters for years now but it’s great to see them finally explore the emotional consequences of it.

What doesn’t work here, oddly, is Felicity. The fact that Team Arrow put the newbies under surveillance is vintage Ollie. It’s a stupid idea born from negative emotion and he clings to it like the wreckage of his dad’s yacht. Him defending that choice makes sense. Felicity? Not even a little. A woman whose entire career and mindset is that of an idealistic technologist and hacker defending wideband surveillance is nonsensical and is the only time the episode feels like it’s pushing the season arc rather than doing it’s own thing. It’s hurting the character, it’s hurting the show and with everything else going so well, it’s becoming harder to overlook.

Verdict: If you can get past that, there’s a lot to enjoy here. The action is great (director James Bamford always does good work) and the episode sprints along giving everyone lots to do. Hopefully the arc will push past the surveillance section soon because when it does? This show will only get better. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart