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!Tropes Applying to This Episode
* AnArmAndALeg: Slade hacks off the hand Ivo used to shoot Shado.
* AnkleDrag: Realising their plan to seize the ship has failed, everyone goes to jump off the side and swim to the island, but Slade grabs Oliver's ankle as he's diving overboard and hauls him back with his SuperStrength.
* TheAnticipator: Diggle is waiting to snipe Slade when he leaves the mansion, but is knocked unconscious by an unseen assailant.
-->'''Slade:''' I have my allies, just as you have yours. John Diggle, for example. I suppose you're wondering why he hasn't taken his [[BoomHeadshot headshot]].
* ArcWords: ''Prochnost' ''/прочность ("strength") is mentioned again by Anatoli on the freighter.
* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Slade takes control of the ''Amazo'' by killing its Captain.
-->'''Slade:''' This is my ship now. Any objections? ''(mooks all drop guns)''
* BatmanGambit: Sara is counting on Ivo to use his truth serum on Oliver, so she creates a picrotoxin to counteract its effects so Oliver can feed him false information.
* CallBack: The fake plan to infiltrate the ship via a raft was one they had rejected in the previous episode because they didn't have time to find the right wood to build one.
* CallForward: Sara asks Oliver to tell her family that she drowned on the ''Queen's Gambit'' if she doesn't make it.
* {{Cliffhanger}}: On the island, Oliver is a prisoner of the now-insane Slade, while in the present, we don't know who knocked out Diggle or where he is.
* CruelMercy: Slade doesn't kill Ivo; just cutting off his hand which makes him useless as a doctor. He also doesn't kill Oliver because he wants him to know 'true despair' before he dies.
* CrushingHandshake: When Slade and Roy meet, they attempt this on each other. From the looks of it, Slade was winning before he got distracted by Sara.
* DontAsk: Sara's answer when asked if she's ready to parachute onto the freighter.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Hendrik is introduced accusing Anatoli of cheating and [[KickTheDog spitting on Reverend Flynn]] when he points out that Hendrik was doing the same, just to establish him as an asshole.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Turns out Ivo wants the Mirakuru to cure his wife of Alzheimer's disease. He tries to place a last phone call to her when the attack happens, but she doesn't recognise him.
* EvilCounterpart: Just as Oliver now has Team Arrow, Slade notes that he too has allies.
* EyeScream:
** Anatoli almost gets his eye taken out for Ivo's "research".
** The last shot of the episode is a lingering shot of Present!Slade's face... sans eyepatch, meaning we get a [[FacialHorror shot of his empty eye socket]].
* FaceHeelTurn: At the end, Slade takes over the ship and becomes the Island's new BigBad.
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: Oliver misses his first attempt at lighting the bonfire with ArrowsOnFire. Then he trips when trying to lure the man sent after him into the jungle--however the latter turns out to be ContrivedClumsiness for a PlayAlongPrisoner gambit.
* GodzillaThreshold: The threat from Slade towards his family is serious enough to make Oliver immediately throw his No Killing rule out the window. He tries to stab Slade right in the middle of the Queen mansion while Diggle sets up a sniping position outside.
* GoodShepherd: Reverend Thomas Flynn was lured onto the ''Amazo'' under the pretext of giving last rites to a dying man, and is now imprisoned as one of Ivo's experimental subjects. He notes with irony this is one place where his qualifications are in constant demand.
* IfIDoNotReturn: Slade rejects this trope as defeatist, but Oliver asks Sara to tell his family he was no longer the JerkAss they knew, while Sara asks him to say she died on the ''Queen's Gambit'' as the person they knew, not the person she is now. They also burn the box of Mirakuru in case they all get killed, so Ivo can never claim it (or so Oliver and Sara think).
* ImmediateSequel: This episode picks up where the previous one left off.
* InternalReveal:
** Island!Slade finds out what really happened to Shado. And it is [[GoneHorriblyWrong not pretty]].
** Present!Slade learns that Sara is alive (though his comment on "The girl who came back from the dead" implies he's been following the media on the subject). It's been hinted that Sara vanishes/"dies" on the island before Ollie thinks he's killed Slade.
** Oliver realises that Slade is behind Cyrus Gold and the Man in the Skull Mask.
* IShallReturn: Oliver is dumped in his old cell next to Anatoli.
-->'''Oliver:''' [[Recap/ArrowS2E6KeepYourEnemiesCloser I told you I'd come back.]]
-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Anatoli]]:''' Fantastic. We're saved.
* ISurrenderSuckers: Island Ollie allows himself to get captured by Ivo's men to provide a distraction for Slade and Sara.
* ItsRainingMen: Sara and Slade do a tandem jump off a cliff using a steerable parachute taken from the crashed plane.
-->'''Sara:''' You've done this before, right?
-->'''Slade:''' ''NO-ONE'S'' done this before!
* JerkassHasAPoint: When Oliver says that Sara was a prisoner like the others, Hendrik points out that [[TheQuisling he never heard her screaming from Ivo's experiments]].
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: What happens to Slade when he finds out about what really happened to Shado.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: In contrast to the rough and tough ASIS soldier that Oliver knew on the island, Slade Wilson is a BadassInANiceSuit who is entirely at ease discussing politics and fine art with Moira.
* MatchCut: As Oliver leaves his mother, it cuts to a shot of him doing the same on a video screen, [[OminousMultipleScreens one of many]] from the cameras that Slade planted around the Queen mansion.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: When Slade and Sara are talking, you can see Roy visibly restraining himself.
* MookHorrorShow: Those poor bastards on the ''Amazo'' get to experience first hand what the Mirakuru has done for Slade. The last two of a group who witness him plowing through them with his machete even try to flee. Key word "try".
* MoneyIsNotPower: As a Bratva boss, Anatoli tries to bribe Ivo for his release, but he's more interested in carving out his eye for his experiments.
* MoreDakka
** Sara asks for the biggest gun Team Arrow has to take down Slade, and Diggle unpacks a Barrett .50 anti-material rifle.
** The ''Amazo'' guards have Kalashnikovs with GP-25 under-barrel {{grenade launcher}}s.
* MultitaskedConversation: Slade and Oliver snipe at each other and make veiled threats in front of Ollie's oblivious family.
* TheMutiny: Oliver and Sara release the ''Amazo's'' prisoners in order to start a riot on the ship. It fails with the prisoners either gunned down, recaptured or jumping over the side and swimming to Lian-Yu. Then when the captain tries to throw Slade in a cell as well, Slade kills him and takes command of the ''Amazo'' himself.
* MythologyGag: Curtis Swan and Joseph Cooper are mentioned as being 19th century artists. In real life, Curt Swan and Joe Cooper worked on comics for DC.
* NeverMyFault: Ivo tries to put all the blame of Shado's death on Oliver for 'choosing' her. Never mind that Ivo forced the SadisticChoice on him in the first place.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The fight between Slade and Oliver on the bridge of the ''Amazo'' causes the freighter to run aground.
* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The prisoners on the ''Amazo'' are represented by three characters--Reverend Flynn who cares for his pet rat and tries to minister to the (unresponsive) prisoners, Hendrik who acts like a jerk towards everyone, and Anatoli who is a Bratva boss but always pleasant.
* NightmareSequence: Island!Ollie dreams of Shado blaming him for her death and madly stabbing him in revenge. Cue CatapultNightmare wakeup.
* OhCrap:
** Oliver when an oblivious Thea walks in on his meeting with Slade, moments after a failed attempt by Oliver to kill him.
** The expression of horror on Sara's face when she hears Slade's voice in the present.
** The look on two ''Amazo'' mooks' faces when they see a mask-wearing Slade cut through the others like a lawnmower and then set his eyes on them, before turning tail in a vain effort to flee.
** Oliver realises Slade is right behind him and heard Ivo talking of the SadisticChoice.
* OnlyICanKillHim: Island!Slade reserves the right of killing Ivo himself, with obvious problems if Oliver is going to kill him first.
* PlayingDrunk: When Sara explains that in order to sell Ivo on the effect of the truth serum working, Ollie's going to need to act like he's stoned, Ollie simply smirks and says he has a lot of practice at doing that.
* ThePromise: When Oliver demands to know what Slade's agenda is, Slade replies that he's here to fulfil his promise from five years ago, referring to his promise to let Oliver know despair before he dies.
* PullTheThread: Slade's appearance makes a lot of things clear, with Oliver realising [[TheManBehindTheMan he must be connected to The Man in the Skull Mask]] and his experiments with Mirakuru.
* RevengeBeforeReason:
** Hendrik would rather kill Sara than take advantage of the fact that she just freed him.
** Slade prefers to take revenge on Ivo despite his years of expertise on the Mirakuru that's affecting Slade.
** Five years later, Slade is still bent on fulfilling his promise of vengeance rather than put Shado's death behind him.
* RightBehindMe:
** Ivo accuses Oliver of letting Shado die just as Slade shows up.
** Earlier Sara and Oliver discuss destroying the Mirakuru but worry that Slade might object. Slade then appears and agrees they should burn it. Turns out he'd already removed the serum.
* ShellGame: The Mirakuru was never destroyed; Slade kept the serum and burnt the box.
* SinisterSurveillance: It turns out Slade only wanted a tour of the Queen Mansion so that he could plant spy cameras throughout the whole building.
* SoHappyTogether: Before the attack, Slade acknowledges that [[FireForgedFriends Oliver has become his brother]]. By the end of the episode, he's decided to break Oliver in body and spirit.
* TakeUpMySword: Island!Oliver finally dons the [[IconicItem green hood]] that belonged to Yao Fei and Shado for the assault on the ''Amazo''.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Although Island!Oliver has killed, he's never done so in cold blood and rejects the idea that he should kill Ivo before he can tell Slade what happened with Shado. However in the present day Oliver is fully prepared to kill Slade right inside his family home.
* TitleDrop: During his tour of the Queen's art collection, Slade says he found a painting titled "The Promise" to be particularly compelling.
* TrainingMontage: The opening has one of Island!Oliver preparing for the freighter takeover.
* TruthSerums: Ivo uses sodium pentothal on Oliver. However Sara has worked up a picrotoxin to counteract the effects of the barbiturates in the sodium pentothal and given it to him beforehand. He intentionally gets captured and proceeds to feed Ivo false information.
* WeNeedADistraction: Under truth serum, Oliver reveals that the bonfire was a distraction so the others could slip on board from a raft and sabotage the engine room. Turns out ''that'' is the distraction; Sara and Slade parachute on board when the guards on deck rush below to find them.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: This is for Season Two what "The Odyssey" was for Season One.
* VillainOverForDinner: Continued from last episode. Made worse when Thea comes over.
* YouKnowTooMuch: The night before their attack on the ''Amazo'', Sara urges Oliver to kill Ivo before he can tell Slade about Shado's death. He doesn't and faces the consequences.