Recap / Arrow S 3 E 17 Suicidal Tendencies

Diggle and Lyla's honeymoon is interrupted by another Suicide Squad mission. Meanwhile, Team Arrow has to deal with the League's attempt to frame them, and Ray decides to use the A.T.O.M. suit to take the Arrow down.

Tropes in this episode:

• Antagonist in Mourning: Inverted at the end of the episode, where Oliver and Diggle drink a toast to the late Floyd Lawton.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Oliver notices that a part of Ray's exosuit is beeping and immediately throws a flechette into it, disabling Ray's suit and winning the fight.
• Back for the Dead: Deadshot returns only to have an A Death in the Limelight episode.
• Badass Bandolier: Worn by Deadshot.
• Badass Preacher: Turns out Ray is a minister and can officiate weddings. He also happens to be a crime fighter.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Oliver bests Evil Arrow and does a Dramatic Unmask...only to reveal an ordinary Assassin, whereupon two more Costume Copycats come out of the shadows and join the fight.
  • After ending up in prison, it looks like Waller is coming to recruit Floyd for Task Force X with her usual Feet-First Introduction, but it turns out to be a 'drone' for H.I.V.E., paying a Briefcase Full of Money if he kills Andy Diggle.
• Big "NO!": Cupid after Deadshot's death.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Floyd shoots the radio detonator from Cray's hand.
• Boxed Crook: This time Deadshot and Cupid are used to back up Lyla and Diggle.
• Broken Pedestal: Lyla finally becomes disillusioned with A.R.G.U.S. after they cover up the Senator's crimes.
• The Bus Came Back: Deadshot, Cupid from "Draw Back Your Bow", and present day Waller.
• Call-Back: When Ray accuses Oliver of being the Arrow, Laurel points out that he had already been ruled out as a suspect in "Damaged".
• Cassandra Truth: Granted, Laurel was biased. But even if she wasn't, if you claim that you determined that the Arrow is actually Oliver Queen based off X-ray vision with only a digital image to back up your claim, you'd have a pretty tough time proving that in court.
• Cliffhanger: As Ray, Captain Lance, and the Mayor are arguing over whether or not to continue the Arrow manhunt, the Mayor is killed by an arrow fired by Maseo dressed in the Arrow costume, pretty much cementing the Arrow as a fugitive. The final shot of the episode is Maseo aiming at Felicity, with the sound of the arrow firing over the title card.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Oliver becomes angry with Felicity for not telling him about Ray's secret, thus allowing him to discover Oliver's identity, Roy is just impressed that Ray built a supersuit.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like:
  • The senator isn't happy when Task Force X turns up to rescue him. Turns out the 'terrorists' were mercenaries he hired, and he was supposed to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis, getting himself some good publicity. Of course, now both the hostages and Task Force X know too much for that to happen...
  • Diggle hesitates to treat Deadshot's wound on seeing his brother's name tattooed on his chest, but then does so. But after realising Cupid has chosen him as her latest obsession, Deadshot declares that he wants to die after all.
• Continuity Nod: Laurel refers back to Season 1 where Oliver was accused of being the Arrow, but had Diggle pose as him to erase suspicion. Ray immediately deduces that it was all a hoax.
• Corrupt Politician: Senator Cray, who fakes his kidnapping and hostage situation so that he can "defuse" it, and win enough good publicity to run for President.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Deadshot aka Floyd Lawton, as seen in the flashbacks. Turns out the war took a toll on him to the point that he shouted at his daughter and pulled a gun on his wife. It leads to him being locked up and will never be able to see his family ever again.
• Death Equals Redemption: Deadshot, who stays behind in a building that is about to explode, in order to give the others covering fire. Acknowledged afterwards when Diggle toasts his memory with Oliver.
• A Death in the Limelight: We finally get Deadshot's backstory, and then he dies at the end of the episode.
• Double-Meaning Title: The title refers to the tendency for the Suicide Squad to pop up, along with Deadshot's Death Seeker nature that ultimately does him in.
• Due to the Dead: Diggle and Oliver drink in Deadshot's memory.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: After Senator Cray threatens to blow everyone up, Diggle, Lyla and Cutter have to surrender.
  Cray: The Suicide Squad. Well, you are true to your name if you think that the three of you can just shoot your way in here... Wait, there were four of you... (Deadshot opens fire from sniping position)
• Face Death with Dignity: Deadshot calmly stands atop the building that's about to blow up and takes one last look at a photo of his family.
• Fanservice:
  • Laurel's dress at Diggle and Lyla's wedding is quite revealing on the top, while Thea's highlight her legs. Felicity's combines both but is more subtle in comparison.
  • For the ladies we have Oliver working out with a katana while shirtless.
• Foreshadowing: Deadshot moans jokingly that he wants to die in response to Cupid's advances. But come the end of the episode, he gets his wish.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Suicide Squad; Diggle is Choleric, Lyla is Phlegmatic, Deadshot is Melancholic and Cupid is Sanguine.
• Frame-Up: The League kills criminals with arrows in order to incriminate Oliver, and then at the end of the episode, assassinates the mayor the same way.
• Harmless Electrocution: Roy got hit by a LOT of electricity, but seems to be perfectly fine (aside from being knocked out for a few minutes).
• Hero with Bad Publicity: As well as Oliver there's also Floyd Lawton, who is named after his death as a renegade American mercenary who was the leader of the terrorists. Also serves as a Call-Forward to Suicide Squad (2016) where Waller says that's the point of using Boxed Crooks. "...if anything goes wrong we blame them; we have built-in deniability."
• Hypocrite: Ray gets upset at Felicity for not telling him that the Arrow was Oliver Queen and says he can't trust her anymore. This coming from the guy who entrusted Felicity with his own secrets, believing that she wouldn't tell anyone else about them. Same goes for Oliver.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: If Ray ever hurts Felicity, John will make sure his body is never found.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: Averted; at one point Oliver compares under a magnifying glass one of his green arrows with one the copycats used. They're identical, and seeing as Oliver has been shown to make his own arrows, that means the League forged them in exact detail.
• Infrared Xray Camera: Ray uses his supersuit sensors to see what's under the Arrow's hood, combining that with Facial Recognition Software supplied by Felicity to identify him as Oliver Queen.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
  • Oliver asks Felicity if she's happy with Ray, and when she replies yes pretends to be OK with that. Becomes a Discussed Trope after Oliver finds out Ray wants to be a vigilante hero, making his entire justification for breaking up with Felicity meaningless.
  • When Diggle and Lyla want to know how they can help Oliver deal with the latest crisis, he insists that they go on their honeymoon. Waller of course has no such scruples.
• Karma Houdini: The shitty Senator apparently got away from endangering numerous lives for the sake of his political ambitions, after buying off the witnesses and Waller suppressing Floyd's Heroic Sacrifice.
• Killed Off for Real: Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot, though an Alternate Self will appear in The Flash episode "Welcome to Earth Two".
• Let's You and Him Fight: Ray is as convinced as the police that Arrow has gone rogue again, and after finding out that he's really Oliver Queen, goes after him with the A.T.O.M. suit. After a brief fight, Oliver wins, but refuses to kill Ray, which gets it through his head that Oliver isn't a coldblooded killer.
• Meaningful Echo: Floyd's cynical comments about how "Love is a bullet in the brain" and how love and family are just distractions, turn out to be the words of his H.I.V.E. recruiter.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Teased, but ultimately averted by both Oliver and Ray.
• Nebulous Evil Organisation: We hear once again of the organization H.I.V.E., the ones that hired Deadshot to murder Diggle's brother, Andy.
• The Nicknamer: Felicity dubs the copycat "Evil Arrow", then realises she's got to come up with a better name. Oliver dubs Ray "Supersuit" whereupon Ray says he prefers The Atom. We also have Ray being the first to use Black Canary other than Laurel's father.
• Noodle Incident: Ray is a minister... somehow. And it's implied he's a traditional minister, not just an online one.
  Ray: It's a long story.
• Not Helping Your Case
  Ray: This isn't the first time he's been judge, jury and executioner.
  Felicity: He hasn't killed anyone in nearly two years.
  Ray: That really is not your best argument.
  • When Laurel tries to head off Ray exposing Oliver, he points out the fact that she was once engaged to him, and is an associate of former vigilante Ted Grant, brings her own objectivity into question.
• Not What It Looks Like: Maeso and the fake Arrows do a Smoke Out, leaving Oliver standing there with a pile of dead bodies just when Ray turns up in his ATOM suit.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Floyd reacts this way when he learns that Cupid developed a crush on him.
  • And Oliver when his arrow glances harmlessly off Ray's ATOM suit.
  • The Senator gets one when he realizes only three of the Squad have come charging into the room. Meaning Lawton, the sniper, is somewhere else...
• Out of Focus: Thea only appeared at the wedding.
• Powered Armor: Ray's A.T.O.M. suit can fly, protect him against arrows and explosions, see through walls, and shoot electrical blasts from his gauntlets.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Deadshot's death is obviously caused by the upcoming Suicide Squad (2016) movie. Especially odd, since DC has stated in the past they were splitting their TV and film universes apart specifically so they wouldn't step on each other's toes.
• Rescue Romance: Played for Laughs as Cupid instantly falls for a man who saved her... again.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Lyla had enough of A.R.G.U.S.' methods and quits her job.
• Sheathe Your Sword: Oliver shows he's not a killer by not finishing Ray when he's at his mercy.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Again, Floyd Lawton. PTSD damaged him so much that he had a hard time adjusting when he got back home and that had heavy consequences.
• Shout-Out: While Oliver is fighting assassins disguised as him, Maseo taunts him with "Where one falls, two more shall rise" which sounds a lot like the slogan of HYDRA.
• Smuggling with Dolls: The gang wiped out by the Evil Arrows are smuggling drugs in stuffed pandas.
• Start of Darkness: This episode reveals Deadshot's. He was a Shell-Shocked Veteran whose PTSD resulted in driving away his family and landing him in jail, where the H.I.V.E. recruited him as an assassin.
• Team Title: The title obviously refers to the Suicide Squad.
• Trespassing to Talk: A variation when Lyla and Diggle enter a stretch limo to find Deadshot waiting to take them to Waller.
• Very Special Episode: The episode ends by informing viewers about the Wounded Warrior Project. It's not clear whether it's sponsored, or if the CW decided to just throw it in as long as they were tackling the subject with Deadshot's backstory.
• Villainous Face Hold: Floyd does this to his wife while brandishing a pistol at her. This gets him a restraining order and prison sentence, and convinces him they're both better off without him.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Roy was KOd by Ray during his and Oliver's battle with the latter, but after Oliver emerged victorious, he seems to have forgotten about Roy. Word of God freely admits that this was a scripting/editing cock-up, and he's shown to be unharmed in later episodes.