"Life was...a series of cycles. A time to be born, a time to die...a time to kill."
— Damien Darhk
Oliver and Diggle learn that Merlyn is going to try to break Darhk out of prison. Meanwhile, Laurel gets a surprising offer.
Tropes
- Arc Welding: The idol Darhk uses for his powers is confirmed to be the same one Reiter searched for on Lian Yu.
- Archnemesis Dad: Thea says she considers Malcolm this. He doesn't return the sentiment.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Malcolm and his minions break into the bunker in order to steal Darhk's idol back.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Darhk gets his powers back after the idol is rebuilt, injures Laurel enough to kill her, and escapes from prison.
- Bad Boss: Reiter in the flashback and Darhk in the present day kill a couple of their men to use their life essence to power the idol.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first it seems like Laurel is going to recover, but then you remember there's ten minutes in the episode left...
- Big Brother Instinct: Seeing Oliver torturing his brother, John Diggle draws his gun and says he knows which part of the Green Arrow's outfit is not covered by Kevlar.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Darhk simply leaves (with Merlyn, Andy, and other lackeys in tow) after stabbing Laurel, despite the fact that he easily could kill all of Team Arrow right then and there.
- Book Safe: Team Arrow is monitoring the CCTV cameras inside the prison, so Murmur goes around with a prison library cart and distributes books to the inmates with Sinister Shiv inside them.
- Bring ItMalcolm: You know why I'm here. Hand over the idol and there won't be any trouble.Thea: Well there's going to be trouble then.
- Broken Tears: Diggle sheds the most Manly Tears after Laurel dies. Word of God says it's Guilt Complex due to not seeing the fact that his brother is Evil All Along directly led to her death.
- Buried Alive: Oliver and Taiana try to seal the tunnels in order to trap Reiter. Unfortunately, Reiter already found the idol by then.
- Call-Back: Like Yao Fei did with him in Season One, Oliver sees Taiana looking at a photo of her loved one (her dead brother) and tells her that she has to stop doing that and toughen up if she wants to get off the island alive.
- Character Death: We now say goodbye to Dinah Laurel Lance note .
- Darkest Hour: Laurel is dead, Ruve Adams is now mayor of Star City, and Darhk has escaped from Iron Heights with his magic regained and full knowledge of Team Arrow's identities, and about 60 inmates have now escaped.
- Death by Adaptation: Black Canary.
- A Death in the Limelight: Laurel gets a lot of focus in this episode between her relationship with Oliver and the rest of Team Arrow as well as her double life and the possibility of her possibly leaving the Black Canary behind and focusing entirely on being a DA. Sure enough she dies at the end of the episode.
- Disappointed in You: In a very twisted example, Malcolm is actually disappointed that Thea doesn't kill him, even when she has the chance.
- Downer Ending: Laurel is dead thanks to Darhk, who is now free thanks to two of Team Arrow's family members (Malcolm and Andy Diggle). Oh, and Quentin suffers a heart attack after losing another daughter again.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Initially, it seems like Andy is still on Team Arrow's side, as he tells them of his meeting with Merlyn and even takes an arrow for Oliver. The latter however still has his suspicions, but John blows him off. Sadly, Oliver is proven right, as he sides with Darhk and gives him back the missing piece of the idol.
- Dying Declaration of Love: Laurel confesses to having always been in love with Oliver just minutes before flatlining.Laurel: I know that I'm not the love of your life, but you will always be the love of mine.
- End of an Age: The Tagline for this episode was "Witness an end of an era".
- Even Evil Has Standards: Malcolm looks uncharacteristically troubled during Darhk's gloating towards Team Arrow at Iron Heights. Possibly out of concern for Thea, since Darhk has finally worked out who the Green Arrow is; Darhk even mentions that Merlyn kept Team Arrow's identities a secret.
- A Death in the Limelight: Laurel gets a lot of focus in this episode between her relationship with Oliver and the rest of Team Arrow as well as her double life and the possibility of her possibly leaving the Black Canary behind and focusing entirely on being a DA. Sure enough she dies at the end of the episode.
- Event Title: The title refers to Laurel's time of death.
- Evil All Along: Andy never changed, he was still loyal to Darhk through and through.
- Evil Is Petty: Darhk kills Laurel to get back at Captain Lance.
- Foreshadowing: The former members of the League of Assassins who are still loyal to Malcolm Merlyn become relevant in the Season 6 episode "The Thanatos Guild".
- Handicapped Badass: Malcolm is still able to fight with only one hand.
- He's Back!: Darhk, once he's reunited with his idol, he becomes the killing machine he was back in the beginning of the season.
- Hope Spot: The case with Laurel, as the doctor initially states she will get better, only for her to die anyway.
- Idiot Ball:
- For some reason, Team Arrow thought it was good to rebuild Darhk's idol.
- Later on, it's revealed that Andy does indeed have the missing piece, which Team Arrow should have at least accounted for before entering Iron Heights.
- You would think the military would stop routing convoys through Star City the way they keep getting hijacked.
- If I Do Not Return: Flashback-Oliver and Taiana agree to let each others families know what happened to them if the other does not make it.
- I Gave My Word: Darhk tells Laurel that he promised he would kill her if Quentin betrayed him.
- Internal Reveal: Darhk reveals that he's worked out the identities of Team Arrow, since Andy mentioned that John worked for Team Arrow and then he began to Pull the Thread from Oliver's personal bodyguard to Oliver, his sister, and his ex-fiancé.
- It's All My Fault: Diggle blames himself for Laurel's death, since he ignored Oliver's warning about Andy being a traitor.
- Irony:
- Laurel's death, since she resurrected her sister earlier in the season.
- Darhk uses one of Oliver's arrows to stab Laurel.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Laurel tells Oliver that she has always loved him even though he has already moved on from her, and she hopes he will find his way back to Felicity.
- Manipulative Bastard: Andy does a very convincing job of pretending that he's on Team Arrow's side, and has been like this the whole season.
- Manly Tears: Oliver, Diggle and of course Quentin shed them after Laurel dies.
- Mayor Pain: Ruvé is officially sworn in as mayor.
- Mythology Gag:
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: While Laurel's friends were with her in her last minutes, none of her family are.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Thanks to Diggle not believing in Oliver's warning about Andy possibly being a traitor, Darhk was able to regain his magic and escape Iron Heights, but not before fatally wounding Laurel.
- Oliver rejects the idea of running against Ruvé now that William is safe because the voters won't like such apparent indecisiveness. Turns out 48% of the voters put Oliver's name down even though he wasn't running, implying that he would have won if he'd actually run for office.
- Offing the Offspring: Averted, Malcolm won't kill Thea in any fight.
- One True Love: Laurel admits to Oliver that despite all of the rough patches their relationship has gone through, and the fact that she knows he doesn't feel the same way anymore, he's still the one she loves.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Thea insists that Laurel leave her so she can take on her Archnemesis Dad alone.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Quentin (and Dinah) loses another daughter again.
- Papa Wolf: The reason why Malcolm stole the Idol for Darhk - he wants to make sure Thea is spared from Genesis. Of course, given what happened as a consequence of that, Thea isn't going to appreciate the favor.
- Percussive Therapy: Thea is furious because she let her evil father get away.Thea: I'm gonna go hit the streets.Oliver: Thea, no one is gonna give up Merlyn.Thea: Well, then I'm gonna hit people on the streets.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Everyone in Team Arrow (with the notable exception of Oliver) expresses this to Laurel in response to her own. Then they leave Oliver alone with her so she can express a Dying Declaration of Love.
- Playing the Victim Card: Andy pulled this off when Diggle walked into his apartment and finds Oliver torturing Andy for information about Darhk. It doesn't help Oliver when there's no solid proof that Andy's still a traitor until it was too late.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Turns out everything Andy did for Team Arrow so far (including taking an arrow for Oliver during this very episode) was only to get their trust so he can lead them right into Darhk's hands.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Darhk, to Laurel:Darhk: Lance, 9 months ago, I made your daddy a promise. I told him what I would do if he betrayed me. I want you to give your father a message from me. I want you to tell him—[he stabs Laurel with an arrow]Darhk: I'm a man of my word.
- Properly Paranoid: Oliver is very suspicious of Andy. It turns out, Andy is a mole still loyal to Darhk.
- Railing Kill: Taiana kills a goon who is shooting escaping prisoners; he falls over the rail onto a locker and then hits the ground hard.
- The Remnant: A number of former League of Assassin members are revealed to still be loyal to Malcolm; he uses them as goons given that he can't rely on HIVE to help Darhk escape.
- Retirony: Laurel decides to quit being the Black Canary to work full time as the DA to keep tabs on Ruvé, with the mission at Iron Heights being her final mission as Black Canary. Of course, it ends up being her final mission period.
- Revenge Via Proxy: Damien killing Laurel was because her father betrayed Damien, so Damien wanted payback for that.
- Ship Tease: The episode has a quite a few moments between Oliver and Laurel with the two of them offering each other heartfelt advice and Flashback!Oliver even shows the photo he has of her for the first time in forever. Unfortunately any hope that these two would get back together is sunk by the episodes end.
- Shout-Out:
- Like all good supervillains, Damien knows his Shakespeare and gives the "Cry Havoc" quote from Julius Caesar before ordering the prison breakout (given the later Et Tu, Brute? scene with Andy, this may be a deliberate choice by the writers).
- Damien isn't the first DC villain to claim he's a man of his word before killing someone although this is in a different context.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: OK, not that shocking but Laurel does randomly flatline after the doctors declared she would be okay.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: The bunker's security is upgraded to try and avert this, but Malcolm and some assassin goons still get in.
- Taking the Bullet: Andy takes an arrow for Oliver, as part of his cover.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Damien and Malcolm's partnership is this, consisting of thinly-veiled threats and insults.
- Tempting Fate: Laurel decides to accept the position of District Attorney, but decides to go out "one last time" as the Black Canary. It really is her last time.
- Terminology Title: "11:59" means "Intensive attention: high hazard, business areas" in police codes.
- There Are No Coincidences: Why Ollie is so suspicious of Andy; he tells him that Merlyn wants to hi-jack a missile, Merlyn breaks into the Bunker instead.
- Title Drop: Courtesy of Dr. Schwartz who announces the time of death for Laurel.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: We finally see who fills the grave teased all season. And the main advertisement for the episode featured Dr. Schwartz announcing the time of death.
- Trailers Always Lie: The official synopsis mentioned that Felicity would have a heart-to-heart conversation with Curtis. In fact, Curtis does not appear in this episode nor is even mentioned, and Felicity herself only appears at the very end after Laurel is hospitalized.
- Sword over Head: Thea has her father at her mercy, but is unable to kill him. Later Malcolm has his sword at Thea's throat and suggests that curing herself of her bloodlust means she will never be able to beat him. He in turn however refuses to kill Thea.
- The Unfettered: Malcolm in a very twisted way. He's well aware that breaking into the Bunker to steal the idol (and Laurel's death) permanently burned any chance of reconciliation between him and Thea, but in his mind it's necessary to keep her safe from HIVE's evil plan.Malcolm: [talking to Darhk] I don't think you appreciate what this cost me!
- The Unreveal:
- Whatever request it is Laurel asks of Oliver right before her death, which is only revealed in the Season 5 episode "Legacy".
- Whoever Oliver vowed to kill in the flash-forward (a vow that Felicity agreed with) has not been revealed; while Darhk was directly the one who killed Laurel, Malcolm and Andy Diggle both played major parts in it as well.
- Villain Team-Up: Last episode, HIVE was content to let Darhk rot in prison. Malcolm helps him out because he wants to keep his daughter safe from Genesis, and if Darhk is restored to HIVE he can personally oversee Thea's safety. We also have Murmur and the other cons helping Darhk because he can help them bust out of Iron Heights.
- We Need a Distraction
- The attack on the truck carrying Paveway missiles is just a diversion so Malcolm Merlyn can steal the idol from the Bunker.
- Quentin Lance starts arguing loudly with the police surrounding Iron Heights (and even punched Lt. Pike offscreen) so Team Arrow can slip past the cordon.
- We Can Rule Together: Laurel is surprised to find herself offered the position of District Attorney by Mayor Adams. She considers taking it as a means of gathering information, but as the DA is guarded 24 hours a day after HIVE assassinated the last DA, it means she would have to give up her nightly vigilante activities.
- Wham Episode: Laurel Lance dies. Her death was foreshadowed since the season premiere.
- Wham Line: Darhk, to Andy:Darhk: I believe you have something for me.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
- Taiana acts as a Hysterical Woman to get the drop on Reiter's men.
- Andy takes an arrow for Oliver to prove his loyalty.
- One of Darhk's goons holds Andy hostage, and Darhk threatens to shoot him in cold blood unless Team Arrow lowers their weapons. Of course, this is all a ploy, as Andy is firmly on Darhk's side.
