Wild Dog defies Green Arrow's orders and attacks the drug dealer Derek Sampson, causing spectacular fallout. Also, Thea's decision to offer Quentin the job of deputy mayor falls under public scrutiny.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion:
- Sampson is played by Cody Rhodes, a professional wrestler who took Stephen Amell in the ring. Also, his wrestling alias is Stardust.
- Oliver mentions that he thinks it's cool for a vigilante to wear a hockey mask.
- Aesop Amnesia: As Curtis points out, Felicity herself (from her experience last season) should know best that keeping secrets is not good.
- Arc Number: 52 makes its return.
- Arc Words: "Trust" comes up a lot.
- Asshole Victim: Turns out that the men that failed the Bratva bell test from last episode are scumbags. Anatoly personally showed Oliver that a woman is relieved to see the death of her son's killer.
- Bait-and-Switch: The recap with Barry talking about changing the timeline not only explains the reference to John Jr and not Sarah, but also appears to be the reason why Deadshot is alive, at least until The Reveal that Digg was simply imagining Lawton's presence.
- Be All My Sins Remembered: Diggle doesn't want to be freed from prison, because even though he's innocent he feels he needs to be punished for killing Andy.
- Canon Foreigner: Derek Sampson has no counterpart in the comics; rather, the character mostly exists to give Stephen Amell's WWE rival Stardust a role on the show, after Amell himself participated in the 2015 SummerSlam against him.
- The Chains of Commanding: Oliver suffers from this as both mayor and Green Arrow.Felicity: "Heavy is the head that wears the crown". Shakespeare. Or Tupac.
- Continuity Lock-Out: Averted. The Previously on… segment explains how Barry's time travel has affected Arrow.
- The Previously on… segments are omitted on Netflix, so those who are catching up on Arrow before catching up on The Flash will not understand the switch.
- Continuity Nod: District Attorney Chase commented on the infamous Vertigo drugs.Chase: Remember Vertigo?Oliver: Believe it or not, I tried to buy some once.
- Create Your Own Villain: It's Rene's refusal to follow Oliver's orders that leads to Sampson gaining superpowers.
- Don't Make Me Destroy You: Thea warns the reporter that if she ever tries to screw with her again, Thea will make sure she won't have any sort of career left.
- Feel No Pain: Sampson gets this ability after Wild Dog attacks him.
- Guns Akimbo: Wild Dog uses this in battle.
- Hallucinations: Diggle has one of Deadshot.
- Idiot Ball: Thea grabs and runs with it when initially dealing with the reporter.
- Internal Reveal:
- Felicity tells Ragman that she redirected the nuke to Havenrock.
- Oliver is informed about Prometheus (albeit not his name) gunning for Green Arrow and his confrontation with Church.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Works two ways. While Rene is responsible for Sampson gaining super powers and ruining the authorities' plan to deal with him because he didn't listen to Oliver, Oliver admits that had he listened to Rene's advice beforehand, Sampson would have been tracked down and dealt with prior to the confrontation where he gained the powers in the first place.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Felicity is amazed that Wild Dog is even more stubborn and headstrong than Oliver.
- Mythology Gag:
- Curtis says the inspiration for his costume was a wrestler he idolized called "Mr. Terrific". In the comics, this is of course Curtis' own code name and that of a Golden age superhero for whom Curtis is a Legacy Character. Also, the wrestler's real name is Terry Sloane, the same as the original Mr. Terrific.
- Sampson gets knocked into a vat of chemicals, just like The Joker.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Wild Dog's behavior basically led to Sampson becoming much stronger and impervious to pain.
- Later on, Felicity points out that Oliver's attitude toward Rene is what led to that happening in the first place.
- Thea trying to clean up her mess and fix the news report makes things even worse, as Susan Williams now accuses Oliver of not being able to control his staff.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated:
- Sampson quotes the Trope Namer after his return from apparent death.
- Subverted with Deadshot. It at first appears to be the case, but it turns out Diggle was just hallucinating him.
- Super-Strength: Sampson also gets this.
- The Worf Effect: Oliver gets beaten up by Sampson.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Oliver is not happy that Wild Dog killed a drug dealer, and the rest of the team agrees with him, nor that Thea made Quentin Deputy Mayor even though he told her not to include him in his administration. Subverted when he realizes that he should've been a better leader and apologizes accordingly.
