Recap / Arrow S 7 E 3 Crossing Lines

Oliver navigates the dangerous world of inter-prison politics as he tries to find Diaz's man on the inside - the Demon. Meanwhile Felicity throws herself into finding Diaz with or without anybody's help.

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• Asshole Victim: Oliver attacking a bunch of guards and even stabbing one would be a pretty morally questionable act, if it weren't for the fact that said guards are utterly corrupt.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Diaz gets away again, and takes whatever he wanted to steal with him. The only positive thing for the good side is that they captured Silencer.
• Bait-and-Switch: In Diggle's first scene, the audience is initially given the impression that Diggle is interrogating a hardened criminal about a crime. It turns out he's questioning his son, JJ, about eating an entire sleeve of cookies.
• Bank Toaster: Invoked by Curtis as Lyla and Diggle are headed into the bank.
• Batman Gambit: Upon being informed that the Demon is in the higher security Level 2 so there's no way of getting to him, Oliver attacks the corrupt guards with Brick and immediately surrenders, anticipating he'd be transferred there as "punishment".
• Both Sides Have a Point: Felicity has no interest working in any legal, official position as she thinks that all the regulations and red tape keep her from delivering actual justice. Watson acknowledges that the system isn't perfect, but argues that doesn't mean that it shouldn't exist. She insists that even somebody as heinous and clearly guilty as Diaz has to receive due process to ensure that everyone receives fair and equal treatment under the law to avoid the innocent being railroaded.
• Briefcase Full of Money: Averted. Lyla and Diggle use a forged painting to gain access to the part of the bank they need to access.
• Call-Back: Oliver mentions the last time he fought Sampson it didn't end well, which Sampson dismisses. This time, instead of crippling Sampson's legs by hamstringing him, Oliver breaks both of Derek's arms.
• Cardboard Box of Unemployment: Subverted. Watson doesn't get fired but she does get demoted from field work and transferred out of Star City to a D.C. desk job. She's last seen packing her things.
• Combat Pragmatist: Sampson isn't shy to punch Oliver in his self-inflicted stab wound.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: While Sampson gets some early hits in by jumping Oliver unexpectedly and taking advantage of his stab wound, Oliver quickly turns the tables and wipes the floor with him.
• Dented Iron: Ricardo Diaz has been in chronic pain since his final battle with Green Arrow. The serum he injects himself with fixes that minor inconvenience.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Surprisingly, Red Dart and Kodiak think that using test animals is inhumane.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even by Rene's generally loose standards, holding Silencer prisoner is a bit much.
• Exact Progress Bar: The scenes with Curtis, Lyla, and Diggle bounce back and forth between Lyla and Diggle in the bank and Curtis hacking in the van. At one point, the audience is shown that the information decryption is stalling at 35%. Later, the audience is show the last few seconds of decryption as the bar creeps to 100% downloaded.
• Fight Clubbing: To little surprise, Brick runs a fighting ring within the prison.
• Genre Savvy: When the cell doors are opened, allowing prisoners to roam unsupervised, Stanley refuses to leave Oliver's side. He recognizes that he is the most likely to die in this situation and Oliver is the least likely.
  Stanley: I'm gonna be the first one taken out. It would never be you.
• Handicapped Badass: Despite nursing a stab wound that visibly hurts throughout the episode and reopens during the second fight, Oliver fights off a murder attempt by Turner and two mooks, then curb-stomps Sampson and takes down several crooked guards and prisoners to get at Brick.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Referenced by Stanley after Oliver is headed for Level 2.
  Stanley: You were never gonna be able to stay a hero. Not in this place.
• Horrifying the Horror: Before being amused by it, Brick looks genuinely shocked at Oliver being willing to assault a bunch of guards to get to Level 2.
• How We Got Here: The episode starts with Oliver stabbing a guard and then goes a few hours back to show the context.
• Hypocrite: Lyla acccuses John of this when he chastises her for going beyond regulations, as John had been a vigilante for years.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Both Lyla and Felicity make no apologies for their actions.
• I Lied: Brick reveals that he never intended to introduce Oliver to The Demon.
• In Medias Res: The episode starts with what turns out to be the climactic scene then flashes back 12 hours to show the audience what happened to cause this scene.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Agent Watson is right in pointing out that nobody forced Oliver to become a vigilante or to make a deal with her.
• Just Following Orders: Turner explains to Oliver that Brick would kill him if he doesn't do what he is told.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: Even though they eventually reconcile, John is not happpy about Lyla keeping it a secret from him that she is going beyond ARGUS regulations.
• Leonine Contract: Despite Oliver's threats, he has no real ability to make Brick hold up his end of the bargain and Brick knows it, pointing that he's just been taking advantage of Oliver's determination and using it to have Oliver take care of Brick's problems.
  Oliver: Do you really expect me to trust you?
  Brick: You don't have much choice now do you?
• Loophole Abuse: Team Arrow agreed to not act as vigilantes anymore, so they offer Agent Watson their help without putting on any costumes.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: With Yorke gone, Brick has basically made Slabside his personal kingdom (or at least Level 1).
• Mock Millionaire: Lyla and Diggle pretend to be wealthy potential customers interested in opening a safe deposit account.
• Moral Myopia:
  • Felicity demands that Agent Watson work with her to help capture Diaz since Watson's deal with Oliver ended with Oliver in jail while Diaz is still free. Watson rightly points out that she didn't make Oliver operate as a fairly murderous vigilante nor did she force him to make the deal he knew would land him in jail. Later, Felicity intentionally withholds information about the capture of The Silencer which would have placated Watson's supervisors and kept her from being transferred out of Star City.
  • Turner's "Not So Different" Remark to Oliver runs on this; while he did save Lyla four years ago, he seems to think it puts him, a murderous criminal, on the same moral level as Oliver simply because they both wound up in prison (worth noting is that Turner was arrested and convicted; Oliver turned himself in).
• Motor Mouth: Stanley, much to Oliver's frustration.
• Moving the Goalposts: Brick constantly changes the terms of their agreement and reveals something else that has to be done before Oliver can get the information he wants.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The guard Oliver removed was probably the only honest guard in the place. With him gone, Brick is free to run the cellblock like his own kingdom as the guards are seen taking orders from him.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Turner tries to evoke this with Oliver when the latter accuses him of being purely selfish, by pointing out how he saved Lyla's life while on the Suicide Squad and that they are both in jail now.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Agent Watson's boss, who refuses to look into any evidence for Diaz still being a threat and tells Watson to stay off the case. Because of him she also laters gets sent to DC.
• On a Scale from One to Ten: Invoked by Felicity after their failed sting operation gets Agent Watson in trouble.
  Felicity: On a scale from one to unemployed, how much trouble is she in?
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Watson gets moved to DC, getting a pencil pusher job as punishment for going after Diaz despite being ordered to stay off the case.
• Remember That You Trust Me: The crux and resolution to Diggle and Lyla's conflict. They seem like they're headed towards a big fight over Diggle questioning Lyla's judgment instead of trusting her, but he instead assures that he does trust her but that trust runs both ways, asking her to tell him ahead of time the next time she needs to take extra-legal action.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: A theme across all three plot lines, leading to discussions about how the system is imperfect and true justice sometimes requires extra-legal intervention, making it difficult to remain both moral and law-abiding.
  • Oliver is descending in to darkness, shifting away from being a hero and a model prisoner, in order to get where he needs to be to pursue Diaz.
  • Felicity convinces Agent Watson and Dinah to bend the rules to set up a quasi-legal sting operation to target Diaz.
  • Lyla duplicates information and breaks the chain of command when her bosses refuse to authorize an operation into a money laundering scheme.
• Shout-Out: The fight between Sampson and Oliver is a nod towards the rivalry between Amell and Stardust.
• Sickening "Crunch!": The audience hears in clear sound when Oliver dislocates Samson's arms to force him to yield in the fight.
• Soft Water: Averted, Diaz mentions breaking every bone in his body after being thrown off a building into water by Black Siren.
• Super-Strength: Diaz's raid on the CDC was meant to obtain a solution that would give him enhanced strength, which he demonstrates by putting a hole in a nearby concrete wall with his fist.
• Swiss Bank Account: The C-plot involves Diggle, Lyla, and Curtis investigating a Swiss bank that primarily deals with laundering criminal accounts.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Agent Watson turns towards this, working with the non-masked, civilian personas of Team Arrow.
• The Reveal: Brick's reason for getting rid of Yorke and why the other guards seemed so ready to believe Yorke stabbed Oliver is because Yorke seems to have been the only honest guard in the place and they wanted him gone as well.
• Three Lines, Some Waiting: The A-plot is Oliver trying to figure out how to get to Diaz while in prison. The B-plot is Felicity, Dinah, Rene, and Agent Watson trying to capture Diaz in a sting operation. The C-plot is Diggle, Lyla, and Curtis on an undercover operation for ARGUS in Switzerland.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Most of the characters struggle with this at some level, highlighting that no matter what side of the law they're on, the red tape of law enforcement creates holes and blind spots in the justice system.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Felicity is thoroughly unapologetic about any lines she feels the need to cross to bring down Diaz, and she lies to Watson about Silencer escaping, allowing Watson's career to be damaged out of little more than spite.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Agent Watson is notably friendlier towards everyone, agreeing to help them to try and capture Diaz, despite going against regulations.
• The Unapologetic: Felicity is blatantly unsympathetic about Agent Watson getting in trouble for helping Team Arrow. This is despite the fact that, much like Officer Yorke, Watson appears to be sincere about upholding the duties of her job even if she comes across as a Jerkass while doing so. This is compounded by the fact that Felicity is blatantly lying about The Silencer whose capture would have saved Watson's assignment; you get the impression that Felicity did that as payback for Oliver's imprisonment.
  Felicity: I hope you're not expecting me to apologize.
  Watson: I'm not. I knew I was putting my career on the line when I agreed to work with you and your team.
• The Unfettered:
  • When Brick informs Oliver that the Demon is on Level 2, the worst of the worse, Oliver proceeds to stab the guards to get himself sent down there.
  • Felicity is prepared to lie, cheat, and kidnap if it means bringing Diaz down, and she's not interested in apologising for collateral damage along the way.
• Wall Run: Oliver literally runs up a wall to get to Brick, tired of getting the run around.
• Wham Shot: We find out that Felicity and Rene are holding Silencer hostage.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's not explained why Sampson is able to feel pain now.
• Worthy Opponent: As Oliver is being taken to Level 2, Turner gives him a nod of respect.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Oliver's wound from shanking himself. Justified in that it appears to only have been a day or so since he inflicted the wound and Oliver has gotten in multiple fights since receiving the wound. His facial cuts and bruises are also hanging around, likewise not having time to heal between fights.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Brick sends Turner and a few goons to kill Oliver after he fulfilled his demands.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Or rather, the Demon resides at Level 2.