Originally aired October 23, 2009
Written by Genevieve Sparling
Directed by Kevin G Fair
After meeting a mysterious woman and taking a strange pill, Oliver passes out. After waking up, Oliver is forced to play a deadly game of survival. Lois is furious when she learns that Clark knew Oliver attempted suicide.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, Roulette's alter ego is Veronica Sinclair, but this version is called Victoria Sinclair.
- Antagonist Title: The episode's title refers to Roulette.
- Badass in Distress:
- Oliver for most of the episode, as he's the target of Roulette's Deadly Game.
- Despite putting up a fight against Roulette, Lois has to surrender when Roulette pulls a gun on her and takes her hostage.
- Dark Action Girl: Roulette is a capable hand-to-hand combatant.
- Deadly Game: Oliver is put into a "survival game" after he takes the drug Roulette offered him. At the end, it's actually revealed that Chloe was behind it and he was never truly in danger.
- Designated Girl Fight: Lois is the one who ends up fighting Roulette, who actually has to pull up a gun on Lois to win the fight.
- Disguised Hostage Gambit: After Lois is kidnapped by Roulette, she dresses her up in her Dragon Lady outfit and leaves her Bound and Gagged in the hopes Oliver will accidentally kill her. (It's later revealed Chloe made sure the gun he had was carrying blanks.)
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Chloe is revealed to be the one responsible for putting Oliver through hell to re-awaken the hero within him.
- Dragon Lady: Roulette is an attractive Asian woman who wears a red Chinese dress and heels as well as chopsticks in her hair. She also has a dragon tattoo that starts on her left shoulder plate and ends down her leg. Lois even calls her the trope name.
- Easily Forgiven: After Oliver deduces that Chloe was the one behind Roulette, he's only thankful to her for it, although he does think getting run over by a truck was a bit too much.
- Faking the Dead: As part of the Deadly Game, Roulette fakes her own death and has Oliver take the blame for murdering her, which sets the cops after him.
- Femme Fatale: Roulette is a dangerous woman who seems to prefer manipulating people with her feminine wiles than resort to using her combat skills.
- Friendly Scheming: Chloe planned the entire Deadly Game in an effort to snap Oliver out of his Heroic BSoD.
- He's Back!: Oliver recovers from his Heroic BSoD and resumes his role as Green Arrow.
- Lady in Red: Roulette first approaches Oliver while wearing a backless red dress in an effort to seduce him.
- The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Clark and Lois' movie night is interrupted when Clark hears a woman being mugged with his Super-Hearing. Downplayed, as he uses his Super-Speed to save the woman and comes back just as fast and successfully convinces Lois he just went to get popcorn.
- Mythology Gag: In the ending scene, Oliver remarks to Clark that his Blur costume is ridiculous and that he knows a tailor who can "hook you up with a little more color."
- Race Lift: In the comics, Roulette is not actually Asian; she just dresses up as a Dragon Lady. In this version, she's actually of Asian descent and is played by Asian actress Steph Song.
- Save the Villain: Oliver saves Roulette when she gets trapped under rubble in a burning building... although it turns out she was never really in danger and isn't a villain, and the whole thing was all part of a Secret Test of Character.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Roulette's red dress is backless, partly for fanservice, partly to show off her dragon tattoo.
- Ship Tease: This episode marks the beginning of the Oliver/Chloe relationship, with them holding hands near the end of the episode.
- Shout-Out: Clark and Lois watch shark movies for their movie night, with Lois humming the Jaws theme tune.
- The Tease: Lois teases Clark when he complains about the large pile of her clothing she's washing, saying most guys wouldn't mind if she ran out of clothes to wear.Clark: I hope I have enough detergent. How do you even have anything left to wear?
Lois: You know, most guys wouldn't complain if I suddenly found myself shirtless. - Undressing the Unconscious: After being drugged by Roulette, Oliver wakes up and notices his clothes are gone, he's been changed into a white suit, and is barefoot.
- Villain of the Week: Victoria Sinclair AKA Roulette. Subverted, since it turns out Chloe put her up to it in order to get Oliver to return to heroism.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Lois's reaction to Clark when she finds out that Oliver tried to kill himself and that Clark knew about it.Lois: Oliver tried to kill himself. [...] And you knew. How could you keep something this serious from me?
Clark: I was trying to protect him.
Lois: From who? His friends?
Clark: I didn't think he wanted anyone to know.
Lois: I'm not just anyone. You lied to me. You lied right to my face. You said everything was fine. Nothing about this is fine! - Whole-Plot Reference: This episode basically works as a homage to The Game (1997), where a character is also forced into a Deadly Game and is forced to face reality after being stripped of everything he has, and everything turns out to be Friendly Scheming and the character is given a new appreciation and respect for their life and what they have.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: When Oliver comes back to confront her about the Deadly Game, Roulette pretends she's being coerced into it and is merely a Honey Trap.
