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Shado continues training Oliver to shoot a bow, but he keeps missing the target. Yao Fei enters the cave where Oliver, Shado, and Slade are camped. Fyers’ men immediately swarm the place, and Yao Fei tells Oliver his time on the island has come to an end.
Edward Rasmus, a corrupt investment broker, hires Mr. Blank to assassinate a family whom Laurel is helping. Blank kills the parents, but the young boy escapes. Instead of allowing the child to go into foster care, Laurel takes Taylor home with her and Tommy. Blank barges into Laurel’s home and is met with Laurel’s shotgun as well as the Hood. Blank escapes, causing Laurel, Tommy, and Taylor to stay at the Queen mansion.
ARGUS and Diggle set up a scheme to arrest Floyd Lawton/Deadshot. After being forced to his knees at gunpoint, Diggle watches Lawton walk away. Oliver chose to stop Rasmus from fleeing town instead of helping catch Lawton, much to Diggle’s dismay.
With Blank having also worked his way into the Queen’s, Oliver locks Laurel, Tommy, and Taylor in a room while he fights Blank, ending it by fatally stabbing Blank. Because Tommy knows Laurel would choose Oliver if she found out his secret, he backs out of his relationship with her. Feeling betrayed, Diggle walks out on Oliver.
Roy chats with Detective Lance about the Hood and steals a police radio. Midway through his date with Thea, Roy runs out, believing he heard news about the Hood on the police radio. Lance, having set the whole thing up, takes Roy to the station, where he shows Roy and Thea the body of one of the Hood’s 26 victims. Roy insists he owes the Hood for saving his life, and Thea agrees to help Roy track him down.
Tropes applying to this Episode:
- Assassin Outclassin': Oliver effectively curb-stomps Mr. Blank before killing him with a fire poker.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Mr. Blank may be a cold-blooded killer, but he looks good doing it.
- Badass Longcoat: Usually comes with Blank's aforementioned nice suit.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mr. Blank is about to shoot Laurel whose shotgun has jammed, when the Hood does a Super Window Jump.
- Break Her Heart to Save Her: Invoked by Tommy as to why he's walking out on Laurel; he claims he hasn't changed as much as he thought and it would be better to break off things now than later.
- The Bro Code: Oliver has been having dinner with Laurel even though she's dating Tommy. Worse, Tommy hasn't been told about this (in contrast to how Tommy made sure Oliver knew when he first started dating Laurel).
- Call-Back: Thea says she's going to help Roy find the Hood because it's the most important thing for him. This matches her advice to Tommy in "Legacies" to figure out what's a big deal to the person you're interested in and make it a big deal to you.
- Commonality Connection: Tommy uses the experience of coping with his own mother's death at the same age to connect with Taylor.
- Canon Foreigner: Mr. Blank was created specifically for the show, and has no comic counterpart.
- Celebrity Paradox: Thea alludes to Avengers: Age of Ultron in the second annual Crossover with The Flash (2014) which
Word of God would later confirm. This means that the Marvel Cinematic Universe exists in the Arrowverse. J. August Richards (playing Mr. Blank) also plays Deathlok on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. - Chekhov's Skill: The stickfighting techniques we see Slade teaching Oliver in their first on-screen lesson are adapted to a fire poker.
- Cliffhanger: Oliver, Slade and Shado are captured by the mercenaries after being betrayed by Shado's father.
- Close-Call Haircut: The bullet fired by Deadshot in the opening scene shatters a wine glass and brushes a woman's hair before killing its target.
- Cut the Juice: Mr. Blank sets the fusebox to blow in the Queen mansion, killing the lights. This alerts Oliver however, so he locks Tommy and Laurel in a room and breaks off the doorknob so no-one can enter.
- The Dead Have Names: Averted when You Are Number 26:Roy: Who was he?Quentin: Well, that's the thing. When you're alive, you get a name. When you wind up down here, you get a number. Meet 26. See, your pal the Hood, he's already sent 26 stiffs down here since he started his little one-man...war.
- Deadly Delivery: A variation where a real courier is made to open the door at gunpoint.
- Death by Secret Identity: Mr. Blank, who learns just before his death that billionaire playboy Oliver Queen has Took a Level in Badass. On finding himself outmatched in hand-to-hand combat he can only ask, "What happened to you on that island?"
- Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Oliver says that Mr. Blank was killed by one of the security team who then succumbed to his wounds.
- Dissonant Serenity: Blank's voice is always calm and measured, even while he's committing murder or stalking a victim. As an example, when he kills his employer, he sounds like he's chatting about the weather.
- Downer Ending: Tommy breaks up with Laurel, Diggle ends his partnership with Oliver, and on the island Yao Fei betrays Shado, Slade and Oliver into the hands of Fyers mercenaries.
- Dragon Ascendant: Mr. Blank spends most of his episode as The Dragon to Rasmus, but when Rasmus becomes a liability he kills his boss and becomes the final threat of the episode.
- Everyone Can See It
- Diggle and Felicity show overt skepticism that Oliver having dinner with Laurel means they are Just Friends.
- Tommy realises that Oliver still loves Laurel and vice versa. Worse, he knows that the only thing keeping them apart is that Oliver is the Hood, and if Laurel knew the truth she would choose Oliver over him. This causes him to break up with Laurel to avoid future heartbreak.
- Slade picks up the sexual tension between Oliver and Shado during archery training and growls at them to get back on track.
- Expy: Word of God confirms that DC character Onomatopoeia was originally intended to appear, before this got scrapped and Mr. Blank was created for the show to take his place.
- Failed a Spot Check: Averted twice with Mr. Blank's covert entries. Although the unsuspecting clients don't spot him initially, Laurel spots his badge is a fake, foiling the second attempt, and the security at the Queen home spots that the courier's hands are shaking, prompting him to go for his gun (though Blank still gets the drop on him) on the third.
- Faux Affably Evil: Blank is never anything other than polite to his victims, including politely talking to his employer as he murders him via a Pressure Point.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: On seeing her father has escaped Shado hugs him, but his lack of response tells her something is wrong just before the mercenaries burst into their hideout and capture them.
- Funny Background Event: When Felicity confesses to dying herself blonde, Oliver leans over to check out her hair.
- Godzilla Threshold: Despite his falling out with Oliver over his vigilantism, the threat to Laurel makes Tommy propose they hold up in the Queen residence, ostensibly because of the high security but actually so the Hood can protect them. Tommy is not happy when Oliver has to leave to deal with other business.
- Hands-On Approach: Oliver and Shado suddenly realise their Unresolved Sexual Tension while she's teaching him archery, resulting in a First Kiss. Already jealous over their evident attraction, Slade is not impressed.Slade: I hope you're getting closer...to teaching him to be a better marksman. It's not as if our lives depend on it or anything!
- Hope Spot: Laurel and Taylor appear to be safe when the Hood scares Rasmus into confessing, only for Mr. Blank to kill him and continue his mission even though Rasmus wanted to cancel the contract.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Invoked by Oliver regarding his choice to protect Laurel and Taylor over taking down Deadshot. Diggle is unimpressed, saying Oliver was just choosing Laurel like he's always done.
- Ineffectual Death Threat: Diggle says I'll Kill You! to Deadshot, but as he's on his knees with Guns Akimbo in his face, Deadshot is not impressed.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Mr. Blank. By a fire poker. In his heart.
- Impersonating an Officer: Mr. Blank tries this, but ends up failing due to Laurel being a police officer's daughter—she recognises the badge number is incorrect for the rank he's posing as.
- Instant Expert: Averted; Shado is unable to get Oliver to consistently hit his target with a bow & arrow. That leaves them without anyone to give covering fire.
- Leave No Witnesses: Mr. Blank will kill anyone would can identify him, even a child or his own employer. Averted with Deadshot, who doesn't kill Diggle because he's not been paid to kill him and he's no longer an immediate threat. He does threaten to kill Diggle if he comes after him though, even showing Dig his brother's tattoo and threatening to put his name right next to it.
- Lightning Reveal: Oliver is creeping down the corridor in the Queen mansion when a lightning reveal shows Mr. Blank standing behind him about to fire. Oliver senses him and dodges just in time, his Stealth Hi/Bye so fast he avoids the resultant gunshots in another lightning strike.
- Love Triangle: Tommy/Laurel/Oliver, and in the flashbacks Oliver/Shado/Slade.
- Mythology Gag:
- The alias “Kesel” might be a reference to DC Comics writer/artist Karl Kesel, who had a famous run on Superboy and The Adventures Of Superman comics in the 1990′s as well as Hawk And Dove.
- Lyla Michaels uses the alias “Harbinger.” DC Comics have a character named Lyla Michaels who is the worlds-spanning character Harbinger.
- Quentin calls Thea and Roy the Wonder Twins.
- Det. Lance shows Roy and Thea the body of Hood's victim #26, half of 52, a limited run DC comic.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
- Would you really want to deal with someone named Mr. Blank?
- As Diggle puts it during his What the Hell, Hero?: "You seriously think a man who goes by the name 'Deadshot' was going down without a fight?"
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Faced with a choice between joining the stakeout to catch Deadshot, or stopping the man who hired the hitman after Laurel and Taylor, Oliver chooses the latter. This leads to Deadshot escaping after killing four men, and Diggle refusing to work with Oliver any more. Ironically it doesn't even stop Mr. Blank, because he keeps going after his target regardless.
- Nothing Personal: Mr. Blank killing Rasmus.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When Laurel's shotgun misfires.
- A delightfully twisted one on Thea's face when Roy, with a police radio in his pocket, cuts out in the middle of their date to go haring off after the Hood.
- One-Handed Shotgun Pump: Subverted; Laurel does this and the weapon misfires.
- Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?:Thea: Is that a police radio in your pocket?
Roy: No, I'm just happy to see you. - Pressure Point: Mr. Blank's able to induce a deadly embolism in someone just by pressing their wrist.
- Professional Killer: Mr. Blank and Deadshot.
- Saying Too Much: Laurel has volunteered to put up Taylor in his apartment.Quentin: (to Tommy) You look after them, all right?Tommy: I spend most nights at your daughter's anyways. (Reaction Shot Laurel and Quentin) There was probably a better time to tell you that.Quentin: Probably not.
- Scare 'Em Straight: Rather than charge Roy for stealing his radio, Detective Lance takes him and Thea down to the morgue to show him one of the Hood's victims.
- Squick: In-Universe: Thea's reaction to Detective Lance slowly inserting an arrow into #26's fatal wound.
- Super Window Jump: Oliver crashes through the window into Laurel's apartment to stop Mr. Blank.
- Title Drop: A variation because it only appears as written words in the news report about the Moore family being killed in a supposed home invasion.
- Touch of Death: Mr. Blank knows how to induce a lethal air embolism by applying pressure to someone's forearm. He uses it on Rasmus and tries to use it on Oliver.
- Trojan Horse: Mr. Blank forces some poor delivery boy to get him to the Queen mansion. Surprisingly for TV, the Red Shirt bodyguard realizes this pretty quickly, not that it does him any good.
- Wham Line:Oliver: How did you escape?
Yao Fei: I didn't. - What Beautiful Eyes!: When describing her boyfriend at the police station, Thea makes a point of mentioning his "piercing blue eyes."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Oliver gets this for his decision in the semi-Sadistic Choice.
- Would Hurt a Child: Mr. Blank spends most of the episode trying to hunt down and kill Tyler.
