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Ted Grant is accused of several murders. Laurel and the Arrow try to find out who really did it after finding out Ted's past as a vigilante. Meanwhile, Roy tries to find out whether his dreams of killing Sara are just dreams, or something more.
Tropes in this episode:
- A Day in the Limelight: Not to the same extent as the previous episode, but this episode focuses a lot more on Ted, Laurel, and Roy than it does on Oliver.
- Appropriated Appellation:
- Isaac tells Roy that the Arrow only sees him as "a weapon in his arsenal", and he repeats this to Oliver. Oliver decides that "Arsenal" is a good code name for Roy.
- Turns out that China White's real name is Chien Na-Wei, implying that she decided to use the Western mispronunciation as a Code Name.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: The true murderer is Ted's former sidekick, whom he cut loose after he killed a drug dealer six years ago.
- Bait-and-Switch: Isaac Stanzler is being brought out by correctional officers to be transferred to prison when they're suddenly shot in the feet by an archer. Instead of Oliver it turns out to be Cupid making her debut for next week.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Part of Isaac's motivation is that he was tortured for months after killing a Culebra member.
- Book Dumb: Flashback!Oliver thinks that steganography is "the dinosaur with the plates on its back."
- Chekhov's Gun
- The message left in the dead drop refers to Li Kuan Hui.
- Part of the evidence against Harper is that the archer who shot Sara was shorter than usual.
- Chekhov's Skill: In the Hong Kong flashback, Tatsu teaches Oliver the mediation technique he uses with Roy to retrieve his Repressed Memories.
- Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Averted with our first use of Arsenal for Roy Harper.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: The word GUILTY is written in blood next to the vigilante's victims.
- Dance Battler: Roy's Parkour-style fighting makes perfect sense here. He's facing down Isaac who has a gun on him. Roy's fancy flip gets him out of the line of fire while disarming Isaac.
- Dead Guy on Display: The vigilante beats his victims to death and strings them up like punching bags.
- Do You Trust Me?: Oliver to both Laurel and Roy.
- Emerging from the Shadows: Oliver attempts this on Ted, but the latter is not fooled, since he used this trick during his vigilante days.
- Fruit Cart: Subverted; while fleeing Oliver, China White's courier knocks down a stack of plastic crates which later turn out to be where he left the envelope.
- Has a Type: A somewhat embarrassed Laurel has to explain to Ted Grant why she's squabbling with the Arrow Like an Old Married Couple. "We used to date." Later when Laurel turns up at the police station to defend Grant, her father can't resist a snarky, "You sure know how to pick them" apparently thinking this is his daughter's next 'bad boy' boyfriend.
- Hypocrite:
- Oliver blames Ted because he murdered a criminal during his run as a vigilante. Oliver's own bodycount as the Vigilante was at least five (the four bodies Detective Lance showed Roy plus the Count), not counting Mirakuru soldiers or any murders he committed before becoming the Vigilante.
- Diggle says they should cut Roy loose because they need to hold themselves and other people to the same standard (i.e. not killing). Which would be fine... except they apparently didn't mind Roy killing a random police officer under Mirakuru influence, but the moment he is thought to have killed one of their own under Mirakuru influence, it's suddenly not okay.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Laurel and Ted are seen sparring in boxing... until Ted reveals he knows more than boxing.
- Internal Reveal: Roy finally learns about the cop he killed while overdosing on Mirakuru. He also tells the group that he thinks he killed Sara, although it's dispelled by the end.
- It's All My Fault: Grant doesn't reveal the truth that Isaac was the one who beat the drug dealer to death because he blames himself for what his apprentice did.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Oliver comes across as a hypocrite for trying to warn Laurel off befriending a former vigilante, but his concerns are justified when Laurel approaches Grant wanting to be trained as a vigilante herself.
- Meaningful Background Event: Cupid makes two appearances in the background before she fully shows up at the end. The first is outside the gym when the police are investigating the dead body, and the second is her walking behind Diggle's van outside the club into which Oliver and Ted went.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Roy's reaction when he thinks he killed Sara, and later when he learns he actually killed a cop.
- Mythology Gag:
- When Ted fights the Arrow, the latter defeats him by putting a boxing glove on the tip of an arrow, finally emulating the infamous Boxing Glove Arrow.
- When Isaac has Roy in a chokehold, he tells him that the Arrow considers him "a weapon in his arsenal".
- Ted Grant works out of Wildcat Gym.
- Never Recycle a Building: Even though it's been years since Grant gave up his vigilantism, his lair is as clean as if he was still using it. Neither did he made any effort to destroy the evidence of his illegal activity or dispose of the Wall of Weapons. Makes one wonder if he really is retired like he claims.
- Not So Above It All: When Grant points out to the Arrow that he likely has a vigilante lair of his own, Oliver replies, "Mine's bigger."
- "Not So Different" Remark: The inevitable comparisons are made between Oliver Queen and Ted Grant (Vigilante Man), and Issac Stanzler and Roy Harper (Side Kick).
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner:Isaac: Who the hell are you?Cupid: I'm Cupid, stupid! (cut to credits over sound of arrow being fired.)
- Previously on…: Roy's nightmare of killing Sara from the previous episode cuts straight to Oliver growling at him for not paying attention on a mission, implying that Roy was thinking about it.
- Public Secret Message: The envelope left in the Dead Drop turns out to be a landscape photograph, but Maeso reveals the message hidden inside with steganography.
- Red Herring: Roy's memories of killing Sara; her death was being fused with his newfound memory of killing a cop during a Mirakuru rage.
- Retired Badass: Ted was a vigilante six years ago, while Oliver was on the island.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Isaac gets Roy in a chokehold and rants that his mentor will abandon him; Roy promptly flips him over, knocks him out, and retorts, "I'm not you."
- Single Tear: Roy sheds one after Oliver helps him remember that he didn't kill Sara, but that he did kill a policeman.
- Teach Me How To Fight: Except this time Laurel doesn't want Grant to teach her how to box; she wants him to teach her how to be a vigilante.
- Trick Arrow: Finally, the writers found a way to put in a boxing glove arrow and have it make sense.
- True Companions: Roy becomes another one for Oliver, after this exchange when Isaac says the Arrow will discard him like Ted did to him, on top of the thought at the time that Roy killed Sara.Roy: Don't abandon me.
Oliver: Never. - Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When Oliver tries to express his gratitude to Tatsu for helping him, she makes it clear that the only thing she wants is for Oliver to finish his business and get the hell away from her family.
