Written by Marc Guggenheim & Ray Utarnachitt
Directed by Steve Shill
Oliver: "Look at me, Sara. I am literally half the man I used to be."
Sara: "Then that's the half the city needs."
Following from where the previous episode had left off, this episode really did take a break from Vandal Savage related missions by having both Sara and Ray back in their home city thirty years from where they left it and the results were not good.
First of all, the place literally became a war zone courtesy of Deathstroke's son, Grant Wilson taking up his father's mantle while Connor Hawke had essentially taken up Oliver Queen's mantle as the Green Arrow. The twist though was revealing that Hawke was really John Diggle Jr and that Oliver had been maimed rather than dead as everyone else previously believed.
Of course everyone else from the Arrow verse was either dead or had left (i.e. Felicity) and with Oliver being too dispirited into taking out Grant, it had fallen to Connor to try (and nearly fail) and to Sara to get Oliver back into the fighting game. I have to admit that dramatically, losing his arm and city aside, it didn't feel too different to the Oliver Queen we generally know in present day Star City.
Stephen Amell did pretty well in the episode and it was nice to see him interact with the regular (Sara especially) but this story was rightfully drawn from Sara's point of view more than anything. She was horrified to see what her city had become (more than Ray was to be honest) and it led to her arguing with Rip at different points while she tried to change things.
Ultimately there was some success to be had as Deathstroke Jr for his grand standing and general being a pain in the backside was taken out rather easily by a re-energised Oliver and I did like the idea of him and Connor/Diggle Jr protecting the city while the regular renewed their mission to take down Vandal Savage.
As for the rest of the episode, it was interesting to see some actual conflict this week between Cold and Heatwave as the latter embraced the chaotic Star City a bit too much for the former's liking. It's also interesting that both characters are having their own perceptions about what they want challenged through their recent experiences as well. I still think that Cold is probably closer to antihero status than Heatwave may be.
As for the triangle elements with Ray, Kendra and Jax - I liked that it was mostly played for laughs (the episode really needed), I also liked Stein being an unwilling part in the situation and his screwball reaction to things but I also liked that it was nixed pretty quickly. The lack of romances on this show are doing it more of a favour than anything else. Kendra is better off being friends with Ray and Jax than hooking up with either of them for now.
- Despite the mentions, we actually didn't see Savage at all in the episode. I did not miss him.
- Palmer Tech was clearly taken over by Felicity and renamed by her too. Maybe we should've seen her in this episode.
- I quite like the idea of Diggle's son taking on the mantle of Connor Hawke but surely they could've mentioned his sister as well during this episode.
- Now that we've seen Star City, are we going to see a version of Central City in a later episode?
It was a bleak episode, maybe the bleakest one they've done so far but I really liked Star City 2046. For a diversion episode (and this was a proper diversion from Savage), it really worked and it was nice to see Future Oliver as well.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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