Promises Kept

Let me start by saying the use flashbacks to tell us how Slade came to be the person we saw in S2 and the ones with his son is brilliant, it really connect the dots. Last two episodes about Slade has been great. Oliver and Slade are great together. There are some good fight sequences with good use of slow motion and eerie background score. Meanwhile Diggle and team had to take down the operation of his drug supplier while struggling with his injury and becoming the new Green Arrow back in Star city.

So the Deathstroke two-parter is over, and we may very well have seen the last of Slade Wilson on this show. Each of the last few times he has made an appearance, I've thought that it would be the last time Manu Bennett would get to grace us with his presence, however they keep figuring out a way to bring him back. If it is the last time we see Manu, it's been quite a ride. And although this episode wasn't nearly as good as last week, it proved a fitting end to Oliver & Slade's promise to help each other.

The flashbacks were once again told using Slade, this time after his time on Lian Yu and before he brought rage upon Star City. Albeit these weren't overtly necessary sequences, they helped fill in the gaps of time where we didn't know what Slade was doing, and it also doesn't hurt to see Slade in full Mirakuru berzerker mode one last time. This helped inform us into why it is exactly Joe Wilson is doing what he's doing, it all leads back to Slade abandoning him years back to exact revenge on Oliver. Nothing special in these scenes either, but again, Manu Bennett can only do good things on this show.

Meanwhile, the team went after a villain known by dragon, AKA Ricardo Diaz. I'm not sure it was the best move to debut the supposed big bad of this season without having the main character actually appear in those scenes, and it also just wasn't a strong debut for the character anyway. If he's going to be the big bad this year, then there's still plenty of work to be done. Especially because selling drugs isn't the type of bad guy I would want to be the focus of this season.

On that note, it was nice to see Diggle finally own up to his questionable extra-curricular activities this season. It also nice to see Lyla back, you can always count on her to be the voice of reason for Dig, and with Oliver out it was a nice time for her to step in. Which brings me to a question: What was the "big" decision Oliver made tonight that is clearly stated in the synopsis for the episode. Was the decision to tell Felicity that he made the "right" choice by not being Green Arrow? To me, that's not much of a big decision at all, especially considering he's obviously going to break it in the next few weeks and it's not a new plot point. I just found that to be frustrating and confusing. Otherwise, it was an alright episode with some memorable Slade moments for sure.

7.8/10

It is no secret that once Season 6 passes, Deathstroke's (Manu Bennett) story arc will be most remembered. "Deathstroke Returns" was a breath of fresh air and proved that Arrow can handle a more darker tone. This week around, there was a bigger focus on the fallout caused by Vigilante's (Johann Urb) unmasking in Star City and the impact that the two Wilsons had on each other. Slade's Season 2 activities also became revealed. An overall satisfying, sad and emotional conclusion to a great characters story.