Arrow Recap: Season 5 Episode 18 “Disbanded”

Last week’s Arrow episode represented a major turning point for the season and the show as a whole. This week, we observe the messy fallout.

After “Kapiushon”, I awaited the next Arrow episode with a mix of giddy excitement and dread. On one hand, the show has been on a roll since the winter finale, navigating plot twists and thorny character dynamics with aplomb. Yet, it’s also been relentlessly bleak, forcing our heroes to endure one misfortune after another. It feels at times like watching death in slow motion.

“Disbanded” initially appears to be more of the same. His willpower drained by Prometheus, Oliver announces that he’s done being the Arrow. Naturally, his teammates don’t respond well to this. Not only does he decline to give them a say in the matter, but he offers only the vaguest explanation: that Prometheus was right. While they’re accustomed to such behavior from Oliver, a veteran at self-sabotage, things are clearly more serious this time.

Regardless, Prometheus remains at large, and he needs to be taken down somehow.

Felicity retreats to Helix, her new sanctuary. Not even Prometheus can hide from them. After all, as district attorney, Adrian Chase is no stranger to cameras. Olivia manages to unearth a video of Adrian taking off his mask, revealing his true identity. The problem is that, thanks to an “optic scrambler” that he wears, his face is blurred like a profane gesture in TV news footage, rendering the evidence useless.

In the meantime, Oliver resumes his duties as mayor (officially, he was on a spiritual retreat). He tells Quentin that he doesn’t intend to do anything about Prometheus; now that a winner has been declared, the game is over. Adrian, however, has a different interpretation of events. Striding into the mayor’s office, he dares Oliver to attack him. Like any good villain, he thrives on opposition; without Oliver, he would have no purpose, no identity. He can’t quit. “Disappointing,” Adrian remarks when Oliver doesn’t take the bait.

Doing nothing isn’t an option, then. No longer bound by illusions of integrity, Oliver takes a desperate measure: he recruits Anatoly to kill Adrian. In return, he authorizes the Bratva to steal diabetes medicine to sell as street drugs. The heist succeeds, but not without a hitch. Diggle, Dinah, Rene, and Curtis intervene, their usual costumes replaced by black masks reminiscent of Prometheus’s garb.

Afterward, Diggle confronts Oliver, demanding to know how he could join forces with the Bratva – criminals who obey no rules or morals. Prometheus must be stopped at all costs, Oliver argues; nothing else matters. What’s one more sin to someone who’s already lost his soul?

But Diggle refuses to give up on his friend, not after devoting five years of his life to Team Arrow. He gets no support from Felicity, who suggests that Oliver knows what he’s doing. Even earlier this season, that stance would’ve seemed wildly out-of-character. But Felicity is ensnared in her own unsavory alliance, another one that operates using quid pro quo.

So, Diggle takes matters into his own hands. He leads the remaining members of Team Arrow in an assault on Adrian’s motorcade, hoping to foil the Bratva. Although his plan succeeds in that regard, they fail to harm Adrian. What’s more, the incident prompts the police to put Adrian in a witness protection program, making it even harder to get to him.

Now, it’s Oliver’s turn to reprimand Diggle – with a swift punch to the face. As the two men talk, though, his hostility gradually melts, revealing the despair and uncertainty underneath. “I’ve told you who I am, what I am, and even if you don’t believe it, I do,” he says. “I don’t know where that leaves us.” Aloof, controlling, and prone to violence, Oliver has long been entrenched in toxic masculinity, so it’s gratifying to see him let himself be vulnerable, if only briefly. (On a side note, Stephen Amell has been killing it the past couple weeks, acting-wise.)

The solution isn’t to become complacent, Diggle asserts. If you don’t like who you are, change who you are. He reminds Oliver about his stint in prison. Oliver was the one who persuaded him to seek atonement instead of wallowing in guilt. And now, he’s returning the favor.

Diggle’s speech works, like usual. Oliver breaks off his deal with Anatoly and reunites the team, a last-ditch attempt to cling to hope. As long as they believe in and support him, he might as well reciprocate.

In another positive development, Curtis managed to obtain the optic scrambler from Adrian during their tussle. He brings it to the Helix headquarters (found via a tracking device he planted on Felicity), but of course, it’s heavily encrypted. In order to hack it quickly, they need another piece of technology. So, Felicity and Curtis break into Kord Industries, the place where the optic scrambler was manufactured.

While they’re busy with that, Oliver arranges a separate break-in to stop the Bratva from stealing more drugs. The team, wearing all black, subdues the thieves and corners Anatoly. But because it can’t ever be that easy, Anatoly reveals that his men have taken hostages as “an insurance plan”. Oliver directs the others to free the hostages while he keeps watch on his former comrade. Just as Adrian did earlier, Anatoly invites Oliver to kill him, thereby permanently severing his ties to the Bratva. Instead, Oliver fires a bullet that triggers the police alarm. They both flee the scene.

They meet again later, for likely the last time as something resembling friends. The Bratva will not forget his betrayal, Anatoly assures Oliver. Oliver expresses dismay at Anatoly’s callousness; he was supposed to make the Bratva better, but he turned out to be the same as Gregor. “I told you I was worried what I would become without your help,” Anatoly explains. “I became what I had to become to keep Bratva together and to stay alive.” Translation: this is your fault. Oliver knows, though, that necessity is a lie, an excuse people give to justify bad choices.

Felicity and Curtis’s heist proves more fruitful. They unscramble the video and hand it over to the SCPD, who call the marshals holding Adrian in protective custody. But he quickly realizes what’s going on, murdering the marshals in brutal fashion and escaping. We last see him cheerily driving down the highway as police cars race in the opposite direction and The Rascals’ “It’s a Beautiful Morning” plays on the radio.

In other news…

Feeling responsible for Susan’s abduction, Oliver ends their relationship. His reasoning isn’t the soundest, but it’s probably for the best.

In the flashbacks, Oliver decides to return to Lian Yu, where he can be “rescued” (if you recall, he was supposed to have been shipwrecked there for the last five years). He celebrates his final days in Russia by helping Anatoly steal medicine to cure a kid with tuberculosis. To Anatoly’s disappointment, their “good, old-fashioned heist” doesn’t change Oliver’s mind about leaving. It marks the beginning of the end of their friendship.

Dinah is the new Diggle.

Best line

Oliver to Adrian, agreeing that he should go into witness protection: “Your safety is of paramount importance to this office.”

Arrow goes on another hiatus after this week. It returns April 26.

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