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"It leaves us right back in Langham, Oliver. Remember that? I killed my brother, Oliver. And I was gonna let myself rot in prison for what I did. But you told me to atone for what I did as Spartan. And if that's true for me, then it's one hundred times truer for the Green Arrow. You don't just get to walk away from this, man. The Hood is who you are. You don't think you deserve it? Fine. Work to become the man who does."
John urging Oliver to reassemble Team Arrow

"Disbanded" is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of Arrow, and the one-hundred-tenth episode overall. It aired on March 29, 2017.

Synopsis[]

Plot[]

Oliver patches himself up as Diggle, Felicity and Curtis express shock at his pronouncement. Diggle and Felicity both try to convince Oliver that they need to stop Chase but Oliver is convinced that inviting people to join his team just causes death and suffering for them. Diggle asks Oliver to speak to him alone but Oliver just walks away.

At Felicity's apartment, she and Curtis fill in Rene and Dinah. Diggle arrives and says he's spoken to Thea, who's ready to come back when he gives the word. He says they still have to protect the city, as well as deal with Chase. Their equipment is all back in the bunker, which Oliver has changed the security for, but Lyla is providing them with new equipment. Felicity says she'll handle Chase, leaving the rest of them to protect the city.

Quentin tells Oliver he managed a cover story about Oliver being on a spiritual retreat. Chase comes in and thanks Oliver for giving him compassionate leave after Doris' death. Quentin snipes that Chase shouldn't have killed her. Oliver asks him to leave them alone. Chase puts a knife on the table. Oliver says he's not going to just stab him. Chase says Oliver won't be able to kill him as the Green Arrow now SCPD have him in protective custody, so either he kills him public or he lets him do whatever he wants.

In flashback, Anatoly expresses bewilderment that Oliver wants to return to Lian Yu. Oliver says it provides a decent excuse for where he's been for the last five years, and he leaves in 48 hours. Anatoly asks him to come with him and takes him to a clinic where people are dying of tuberculosis. He says the Bratva can't afford medicine for all of them so suggests a heist.

In the present, Susan visits Oliver and tells him she made a statement to the police about Chase but they didn't believe her because he has a cast-iron alibi. She asks Oliver to make a statement backing her up but Oliver says Chase will have planned for that: The only way to beat him is to do something he won't have expected. He blames himself for creating Chase, saying everything that's happened is on him and Susan needs to stay away from him. Susan leaves without a word.

Oliver meets with Anatoly in the bunker. Anatoly expresses surprise at Oliver coming to him after how their last meeting ended. Oliver says Anatoly was right that wearing the hood wasn't enough to control the monster inside of him. He asks him to kill Chase for him. Anatoly is happy to do so but wants a down payment. Oliver agrees Anatoly will get the first part of his payment now and the second afterwards.

Diggle, Curtis, Dinah and Rene look over their new equipment without much enthusiasm. They get a report of a drug robbery and head down there. As Dinah takes out some of the thieves, Rene notices that they're stealing oplimid, a diabetes drug. He and Diggle move in and subdue the thieves but Anatoly arrives and takes charge of the situation: The thieves are his men and Oliver has given them permission to be there. A stunned Diggle lets them go and goes to confront Oliver. However, Oliver remains intransigent, insisting his old team have to stay out of the mess he's created.

At Helix, Felicity does some work for Alena, in return for which Alena does research on Chase. She finds security footage of him unmasking as Prometheus but his features are pixellated. Felicity realises he is using experimental Kord Industries technology to hide his features. She could reverse engineer it to restore the footage but it would mean getting hold of Chase's image scrambler.

Diggle, Rene, Curtis and Dinah debrief at Felicity's apartment. Rene has been ordered to stay away from city hall by Quentin to stop him doing anything to Chase. Felicity arrives home and Diggle asks to speak to her in private. Curtis checks her laptop and learns of her plan to get a hold of the scrambler. Diggle asks Felicity to join him in trying to talk Oliver round but Felicity has no problem with the Bratva killing Chase. Diggle finds Anatoly explaining his interest in the drug to Oliver: Combined with the second drug, it will produce a highly addictive opioid. Diggle expresses his disgust but Oliver remains convinced that his crusade was just an excuse to kill people and the others are best off out of it.

Rene debates saving Chase but Diggle is insistent they have to bring him to justice the right way. Dinah gets a report that Chase is being moved and they realise this is when the Bratva will strike. Chase is being escorted by Officer Lopez and wonders if she has any theories about who the Green Arrow is. The Bratva attack but Diggle, Dinah and Rene help fight them off. In the confusion, Curtis scuffles with Chase and uses a Q-ball to get hold of his scrambler. The SCPD usher Chase to safety as Team Arrow flee the scene.

A representative of Federal Witness Protection tells Oliver and Quentin that, since there's a leak in Star City, they're taking Chase into custody. Oliver agrees and Chase quietly mocks him for trying something. Oliver angrily confronts John for interfering. John reminds him that Oliver helped pull him back from the brink when he was willing to rot in Langham out of guilt over killing Andy, and if Oliver feels he doesn't deserve the hood, then he needs to work to do so.

Felicity, Alena and Amir are all bewildered when Curtis turns up at Helix: He placed tracking nanites in Felicity's pancakes. He reveals the scrambler he obtained. Felicity quickly looks at it but discovers it's encrypted and it would take her over a year to break it. Alena suggests Kord Industries might have the technology to do it quicker. She reveals she and Amir have already worked out that the pair are Overwatch and Mr Terrific, and suggests they break in and do it.

Oliver tells Anatoly the deal is off but Anatoly says that, while he'll leave Chase alive if that's what he wants, the drug is too important to the Bratva for him to leave without it. Oliver meets with Diggle, Dinah and Rene at the bunker and asks for their help. Clad in a balaclava, Oliver leads Spartan, Wild Dog and Canary in protecting the pharmacy company, at the same time that Felicity and Curtis break into Kord Industries and use their tech, getting a clear image of Chase. Oliver confronts Anatoly who reveals his men are holding several of the staff hostage and will kill them if Oliver interferes. Oliver sends Spartan, Wild Dog and Canary to rescue the hostages, then takes out Anatoly's men on his own, mirroring his actions five years earlier in helping Anatoly steal drugs as the Hood. Anatoly says once Oliver would have killed them and invites him to shoot him. Instead, Oliver sets off an alarm, meaning they both have to flee.

The two groups convene at the bunker and Felicity shows everyone the footage of Chase. Oliver says this is the thing that Chase didn't predict: Her. Dinah says she'll get the footage to SCPD and Felicity intends to upload it onto the internet. Oliver agrees the team's active again with a few changes: He reveals dummies where all of their suits are stored. Rene notes Oliver still has the suit he wore on their recent raid. Oliver doesn't feel ready to suit up as the Green Arrow again but hopes to soon.

In flashback, Oliver and Anatoly deliver the drugs to the clinic. Anatoly admits he was hoping Oliver would stay and worries what he will become without him. Oliver says he needs to save his own home. In the present, Oliver and Anatoly have a far less friendly meeting. Oliver says the Anatoly who was his friend would never threaten to kill innocent people and he's become as bad as Gregor. Anatoly reminds Oliver of his comments of five years earlier and says he became what he needed to be to keep the Bratva together and survive. He is going back to Russia but the men arrested at the pharmacy company are out on bail and he's leaving them behind.

Quentin and Dinah show the footage of Chase to Lopez and the rest of the SCPD, saying to let the US marshals know Chase is to be arrested. In his safe house, Chase's minders get a text message. Realising the game is up, Chase kills them both and drives from the scene, passing the line of police cars coming to arrest him.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Guest starring[]

Co-starring[]

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Production[]

Preparation ran from January 31 until February 8, 2017. Shooting ran from February 9 until February 21, 2017, with a break on February 13 for Family Day.[1]

Trivia[]

  • This is one of the few episodes in which Oliver doesn't wear his Green Arrow suit, though he wears his Hood suit in the flashback.
  • The original theme music didn't play when the title card was shown at the beginning.
  • The title refers to Oliver's brief disbandment of Team Arrow after his torture at the hands of Adrian Chase.
  • After discovering the device Chase uses to pixelate his image, Felicity warns him that "winter is here", referencing the motto of Game of Thrones.
  • When Oliver and Diggle are arguing in the latter's apartment, Diggle states that he knows "the good, the bad and the ugly" in Oliver's life. This is likely a reference to the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

References[]

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