- "Well, then what would I say to you in this situation?"
- "You would tell me that when I - you - freed Cayden James, I did it because at the moment at that time in your heart, you thought it was right."
- —Oliver Queen advising Felicity Smoak on her past mistake
"Reversal" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of Arrow, and the one-hundred-nineteenth episode overall. It aired on November 2, 2017.
Synopsis[]
Just as Oliver starts to get things in order, Black Siren launches another attack on the citizens of Star City.[src] |
Plot[]
Black Siren, disguised in a black wig, heads into a bar and quickly attracts the attention of a male patron. The two go out to an alley to make out, where Laurel notices the man is wearing a wedding ring and promises to keep quiet. He asks her to tell him one of her secrets and she smiles sinisterly.
Oliver and Felicity are out at a restaurant for their first date since getting back together. A nearby patron tells Oliver she's going to vote against the Anti-Vigilante Referendum and also notes the pair make a cute couple. Oliver is telling Felicity it's good she has other things in her life, just as she gets a text summoning her to the bunker. She is greeted by Diggle and Curtis: The man Laurel met with, Jackson Klimavich, is dead and Dinah is on the scene. Dinah recognises his death as the result of a sonic scream. However, despite his infidelity, Jackson was wholly unremarkable. On learning she was with Oliver and also has their start-up at home, Curtis sends Felicity away.
Laurel meets with a mysterious man, Sheck, who is grateful for what she provided him with but points out she left a body for the police to find. Laurel says it's better than a witness. Sheck gives her details of her next target.
Felicity arrives home and calls Oliver, inviting him round. She then finds Alena in the flat. Alena has a bruised face and says Cayden James did it to her and she needs Felicity's help to save the world from him. She thinks he was broken by his months being tortured by ARGUS and is planning a project that will wipe out at least 4% of the world's population. Felicity ignores a call from Curtis about Laurel killing again. She and Alena work out they can hack James' system using the equipment at Helix, but they'll need a ghost modem drive. As they're about to leave, Oliver arrives in answer to Felicity's invite. He is unhappy about what she's doing, especially without back-up from either him or the team, but lets her go.
Diggle, Dinah and Curtis review the latest victim, Veronica Medina, who was even more unremarkable. Rene reports that he has been checking poll results with Lance and 70% of the city are against the act. Curtis is left to work out a tech solution in Felicity's absence and finds a way to track Laurel's sonic scream. Laurel approaches her next target, Jenny. Detecting her scream, Green Arrow, Wild Dog, Mr. Terrific and Black Canary head down there. Canary finds Jenny dead and then encounters Laurel. They exchange scream blasts before Laurel flees.
Felicity and Alena go to a rave club where Alena knows a technology seller known as Amnesiac operates. They approach a bouncer, Chains, asking to see him and Chains has two men drag them into the office. A masked figure watches. The two women meet with the sharply-dressed Amnesiac, who suspects they are government agents. At that point, the masked man bursts in, fighting with Chains, and quickly takes down him, the other thugs and Amnesiac, with Alena also being knocked out in the fracas. The man reveals himself to Felicity as Oliver. She is furious that he broke up the deal and risked exposure, telling him to get Alena to safety while she searches for what they need.
Dinah reports that the three victims all had their fingerprints taken. Diggle realises their apparently unremarkable lives were a cover for something. He tries to call Felicity for help but she and Alena are just breaking into Helix, and Felicity gives him a brief recap of the situation with James. Curtis traces where the sonic scream has been used recently and finds a probable base, pulling up recent CCTV footage of Laurel. Diggle recognises one of the men with her and realises Felicity is in trouble.
Felicity and Alena's work is ended by Black Siren destroying their computers. She is accompanied by a group of gunmen led by Sheck...and James, who chides Alena for her betrayal. He orders Sheck to kill them both. An arrow knocks the gun from Sheck's hand as Green Arrow, Black Canary, Wild Dog and Terrific take on the gunmen, with Green Arrow fighting Black Siren at one point. Felicity tries to get Alena to safety. At the end, the heroes are left standing...but Alena has been shot.
Having got Alena to hospital, Felicity joins the others at the bunker. She and Curtis work out that the three victims were members of the International Domain Name Department, each of them being managers of a section of the internet. Together, they could get access to the vault where the internet is controlled from. Anyone who destroyed it would shutdown the internet, meaning water and power supply and control of planes and trains. Felicity sets up a search to find the vault location and Diggle sends her home.
Felicity is visited by Oliver, who does his best to reassure her about James, saying he always had her support and she'd tell him to deal with things in the present. She gets a call saying they've found the vault. Black Siren kills a security guard before she, James and Sheck use the fingerprints to access the vault. James reminds Black Siren he rescued her from Lian Yu. Green Arrow, Wild Dog, Felicity, Black Canary and Terrific arrive on the scene and exchange fire with Sheck and the gunmen. Felicity notes James has implanted a virus that will crash the place in six minutes. James locks the system, meaning Felicity will need to get to the processor room, and sends Black Siren to help keep the heroes occupied.
As the group try to escort Felicity, Oliver contacts them from the bunker. Declaring himself Overwatch, he guides Felicity to the processor room and manages to seal her in there. Green Arrow fires a crossbow bolt at Black Siren, who disintegrates it with a scream. She ends the battle by bringing an overhead piece of equipment down, with Wild Dog pulling him out of the way. Felicity manages to access the system and restore everything.
Back at the bunker, Diggle comments on Oliver's temporary new role. Oliver declares they need to find out why James and Laurel have teamed up...before remembering he's not in charge any more. He and Felicity leave the others to it. Felicity visits Alena in hospital and offers her a job at the start-up when she's recovered. Alena suggests finding a way to mass-produce the implant that lets Felicity walk. Felicity suggests naming the company Helix Dynamics.
Laurel, James and Sheck are at an airfield. James gives Laurel a piece of equipment that will mask her in future. He explains his real objective wasn't to destroy the vault but to get Felicity to disable the firewall around it, which let him upload a piece of code.
Oliver and Felicity finally make it back to her flat for a passionate reunion but they are interrupted by a call for Oliver: It's Slade Wilson and he needs Oliver's help.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Stephen Amell as Mayor Oliver Queen/Overwatch
- David Ramsey as John Diggle/Green Arrow
- Willa Holland (credit only)
- Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
- Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt/Mr. Terrific
- Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog
- Juliana Harkavy as Lieutenant Dinah Drake/Black Canary
- Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance/Black Siren
- Paul Blackthorne (credit only)
Guest starring[]
Co-starring[]
- Fraser Aitcheson as Chains
- Dexter Bell as Security Guard
- Graham Coffeng as Amnesiac
- Jan D'arcy as Patron
- Chad Ellis as Jackson Klimavich
- Paniz Zade as Jenny
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Production[]
Preparation ran from August 2 until August 11, 2017, with a break on August 7 for British Columbia Day. Shooting ran from August 14 until August 24, 2017.[1]
Trivia[]
- Black Siren's sonic scream sign can be heard in the opening title card sequence.
- According to showrunner Wendy Mericle in the "Inside Arrow" featurette, the title refers to Oliver and Felicity switching roles, where the latter now takes on the role of being a field operative while receiving help from the former.
- Laurel's short brunette wig that she uses as a disguise features a nod (or rather reverse look) to Black Canary's appearance in the comics; prior to dying her dark hair blonde, Dinah Laurel Lance used to wear a long blonde wig to hide from her enemies.
- When Laurel introduces herself to Jenny Johnson, she uses the name "Dinah".
- Oliver and Felicity mention their first date three years ago, referencing the events of "The Calm".
- When commenting about Black Siren's style of murder and seduction of victims, Curtis states that "Black Siren turned Black Widow". This is a reference to the superheroine Black Widow from Marvel Comics who is an operative of S.H.I.E.L.D..
- Curtis is also referencing the mating behavior of black widow spiders.
- While he and Felicity were talking about their own love lives, Curtis mentioned Upswipz.
- Ray Palmer used to work for the dating app in the DC's Legends of Tomorrow episode "Aruba-Con".
- Curtis references the film Planes, Trains and Automobiles when he said that the internet controls "planes, trains and automobiles".
- This is the first episode to introduce Cayden James on-screen, as he appeared unseen in "Dangerous Liaisons".
References[]
Arrow season 6 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
"Fallout" • "Tribute" • "Next of Kin" • "Reversal" • "Deathstroke Returns" • "Promises Kept" • "Thanksgiving" • "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2" • "Irreconcilable Differences" • "Divided" • "We Fall" • "All for Nothing" • "The Devil's Greatest Trick" • "Collision Course" • "Doppelganger" • "The Thanatos Guild" • "Brothers in Arms" • "Fundamentals" • "The Dragon" • "Shifting Allegiances" • "Docket No. 11-19-41-73" • "The Ties That Bind" • "Life Sentence" |