What We Leave Behind

"There's two types of every legacy, two versions of what we leave behind. There's the good and then the bad. You just really have a lousy habit of focusing only on the bad."

—Thea Queen to Oliver Queen

"What We Leave Behind"
Information
Season 5 » Episode 9
Episode number	101 of 170
Original airdate	December 7, 2016
Written by	Wendy Mericle Beth Schwartz
Directed by	Antonio Negret
Guest stars
Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog Joe Dinicol as Rory Regan/Ragman Madison McLaughlin as Evelyn Sharp/Artemis Tyler Ritter as Billy Malone Carly Pope as Susan Williams Garwin Sanford as Justin Claybourne Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance (special guest star)
Chronology
Preceded by	"Invasion!"
Followed by	"Who Are You?"

"What We Leave Behind" is the ninth and midseason finale episode of the fifth season of Arrow, and the one-hundred-first episode overall. It aired on December 7, 2016.

Synopsis

After Prometheus attacks Curtis, Oliver realizes Prometheus knows all of Team Arrow's secret identities and is planning to come for them one by one. Felicity and Detective Malone discover a clue that links Prometheus to Oliver's past.[src]

Production

Preparation ran from September 29 until October 10, 2016. Filming ran from October 11 until October 20, 2016.

Trivia

• Oliver mentions Die Hard as one of his favorite Christmas movies. That movie also happens to be Stephen Amell's favorite Christmas movie in real-life, which he mentioned that the script was an ad-lib, and also got to fill in the blank.
  • Oliver also mentioned his second favorite Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life, claiming to have seen it "last week." This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the previous week's episode, "Invasion!", whose premise was similar to It's a Wonderful Life.
• This episode marks the first full appearance of "The Hood" since "Broken Dolls".
• This is the first episode to feature flashbacks that take place during Season 1 instead of the flashback story line.
• When Curtis is talking to the team about Evelyn's betrayal, he mentions the 1984 horror movie adaption, Children of the Corn.
• Oliver and Tommy were mentioned to have been trying to impress Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova.
• The flashbacks in this episode take place between the end of "Damaged" and "Trust but Verify" since Diggle is a member of Team Arrow, but still questions why Oliver so firmly believes in The List, implying that the conversation about how Oliver found his father's message hasn't happened yet. It is confirmed that the flashbacks take place before "Betrayal" since Felicity is not a member of the team yet.
• Katie Cassidy was credited in the end credits so her appearance in the episode wouldn't be spoiled.
• Felicity breaks the fourth wall in this episode when she says "Well, in our town, people who are dead turn out to be secretly alive almost every Wednesday." For its first five seasons, new episodes of Arrow aired on Wednesday nights.
• Evelyn betraying Team Arrow is reminiscent of The New 52, which depicted Evelyn joining the Birds of Prey but later betraying the team to Mr. Freeze.
• This is the fifth Christmas-themed episode of Arrow.
• The title reference the line from Thea's conversation with Oliver about the types of legacies he leaves behind.

Videos

Arrow What We Leave Behind Trailer The CW

Arrow 5x09 Sneak Peek "What We Leave Behind" (HD) Season 5 Episode 9 Sneak Peek Mid-Season Finale

Sneak Peek #1

Arrow 5x09 Sneak Peek 2 "What We Leave Behind" HD Season 5 Episode 9 Sneak Peek 2 MidSeason Finale

Sneak Peek #2

Arrow Inside Arrow What We Leave Behind The CW