In Star City, a couple is being held hostage by Cupid. She
asks the two how much they love each other, and each replies with their whole
lives. With this response, she instead rebukes them that love is a bullet to
the brain or, in this case, an arrow to the heart. She then fires two arrows
killing the couple. A court case begins with the people represented by Laurel
against Damien Darhk. Darhk’s lawyer moves to end the case by claiming that his
client, Kenneth Bender, had nothing to do with the case. Laurel protests that
he was found at the scene of a kidnapping case, but the lawyer remarks that
Bender too was kidnapped and that Laurel has no proof of anything otherwise
beyond the words of the media.
Meanwhile, Felicity begins organizing her items for the
moving truck as she prepares to leave the loft. Oliver remarks on how well her
physical therapy is doing with Felicity adding that Paul and Curtis are a
perfect team, the marrying type. While the two are still awkward regarding
their recent breakup, they still attempt to help each other with canceling the
wedding plans. Felicity, however, states that she will still remain part of the
team, just like she was before they were an item, something that surprises
Oliver.
In the flashback, Reiter forces Oliver and Taiana through
the tunnel until the group comes to a totem, the same one that will be owned by
Damien Darhk. Reiter tells them the story of him growing up in Africa, how his
entire village was destroyed. From that moment, he vowed that he would never be
powerless again. Oliver questions him on what makes him different than the men
who killed the villagers, but Reiter states that he is different. To prove it,
he kills one of his own men.
After a slow night in the city, the team returns to the base
to have Laurel alert them to Darhk’s case. Since the ghost at the scene took a
cyanide pill and Andy’s officially dead, there is no one left to testify
against Darhk. Diggle suggests himself, Thea, and Felicity since they were
kidnapped by Darhk at the holiday party. Laurel states that a kidnapped fiancé
would make a sympathetic story, only to have Felicity reveal to the team that
she and Oliver are no longer a couple. Thea then informs Oliver that Lance
wants to talk to him about a special case. When Oliver arrives, he finds the kidnapped
couple placed in a heart shape with a note that reads “Love is dead.”
Thea: "It's Cupid, stupid."
Team Arrow begins to work on the fact that Cupid has
returned. Diggle reveals that she likely moved her way out of prison after
working for Task Force X. When Thea recognizes the couple murdered as Blaine
and Shannon, the wedding of the decade, the team believes that she is murdering
high-profile couples. In the meantime, Diggle begins to testify on the
kidnapping, but Darhk’s lawyer starts to poke holes in Diggle’s credibility by
revealing his and Thea’s purchase of cocaine a few months earlier. While Laurel
tries to argue against this relevance, the lawyer persists in proving Diggle
and Thea’s mistrust. When the angle fails, Lance offers to testify himself as
an accomplice to Darhk, but Laurel refuses since the act would implicate him as
well. Felicity tracks Cupid in another kidnapping of a high profile couple
Alison and Robert (Alibert), and the team moves.
Oliver and Thea track Cupid stealing a limo with the
newlyweds. When Thea tries to grab hold of the vehicle, she’s thrown off when
it crashes into warehouse. Against Felicity’s advice, Oliver goes after Cupid
alone. While he finds and rescues the couple, Cupid attacks him by surprise. He
tries to bring her in, but she escapes. When the team returns to the base, Thea
and Diggle note Oliver and Felicity’s tension when Felicity says she
understands Cupid’s pathology against couples. The two suggest to Oliver that
he talks to Felicity about wanting to get back together, since it may be
something Felicity wants to hear. Back on the island, the man who Reiter killed
has his soul drawn out by the totem. When Reiter tries to draw power from it,
Oliver and Taiana use it as a chance to escape while Taiana steals the totem.
Lance once again approaches Laurel about being put on the stand,
especially none of the other holiday party witnesses will stand up to Darhk.
Laurel doesn’t want to see her father in jail, but she agrees to let him on the
stand as long as he says that he was under duress from Darhk threatening her. Felicity
tracks Cupid’s movements to a single location where the team searches next.
While they don’t find Cupid, they find a shrine of high-profile couples she
plans to take out, the next one being Oliver and Felicity. From that shrine, Oliver
says that a way to draw her out would be to fake their wedding with Thea and
Diggle apprehending Cupid in the attack, an idea Felicity dreads. Thea plans to
leak the news of a small personal wedding to drive the news while Oliver uses
the service he never cancelled. Felicity nevertheless says that their
relationship is over.
On the island, Reiter radios to Oliver that they can either
willfully surrender or his men will shoot them. Taiana tries to break the totem
but finds that she cannot break it. At court, Lance takes the stand and
testifies against Darhk and H.I.V.E. through the crimes he committed after
Darhk threatened his daughter. When Darhk’s lawyer tries to undermine his
words, Lance says that he is risking his entire career revealing his connection
to the crimes. He wouldn’t be saying these things unless they were true.
Oliver: “I will never lie to you again. You are my always,
and I just want the chance to be yours.”
The team prepares for the wedding with Thea on sight, Diggle
outside the building, and the paparazzi in the lobby. While the wedding is
fake, Oliver and Felicity prepare and come dressed prepared for the event. Felicity
wants to quickly end the ceremony by speeding through her vows on wanting to
move on to the next chapter. However, Oliver personalizes his fake vow by
stating that Felicity is his light and his always, and if he had a chance, he
would never lie to her again. Before Felicity can respond, the two are
interrupted by Cupid who fires an arrow into Oliver’s chest and plans to blow
up the building. Oliver stands up, revealing that he had a Kevlar suit to
protect himself. Cupid still plans to destroy the building after losing two men
that she loved, the Arrow and Deadshot. Her actions will prove that love is death, but Felicity steps
in and says that love is worth living for, that it ultimately changed her life
and gave her hope. This gives enough time for Thea and Diggle to move in and
take down Cupid while Oliver prevents her from blowing up the building.
Felicity: "Love is life itself and if I die tonight, it’ll be okay,
because I was one of those people lucky enough to have experienced it."
Oliver and Felicity leave the lobby among many paparazzi
with Oliver remarking on Felicity’s words. Oliver believes that the two should
talk about what they said, but Felicity says she’s too tired to think about
what happened. On the island, Oliver and Taiana defeat some of Reiter's men, taking back their guns and the fight to him. At the trial, the judge states that while there is limited
evidence against Darhk, Lance’s testimony has proven to be especially
interesting, opening the case to full trial and having them hold Darhk in
custody without bail. Unfortunately, Lance’s testimony also forces him to be
suspended pending an investigation of his actions.
Oliver and Felicity finally confront each other on their
words. While Felicity states that she loves him, she doesn’t believe that she
can be with him or marry him. Oliver says that he will change, but Felicity
says that there will always be a part of him that will be the man on the
island, someone who acts alone. As a final response, Felicity quits the team
seeing it as too painful to see each other every night and not be together.
In the final scene, Darhk is placed in prison but secretly
retains his ring which he places on his finger with a smile.
Arrow Afterthoughts
- Alison and Robert's couple name Alibert doesn't just represent the wedding of the century. It may also be a shout-out to actress Ali Liebert who notably doubled for Felicity in "A.W.O.L." and appeared in Legends of Tomorrow as Sara's nurse love interest Lindsy Carlisle.
- Look out for the first on-screen reference to the popular trend Olicity near the end of the episode!
- Was anyone else surprised at Thea's knowledge of Star City power couples? She was so on point in this episode!
- Oliver and Felicity may have remained broken up this week, but could there be "A Beacon of Hope" next week? (I couldn't resist)
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