Television

Arrow Episode Recap, Season 2 Episode 22: Streets of Fire

Check out Josh’s recap of the penultimate episode for season 2 of Arrow! Starling City is in danger, and Oliver’s back is up against the wall. Will Oliver be able to stop Slade’s men? What will happen to Roy? Check out what happens this episode as you gear up for the season finale! Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts about the episode.

Don’t need the Arrow episode recap for Streets of Fire? Click here to jump directly to Josh’s thoughts on the episode!
To see Violet’s thoughts on this week’s Arrow episode, Streets of Fire, click here to get directly there!

Arrow, Season 2 Episode 22: Streets of Fire Recap Overview

Oliver and Laurel escape the rubble. Diggle flees from Isabel with Felicity. Detective Lance tries to protect the police station.
Lt. Pike and Lance ask for help from the Arrow. Oliver tells Lance about the cure for the soldiers that Felicity learned about. Oliver heads to the Star Labs courier to pick up the cure.
Laurel is rescued by the Canary, and Laurel realizes that she is Sara.
Thea has some father daughter bonding moments with Merlyn, as Merlyn battles Slade’s men.
The cure is taken by Slade’s men, but when Blood realizes that Slade is just on a vendetta against Oliver, he steals the cure and gives it to Oliver. Slade finds out, and Blood meets two katanas from Isabel.
Receiving the cure, Oliver hesitates to use it on Roy. Upon learning that Argus plans to blow the city if Oliver doesn’t save it by morning, Oliver decides the testing of the cure is worth the risk.
On the island, Oliver attempts to save Sara and cure Slade. Things don’t go quite as planned, however.

Fighting to Survive in Starling City

This week’s episode of Arrow begins with Oliver and Laurel buried in the rubble caused by Oliver’s explosive arrow (why did he decide it was a good idea to bury themselves under concrete?). Luckily for Laurel, Oliver’s bow and quiver managed to stay in the rubble with her, and she is miraculously able to use another explosive arrow to blow her way out of the rubble.

Meanwhile, Diggle is handling Isabel in her terrible mask. Diggle is not faring well, but Felicity shows up and rams her with the van she is driving. Isabel survives, and Diggle and Felicity make a run for it.

Also, more of Slade’s men are terrorizing the police station, as Lance attempts to stay alive. Lance is able to slow them down with some grenades luckily.

Lance and Pike Need Arrow’s Help

Back at City Hall, Blood attempts to talk the governor down from sending in the National Guard. The DA is concerned, but Blood tries to reassure her.

Out of the rubble, Oliver and Laurel share a hug. He calls for Diggle to pick them up. When they meet up, Felicity tells Oliver that Star Labs came up with a cure. The bad news is the courier carrying the cure has crashed, and is wounded. Diggle, Felicity and Oliver head for the courier while Laurel heads to safety at the police precinct. Slade has overheard the conversation however, and sends men to intercept the cure.

Lance begins to organize the police to deal with Slade’s men. Lt. Pike shows up, and informs Lance that no backup from the National Guard is coming. Lance says their last option is the Arrow. Pike grudgingly agrees to use his help. Pike also gives Lance his Detective badge back.

Lance makes the call to Arrow, and Oliver asks for the police to buy them time while they obtain the cure. Unfortunately for Oliver, they have been spotted by some of Slade’s men, and the van is crashed. Slade’s men decide to walk ever so slow to the van, which gives Oliver and company enough time to escape. Oliver is able to at least temporarily slow down these men with an explosive arrow.

Laurel Realizes Who the Canary Is. Blood’s Plan is Out of Control

Laurel, meanwhile, has been running for the precinct. Sara shows up though to help her. Laurel then realizes who the Canary is–her sister. They continue towards the police station. Laurel and Sarah have a sentimental moment though, having an emotional sisterly moment. They head to meet up with Lance, but on the way, a fire has broken out in an apartment. Lance shows up on the scene as well, and Sara has headed inside the building to help, and manages to rescue a kid from the blazing building.

Returning to the police station, Laurel and Lance meet up with Sara.

Blood and the DA are watching the TV and Blood has a smirk of enjoyment on his face. It soon fades when Slade’s soldiers burst in, and kill the DA.

Thea has some Father-Daughter Time with Malcolm Merlin

At the train station, Thea tries to avoid all of Slade’s men, but she is grabbed by one of them. She has a rescuer though, Malcolm Merlyn shows up to save the day. Thea takes off down a hallway, and Malcolm follows. Thea isn’t wanting to see him very much despite his recent heroics. Another of Slade’s men shows up and interrupts their father/daughter moment. Malcolm does his best to take down the man, but is injured in the process. Thea manages to find a pistol, and aims it at Malcolm. He tries to talk her down, but Thea pulls the trigger–firing two shots. We do not see where the shots land however…

Blood Betrays Slade, and Pays Dearly For Assisting the Arrow

Up in Slade’s building, Isabel and Slade watch the city burn. Blood storms in, demanding to know what the plan is now. Blood realizes that Slade’s motives are all based on his revenge against Oliver.

Unfortunately, the cure that Oliver had been heading towards is taken by Slade’s men, and Oliver is too late. The cure is quickly in Slade’s hands.

Oliver, Felicity and Diggle head back to their clocktower hideout, and Oliver is discouraged. Diggle heads to get Roy safe. Felicity tries to help Oliver see that what has happened in Starling City isn’t his fault. She gives him a rousing speech, to rile him up. Oliver gets a call from Blood, and he has decided to now help Oliver, stealing the cure, and plans to bring it to Oliver.

Roy has been brought to the clocktower by Diggle, and they are still keeping him sedated with the venom they have been using the past few episodes. Oliver and Diggle head to meet up with Blood. Blood gives Oliver the cure, and makes a promise to make Starling City better. Oliver scoffs at him, but Blood seems convinced he will be carrying on as mayor.

Isabel shows up to visit Blood, and decides that he needs two katanas through the chest for handing the cure to Oliver. Back at the clocktower, Oliver decides that Roy would be the best way to test the cure, despite Felicity’s protests. Oliver gets ready to test the cure, but decides he can’t do it.

Argus Takes Action. So Does Oliver

At the precinct, Lance and Pike watch the TV and they see the army moving in to block tunnels leaving Starling City. Pike and Lance begin to think whoever this military group is might not have the best intentions for Starling City in mind.

Lance calls Felicity, and warns her about the men blocking the exits to Starling City. Oliver realizes who these men are–Argus soldiers. Waller then warns that at dawn, her men will be blowing the city to smithereens. This prompts Oliver to inject Roy with the cure out of desperation.

So on the island this episode, Oliver is still inside the sub. Oliver believes that Sara was taken hostage by Slade. Oliver plans to save Sara from ship. He tells his buddy Anatoly to blow the sub if he doesn’t return in an hour. They share a “bro” moment before Oliver heads to find Sarah.

Oliver reaches the sub, and finds Sara. Oliver rushes Sara to leave, and Oliver plans to save Slade with the cure he has been carrying. Sara refuses to go, and they head to help Slade together. They are soon confronted by Slade, who has managed to find the cure himself.

Josh’s Thoughts: Arrow, Season 2 Episode 22: Streets of Fire

While there was some silly stuff going on this episode (Oliver deciding the best course of action when cornered is to bring down an entire concrete tunnel on top of themselves?), I did enjoy it as a whole. Slade’s men are creating havoc in Starling City, and Arrow is up against a wall. I really can’t wait to see what he comes up with. I had predicted while watching this episode that the Flash might be involved in saving the city, and with a recent tweet by CW, I am hoping my prediction may come true. I think it will be a great way to introduce the Flash, when its show hits in the fall. It could just be hinting at a preview during Arrow, which would be a bit of a bummer.

I am really looking forward to the showdown between Slade and Oliver. It has been a long time coming. If Oliver manages to get the cure into Slade, will Slade’s mental problems dissipate as well? Can Oliver forgive him if so? It will certainly make for an interesting scene, should Slade receive the cure.

The Argus situation seems a little overboard in my opinion. I would think that with all of Argus’ resources that we have seen, they would be able to come up with a better solution to the problem that leveling the entire city. I am really not buying that aspect of the story. It also kind of feels like it was thrown in at the end in order to raise the stakes a little more. Personally, I felt the stakes were high enough without this “cheesy” addition.

I guess we will get to see it the cure works fairly quickly, since Roy has been given the cure. I have a feeling the cure will work, as it would be a terrible way for Roy to die. I guess it could not work, but I think it will help the story much more if it did.

Now, did Thea shoot Malcolm? I am going to go with no. I have a feeling the soldier that had attacked Malcolm had gotten back up, and that is who Thea was aiming for. I guess we will find out shortly though! I am really excited to see where the season finale takes us! I enjoyed this season for the most part.

Violet’s Thoughts on Season 2 Episode 22 of Arrow: Streets of Fire

The way this episode ended is very reminiscent of the season 1 finale. Do all Arrow season finales have to be about the city about to be demolished? Last time it was the Undertaking, which they stopped, but then found out there were actually two devices, and this time it’s ARGUS threatening to level the city and all of its inhabitants. I guess the stakes are much higher this time though, because last time it was only the Glades being threatened, and now it’s the whole city.

Overall, this was an exciting, dramatic episode, as Arrow has been consistently delivering. And John Barrowman is back as Merlyn, which is always awesome! Unfortunately, Sara is back already. I had hoped she would stay away for longer. Where’d she go, anyway? Apparently, the only reason for her leaving was so that the show could get her out of the way for an episode so that Oliver and Laurel could spend some quality time together. Lame. But now Laurel suddenly realized that Sara is Black Canary, and they’re all closer and more sisterly than ever. Actually, I guess I should say “Canary” rather than Black Canary. It seems like this show is keen on dropping the color part of DC Comics character names. Just like Green Arrow is merely Arrow, now Black Canary is merely Canary. I don’t know what the point of that is, but okay.

Back to Laurel, I have a hard time believing she would be able to shoot that well, especially only getting audio instructions. Watching the scene, I had a memory of my sister-in-law trying to shoot a bow and arrow for the first time, with people standing there trying to help her, and every time she tried to let the arrow fly, all that happened was it fell straight down. I was kind of hoping that would happen with Laurel, and that she would die in the explosion, but no such luck.

Sebastian Blood’s death came rather suddenly, but I suppose he had outlived his usefulness to Slade. Pretty cool execution by Isabel though with the double sword stabbing. I guess Blood was just a secondary villain, and that the season finale needs to come down to a face off between Oliver and Slade. Diggle will probably have the honors of taking out Isabel.

Before I forget, congrats to Detective Lance for earning his Detective badge back! It’s about time SCPD recognized how much of an asset he is.

So what happened at the end of the episode? Did Thea really shoot Merlyn? If she did, I’m guessing it had no effect on him, and that he has Mirakuru in him. What’s going to happen to Roy? I’m sure the cure will work just fine, and they’ll go on to distribute it to all the Mirakuru soldiers as they race the clock to do so before dawn! How will the Arrow team pull it off? I can’t wait to see!