CWWell that was heartbreaking…and then it wasn't!
Oliver's not dead, guys! Surprise!
The only problem is that for most of the episode, Oliver was dead, and that caused a lot of problems back in Starling City, especially after Malcolm Merlyn took a quick trip over to the mountain (or so he says, but it was a really quick trip) to confirm that the Arrow was actually deceased.
He didn't tell his darling daughter Thea, but he did inform Team Arrow, and no one took it harder than Felicity. She sort of lost it. She not only quit Team Arrow – "There is no this without him." – but she also sort of quit working with Ray after kind of exploding on him over what his dead fiancé may or may not want him to do in terms of attempting to fight criminals in a weird suit. We understand her pain, but damn, girl. That was harsh.
She apologized later, but also gave him back his nanite chip, or whatever that thing was. She told him he could commit suicide if he wanted, but she wasn't going to help.
Laurel, meanwhile, dealt with her grief in a different way in light of Starling City's newest very big problem: Vinnie Jones is here, and he is letting people out of jail. Or rather, gang leader Danny Brickwell, played by professional scary guy/singing kingsguard on Galavant Vinnie Jones, is getting all his most violent friends out of prison in order to take over the city. Fortunately, while Oliver's away, the new Black Canary is here, and she looks awesome (thanks in part to Katie Cassidy). She also looks pretty scary, especially to two of the gang members who met her there towards the end of the episode.
Speaking of Oliver, he's definitely alive (sooner than expected, but we're not complaining), thanks to his old Hong Kong friend Maseo, and Maseo's apparently magical wife, Tatsu, who seems to have succeeded in curing Ollie of his deadness. Maybe he was only mostly dead? We'll have to wait until next week (at least) to find out how exactly that worked, but for now we'll just be glad it did.
Meanwhile, someone should really let Thea in on the whole Team Arrow thing. The girl owns a club. She is basically an adult. Just tell her already, and stop breaking our hearts with scenes like her asking Roy to get the Arrow to find Oliver.
So what did you think? Were you surprised to see Oliver alive again so quickly? Let us know in the comments!