Yes Mr. Fisher, last I looked too, the Arrow should be wearing green and be a great shot.  But you’ve got to give his subordinates credit for having some spunk.  

I absolutely loved the premise of “Left Behind” and the way it all played out.  The team’s grief along with carrying on the job because they didn’t know what else to do was believable and very heartfelt.  I felt the agony of each one of those “left behind.”  What do you do if you’re part of a vigilante syndicate and your figurehead goes missing?  Yes, corporations often face the same dilemma when their boss is suddenly gone, but this isn’t exactly your normal bureaucratic organization.  The vigilante business is a dangerous one and while the demise of anyone on the team is in the back of everyone’s minds, actually coming up with a succession plan should the boss go is never a popular topic of conversation.  I’m pegging Team Arrow to be one of those that didn’t like planning for the worst.  


Roy, Diggle, and Felicity tried their best to carry on, each struggling in their own ways with the idea that Oliver is likely dead.  Diggle once again donned the green one’s suit, which didn’t prove to be very effective when his marksmanship with the bow and arrow was borderline comical.  Forget borderline.  He couldn’t hit a broad side of a barn with a bass fiddle.  Diggle played the pragmatist, he didn’t like Oliver’s chances before he went and the fact that Oliver hadn’t surfaced after four days was a pretty glaring clue.  When A.R.G.U.S. didn’t have any intel, he didn’t take that as a promising sign at all.   

Poor Roy’s predicament was worse.  He had to lie to Thea.  Malcolm made this ultra lightning fast trip to Nanda Parbat where Ra’s Al Ghul skewered Oliver (I swear this man owns a transporter) and found the displayed sword that was used for the deed.  He brought it back to the team who were able to confirm it was Oliver’s blood (since Thea was looking pretty unharmed and alive).  Roy knew the truth and then had to make false promises to Thea that he’d help her find him.  In this case, a simple “Ask Malcolm what happened” would have sufficed.  But no, he still cares. He’s also the most willing to carry on without Oliver, although as he and Diggle both realized, they have a lot of catching up to do.  

Felicity played the emotional wreck of the episode, clinging to the belief Oliver is alive.  It’s toughest on her, because her role on Team Arrow was all done due to dewy-eyed devotion to Oliver (whether she cares to admit it or not).  When Malcolm produces the bloody evidence, she has a couple of meltdowns.  First she goes off on Malcolm, blaming him for getting Oliver killed, and honestly Malcolm did have that coming.  Then she goes off on Ray Palmer, begging him not to carry on with his plans for ATOM.  She even tries to plead to the wishes of his late fiancee, which gets Ray mad.  Then she lets the bad guy Brick get away with the 8 months of evidence against convicted criminals, which essentially lets loose a lot of dangerous criminals on Starling City, because she couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to Roy and Diggle.  Felicity later apologies to Ray, cries, and then bails on working on the project.  Then she quits Team Arrow, because without Arrow, there is no Team.  

310LeftBehind002

I have to admit, Felicity’s behavior is predictable, and that’s exactly how I pictured her reacting, but it’s still kind of disappointing.  I figured by now she’d be stronger than this.  I do believe that after taking the night to think about it she’ll come back with a whole “what would Oliver do” mantra, accepting that Diggle and Roy are very important to her too.  Or, she could decide to help Ray instead, but playing both ends of the superhero spectrum isn’t doing her any good.  Either way she’ll come to her senses, probably realizing she can’t escape this life.  Once you’re in babe, you can’t get out.  That’s exactly what will keep Roy and Diggle going.  I think they both accepted in this episode that Oliver is gone, but their mission isn’t over.  Or at least they’re willing to flounder along for a while until they figure out what they’re gonna do.  There’s often an identity crisis with sidekicks, something that Diggle aptly touched on with Laurel regarding his relationship with Oliver.  He’s only ever seen himself as the driver, not the boss.  

But wait, I’m totally glossing.   You see, this is really all about Laurel.  The timing of Oliver’s so called demise is obvious, it’s meant to be the kickstarter for Laurel to step up and become The Black Canary.  She tries to get the bad guy Fisher that Roy and Diggle apprehended in the beginning as a prosecutor, but naturally that doesn’t work.  When all the bad guys get off because the evidence is stolen, and after talking with a very dour Diggle, she decides to take matters into her hands.  She goes after Fisher with a new look, Sara’s old outfit.  Yep, it’s the debut of BC 2.0!   Man, Oliver’s going to be pissed when he comes back to life and sees what she’s done.  

I do give Laurel credit, she didn’t piss me off in this episode.  She was calm and understanding, and didn’t take the news of Oliver’s demise with tears and overwrought hysterics.  Her interactions with Diggle were actually endearing, because while they both were grieving, they were also realistic about the whole thing.  Realistic that is until Laurel put the suit on, because we know that she’s not anywhere near Sara’s level yet.  How good will she get by the time Ollie is well enough to return? Sorry, but death should keep him out of action for a while.  

(Here, just in case you missed the BC 2.0 suit)

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Speaking of counting, I’m still second guessing with Malcolm and I love it.  His ambiguity makes me so happy.  By confirming Oliver’s death, and admitting that his life and Thea’s is still in dagner, did he jump into plan B, which is leaving town forever?  Or was this his plan all along?  Surely he had to know that Oliver wouldn’t win that fight.  He’s still training Thea, so you’ve got to wonder what he has planned for her.  Whether it was sincere or not, I still applaud his honesty with Felicity after her accusation.  He took the blame and actually seemed grief stricken.  He’s such a mysterious guy and I wish this show would spend more time on him and his motives.  I vote for flashbacks with Malcolm! 

I did have one major disappointment in this episode.  I so wish they didn’t show what happened to Oliver after he was thrown off that mountain.  Sure, I think all of us called that it was Maseo that rescued him and that Tatsu was alive and the miracle worker of his resurrection (especially since they’ve been the focus of the flashbacks), but did we have to see it this episode?  Couldn’t they have carried out the “Oliver is dead” drama for a least another couple of episodes and sprung that not so big surprise on us later?  It’s not like any of us believed that Oliver would stay dead.  I’m willing to see more of the team trying to adjust to life without him, and we did get to see Stephen Amell in the flashbacks, satisfying the lead actor quota.  I mean if you’re going to kill the lead character, make it count.  

There’s supposed to be a couple more episodes of our new team dynamic taking on Brick and his team of villains, so I’m dying to see how it all plays out.  I’m hoping to be inspired by new heroes emerging, all in the name of The Arrow.  In the meantime, maybe the flashbacks will explain a bit more about how Oliver was resurrected from the dead.  They’ve sparked my interest!  

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