At the Star City Police Thanksgiving drive, William and Oliver are handing out food. Oliver notices Felicity talking to a reporter, and Oliver goes over to bail her out. The reporter Sam is asking Felicity if Oliver proposed the referendum to cover up the fact that he's Green Arrow. They go back to William, and Quentin and Dinah join them and call everyone over. Oliver thanks everyone for coming and for donating food, and unveils the new SCPD facility. Samanda and her FBI agents arrive and she places Oliver under arrest for his activities as Arrow. As they lead Oliver off, he tells William that it'll be fine.
Rene is coordinating the police reception when Samanda comes in. She insists that she has a valid arrest warrant and Dinah has no choice as the ranking lieutenant but to book him. Samanda then talks to Oliver privately in an interrogation room. He promises that he's going to sue her for malicious prosecution when liver returned at the same time that Hood first appeared. Oliver demands to see William, and refuses to give Samanda anything until she brings his son. She soon brings William in, and Oliver tells him that he's not Arrow anymore. He insists that he's kept his promise to William, and will get out as soon as he can. Oliver asks William to be as strong as he knows he can be, and William agrees.
At the bunker, Curtis injects a prototype of the implant into Diggle to stop his tremors. Rene and Dinah arrive and tell them that Samanda arrested Oliver. Dinah figures that Samanda won't come after them, and Diggle warns that they have to protect the city more than ever now that the criminals think that Arrow is in jail.
That night, Cayden gets Black Siren and her mercenaries into Sunderland Corp. They take out the guards in a server room and Cayden directs them to a nano-thermite device. Black Siren uses her sonic scream to shatter the container despite Cayden's warnings, and a mercenary grabs the device.
At the station, Oliver is sitting in a cell when Dinah comes in and asks what he needs. She offers to help him escape, but Oliver tells her that he can't make himself a fugitive and William an orphan. He says that he has to do it the right way, and Dinah wishes him a good night.
At the bunker, Diggle tells Curtis that the pain is better. Curtis has confirmed that there was a break-n at Sunderland and Cayden bypassed their alarm surveillance. They discover that a nano-thermite explosive was stolen, and Curtis says that Felicity might be able to narrow down the target. They call Felicity, who figures that Cayden is looking for an accelerant. She tells Curtis to backtrack Cayden's hack and hangs up, and then goes to Oliver's arraignment.
DA Sam Armand meets with Oliver and tells him that he has no choice but to prosecute. Judge McGarvey comes in and Oliver's lawyer Jean Loring moves to dismiss the case. Sam says that he has immediate proof, and the judge releases Oliver on $5 million bail with a $500,000 bond. Jean tells Oliver that they'll ask for an early trial date, and Felicity says that she has $500,000 from her company's startup to post bail.
Diggle is exercising and tells Curtis that the tremor is almost gone. Curtis' hacker tracker goes off telling them that Cayden has infiltrated Amertek, which has accelerants. Diggle has the team suit up.
Oliver and the others figure that they have to find out what evidence Sam and the FBI have. Felicity has already hacked the FBI database and discovered that they're keeping the proof off-line. Rene points out that Oliver's approval ratings have gone up since he was arrested. Felicity gets a text from Curtis about the Amertek break-in, and Quentin realizes that Black Siren is involved. He says that he'll distract himself clearing Oliver's name while they handle Black Siren.
Black siren breaks into Amertek and heads for the accelerant. Meanwhile, Felicity tells the team where their opponents are and they split up to take them on. One mercenary takes down Diggle, who is clutching at his chest. The others knock out his attacker, and he tells them to stop Black Siren.
Cayden warns Black Siren that the team is approaching her and Diggle is staying back. The team attacks and Black Siren has the remaining mercenaries get the accelerant off and then unleashes a sonic cry to cover their escape.
Back at the bunker, Rene and Dinah tell Felicity about Diggle's tremors. Curtis and Diggle are at the hospital, and Felicity confirms what accelerant was stolen.
At the hospital, Dr. Schwartz tells Diggle that he's suffering from a combination of withdrawal and Curtis' experimental treatment. Once she leaves, Diggle assures Curtis that it was his choice. Felicity calls and says that Cayden is creating a thermobaric weapon that will pressure-cook everything within 200 yards. Diggle tells Felicity to detonate it in a heavily populated area, and Felicity tells Diggle that he should tell Oliver about his condition. He doesn't want to add more to Oliver's burden.
Felicity tries to work out where Cayden would targeted. Curtis comes in and Felicity demands to know what Curtis' treatment was. He says that he injected Diggle with their prototype, and points out that he injected Diggle without consulting her the same way she picked the name of the company without consulting him. Felicity insists that the two aren't comparable, and they go to work trying to work out traffic patterns. As they work, Curtis says that Felicity has taken the initiative on their start-up without consulting him.
Oliver visits Diggle, having found out about what he's going through. He says that he wouldn't have let Diggle compromise the team if he had known, and he's disappointed in Diggle. Diggle says that he apologized to the team, and his obligation begins and ends with them and he doesn't owe Oliver anything. He blames himself for putting Oliver's needs and family above is own, and Oliver says that his biggest m mistake was trusting Diggle to be Arrow. Next, Oliver visits with the comatose Thea and says that he misses chatting with her. He begs her to wake up because he needs her,
At the bunker, Felicity determines that the likely target is the stadium. Billy Joel is playing to a sold-out crowd of 35,000, and Curtis figures that they have to step it up without Diggle to lead them. Cayden already has control of the system and locked Felicity out, and Oliver arrives and says that he can declare a statement of emergency to have the concert canceled. He apologizes to everyone, saying that he should have known about Diggle's condition.
The stadium manager refuses to cancel, pointing out that Oliver has no actionable evidence.
Quentin and Dinah are going through the files, and Dinah tells him that she found out Vincent is Vigilante. She's been trying to reconcile the man she knew with the monster Vigilante is, and Quentin explains that he had a chance to stop Black Siren but couldn't do it. He figures that all of the murders Black Siren has committed since then is on him, and Dinah tells him that she had the chance to stop Vigilante and didn't. She insists that both of them can see the good in people they care about and figure that it's not a bad thing.
Olive visits Diggle and apologizes for not giving proper consideration to Diggle's family. Diggle asks how William is doing, and Oliver assures him that he's fine and that William is thankful that Diggle is Arrow so that Oliver doesn't have to be. His friend says that his test results came back and the nerve damage in his arm spread to his back. Now he has permanent damage and could end up being permanently paralyzed if he goes back in the field. Diggle says that when the Dominators put him into their "perfect" Star City, he saw that his ideal was being Arrow. Oliver explains about Cayden's plans, and Diggle wonders what he's going to do.
The team prepare to head out and argue about who will lead them. Oliver comes in and says that he has a suggestion or two for who should lead them.
After the concert begins, the team arrives at the site with Oliver as Arrow. Overwatch is checking for targets of opportunity and checking to make sure there are no cops who might spot Arrow. She locks in on the bomb and Wild Dog goes to the fire alarm. There are cops nearby, and Wild dog sets the alarms off with a throwing knife. The police refuse to let people leave, claiming that it's a false alarm, and Wild Dog steps out and fires into the air. The people panic and run for the doors, only to discover that the doors are locked. Overwatch warns that the cops are imposters, and tells the others to focus on the bomb.
Wild Dog runs and is forced to take down one fake policeman, Arrow sends Mr. Terrific and Black Canary to help. He finds the bomb and Overwatch confirms via his bodycam that it's a decoy.
The team take on the fake policemen and get the fans out.
Cayden steps out of the shadows and says that it's going to be an insightful evening.
Arrow shoots at Cayden, who uses the stolen T-Sphere technology to deflect the shot. He says that it was all set up so that he could talk to Arrow, and he's there for revenge. Cayden explains that Arrow cost him someone very dear: his son. When Star City burns, Arrow ill near why. He sends the T-Sphere to attack Arrow, and then Black Canary sonic-blasts the vigilante to cover their escape.
Later back at the bunker, Felicity confirms that two years after Cayden was arrested, his son Owen Post disappeared two months ago. Video of the team attacking the fake cops goes viral, and they realize that Cayden set the whole thing up to sway the referendum vote. Rene says that the polling shows the referendum will pass, and he, Oliver, and Dinah take off to give a statement. Felicity points out to Curtis that the two of them worked together to find the bomb location, and apologizes for going ahead without... and tells him about posting the bail with their start-up funds.
Oliver tells the reporters that vigilantes have made the city a better place. However, he will carry out the will of the people and says that he will be exonerated at his trial. As he leaves with Rene and Quentin, Samanda confronts Oliver and says that the time of vigilantes is coming to an end. She says that someone who hides in his shadows is a coward, and tells him that what he does with William is up to him, not her.
That night, Oliver, Felicity, and William meet with Diggle. He explains that he was Arrow for Oliver, and Oliver says that Arrow's team were at the stadium but not Arrow. Once Felicity leaves with William, Oliver tells Diggle that he's okay lying to William as long as he's temporary, and figures that he's subbing for the real Arrow. Schwartz comes in and tells them that something happened to Thea. They go to her room and find her conscious and in a wheelchair.
As Thea eats her Thanksgiving meal, they bring her up to speed on what has happened since she went into a coma. Felicity explains that they used a new drug to wake Thea up, Oliver says that he's never had more to be thankful for.
Written by Gadfly on Nov 24, 2017