Arrow S:03 E:17

 Episode Title: Suicidal Tendencies

Original Airdate: 3-252015

Atom vs. Arrow! Suicide Squad! Felicity stands by her man! One shocking character death! And the manhunt begins!

If anything, this week’s show was probably a little too jam packed with storylines that would have been better suited as focus of their own episode. Putting two significant storylines in one shortchanged both and didn’t give either enough time to breathe. In one sense, it certainly kept things moving.

Team Arrow celebrates the event weeks in the making as Lyla and Diggle remarry. Weddings tend to be big major events on shows and since Diggle is the only viable character to get married it was a bit surprising it was such a brief and understated moment. Before the reception really gets underway and Oliver makes a mad dash for the garter belt, Team Arrow is getting text alerts of Arrow returning to his murderous ways. That was one exceptionally long bathroom break, Oliver.

It’s actually Ra’s League of Assassins fully taking on their leaders’ mission to discredit Arrow in Starling City. This makes more sense than Ra’s setting up shop long term and smearing Arrow’s name. This directly puts Arrow on Ray Palmer’s crime-fighting list. Thanks to his suit’s scanning technology, Ray quickly figures out Oliver is Arrow and is equally stunned to learn Felicity and Laurel are in on it. This leads to Atom setting a trap for Arrow and their first throw down. While not as elaborate and showcasing all of Atom’s abilities, it does show Oliver’s intelligence as he quickly knocks out one of Atom’s power packs and Ray realizes Arrow is being set up.

Lyla and Diggle don’t get to enjoy their honeymoon as Deadshot has news of another Suicide Squad mission. This time, Cupid joins the team. I still contend the Suicide Squad could just have their own spin-off if it weren’t for that pesky movie coming out next year. That means Deadshot has to die this mission in a very underwhelming fashion. Diggle and Lyla rightfully start questioning if their jobs are worth potentially leaving their daughter an orphan.

Ray goes to explain to the mayor and Capt. Lance that Arrow is being framed, but before he can fully state his case, an arrow kills the mayor and the archer was shockingly Arrow’s former ally Maseo. This isn’t gonna play out well for Team Arrow next week. It’ll be interesting to see where this all goes, but status quo looks like it is about to permanently shift for the team.