So apparently I needed a few days to recover from the “Broken Arrow” installment of Arrow.  If you haven’t caught on to the fact that I’ve always been a fan of Roy and have really liked Thea this season, it should be clear now.
“Broken Arrow” was a whole episode without The Arrow himself, though Oliver was able to be in the action some, via a team-up with Ray.  Thanks to Ray’s tech, Oliver was able to help out against Deathbolt a bit.  The whole fight only served to amp up Ray a bit but did feature the interesting reveal that Deathbolt was not actually in Central City when the particle accelerator went off.
On the other side of the episode, we got some serious drama with Roy struggling to survive in prison.  Thea comes to see him, and he eventually gets in a prison fight.  But he’s okay.  The a cop stabs him.  And then he’s dead.  But it was Felicity and Diggle’s plan.  Which was a secret.  Yeah.  More on that later.
We ended the episode with Ra’s pulling what is probably his trump card to get Oliver to take the deal:  he straight up murders Thea.
Positives
I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion of Roy’s story arc here.  It was nice to see that this was planned out so that he sort of goes through a complete growth.  Sure, he was painfully underused as Arsenal.  His prison meeting with Thea was truly excellent, as it helped capture the fact that they really are one of the more reasonable and likeable couples in this little TV universe.  The fake-out was surprisingly well executed.  I actually fully bought that he was dead, even though I was audibly shouting how stupid a death it was and that he deserved better.
The Arrow and Atom team up was surprisingly fun. Â Oddly enough, this felt more rewarding than the Flash team up, even though Oliver actually had little to offer in the end. Â Probably, it was because he was actually teaming up with the previously advertised hero. Â Either way, the end of that also featured some seeds planted for what will likely send Ray off on his own.
The fight with Ra’s and Thea was actually pretty cool.  It played really strongly off the fake-out, as emotions for many were all over the place.  Watching Thea valiantly try to fight off Ra’s was almost heartbreaking, as we all knew exactly how it would end.  So far, Malcolm is the only season-villain who hasn’t stabbed a Queen girl in the chest.
Negatives
Roy’s send-off was surprisingly bland.  Heck, all Oliver said was “Thank you.”  Dude, he went to prison for you.  He deserves better.  The scene between the two when Roy was in custody was miles better.  While we are on the subject, why didn’t they tell Oliver the plan?  The only feasible reason is to teach Oliver to let his friends help and handle things, and that is a pretty sick and twisted way to do it.
Captain Lance is officially a jerk.  Don’t get me wrong, I love that they have taken him away from the Commissioner Gordon role.  But he was straight up willing to sacrifice Roy (who is maybe 20/21 at this point) to catch the Arrow.  When he blamed Oliver at the end for Roy’s death, it held literally no weight.  This man did nothing to get the kid who he knew was innocent out of general population.  Weak stuff, Lance.
The Verdict
Arrow delivered some solid emotion and, at least temporarily, lost two character in another solid episode.
