The death of Sara rocks the team as Oliver (Stephen Amell) hunts down assassin Simon Lacroix (Matt Ward) who has been hunting down and killing those involved in a lucrative oil deal with a bow and arrow and whose brand of weapon makes him the obvious suspect in Sara’s murder. The loss of Sara also heightens Oliver’s fears about not hearing from Thea (Willa Holland) who has been secretly training with her not-so-dead birth-father Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) over the past few months.
While staving off Laurel‘s (Katie Cassidy) thirst for vengeance, which nearly forces her to kill an innocent man, Oliver also has to deal with an emotional Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) who, in wake of her friend’s death, decides to accept the job offer by Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) who the show continues to play more like Ted Kord than the classic version of the Atom. The episode also includes more flashbacks to Ollie’s time in Hong Kong and a guest-appearance by Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell) whose hope that his friend may be alive Oliver must crush to save Tommy’s life.
As the episode comes to a close, Oliver captures the assassin responsible for several deaths around town but not Sara’s murder. The Canary is dead (now for the third time in the show’s short run), her killer is still at large, Felicity now has a new boss (and possible love interest?), and a shaken Oliver discovers the need to reconnect to the shrinking numbers of his already small family. Next week should begin to work Thea back into the show, although whether it would be as an ally or potential new enemy is still yet to be seen. And we’ll have to wait and see how long will it take for Oliver to discover the truth about Merlyn’s resurrection, opening more doors to the eventual promised appearance this season of Ra’s al Ghul.