As Darhk prepares to kill the world in a nuclear fire, Oliver must stop him once and for all.
Tropes:
- 11th-Hour Ranger: Malcolm shows up roughly half-way through the episode to help Team Arrow. They clearly expected this as they just roll with it.
- Accidental Aiming Skills: Played with. Thea saves Malcolm from a Ghost, but both of them agree there was good chance she was aiming to kill him instead.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: A squadron of Ghosts storm the Lair and shoot it up.
- Almost Dead Guy: Darhk throwing Curtis across the room gives him internal injuries that would have killed him if the team hadn't acted fast enough.
- Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: In real life, detonating over 15,000 nukes in the stratosphere would cause tremendous problems in the world, including direct destruction of airplanes and satellites and likely causing a nuclear winter; in fact, NASA estimates the blast radius being 8 to 17 times larger than at sea level
. However, here there is no issue.- Not to mention how nuclear airbursts set off EMPs. Congratulations, Team Arrow, you may have technically saved the human race, but the power grid (all of them throughout the world), the Internet, and every modern motor vehicle is now dead.
- Bittersweet Ending: By the end of the episode Darhk is finally dead, the world has been saved and Oliver becomes Interim Mayor to Star City. However the events of the season have taken a toll on the Team and by the end Oliver and Felicity are the only ones staying to help the city while everyone else moves away to deal with their inner darkness.
- Book Ends: The season began with Oliver and Felicity coming back to town, while Thea, Laurel and Diggle had stayed to keep it safe. It ends with Oliver and Felicity staying while everyone else has left.
- Breaking the Fellowship: By the end of the episode John, Thea and Detective Lance all move away from Star City after the Trauma Conga Line they've all experienced leaving Oliver and Felicity the sole members of Team Arrow still fighting.
- Brought Down to Badass: After Oliver finally disables Darhk's magic for good, he is very quick to remind him that he is a former member of the League of Assassins.
- The Bus Came Back: Amanda Waller appears in a flashback, even though her death in the present was caused by Executive Meddling.
- Call-Back: In Season 3's "The Brave and the Bold" Barry told Ollie that while he couldn't inspire people as the Arrow he could as Oliver Queen. He was right.
- Chekhov's Gun: Flashback-Oliver uses the communication gear he parachuted in with to contact A.R.G.U.S. to get everyone off the island.
- Chekhov's Gunman: While Murmur vanishes after this episode, Brick is apparently caught and incarcerated as he turns up to cause trouble for Oliver again in Season 7.
- Continuity Nod:
- Curtis mentioned how the Green Arrow's debut in Star City back in last year's October is the reason why he and his husband didn't move out despite Star City's three consecutive years of terrorism.
- Darhk referenced the events of Season 2 where Slade Wilson/Deathstroke killed Moira Queen, Oliver's mother. However, Oliver mentions that while he had a choice with Slade (who had killed a handful of people, some of whom deserved it), Darhk (who intends to rain hell on Earth) doesn't have the same chances...
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind
- Oliver stabs Baron Reiter in the back to save Taiana.
- Thea is surprised when her father turns up to save her life from a Ghost. She repays him later in kind, or maybe she was trying to kill him and missed—she's not quite sure.
- Cosmic Retcon: Averted. Despite Barry doing a major rewrite of time in his own finale, Star City seems unaffected... for now at least.
- Keep in mind, however, that it's not clear if Barry had yet done that.
- Dark Horse Victory: Oliver becomes Interim Mayor of Star City at the end not just because of his Rousing Speech but because he also won 48% of the vote which makes the City Council think he's the right man for the job.
- Death by Transceiver: Against the advice of Oliver and Diggle, Lyla sends an A.R.G.U.S. assault team to confront Darhk, then listens in horror to their screams on the comm link.
- Death Glare: Damian gives one to Oliver when he stabbed him, showing his hatred of Oliver and the world.
- Easily Forgiven:
- Despite all of Malcolm's horrible crimes, he's allowed onto the team without a word of protest (admittedly they didn't have time to debate the issue) and at the end escapes with no punishment.
- The escaped prisoners come across Oliver as he neck-snaps Taiana and are ready to shoot him for a Commercial Break Cliffhanger. Even though Taiana was loved for giving medical care to the prisoners and Oliver hated for being an ex-guard, he's quickly able to convince them that it was necessary.
- Fingore: Cooper has bleeding nails from the typing he's doing as he's forced to hack for Darhk.
- Final Battle: At the episode's climax, between Darhk and his army of Ghosts vs Team Arrow, backed up by the people of Star City.
- Foe Romance Subtext: Darhk is touched that Oliver chose to spend his last moments on Earth with him.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Yet again Malcolm joins up with Team Arrow.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Cooper lets Felicity access Rubicon, knowing Darhk will kill him for it.
- Heroic Second Wind: Two times by Oliver. First, after he finally overcomes Darhk's magic, and then when he overpowers him in hand to hand combat after getting his ass kicked twice.
- Hope Bringer: Curtis inspires Oliver to be one for the city. He gives a Rousing Speech to rioters that's televised live on Channel 52. This causes a crowd of citizens to back up the Green Arrow when he's getting his butt kicked by Darhk, giving Oliver the hope needed to neutralize Darhk's darkness-based magic.
- Hollywood Hacking
- A missile descending on Star City is stopped by Felicity spoofing its GPS signal to make the missile computer think it's not reached the height needed for detonation (100 feet above the target).
- The final 15,000 nukes are deal with by hacking not the warhead but the missiles. Curtis suggests inverting the horizon on the missile's computer so the missiles fly into space instead.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Darhk cites this during his Motive Rant as the reason he's destroying the world.
- Idiot Ball:
- The Ghosts grab it tightly in the final battle, completely neglecting to use their guns against the unarmed civilians, let alone show their status as trained soldiers against the untrained populace.
- Not that Team Arrow are any better, with everyone ignoring those racks of automatic weapons in their Lair to grab bows or pistols instead when the Ghosts attack.
- Ineffectual Death ThreatFelicity: So, what...you kill my mother if I don't help you destroy the world? Newsflash! My mother lives in the world!
- Internal Reveal: John Diggle finally reveals to Lyla that he didn't shoot Andy in self defence. Unsurprisingly Lyla is more accepting of what he did than John is.
- It Has Been an Honor: When it looks like a nuke is about to detonate over Star City, Curtis says this to Felicity. She tells him to shut up and help her override it.
- Karma Houdini: Malcolm Merlyn, once again.
- Karmic Death: Oliver kills Darhk the same way Darhk killed Laurel—stabbed with an arrow.
- Leave Him to Me!: Oliver says this of Darhk during the Final Battle.
- Mercy Kill:
- How Darhk rationalizes nuking the world since in his mind It Is Beyond Saving.
- Taiana gets Oliver to do this to her so she won't become like Reiter.
- Match Cut: From an escaped slave in the flashback doing a Dramatic Gun Cock, to Diggle cocking a rifle in the present day.
- Motive Rant: Darhk delivers one to a crowd of citizens.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Thea realizes she's lost herself when she threatens Darhk's daughter, wondering if perhaps she's her father's daughter after all.
- No-Sell: Oliver tries the exploding arrow trick again, only for Darhk to freeze the explosion in place.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Oliver jumps in through the window in the loft fight. Diggle, on the other hand, comes out of the opposite end of the loft, with no apparent way of getting in.
- Oh, Crap!: As much as he tries to hide it, Darkh clearly feels this when he realizes that not only are the people of Star City no longer afraid of him but because of that, his magic no longer works on Oliver.
- Paper Cutting: Oliver does this to Darhk with one of his arrows to taunt him, right before they engage in melee combat.
- Phlebotinum Overload: Reiter is warded by a protective tattoo, but Taiana has no such protection so she will eventually go insane as she has no way of controlling her power.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Malcolm joins up with Team Arrow to stop Darhk's plan now that the only possible safe place for himself and his daughter has been destroyed.
- Put on a Bus: Thea, Captain Lance, Donna, and John all leave Star City to cope with their pain and darkness.
- Race Against the Clock: This time Team Arrow have only two hours to stop thousands of nuclear missiles, and even less to stop the one that's heading for Star City from a launching silo in the United States.
- Rousseau Was Right: At first, the citizens of Star City give into their worst natures in light of the pending nuclear strike. But after Oliver's Rousing Speech, they unite behind Team Arrow and fight against the Ghosts. This provides Oliver with enough hope to counter Darhk's magic.
- Rousing Speech: Oliver gives one to Star City as a whole thanks to Curtis inspiring the entire dejected Team Arrow.
- Sequel Hook: In the flashbacks, Oliver decides to fulfill his promise to Taiana, by going to Russia and finding her parents. From previous seasons, we know that this leads to his involvement with the Bratva.
- Short-Lived Aerial Escape: Flashback-Oliver points out the airplane flying off with the escaped prisoners as proof that Reiter has lost. Reiter points out the airplane is too small to carry all of them, then explodes it in mid-air using his power.
- Shout-Out:
- Bystanders stepping into Oliver and Darhk's fight by throwing things at him is like at the climax of the first Spider-Man movie.
- His inspiring hope speech also brings to mind the climax of the second Ghostbusters film.
- And then them charging against the Big Bad's Mooks alongside the heroes is like in Countdown to Destruction.
- Stab the Scorpion: Thea points an arrow at Malcolm, only to shoot the Ghost behind him.Malcolm: Thanks. Unless you were aiming at me.
Thea: Honestly, I don't even know any more. - Super Window Jump: Darhk lampshades Oliver's tendency to increase the glazing bill on the loft.Darhk: Look. I know you don't live here anymore, but those were nice windows.
- Take a Third Option: Waller gives Flashback-Oliver a choice of returning to the United States to take up his vigilante activities, or becoming an A.R.G.U.S. agent and putting his skills to work anywhere else on the globe. He elects to keep his promise to Taiana instead.
- Take That, Critics!: Felicity's comment about refusing to leave smacks of the writers angrily lashing out at the very vocal anti-Olicity portion of the fanbase.
- Title Drop: Felicity explains to Oliver that the inner conflict he's feeling is called "schism".
- The Un-Reveal: Subverted. Argus takes custody of the idol on Lian Yu, so we have no idea how Darhk got it. However, if one looks closer during that scene we see that one of the agents carrying the artifact is Mina Fayad, thus cementing how Darhk would have gotten the idol.
- Together in Death:
- What Darhk wants for him and his daughter, to be reunited with Ruve in death.
- Lyla and John make arrangements to be evacuated to Coast City along with Baby Sara, so at least they will all die together.
- Even though Malcolm thinks Team Arrow has no hope of averting nuclear holocaust, it's noticeable that he once again shows up to protect Thea and fight alongside her. If he has no hope of saving her, then it can only be due to this trope.
- Trash the Set: As is tradition, Team Arrow's HQ gets utterly trashed by the Big Bad's goons.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't see what happens to Darhk's daughter or Malcolm Merlyn after Damien Darhk is killed. However thanks to Timey-Wimey Ball, both characters (and Damien Darhk himself) return in Legends of Tomorrow.
- Would Hurt a Child: Thea threatens Darhk's daughter in order to get him to back off during the opening fight in the loft. This causes a Heel Realization in her later on, which leads to her leaving the team.
- You Are Already Dead: Team Arrow find Cooper with a bullet in his chest that—due to Darhk's magic—is slowly pushing its way to his heart.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Felicity convinces Cooper that he is strong enough to endure the pain Darhk inflicts on him and save the world.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Darhk believes that Oliver won't kill him as he previously spared Slade who killed his mother. He's proven wrong.
