Oliver, Curtis, and Rene go to Hub City to convince Tina Boland, a woman with powers similar to Black Siren's, to take up the Black Canary mantle, while Felicity and Rory work to exonerate John. Back in Russia, Talia Al-Ghul tries to get Oliver purpose in his life and they take down a human trafficker.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: The comics version of Sean Sonus, aka Discord, uses sonic weaponry and is an enemy of Earth One's Black Canary and Green Arrow, but isn't involved in Black Canary's origin. This one is a metahuman who receives his specific power because of Tina/Dinah getting her sonic powers in the STAR Labs particle accelerator explosion.
- Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Flashback-Oliver is bemused that Talia is using a bow-and-arrow against thugs armed with guns. He himself is carrying a Beretta 9mm.
- Arc Words: "Someone else, something else" once again comes up, in the flashbacks:Talia: You need to give the monster an identity. It's only when the monster becomes someone else, something else that you're free to be Oliver Queen.
- Big Eater: Rene eats increasingly large burgers upon his visits to Big Belly with Oliver and Curtis. Oliver does not approve.
- Big "OMG!": A literal version when Kojo Sledgehammer meets her idol.Kojo: OMG!Felicity: Oh...MG...
- Call-Back: Rene deduces that the reason Sonus has come to Hub City is to take advantage of the power vacuum caused by the death of Tobias Church.
- Call-Forward: In the flashbacks, Talia tells Oliver that "to use a bow and arrow requires patience and discipline" - the same thing he will tell Helena a little less than a year later in the Season 1 episode "Vendetta".
- The Cameo: When Oliver contacts CCPD's Captain Singh, Singh demands proof of who he's talking to. Oliver sends a text to someone and two seconds later, The Flash speeds into Singh's office and leaves a Post-It saying "He's legit" on Singh's monitor.
- Character Development / Lampshading: Oliver chooses Curtis and Rene for the mission to recruit so-called Tina Bolland. Despite a few self-deprecating jokes, they don't screw up at all, in contrast to their past appearances.
- Character Shilling: Oliver makes a lot of comments how Tina has better control of her powers than Black Siren, a woman who could level skyscrapers if she wanted to.
- Contrived Coincidence: The characters are quick to notice the outrageous coincidence that just as they start looking for a replacement Canary, they just happen to come across a metahuman with that exact power, plus her real name is Dinah. Rory attributes it to bashert, the Jewish concept of destiny.
- Dagwood Sandwich: Rene orders his cheeseburgers with three, and later, five meat patties. Oliver and Curtis are not impressed.
- Decomposite Character: The reveal that Tina Boland's real name is Dinah Drake makes her the fourth character to be based off Black Canary after Dinah Laurel Lance, Dinah Drake Lance, and Sara Lance. Additionally, Tina's backstory about having a dead lover who was a cop is based on the relationship between Dinah Drake Lance and her husband Larry Lance, who is already present in Arrow as Quentin Larry Lance.
- Fake Shemp: Oliver texts Barry to get him to confirm that the Green Arrow is on the phone with Captain Singh. Instead of needing Grant Gustin to guest-star, they use the red blur/yellow lightning/loose-papers-flying-everywhere special effect to indicate the Flash had just dropped by Singh's office to leave a note.
- Fangirl: Felicity has one in Kojo Sledgehammer, who helps her out in acquitting John of the false treason charges. This becomes Your Approval Fills Me with Shame when it turns out she was inspired to become a hacktivist by Felicity hacking the Department of Education, the same event that deterred Felicity from hacktivism when her boyfriend was arrested for it.
- Foreshadowing: Kojo Sledgehammer says she works for a hacktivist group called Helix.
- Hellish Copter: Sonus has a helicopter as support during the fight on the roof, which off course get's shot down by Team Arrow.
- Ignored Vital News Reports: Sonus' response to the live news broadcast of the imminent explosion of the particle accelerator is to Shoot the Television.
- Informed Ability: Tina being considered as Earth-1 Laurel's "Superior Successor". See Character Shilling above.
- Informed Flaw: Again, see Character Shilling. Apparently, Black Siren has "weak control" over her powers, despite the fact that she could level skyscrapers if she wanted to.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Talia looks a little....aroused when she witnesses Oliver beating the gangster boss to death.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Seconds after murdering dozens of henchmen and bringing down a helicopter in a fiery explosion, Oliver is trying to convince Tina not to shoot Sonus. Hypocrisy, thy name is Oliver.
- Jekyll & Hyde: Invoked by Talia. She correctly deduces that Oliver doesn't want to go home because he feels like a monster. So she tells him to give the monster a separate identity with purpose so he can be Oliver Queen in peace.
- Legacy Character: Tina/Dinah becomes the third woman to carry the name Black Canary, following Sara and Laurel.
- Meaningful Name: Sean Sonus, who can control sound waves.
- The Mentor: Talia was one to Yao Fei and also becomes one to Oliver.
- Mood Whiplash: When Team Arrow makes their first appearance to Tina, Curtis interrupts the serious speech Oliver makes to her, causing an awkward moment between the two.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In the flashbacks, Oliver brutally beats one of Kovar's associates to death with his pistol, after the man tries bribing him.
- Not Afraid to Die: When Tina has him at gunpoint, Sonus does not bargain for his life, instead he says that he is flattered she is still after him and urges her to finish the job.
- Not so Dire: Felicity is nervous about meeting the dangerous Darkweb hacker Kojo Sledgehammer, only to find she's a glasses-wearing geek like herself who squees on meeting the Ghost Fox Goddess.
- Older Than She Looks: Like her father, Talia looks a lot younger than she actually is.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Sean Sonus is a metahuman, which is typically dealt with by Team Flash, not Team Arrow. However, in fairness, he is encountered by Team Arrow in Hub City, outside of the normal setting of either show.
- Passing the Torch: It's revealed that Oliver's role of The Mentor trying to give people second chances and help redeem themselves by harnessing their inner demons to do good as heroes, as he's done with Rene and Rory and offers to do with Dinah, is a result of Talia doing the same for him.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Sonus is far stronger than his lackeys, thanks to being a metahuman.
- Remember the New Guy?: This Tina is supposed to be an ex-Central City cop, but was never mentioned even once during The Flash (2014). Justified in that she resigned from the department shortly after the explosion and left the city. Barry didn't come out of his coma for 9 more months, by which point her story of being held prisoner and tortured would have been old news and everyone else would have moved on. Well that and her existence maybe a result of Flashpoint.
- Running Gag: Rene's delight at getting thicker and thicker cheeseburgers at the Hub City diner and Oliver becoming increasingly disturbed by it.
- Samus Is a Girl: Much to Felicity's surprise, Kojo Sledgehammer turns out to be a young woman.
- Shoot the Television: Sonus shoots his TV as it warned about the particle accelerator being unstable.
- Spotting the Thread: When Rory makes up a ridiculously over-the-top resumé for a potential candidate (Olympic karate champion former astronaut secret ninja vigilante) just to prove Oliver won't accept anyone, no matter how qualified, Curtis immediately knows he's lying. Karate won't be an Olympic sport until 2020.
- Superior Successor: Invoked. Oliver notes that Tina has a better control over her powers and is also better in hand-to-hand combat than Black Siren.
- Take That, Audience!: A few things in the episode could be seen as subtle gibes against Laurel fans, like when Rory accuses Oliver of being unsatisfiable when it comes to finding a replacement for her, or when Oliver notes how much more powerful Tina Boland is than Black Siren.
- The Cameo: After learning Tina Boland was a Central City police officer, Oliver contacts Captain Singh for information. When Singh asks for proof he's speaking to the real Green Arrow, Barry speeds by and leaves a note on Singh's computer confirming that he's legit.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: After killing Sonus, Tina doesn't get the emotional closure she hoped she'd get.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: A particularly egregious example. Green Arrow, Wild Dog, and Tina massacre the entire army of drug dealers on the roof (and Oliver even blows up a helicopter!) but then Oliver tells Tina not to execute Sonus in cold blood. Though, in all fairness, the idea was that executing a defeated opponent is quite a different thing than killing in the heat of battle.
