Oliver and Diggle come to blows over who should wear the Green Arrow mantle, while trying to stop Diaz's corruption.
- Bulletproof Vest: After Curtis takes the bullet for Nick, Nick opens his shirt, which reveals his bulletproof Mister Terrific suit.
- The Bus Came Back: Lyla, having not been seen this season since "Promises Kept".
- The Chains of Commanding: Diggle claims that while Oliver became a better person over the years, his leadership got gradually worse.
- The Corrupter: Diaz urges Black Siren not to try and make her daddy proud and stay the way she is. He succeeds.
- Darkest Hour: Oliver and Felicity are on their own since Diggle left, Armand brings obstruction of justice charges against Oliver, and Hill fires whatever honest cops were left.
- Dead Guy on Display: Anatoly and Diaz leave behind a murdered policeman as a message for all the upstanding cops left.
- Evil Is Petty: Hill fires Dinah and whatever other cops weren't dirty (even though she was fired) and Armand decides to charge Oliver with obstruction of justice in retaliation for being fired.
- Forced into Evil: Captain Hill was blackmailed by Diaz into working for him, as he targeted her family.
- Get Out!: When Captain Hill and DA Armand refuse to stop working for Diaz, Oliver invokes this trope when he fires them both.
- Has a Type: Curtis bitterly notes how he apparently keeps finding boyfriends who hate vigilantes. Thankfully, Nick changes his mind at the end of the episode.
- Hollywood Law: Hill was fired "effective immediately." How did she still have any authority to fire the clean cops?
- I Am the Noun: When noticing her Law School books lying around, Diaz tells Black Siren that they are the law.
- Idiot Ball: John and Oliver both grab it by focusing on the dealer to the exclusion of his girlfriend, literally turning their backs on her. Subverted when she shoots him in the middle of their interrogation of him.
- Informed Flaw: Dinah tells her men that Anatoly is not a physical threat, despite him being a very experienced fighter, who took down both Rene and Curtis once and even gave Oliver some trouble.
- Internal Reveal: Anatoly gloats to Oliver that Diaz has people everywhere in the city; which becomes clear minutes later when DA Armand refuses to charge Anatoly on the grounds of a very minor technicality. It doesn't take long for Team Arrow to put two and two together.
- Sam Armand reveals he knows Oliver is the Green Arrow.
- Kill the Ones You Love: Diaz's dealer gets shot by his girlfriend, who would rather do this than rat out Diaz.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Diggle and Oliver have a brawl over Oliver's leadership skills as of late. Felicity puts them in their place.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Quentin giving Black Siren Laurel's old Law School books provided her with the idea to impeach Oliver on the grounds of Obstruction of Justice for firing Hill and Armand.
- Noodle Incident: When we last saw Anatoly he was in custody, now he's back on the streets.
- Only Sane Man:
- When Dinah and Oliver are about to have an argument about how Rene ended up in the hospital, Quentin puts a stop to it.
- Similarly, Felicity puts a stop to Oliver's and John's senseless brawl.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Diggle's anger about not being Green Arrow anymore is very out of character for him and is noted by everyone. And even Diggle is freaked out by it. He and Lyla come to the conclusion that Diggle believes if he was still wearing the hood, the city would be in a better shape since Oliver's duties as mayor and father distract him from Team Arrow.
- Pragmatic Villainy: When Diaz asks Anatoly why he simply shot the cop instead of torturing him a little, Anatoly tells him that he wouldn't want blood to get on his new suit.
- Rage Breaking Point: Both Diggle and Oliver keep shouting all kinds of accusations and insults at each other during their argument. However, when Oliver brings up that John killed his own brother, the latter loses it and punches him.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Diggle gives one to Oliver over how his questionable leadership decisions as the Green Arrow and the mayor have only made the city worse.
- Oliver gives one to Diggle over his poor decisions.
- Felicity gives to Oliver and Diggle over acting like teenagers.
- Redemption Rejection: Oliver tries to give Armand and Hill the chance to fight back against Diaz. They refuse on the basis that Diaz can't be beaten. Oliver promptly fires them both. And then Hill fires whatever honest cops were left and Armand decides to bring obstruction of justice charges against Oliver.
- The Reveal: Diaz didn't buy Armand and Hill, he blackmailed them into submission; he threatened Hill's family and offered to pay for Armand's son's leukemia treatment.
- Rules Lawyer: Armand, as he manages to free Anatoly on a minor technicality.
- Taking the Bullet: Curtis takes one for his new boyfriend Nick, when they are under attack from the corrupt cops.
- We Are Everywhere: Anatoly tells Oliver that Diaz has people on his payroll virtually everywhere in his beloved city.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Diaz notices that Black Siren is trying to win the approval of Quentin somehow and mentions that he used to do the same for his now deceased father.
- Wham Episode: Diggle leaves Team Arrow, as he can't reconcile working with Oliver while he believes his leadership is poor. So he joins ARGUS instead.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The dealer's girlfriend clearly had every opportunity to shoot John or Oliver, if not both. Seems she missed a real opportunity for advancement there.
- Although, her decision not to kill at least Oliver falls in line with Diaz's plan to destroy Green Arrow.
- You Are Too Late: The majority of people believe Diaz has already won, so there's no point in resisting. Oliver disagrees.
