"Hello, Oliver. Long time."
Having driven away his allies, and with Diaz's people in the police and the DA putting the heat on to get him impeached or removed Oliver decides to go after Diaz alone with possibly disastrous consequences.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Oliver gives two to himself: why do people keep leaving him and has he really changed?
- The Bad Guy Wins: The hallucination of Prometheus notes with amusement that he's finally won — he didn't have to destroy Oliver. All he had to do was to get him to drive everyone away.
- Beneath Suspicion: Barely anybody even knows Ricardo Diaz by name and those who do think of him as just a second-rate drug dealer. He has been actively working on it to be that way, to quietly take over the city.
- Breaking Speech: Combined with "The Reason You Suck" Speech mentioned below, the Vertigo hallucination of Adrian Chase gives a huge one to Oliver.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: Oliver is compelled to wear his "Man in the Hood" outfit when going for Diaz, instead of the Green Arrow costume, by a hallucination of himself wearing the aforementioned outfit.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Josh Segarra returns as Prometheus! Turns out it's just Oliver hallucinating from the effects of Vertigo.
- Earth-1 Laurel returns via Oliver's hallucinations.
- In a way, Oliver's original alter ego, "The Hood" returns.
- Cooldown Hug: Felicity manages to talk some sense into a Vertigo-ridden Oliver at the very last second, also hugging him.
- Dead Person Conversation: Oliver hallucinates and talks to both Adrian Chase and Earth-1 Laurel Lance.
- Dirty Cop: SCPD is so full of them that known criminal Ricardo Diaz can sit comfortably in the police captain's office and 'Laurel Lance' can just waltz in and have a conversation with him.
- Don't Create a Martyr: Diaz's rationalization for not killing Oliver.
- Downer Ending: The City Council impeaches and removes Oliver from office, giving Diaz absolute control over the city.
- False Friend: Councilman Kullens who secretly drugs Oliver with Vertigo on Diaz's orders.
- Get Out!: After Oliver yells at Felicity and William (while knocking over the latter's science project) in his apartment, Felicity says this to him.
- Godzilla Threshold: Quentin advises reaching out to Agent Watson to help take down Diaz for lack of options. Unsurprisingly, she's not interested.
- Hallucinations: Oliver suffers from some pretty severe ones on account of the Vertigo injected into his system.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Thanks to having no concrete evidence to connect Hill and Armand to Diaz, most people are convinced Oliver did it to save his own bacon.
- His Own Worst Enemy: Oliver to himself, as noted by Adrian.
- I Work Alone: In the end, Oliver decides that he is better off continuing the mission on his own.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- It's noted that Oliver does not have a great track record with hiring District Attorneys, from "Adrian Chase" to his replacement.
- A lot of what "Chase" says about Earth-1 Laurel during Oliver's hospital hallucination, mentioning that she was a lawyer who "after a few self defense classes" was suddenly ready to fight thugs and trained killers. He does ignore the training she got from Nyssa, but it wasn't much and some rationalization is to be expected.
- The Mole: Councilman Kullens is in bed with Diaz, infecting Oliver with Vertigo via skin contact in the form of a handshake on his command.
- Mook Horror Show: In true Season 1 fashion, Oliver as the Hood is this towards the corrupt policemen.
- My Greatest Failure: It's reiterated once again, that Laurel dying is this for Oliver.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Diggle's insistence that Oliver has been stretching himself leads him to conclude he should try to stop Diaz alone.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Oliver gives one to an entire building of corrupt cops.
- Not Helping Your Case: Oliver straight-up admitting that he got his evidence from the Green Arrow was a really stupid thing to do. Granted, he was drugged, but still.
- Not Himself: Oliver throughout the bulk of the episode, due to being poisoned with Vertigo by Councilman Kullens. He even goes so far as to punch out Quentin.
- Only Sane Man: Felicity is the one advocating that Diggle and Oliver bury the hatchet to stop Diaz. They're both too stubborn to listen.
- Pragmatic Villainy: When Black Siren suggests that Diaz should just kill Oliver, he explains that he's holding back because he doesn't want Oliver/Green Arrow to become a martyr for the people of Star City.
- Rage Breaking Point: Oliver has one under the influence of Vertigo, scaring his son.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Oliver spends the whole episode giving one to himself under the influence of Vertigo. His conclusion is he needs to stop being the Green Arrow and be the Hood — a vigilante with no attachments. Even with the Vertigo out of his system, Oliver still believes he needs to go back being a one man operation.
- Smug Snake: Councilman Kullens entire attitude reeks of this, acting like a huge, condescending asshole all the time.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Oliver and John engage in some when the latter returns to the bunker for a technical upgrade on his chip by Felicity.
- Villain Respect: If Prometheus were to walk into Ricardo Diaz he'd be inclined to shake his hand as he's going against Oliver better than he did. Instead of just hurting Oliver's friends, he got them ditch him altogether.
- Wham Shot: Oliver keeps hearing a clanging noise in the bunker....then Prometheus shows up!
- During the opening scene, if one doesn't pay attention during the fight scene, the reveal, once the precinct is lit enough, that Ollie is wearing his old Hood outfit, complete with greasepaint instead of the mask.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Felicity gives one to Oliver for exploding at William. Subverted when it turns out it's the Vertigo.
- Wretched Hive: Diaz's plan is to turn Star City into this by spreading the word that, without Mayor Queen, Star City is "open for business".
- You Are in Command Now: After Oliver is impeached and removed from office, Quentin has to take over as the mayor.
- You Are Not Alone: Felicity tells Oliver this at the end.
