As Team Arrow adjusts to life as fully deputized agents of the law, they learn to their horror that Brett Collins was not the stalker who was tormenting Dinah and Black Siren. He comes out of hiding... and he targets William.
- Abusive Parents: Stanley's father would drug him into immobility, then beat him if he misbehaved or didn't listen. His mother didn't directly participate in the abuse, but she knew about it and did nothing to stop it. Stanley eventually snapped and murdered them both.
- Alone with the Psycho: Oliver, Felicity, and William find themselves in a state of drug-induced paralysis and at a very unhinged Stanley's mercy.
- Antagonist Title: The episode title refers to Stanley Dover.
- Asshole Victim:
- Stanley murders Councilman Kullens, the corrupt city official on Diaz's payroll who got released early.
- From Stanley's horror stories about his childhood, his parents weren't exactly innocent victims.
- Berserk Button: Stanley does not like being called "the Star City Slayer".
- Brought Down to Normal: How much Dinah will be able to be the Black Canary, with her throat slashed and emergency lasered closed remains to be seen.
- The Bus Came Back: Stanley Dover, having not been seen since "The Slabslide Redemption"
- But Now I Must Go: Curtis decides to leave Star City for a post at a humanitarian institution in DC.
- Call-Back: William tells Oliver and Felicity about getting into a fight and references how Oliver taught him to go for the nose over a year ago, which is exactly what he did.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Last episode he laid into Felicity, and now William lays into Oliver for abandoning his family and taking a prison sentence.
- Call-Forward: During his cameo, Captain Singh mentions that Central City's own serial killer, Cicada, has sent a bunch of cops to the hospital, just before the Flash showed up. Thing is, the audience hasn't seen this happen yet as Cicada has only targeted metas so far, apart for the prison transport he attacked in the first episode, so good luck trying to figure out when this episode takes place.
- Continuity Cameo: Captain Singh briefly shows up when Dinah calls him for some information.
- Determinator: Despite just barely surviving having her throat slashed, Dinah manages to warn the rest of the team about the danger to Oliver before getting proper medical attention.
- Dare to Be Badass: Before he leaves, Curtis tells Felicity that he's signed over his half of the rights to Helix Dynamics to her."Maybe this is how Felicity Smoak will change the world."
- Disproportionate Retribution: Stanley murdered his brother for considering him mentally unbalanced and trying to send him to Arkham. Though, given Arkham's reputation, this might be a bit more understandable.
- Dramatic Thunder: The climax of the episode takes place during an intense thunderstorm. The loss of power affecting Felicity's security system is ultimately what allows Stanley to enter the Queen/Smoak apartment.
- Escape Artist: Dinah and Roy immediately escape their restrains when Connor carelessly stops watching them for a moment.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the last present day scene, Felicity receives a phone call from her doctor with some news that the audience doesn't hear but is strongly implied to be that she's pregnant. Then it cuts back to the future, where Blackstar reveals that she's Felicity and Oliver's daughter.
- Foreshadowing: Two with Blackstar, signifying who her parents are:
- A scene with Felicity transitions to one with Blackstar in her place.
- Blackstar is distinctly taken aback to hear that William is Oliver Queen's son.
- Freudian Excuse: Stanley has a doozy. He was physically abused by his parents, who would give him a paralytic drug and "correct" him for being bad. He eventually killed them in relation, hence his mantra that "some people deserve to die". He also killed his brother for being appalled for what he did. He's repeated this pattern ever since, latching onto big brother figures, killing anyone who he feels is "bad" for them, and then killing them for disagreeing with his actions.
- Generation Xerox: Blackstar and Connor Hawke, given that their parents are the members of Original Team Arrow.
- Genre Blindness: Curtis is outraged when the others want to split up.”Have you never seen a horror movie?”
- I Just Want to Be Normal: William says he wants to live with his grandparents so he can have something of a normal life; Felicity comes to believe it would be best for William. Oliver is reluctant at first, but after Dover breaks into his apartment he eventually decides that William should move in with his grandparents.
- I Shall Taunt You: The Slayer sends threatening notes to all of Team Arrow, minus Oliver, Felicity, and Curtis
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The conflict between Curtis and John. Curtis is the idealist who's unhappy with the moral comprises that comes with working at A.R.G.U.S. and finally leaves for a humanitarian institution in DC. John however has finally acclimated to Lyla's cynicism after years of railing against it and sees the compromises necessary to keep the world safe.
- Irony: The vigilante-hating Blackstar is the daughter of two vigilantes, the Green Arrow and Overwatch.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: What Blackstar subjects Zoe and William to, trying to gain the access codes for Archer.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While they might have been a bit rude about it, William and his grandparents had a point about Oliver and Felicity being ill-equipped to give the boy a normal life. They concede it after a while and let him go with them.
- Let's You and Him Fight: In the flashforwards, Roy and Dinah vs. Connor and Blackstar provide the main action of the episode due to the below-mentioned Poor Communication Kills.
- Lured into a Trap: Blackstar and Connor went to the old Arrow Cave knowing that the surviving Team Arrow members would come there and she could ambush them.
- Mexican Standoff: Roy aims an arrow at Conner, while Blackstar has a knife to Dinah's throat and William is pointing a gun at her. The situation is defused when Blackstar reveals that she's William's sister.
- Mood-Swinger: Stanley swings back and forth between friendly and threatening the entire time he's dealing with Oliver, Felicity, and William, often with little or no provocation.
- Mythology Gag: As in the comics, Oliver is very well-known for his chili
, and for it being quite spicy note . - Never My Fault: After slashing Dinah's throat, Stanley tells her "you should have listened to me", implicitly putting the blame on her for investigating the threatening notes he sent her.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: Future William has this reaction when Blackstar asks if his interest in Felicity's whereabout is due to them being past lovers.
- Not Me This Time: William suspects that Blackstar killed Felicity and tries to blow up Star City, but she denies both.
- Not Named in Opening Credits: Brendan Fletcher isn't named in the opening credits, to keep Stanley's identity as the Star City Slayer a surprise.
- Not Quite Dead: Turns out that Felicity is not dead in the future.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Downplayed and justified; the Claytons (who aren't Ollie's in-laws in the technical meaning) don't mince words on their opinion of Oliver's eligibility to raise William, and considering everything that's happened in the last two years they're aren't entirely wrong. They don't even need to point out that Samantha, their daughter ultimately died as a result of being in Oliver's proximity, although it's clearly on their minds as well.
- One-Hit Kill: Oliver is able to knock out Stanley while partially paralyzed with a glass soda bottle.
- Poor Communication Kills: The fight between William’s group and Blackstar and Connor could’ve easily been avoided if they exchanged information, or at the very least if Mia and John Jr. used their given names rather than aliases.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Stanley, even more so than he let on before.
- Put on a Bus:
- Curtis leaves Star City to accept a job in Washington, D.C.
- In the present day, William leaves Oliver and Felicity to live with his maternal grandparents in Central City.
- Red Herring: Brett Collins nor Kevin Meltzer were the stalker who was tormenting Dinah and Black Siren.
- The Reveal:
- The Star City Slayer is none other than Stanley Dover. He's originally from Gotham.
- The scar on Future!Dinah's throat was caused by Dover slashing her throat and then Curtis fixing it with his tech. And as many fans theorized, it did cause her to lose her powers.
- Felicity isn't dead in the Bad Future, she's just Faking the Dead.
- Blackstar is Felicity's daughter and William's half-sister.
- Sanity Slippage: Stanley has officially gone off the deep end, rationalizing his kills as "helping" Oliver and honestly thinking that Oliver is his friend.
- Self-Made Orphan: Stanley murdered both of his parents as a boy. They gave him a good reason to do it.
- Shout-Out: Stanley's lair is essentially a love letter to as many horror movie cliches as the writers could fit into the episode. Stanely's remarks about "correcting" the people he murders stand out as a reference to The Shining.
- Sibling Murder: When Stanley's brother condemned him for murdering their parents, Stanley killed him as well, setting the stage for many years of crimes to come.
- Slashed Throat: Apparently Stanley's preferred method of killing, as he murders Councilman Kullens this way and also tries to kill Dinah like that.
- Slashed Throat: Despite her combat ability and metahuman powers, Dinah is as helpless as anyone else when Stanley gets the drop on her; her throat is cut and she's left to bleed out before she can so much as blink.
- Spotting the Thread: Rene immidiately notices that Stanley had been in his place before even finding the note.
- Stalker Shrine: Stanley has one of Oliver, with a photo wall of all his associates.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: William hasn't calmed down at all since being home, if any thing he's only gotten more angry — to the point that behind Oliver and Felicity's backs he asked his grandparents to take custody of him.
- Unwanted Assistance: Turns out Stanley murders people, enemies and friends alike, to somehow help Oliver.
- Wham Line: Courtesy of Blackstar to William and the rest of the flashfoward characters in the final minute of the episode."You're not gonna shoot me... Because my name is Mia Smoak. I'm Felicity's daughter... And your sister."
- You Didn't Ask: William's excuse for telling his parents about his expulsion. They didn't ask... about anything.
