Lyla and Diggle let Diaz and the Ghost Initiative out as bait to catch the elusive Dante. Meanwhile Oliver tries to reach out to Emiko again.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- Oliver's status in the Bad Future; Blackstar only ever refers to knowing Felicity while she and William discuss their parents, and her comments imply that she never knew Oliver personally. On top of that, Roy and Dinah's comments suggest that they haven't heard from Oliver in quite some time; they never even knew that he had a daughter. So far, we have no solid word on what happened to Oliver, or if he's even still alive.
- Connor Hawke refers to himself as John Diggle's adoptive son; the status of John's biological son and the circumstances of Connor's adoption are both up in the air.
- Arc Welding: Dante is revealed to be an employer or benefactor for Emiko, finally giving the season a singular Big Bad.
- Arrow Catch: Dante deflects every arrow Oliver shoots at him with his knives.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Just like Diaz, Dante proves himself a capable fighter. Of course, viewers shouldn't expect less from the Highlander.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Dante easily holds his own against Lyla and Oliver while still dressed to the nines.
- Becoming the Mask: Black Siren has settled into her life as an attorney to such a degree that she's now unwilling to risk her career and new life to take revenge on Diaz.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Virgil jumps out of a window, as he would rather not face Dante's wrath for his failure.
- Big Bad: Dante is finally established as this for Season 7.
- Character Death: Diaz is burned alive on Dante's orders.
- Chekhov's Gun: Felicity's Rubik's cube and the cube within a cube solution actually hide a cassette tape.
- Didn't See That Coming: None of the heroes could anticipate that Diaz would macgyver out the bomb in his head using a defibrillator held by a guy in a nearby room.
- Dirty Coward: Diaz tips Dante off about the ARGUS set-up so his "debt" will be repaid.
- Disappeared Dad: Blackstar says Felicity is the only person she cares about — so who knows what happened between her and Oliver.
- Dramatic Irony: Oliver is overjoyed to learn that he's to be a father again. The viewers know that said child will grow up resenting Oliver and blaming him for Star City's descent into decrepitude and chaos.
- The Dreaded: Turns out Dante is the only one who can put the fear of God into Diaz. He'd rather have the bomb go off in his head than face Dante himself.
- Dual Wielding: Dante uses two knives to great effect.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Blackstar is not happy when she finds out Connor is Diggle's son because he's the son of a vigilante; never mind that Blackstar herself is the child of vigilantes.
- Foreshadowing: Diaz claims the bomb going off in his head would be a mercy compared to the slow death Dante would give him. Guess how the episode ends?
- He Knows Too Much:
- In the future, all people who witnessed Felicity's supposed death were killed under the guise of suicide.
- Dante slits the throat of Princess Noor in order to tie up a loose end.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Diggle takes the blame for the Ghost Initiative so Lyla will be kept on as ARGUS Director, destroying his military career in the process.
- Hidden Depths: Black Siren turns out to know quite a bit about what foods to feed pregnant woman.
- Hypocrite: Oliver ran around the city like a happy asshole for seven years shooting arrows at whoever he wanted, but now he wants to get snitty about what Emiko can and can't do because he has a badge and she doesn't. Fortunately, he has a Heel Realization by the end of the episode and apologizes.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Diggle stresses they recruited Diaz because of lack of other options, without the ARGUS brass shutting down the hunt for Dante. Felicity like Curtis before her doesn't buy it.
- Internal Reveal:
- Oliver learns that Emiko's mother is dead and that she is out for revenge.
- Lyla and Diggle finally let Oliver and Felicity know that they've recruited Diaz for their new Suicide Squad, reasoning the less secrets the better.
- Felicity tells Oliver she is pregnant. Laurel also learns about it.
- An in-universe one as in the future, Mia says Connor has no idea who she is. To her shock, Connor reveals he's really John Diggle's son and has known all along who Mia is and keeping an eye on her.
- I Work Alone:
- Emiko is not happy about Oliver trying to force his help on her.
- Blackstar, until William manages to convince her.
- Karmic Death: Diaz dies the same way he killed his childhood bully — by being burned alive.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Nobody from Team Arrow, save John, knew about Mia Smoak's existence.
- Man on Fire: Diaz is finally killed when someone soaks him in gasoline and immolates him on Dante's orders.
- Mêlée à Trois: Cupid, Diaz, China White and Diaz fight each other during a supposed training session, but get dangerously close to killing each other.
- Never Found the Body: In the future, Felicity supposedly died in a explosion, but her body was never found.
- Never Suicide: All of the people who were witnesses to Felicity's supposed death in the future officially committed suicide, but it's clear that they were murdered because they knew too much.
- Parental Abandonment: Averted, William thinks Oliver and Felicity did this after he left to live with his grandparents by never contacting him again; in truth Oliver left William dozens of messages that William never responded to — it's implied that his grandparents made sure he never got them.
- The Mole: Someone in A.R.G.U.S. is tipping Virgil and Dante off — it's Deputy Director Bell. One of many Dante has in the government.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Rene points out how much Emiko is acting like Oliver did in his early days, and that he sure as hell also wouldn't have liked it if somebody had just forced himself into his mission back then.
- Plot Parallel: Both Oliver and William have trouble learning to be a brother to a newly discovered long-lost sister.
- Qurac: The Trope Namer is referenced in this episode, as the home of Princess Noor. It had previously been referenced in the episodes Suicide Squad and Sara.
- Reusable Lighter Toss: Diaz finds himself being sprayed with flammable liquid pumped through the sprinkler system, then a lit cigarette lighter is thrown into his cell. He catches the lighter before it hits the ground...only for his arm and then the rest of his body to go up in flames.
- The Reveal:
- The Longbow Hunters were working with Diaz "on loan" as part of a deal Diaz made with Dante.
- William's grandparents screened any and all messages that Oliver and Felicity tried to send him, giving him the impression they abandoned him.
- Emiko is one of Dante's agents.
- Revenge Before Reason: Felicity wants to kill Diaz when he's done with his A.R.G.U.S. mission. Laurel lampshades how she's being erratic since he's in A.R.G.U.S. custody. She snaps out of it by the end of the episode.
- Sherlock Scan: Laurel deduces that Felicity is pregnant by simply looking around at what she's eating.
- Slashed Throat: How Dante disposes of Bell and the princess.
- Taking the Heat: John takes the fall for Lyla's actions so that she can remain Director of A.R.G.U.S.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
- Emiko doesn't appreciate Oliver's help — even though he's doing so to save his sister from jail time if somebody else from the SCPD found out about her secret.
- Blackstar really doesn't want the others help to find Felicity.
- The Ghost Initiative members are more than eager to murder each other.
- Wham Episode: We find out Emiko has ties to Dante, and Diaz is killed on his orders.
- Wham Line: Connor Hawk isn't actually John Diggle Jr, he's Diggle's adopted son which brings up some interesting questions about what happened to John Jr.
- This may have been implied by the "Star City 2046" episode of Legends of Tomorrow, since it took place pre-Flashpoint, and yet Connor was already a part of the Bad Future.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Given all the grief he caused them, Oliver and especially Felicity aren't happy how Diggle and Lyla freed Diaz from jail.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Laurel gives Felicity a speech about how she doesn't need to be afraid of Diaz, telling Felicity that she is strong and more than capable of handling any and all comers.
- You Have Failed Me: Dante slits Deputy Director Bell's throat after learning that there are A.R.G.U.S. agents at the party.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Felicity's reaction when she hears that Diaz is on the Ghost Initiative.
