After the attack on Curtis, Oliver realizes Prometheus is planning to make a deadly move on all of Team Arrow; Felicity and Malone find a clue that ties Prometheus to Oliver’s past.

Arrow takes its mid-season break with Oliver figuring more of Prometheus’ plan and somewhat of how it ties into Oliver’s past. The episode is an interesting one that does a solid job of balancing the action with the schmaltz.

Curtis gets a big part of the spotlight in this episode which has him not fighting crime as much as fighting with his husband. The two have been seen a bit throughout the series, but we really haven’t gotten to know them other than some cute moments here and there. This episode really dives into their relationship with the fact Curtis has been moonlighting being brought up. It’s interesting in that it addresses a question I have, but there’s also some issues in that it seems like no one who’s a superhero can have a decent relationship on this show! It’s all really touching and heartbreaking and as much as I wanted to see this tackled, I also didn’t want it to go like this.

The rest of the episode dives into Oliver’s past and that’s the thing that’s really solid about this story arc. The episode weaves this new story effortlessly into the past and it works really well! It makes me want to go back and check out the series’ first two seasons. It also does a good job of returning to some of the plot threads from those seasons that seems to have just… gone away.

There’s some fun too with the episode. The team celebrates the holidays a bit which gives the rest of the team moments of their own to shine. They’re all finally getting some depth which is adding to the show’s enjoyment.

The episode is a really good one… and that’s not even going into that ending. What the hell!? We’ll have to wait and see what it all means, but I know I did a double take.

From the touching moments to the action, this was the strongest episode of the season and hopefully we get more like it when the show returns.

Overall rating: 8.65