Although episode 10 of Arrow, appropriately titled "Left Behind," answered a lot of questions, it left a lot of other ones hanging in the air.
Please note that the following contains spoilers. If you haven't yet seen episode 10 of Arrow, stop reading now.
In "Left Behind," Team Arrow is desperately awaiting news after Oliver challenges the head of the League of Assassins to a duel. As we know, R'as Al Ghul plunged a sword into Oliver's chest and sent him crashing down the side of a mountain, so it's likely that Oliver is dead.
Of course, we know that he can't be, as the show is about him, but for story purposes, he's dead. Team Arrow is starting to suspect as much, but then the death is confirmed by Malcolm Merlyn, who has gone to the top of the mountain where Oliver fought Al Ghul and saw the bloodied sword that killed him, which he brings back to the team.
Team Arrow finally begins believing that Oliver is truly gone, and that leaves Felicity giving up, not just on Team Arrow, but on everything. She heartbreakingly stomps off, yelling that it's over and that she's done. She also makes it clear that she won't help Ray Palmer become The Atom.
Meanwhile, a new bad guy, Brick, is stealing evidence from the police for criminals awaiting trial, all so that they can go free and serve him. His main goal? To take over The Glades.
But Brick hasn't counted on a new hero in town because Laurel finally takes up her mantle as Black Canary and starts kicking major butt.
Finally, we see someone find Oliver's body on the mountainside, supposedly dead, being carried back to shelter. Then, as expected, his eyes open and he's alive and his saviors are none other than two characters from his past, Maseo and Tatsu.
Here are the questions we still have for next week's episode, starting with the obvious:
How did Maseo and Tatsu bring Oliver Queen back from the dead?
Stephen Amell crushed rumors last week that Oliver would be revived thanks to the Lazarus Pit, which was what most fans expected. Even after that announcement, many fans thought he was lying. However, we learned this week that Amell was right. Somehow, Tatsu brought him back to life. Was it magic? Or maybe some of those special herbs that existed on the island Oliver once spent time on?
In the DC comics, Tatsu is also a superheroine named Katana. She's deadly with swords, and even has some experience with the undead, but we still have no idea how she brought Oliver Queen back.
Of course, it's likely that Oliver wasn't really dead to begin with and that he somehow survived both the sword to the chest and the fall (he's survived far worse, after all). So maybe she just healed him and all he really needed was some rest.
Why does Brick want to take over the Glades?
The second thing we want to know is why is Brick so interested in taking over the Glades? The Glades aren't exactly much anymore, what with all the disasters that have happened there, so why even bother? Why not shoot higher and aim for the whole of Starling City instead?
Perhaps Brick just wants to take over the criminal element of the Glades before making a bigger move into the rest of Starling City. He seems like a rather intelligent criminal, so perhaps he has a much bigger plan in mind. We know Brick will play the villain through at least three episodes of this season, so there's probably a much bigger plot afoot.
What is Malcolm Merlyn's endgame?
It's always hard to figure out Malcolm Merlyn's motives, but this episode left us scratching our heads. What is he up to? He went as far as to travel to the mountain where Oliver was left for dead (or was just mostly dead) to confirm Oliver's passing and he seemed almost genuinely sorry when he handed Al Ghul's sword bloodied with Oliver's blood to Team Arrow.
And yet, at the same time, he lied to Thea and told her he didn't have news of her brother. Why would he do that? We know he's manipulated her by using the "I'm your father" card, but what purpose does it serve for her to not know the truth about Oliver (well, the truth as we know it at that point)?
Finally, Malcolm said something prophetic to Team Arrow in this episode. He said that Oliver's death meant his own. Is his life somehow now in danger because Oliver is dead? Will he try to work with Team Arrow for his own self-serving purposes? Or will he team up with Black Canary instead?
We know Merlyn is up to something, but the big question remains: what is it?
All we have to go on is this new preview for Arrow episode 11, titled "Midnight City."
Arrow airs on The CW Wednesday nights.
