Loved It? Hated It? What did you think of "Checkmate?"

[KSiteTV]

What did you think?

[ArrowEsq]

Wow! I really love this season of Arrow. Things have really come full circle and it feels just as good as the earliest seasons did.

No gimmicks. Just pure, grounded, gritty Arrow. Just a sensational job by the Arrow team. Great call backs to Oliver's days as the Hood. Enjoyable season of flashbacks in Russia.

I may be mistaken, but are the writers referencing Family Man (Samuel Morris) from the comics???

I applaud the team on truly the "rebirth" of Arrow. The past few seasons have been dragging a bit. Typical CW unnecessary relationship drama and so forth. Not completely gone this season, but not as much a distraction this season.

Looking forward to the future episodes!!

[President_Luthor]

Holy crap that was intense. DVR viewers this was a "hitting the fan", action heavy, gritty drama episode.

Starting off with Talia invoking her full name, reminding Oliver that he killed her father two years ago She's on Team Prometheus naturally. League rebirth. No way the LOA just vanishes, not with Ra's daughter around now.

And Prometheus was one upping everyone. Josh was killing it all season and now that the Chase ID was only an alias, he's been slaying it as a full-on villain. Prometheus is the star here. Oliver truly was checkmated. Diggle tried to give his usual pep talk but Oliver was realistically not having much of it this time. Oliver playing by Prometheus rules and taking his wife was a twist, but Chase shivving her wasn't. And Talia entering the current timeline was the icing on the cake, as was her throwing Oliver's shame of father's remark back at him.

Oliver gave Felicity a chance to come clean about Helix. He wasn't confrontational about it, but genuinely concerned. She doesn't. Interesting ...

Curtis knows something is up but he has no idea she is well down the rabbit hole. Helix wants quid pro quo for giving Felicity extra resources, which Felicity readily does for them. Naturally Felicity gets the info to save Susan and it was a bit odd none of the team really asked "where the hell were you this whole time" because Ms. Smoak was MIA for much of it thanks to Helix. Still expecting Decaf Dark Felicity but I wonder if they'll push it to Medium Roast? Maybe, maybe not.

Awesome flashbacks too. Anatoly was great, even his observing why Oliver dressed like Robin Hood and the foreshadowing that his lessons from Talia may come at a price too high. Hockey arena shootout was crazy.

[smllvllfn]

I had been wondering if Oliver knew who Talia really was. I figured when the wife came in that Adrian was going to kill her with the way he was all upset about them bringing her there.

Maybe Nyssa is going to have come and save her "husband".

[President_Luthor]

Talia vs Nyssa for the vacant throne of Ra's Al Ghul? I'll buy the IMAX tickets to that show any day.

And any chance to hear Nyssa remind the Berlantiverse that the big loophole of her marriage to Oliver is still there. But that's a checkmate of a different sort. Maybe Felicity can use Helix to find out if she can annul the thing or not, cuz in my books, her bae is still consort to the last Ra's Al Ghul, Nyssa. Talia showing up in the current timeline is only the latest reminder of Oliver's 'Nanda Parbat Surprise'. The League lives!

Awesome ep. But yeah, Talia with a fortress full of ninjas means it may also be full of League legal documents too.

[TheSecretVampire]

There's going to have to be repercussions to Felicity for what she's doing with Helix. I mean, it can't be as simple as trading hacks and that's it with no blow back. She's going to have to get burned badly so she can learn her lesson she's gone too deep in those walls. I mean, she mind as well quit being in the Team Arrow lair and just go to Helix everytime Oliver and company needs help finding someone or something. There has to be a point where this ends and ends badly for Felicity. I'm not saying this to hate on Felicity, but it's just seems to easy just to trade a hack for a hack and everything can be easily found and solved.....I mean, it can't be that easy.

[Backward Galaxy]

The Helix stuff needs to go somewhere already, but the Prometheus story was excellent. Their fight was especially brutal with both actors bringing genuine intensity to it. This has been the best of the three CWDC shows I watch this year.

[President_Luthor]

The Arrow-Prometheus fight was intense. They did a good job ratcheting up the animosity between them notch by notch in the ep, so when they did throw down you could practically taste the bile.

This week at least, it's not even close -- Arrow left its TV cousins in the dust with Checkmate. This'll be a fan favourite in years to come.

[BkWurm1]

A much, much better episode of Arrow than we've seen in awhile. Usually I find a lot of the middle section of an Arrow season to be poor (and this year has had some stinkers, hello Spectre of the Gun) but this one was good. Good pace, good reveals, good emotion, and good cliff hanger.

I was so pleased to finally get some good emotion from Oliver who has been half zombie this year. I welcomed his temper tantrum in the Bunker. (Still, if he has to learn AGAIN that he doesn't have to go it alone I will SCREAM.) Not sure why Oliver gave himself as the GA a 24 deadline to turn himself in but I'm sure next week's plot will explain that to me.

The Talia connection wasn't a surprise but it was delivered well. And now all of Lexa Doig's interviews where she said Talia likes to get others to do her dirty work for her make sense, lol.

Helix is bigger than I expected it to be so it shouldn't be too long before we find out their wicked ways, lol. The Dark Knight connections are strong with Helix having all the cell phone picture data in real time. Put me down for expecting Felicity to blow it all up by the end of the season.

Looking forward to next week even if it will be a flashback heavy episode. I'm really curious where Chase thinks he can take Oliver. I mean, it's hard to believe that Prometheus can break him when Ra's couldn't. So I'm expecting some kind of twist or explanation.

Most of the flashback was just pointless shootouts but loved Anatoly saying the whole put on a costume and your a different man was silly and LOVED his reaction to the Arrow Voice, lol.



But I digress. Adrian Chase (or whatever his name is) just brought the dialogue-ing villain to lovely new heights. If he had a mustache, it would have been a twisting, lol.

It was also unintentionally hilarious that Oliver didn't know Susan was missing.

[BkWurm1]

There's going to have to be repercussions to Felicity for what she's doing with Helix. I mean, it can't be as simple as trading hacks and that's it with no blow back. She's going to have to get burned badly so she can learn her lesson she's gone too deep in those walls. I mean, she mind as well quit being in the Team Arrow lair and just go to Helix everytime Oliver and company needs help finding someone or something. There has to be a point where this ends and ends badly for Felicity. I'm not saying this to hate on Felicity, but it's just seems to easy just to trade a hack for a hack and everything can be easily found and solved.....I mean, it can't be that easy.

I think right now she trusts that what she's doing for Helix is being used in the best interest of the world but I'm sure pretty soon she'll find out that their doing jobs for hire for bad dudes as well and that the drones she gave them access to were for probably drug runners to escape detection or something. And that's when she'll have to take action.

[costas22]

Couldn't believe I'd ever say this again, but Arrow is on a roll at the moment. This was the third very good episode in a row. It was high octane from start to finish, with a good guy and a big bad, both of whom actually get you invested in their storyline. Unlike the Barry-Savitar mess right now.

Talia's choice of allegiance shouldn't come as a suprise. And it actually ties well to Chase's agenda, given than Talia also wants revenge for her father. What are the odds of Nyssa returning at some point to confront her sister? I know Katrina is involved with another show at the moment, but her involevement in this storyline is something that has to happen.

I like the fact that Prometheus changes the questions just when Oliver thinks he has the answers. Killing his wife just to remove that weakness (as Oliver called it) from the equation was brilliant on his part. I guess now the big question is how long Oliver will be his prisoner for. Next episode will be flashback heavy, so we'll probably have to look at 5.18 for this to be resolved. On that note, imo Segarra changed his game very well in this episode. Going from someone sincere and likeable to someone twisted.

The fight scene between Oliver and Chase was exactly what it needed to be: Intense and raw. Glad to see there weren't any fancy ballet moves in it.

Team Arrow came in the right doses this week. All things considered, imo this was the best use that the show has made of Rene, Curtis, Tina and Quentin this season. Diggle was in his familiar role of being the good angel on Oliver's shoulder. I've missed the scenes where it's just the two of them at the bunker.

As for Felicity, I'm on a wait and see basis. Just like TheSecretVampire, I'm waiting to see what will be the consequences for her actions. I'd hate it if this storyline was wrapped in a pretty bow and with her being completely justified in her actions. I have to say though, the fact that Miss "Lies hurt! They are evil!" is lying repeatedly to Oliver and not even denying that fact that she's doing it, is satisfying on a twisted level. I like the smell of hypocrisy in the air.

I'm amazed that Susan survived this ordeal. Don't know where the character can go from here. Hoping Pike pulls through as well.

The flashbacks were mostly a bunch of gun fights. At least it was nice to see a couple of scenes at the hockey rink. Those monotonous studio shots with the yellow filter are getting tiresome.

8.5/10. It's amazing to think that this is the same series that exactly one year ago gave us the horror show known as Broken Hearts. (sorry Amarice ).

[BkWurm1]

I have to say though, the fact that Miss "Lies hurt! They are evil!" is lying repeatedly to Oliver and not even denying that fact that she's doing it, is satisfying on a twisted level. I like the smell of hypocrisy in the air.

It's really not the same thing at all.

[President_Luthor]

While I don't expect them to push the envelope with Felicity's 'dark' turn, the idea that there will be no blow back on her is unfathomable. There is a bit of a do as I say, but not as I do here with Felicity.

At the very least, she won't be able to turn around and say "But you didn't give me a chance to explain!". Because Oliver just did. In this episode. She chose not to.

There will probably be debates about whether concealing the truth is the same as lying, but they are the same in my books. Even if she blows up Helix and saves the world (a likely scenario), she kept secrets from the team. I'm expecting some fallout from this, but as I've said it'll be decaf strength fallout, not dark roast.

[134sc]

I absolutely loved this episode. Probably one of my favorites of the entire series to date.

[Quark]

That was a really good episode.

I really like Talia although I kind of wish she was watching all this from the sidelines. I can't help but feel now that she is in Star City, she is going to end up dead at the end of the season. I was intrigued by her talking about her :business" with Oliver in Russia, implying something was in it for her. I wonder what that was? I'm glad that Oliver didn't know who Talia was until just now. It makes a lot of sense (plus I like being right ).

Adrian Chase, or should I say Simon Morrison, is a great villain and the actor that plays him (can't remember his name right now) is wonderful. He is rather psychopathic. I get that Oliver killed his Dad so he hates him, but could there be something more? Seeing as Talia seems to have access to League waters considering her rather youthful appearance, she could have used them on him if he "died" at some point? Something seems up with him for sure though. The guy just killed his wife to get at Oliver, there has to be something more than just killing his Dad.

I'm curious about this Helix organisation. Is it a thing in the comics? I'm wondering if there will be some link to Helix with Adrian or Talia. Or maybe it will be to do with the Big Bad for next season.

Also, where was Evelyn in all this? She likes Prometheus.

I feel like Diggle is going nowhere. All he does is be the voice of reason except for one episode where he went kind of nuts. If the only thing he can do is provide Oliver with advice, he should go.