If you’ve ever wondered what Arrow would be like if Oliver weren’t the main character, “Reversal” is the episode for you.

While this show always maintains a certain scope of characters, especially in recent seasons, tonight’s episode demonstrated what this show would be like if Felicity’s hacktivist shenanigans were the main plot and Oliver, as her over-protective, ex-vigilante boyfriend, were merely a supporting character.

When Alena, Felicity’s Helix hacktivist frenemy, returns to Star City asking for Felicity’s help stopping Cayden James from killing 300 million people, she understandably drops everything (including her second first date with Oliver). Unfortunately, this means ignoring Evil Laurel’s killing spree. Perhaps if Felicity had been at the Arrow Lair, she might have put together what Diggle, Curtis, Dinah, and Rene could not: the fact that Cayden Smith and Evil Laurel are working together.

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Image via The CW

What are they up to? Let me begin by saying that the Arrow writers obviously binge-watched Mr. Robot over hiatus because they are going hard on the techno thriller vibes here. Cayden James master plan involves, wait for it, taking down the internet. Yep, all of it. In one go.

James does this by getting Evil Laurel to kill, then steal  the fingerprints of members of the International Domain Name Directory, which Felicity and Curtis try to convince us is a thing? Consider me skeptical that, after five and a bit seasons, Arrow has started doing its due diligence when it comes to computer science. However, when you have Michael Emerson, he of Lost and Person of Interest fame, playing the nefarious tech genius Cayden James, you can get away with a fair amount of ridiculousness. Besides, no one watches Arrow for its realistic depiction of cybersecurity culture.

The true purpose of the episode is not to get cybersecurity culture right (I hope), but rather to see Felicity and Oliver switch positions, her in the field and him as Overwatch. It is a clever idea, it just would have worked better with a less far-reaching mission. Arrow doesn’t tend to do as well when it extends the stakes of its missions beyond Star City. This is a show about saving the soul of this one city. When it travels to Nanda Parbat or Havenrock, the stakes tend to come off as much harder to grasp. This is one of the (many) reasons why the non-Lian Yu flashback narratives didn’t work.

The same is true here. Sure, losing the internet sounds terrible, and Felicity gets a throwaway line about how it would mean 300 million people dying due to downed infrastructure, but Rene also gets a line saying: “Thank god we saved the internet. My fantasy football team is killing it this year.” So, it’s hard to tell what the stakes actually are. I just know they have nothing specifically to do with Star City, which always makes for a weaker Arrow episode.

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Image via The CW

In the end, we viewers learn that it was never Cayden James’ plan to take down the internet, but rather his plan to get Felicity to take down an internet firewall so he could plant a code without leaving his signature. In effect, he is setting the foundation to frame Felicity for whatever evil plan he is set on enacting.

It’s an effective bait-and-switch, but one that relies on Felicity and Curtis being idiots, and trying to convince us that the internet is just one big room, apparently located somewhere in Star City. It looks like Cayden Smith could be the Big Bad for Season 6, and I’m excited to see that play out; I just wish he had been given a better introduction to the Arrow universe.

Rating: ★★ Fair

Miscellaneous:

-- “I love rolling into these things solo.” — Oliver, on going to charity events alone.

-- “This is how it felt to be you, isn’t it?” It really was a delight to see a much chiller Oliver see Team Arrow, and dating one of its members, from the other side.

-- It’s only been three years since Oliver and Felicity’s first date?! It feels like we’ve all lived lifetimes.

-- In other news, 70 percent of Star City residents are against the anti-vigilante law, which means they are pro-vigilante, I guess. Team Arrow seems to think that is low, but I think that’s ridiculously high.

-- “I 9-1-1-ed you over one dead body.” — Curtis, appalled that he interrupted Oliver and Felicity’s date.

-- Last season, Arrow toyed with the idea of exploring Evil Laurel’s potential for good. I think that ship has officially sailed.

-- “I am a hacktivist, not a monster.” — Alena

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Image via The CW

-- “I didn’t just do it by myself. I had you.” Guys, Oliver has grown so damn much.

-- Felicity: “Well, I am very smart, apparently.”

Oliver: “So smart.”

-- “I know. I had a family once.” — Evil Laurel, before killing a dude.

-- “Were it not for me, you would have either starved or bled to death on Lian Yu.” Wait… what? Cayden James knows about Lian Yu? Is there anyone who hasn’t been to that island?

-- “Yeah, well it’d have to be big to hold the, you know, whole internet.” — Felicity on the Internet Room.

-- “This partnership is a democracy, after all.” — Cayden James, on his relationship with Evil Laurel, which feels much more like Cayden James is in control than it does like a democracy.

-- “I know this: you can do it. I believe in you.” This is why Oliver is not Overwatch. Like, his pep talk is nice, but it won’t stop someone from firing a bullet at Team Arrow.

-- Felicity’s hair looked particularly good this episode. That is all.

-- Next week: Slade Wilson is back! And he’s teaming up with Oliver to find his son. I’m all in. 

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