Arrow Live Recap with Spoilers - Bratva

The episode begins in a flashback with Talia taking Oliver (complete with his old green hood) off on a training run against some low level drug dealers. After they finish them off, Talia shoots an arrow at Oliver. Oliver catches the arrow easily, to which Talia responds that he's beginning to see that the man who races in the dark is never without sight.

In the present day, Susan Williams visits Oliver and ribs him about their relationship (or the lack of it) when Quentin unexpectedly shows up at the office. He's sober and out of rehab and even offers Susan an on-camera interview. A short while later, Oliver holds a press conference to thank Chase for saving Diggle. When the conference is over, Williams asks Chase for an interview about the death of Det. Malone, but he refuses. She then gets a press alert stating that General Walker and his men escaped custody (killing 30 in the process) and that the nuke trigger he stole is still missing.

Back at the Arrow Cave, Felicity tells Diggle and Oliver that Walker is taking the nuke to Russia to sell it to a group of Markovian separatists. Since the FBI and Argus can't go to Russia, Oliver says he'll take the team to the Russia. However, he leaves Rene behind to watch Quentin.

Quentin doesn't want Rene around, but Rene points out that he's fresh out of rehab, not a politician, and is about to meet the media. Quentin reluctantly lets Rene stay.

Oliver brings the team to Russia, where he's met by Anatoli, who greets him with a punch and a warning that he should have never come back. Oliver is confused, but Anatoli points out that he pulled a gun on one of his Bratva brothers (several seasons ago) and that man ended up dead. Anatoli warns him to go home, or else.

The team sets up a temporary base at an abandoned Argus safe house. Oliver explains to the rest of the team that Slade killed Oliver's Bratva contact several years ago, but Dinah says they'll probably need Anatoli's help to pull the mission off.

Oliver shows up at Anatoli's bar and apologizes. Oliver then points out that Anatoli owes him for Gregor. Anatoli concedes the point and says he'll help Oliver for a favor. Oliver refuses, so Anatoli gives him some free advice: act quickly.

In a flashback, Talia says their next target is a drug dealer who's been supplying drugs to Star City. Oliver recognizes the drugs as what Thea took back in Star City.

Dinah helps Felicity figure out that Walker is probably using the same model of phone he used in the US. She says that she has a contact in Russia that might be "convinced" to help hack the Russian phone network, provided Curtis and Rory pose as Bratva. Felicity then strong arms a Russian network operator to give her access to the network using information she found off of Pandora.

Oliver and his team track Walker to an abandoned building, but it's an ambush. Walker's men pin Oliver and Diggle down while Walker escapes. When Dinah arrives to rescue Oliver, she knocks out one of Walker's men. Oliver grabs Walker's henchmen hoping he'll give away Walker's location.

Oliver takes the henchman down to his safe house's basement and threatens him with a car battery. He gives the henchmen time to stew, even though Diggle wants to torture him immediately.

In a flashback, Oliver murders the Starling City drug dealer.

Back in Star City, Rene preps Quentin for his interview. When Rene brings up Laurel's death, Quentin loses his cool and storms out.

Felicity tells Rory about the Pandora data cache. Rory says that the cache is a major responsibility and that she shouldn't abuse it. Felicity says that she needs to fight fire with fire, but Rory is more worried about Felicity. When Oliver shows up, Rory tattles on Felicity. Before Oliver can ask more, he hears Diggle beating the snot out of their hostage. With the dude unconscious and unable to talk, Oliver goes to Anatoli and agrees to help him.

Oliver takes Dinah to shut down one of Anatoli's rivals (Oliver breaks two of the man's fingers as a reminder). Afterwards, Oliver says that he wanted to move past his time in the Bratva, but this mission proves that he hasn't changed at all. Oliver opens up to Dinah about Prometheus and says that Felicity and Diggle are both affected too, but Dinah says that they'll listen to him.

Rene tells Quentin that Susan Williams confirmed her appointment. Quentin then apologizes and says that he's trying to figure out a way to live with Laurel's death without booze. Rene sits down and offers to do another mock interview.

Over in Russia, Oliver tells Diggle and Felicity that he went back to the Bratva to prevent Diggle and Felicity from making the same mistakes he did. Oliver says that he needs them both to be better than him, because that's why they work together. Anatoli shows up and says he has Walker's location and additional men to even the odds.

Oliver and the team arrive just as Walker moves the nuke. While the van carrying the nuke gets away, Dinah and Oliver chase it down and stops it from getting away. Meanwhile, Diggle beats up Walker, but Walker says that he was never planning to sell the nuke. Walker hoped to "sell" the nukes multiple times over, but he triggers a failsafe that will cause it to explode in ten minutes. Walker also tries to goad Diggle into shooting him, but Diggle stands down.

Felicity tries to disarm the nuke, but she only speeds up the countdown. Rory wraps his rags around the bomb (after all, they survived one explosion) and tells Felicity to run. Oliver arrives to see a giant flash and runs inside. Shockingly, Rory survived the explosion, albeit looking a little worse for wear.

The next day, Oliver, Anatoli, and his team celebrate the successful mission. Diggle says that working with Oliver and Felicity makes him a better person. Anatoli asks Oliver for his help on another Bratva mission, but Oliver says that their arrangement was a temporary one. Anatoli points out that Oliver took an oath to the Bratva, one that's not very easy to break.

In a final flashback, Oliver finds out that Gregor had Anatoli beaten for questioning his arrangement with Kovar. Anatoli says that they can't do anything about Gregor, but Oliver points out that they can just kill Gregor.

Oliver heads back to Star City and promptly sleeps with Susan. Susan asks about Oliver's many scars and tattoos, but Oliver says he's not ready to talk about those now. Susan says that's okay, but her hand lingers on his Bratva tattoo.

Rene visits Quentin and says that Susan Williams went easy on him. It turns out that Rene told Susan that Quentin helped him as a kid and put him on a better path.

Felicity finds out that Rory is leaving town, as his rag suit isn't working anymore. The nuke shorted out his rags and Rory feels like he'd be a liability to the team without powers. When Felicity walks out, he gets a text from her hacker friend encouraging Felicity to continue using Pandora.

Susan meets with her government contact, who confirms that Oliver did have dealings with the Bratva before returning to America. He also shows her a picture of a hooded archer that was active in Russia during the same time period that Oliver was there. Susan realizes that Oliver and the Green Arrow must be the same person.