‘Arrow’ Recap With Spoilers: “The Dragon”

“The Dragon” begins with a bully picking on a younger boy in an apparent orphanage. We see that the kid being bullied was a young Ricardo Diaz.

Present day, Diaz is talking to Siren about thinking about goals long-term. They’re outside of a pub waiting for the owner to come by. They have a meeting with him.

Curtis goes over to Felicity’s apartment and the two talk about the tech they’re making.

Diaz and Siren are talking to the gentleman, who leads the Quadrant. Diaz asks for a spot at the table at the top of the Quadrant in exchange for unlimited access to Star City’s police and shipping ports.

The gentleman wants Diaz to audition for a role, and an upset Diaz goes to the bathroom in an attempt to calm down. Diaz and Siren leave the bar to stake out a competing crime boss who’s under FBI protection.

Curtis approaches Felicity about a comment she made earlier about wanting to be a part of a team. She informs Curtis about Oliver’s lone-wolf approach now, and that Diggle left the team a week prior. She tries to convince Curtis she’s fine, but he refuses the believe that.

Diaz and Siren return to the bar and show Eric Cartier — the Quadrant boss — the pictures he took while staking out the competing crime boss. Now, the Quadrant guys want Diaz and Siren to bring Baylor — the guy they were staking out — back to their HQ. They go to Baylor’s hideout and start taking out his henchmen.

Diaz and Siren kill everyone in the FBI safehouse besides Baylor, and they take him. Cartier shows up outside of the safehouse and he shoots Baylor and Diaz both. We see that Diaz survives the attack, because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Cartier calls his father, and the two discuss taking over Star City now that they think Diaz is out of the way.

Diaz and Siren rendezvous at Cartier’s club. Diaz fires his gun into the air to clear the club out, leaving Cartier the only one left, and they confront him about the shooting. Carter has five men surround Diaz and Siren, but the duo quickly takes them out.

Curtis’ phone buzzes, and it’s a news alert. Felicity turns on the TV and sees that the Green Arrow was involved in an explosion in the Glades.

At Cartier’s club, they’ve tied Cartier up and begin questioning him. Eric lets slip that Diaz was never under serious consideration for induction into The Quadrant, and Diaz starts wailing on him. Straddling the line of consciousness, Cartier finally gives Diaz some information.

Diaz and Siren arrive at the location Eric gave them. They release Cartier to run inside, and when he does, it’s revealed he’s strapped with a bomb. It explodes, killing a large chunk of the henchmen standing watch. Diaz and Siren enter the compound and kill the remaining guards.

They find Cartier’s father and the other remaining leaders of The Quadrant at a meeting table. Cartier’s father tells Diaz that he’s going to send him to a hospital that’ll keep him alive while men torture him.

One of the other Quadrant leaders wants to hear Diaz’s business proposal, giving him the floor to speak. Diaz tells the group that he’ll give them access to everything he runs in Star City in exchange for a seat at the table. Father Cartier refuses to let Diaz join, and Diaz shoots him, killing him.

The Quadrant leaders agree to let Diaz take Cartier’s seat at the table.

Felicity arrives at Oliver’s apartment to see if he survived the explosion. She’s watching the news when the anchor reveals that forensics will have to be used to identify the bodies on location, making Felicity think that Oliver is dead. Oliver then steps out of his room and comforts Felicity. He promises her that he’ll always come back.

Diaz tracks down his bully as a kid. He takes the bully to a rooftop with Siren. Diaz drenches his bully in lighter fluid and lights him on fire.