Arrow Recap With Spoilers: Suicide Squad

Ollie wakes suddenly from a nightmare as Sara sleeps by his side. Ollie sees that his hands are covered in blood. He looks at Sara, and sees Shado instead, who calls him a murderer. Ollie then wakes up for real, again while Sara sleeps. He picks up his phone and calls someone, asking for a meeting. Ollie meets up with a man named Alexi Leonov (the bar owner and Bratva boss from "Lone Gunmen" and "Vertigo," way back in Season One), who has two bodyguards in tow. Ollie asks Alexi to find Slade. Alexi says he only will if Ollie also helps him with a favor. Ollie refuses, but Alexi insists that there is a way of doing things within their brotherhood. Alexi's guards attack, and Ollie fights back. He threatens Alexi, still refusing to help. In the Arrowcave, Sara waits for Ollie. When he arrives, she asks when he last slept. "Before I found out Slade Wilson is alive." Sara tries to get Ollie to open up, confessing that she is scared too, but Ollie says he's not afraid and that he plans to kill Slade.

Dig sits in his car when Felicity shows up with a mug of hot chocolate for him. She gets him to admit that he is guarding her from Slade. Felicity is touched, but tells Dig to go home. If Slade targets her, he won't be able to stop it. She goes inside, and Dig gets a text with a hotel name and room number. Dig walks to the room door, gun drawn. Lyla answers, wearing a negligee. She offers Dig champagne, but they get right to making out; apparently they've quietly been dating for a few months. Flashback to Afghanistan. Dig and Ted Gaynor are leading a group of refugee women. Lyla asks for a break on behalf of the women, and they decide to stop for five minutes. The S.O. makes a sexist remark about women in the military. Lyla sees an Afghani woman whose feet are bare and bleeding, and gives her some socks. Grateful, the woman tells Lyla that a male criminal is disguised as a woman and among the crowd. Lyla apprehends Gholem Qadir, a terrorist and drug dealer. Dig throws the Gaynor's sexist comment back in his face. Back at the hotel, Dig and Lyla are caught by Amanda Waller, who demands they both come with her.

In Amanda's headquarters, she fills Dig and Lyla in on a stolen nerve agent. While only a small amount was stolen, it's extremely potent and responsible for many deaths. Amanda wants to send them on a secret mission to retrieve it. Lyla insists that Dig isn't cleared for this mission, but Amanda insists, since it was stolen by Qadir, who was released a few years ago in exchange for information. Dig saved Qadir's life in Afghanistan (as detailed in last season's "The Odyssey") and the most likely to gain his trust. Dig agrees to infiltrate a fundraiser in Qadir's home in Markovia and retrieve the agent. Amanda says his job is to get his team inside. She takes him to a hall, where three metal doors open and out walk Deadshot, Shrapnel, and Bronze Tiger. The Suicide Squad. Dig is furious about having to work with them, particualrly Deadshot, the man who killed his brother. At Verdant, Sara and Laurel practice job interviews. Ollie shows up, and Laurel tries to comfort him. Ollie returns to the Arrowcave, where Felicity has been trying to find Slade. She tells Ollie about a robbery in progress, but he remains frozen, focused on Slade. Felicity gently reminds Ollie that they still fight crime.

As Arrow takes down the thief, Deathstroke watches from a nearby roof. Arrow senses him, and goes to the roof. All he finds is a Deathstroke mask, with an arrow through the eye. The Suicide Squad is in Markovia and ready to put their plan into action. Deadshot has a sniper rifle, Shrapnel waits in a car, and Bronze Tiger and Dig wait inside a building. Flashback. Qadir asks Dig for a cigarette and tries to engage him in conversation, eventually offering a bribe. Suddenly, gunfire is heard and Dig quickly moves Qadir to some cover. In the present, Dig "bumps" into Qadir and they reacquaint. Qadir claims to have turned a new leaf, while Dig pretends to be a criminal with many enemies. Bronze Tiger acts as Dig's bodyguard. Suddenly, Deadshot shoots, and Dig pushes Qadir to safety. Qadir is impressed that Dig saved him again. Deadshot runs to the car, but Shrapnel takes off without him and tries to escape. Amanda sets off a bomb in Shrapnel's head. At their hideout in Markovia, Dig is furious when he finds out that the cons he is working with are wired to explode. He and Lyla fight about it until he storms out, leaving his phone. A text to Dig shows Lyla an invite to Qadir's fundraiser. The first part of the plan worked.

Ollie meets with Alexi again. Alexi has financial information on Slade, but tells Ollie that if he takes it, they are severing ties forever. Ollie takes the envelope. Sara had followed Ollie and demands that he talk to her and tries to comfort him. Ollie finally confesses that he blames himself for Slade's actions. He is pushing Sara away to protect her from Slade, who he will use to hurt Ollie. He tells her to stay away from him. Deadshot bandages Dig's arm and Dig asks about the photos of a little girl that Deadshot had in his cell. She is Deadshot's daughter Zoe, and every cent he steals, minus expenses, goes into a trust for her. Dig says that a girl needs her father, but Deadshot thinks he is bad for her and that money is all he can give. This whole time, a machine makes a copy of Dig's fingerprint. Dig shows at the fundraiser with Lyla on his arm. They hope that in a dress and makeup, Qadir won't recognize the female solider who captured him. It seems to work, and Dig passes Lyla of as his new bodyguard. Dig says that he needs credentials for Lyla, and Qadir lets them bypass security. Meanwhile, a guard checks Deadshot with a metal detector, and finds his keys. Deadshot apologizes and puts his finger into a machine scanning prints. Using the replica of Dig's print, Deadshot gets in under Diggle's name. He walks in. Flashback to the firefight in Afghanistan. Dig is forced to move away from Qadir, who takes advantage of the situation and tries to run. An Afghani solider aims their gun at Qadir, but Dig shoots first, saving Qadir's life. When Dig checks the body, he realizes that it was a kid. Dig and Lyla talk to Qadir, who insists that Dig owes his bodyguard a dance. They comply to keep Qadir from noticing Deadshot, but instantly argue once again. Once more, Dig is upset about how the Suicide Squad is being used, but Lyla sees it as a lesser of two evils. Sara makes Laurel a virgin drink, which Laurel finds disgusting. Ollie is there, and Laurel confronts him, depending on the brutal honesty she is learning in AA. She tells Ollie that he deserves happiness and that he is protecting himself and not Sara by pushing Sara away. Felicity finds an address for Slade based on Alexi's information. Ollie insists on going alone, despite the danger. Deadshot uses his eye patch to find a secret passage behind a wall which opens like a door. At the address, Arrow finds an office. He circles the desk, to find Alexi in a chair with an arrow through his eye, dead. Video of Shado plays on a large screen on the wall, and Arrow sadly watches.

Sara trains in the Arrowcave. Ollie shows up, feeling hopeless. Slade has planned for so long and is so many steps ahead, and Ollie doesn't know how to beat him. Sara tells him to let people help him, and that Slade will come after her whether she is with Ollie or not. She's not who she was on the island and is ready to face him. They decide to face him together. Deadshot finds the lab with the nerve agent stores in it. Rather than a small sample he can pocket, there is a huge vat of the stuff. He explains to Lyla with his radio, and she contacts Amanda. Amanda clearly knew all along, and has a camera in Deadshot's eye patch that lets her see everything. At the party, Amanda tells Lyla that she and Dig need to get out, and they realize that Amanda has sent a drone to the mansion, carrying a bomb that'll level it in ten minutes. All the people inside, mostly good people, will be killed. Dig quickly taps on a glass of champagne to get everyone's attention, and begins to toast Qadir. During the toast, he reveals that Qadir is a terrorist who is guilty of multiple crimes and has a dangerous nerve agent in the mansion. Qadir protests, but it falls on deaf ears as everyone quickly starts to leave. Dig goes to save Deadshot. Qadir finally recognizes Lyla, and puts a knife to her throat. But Bronze Tiger has snuck inside and kills Qadir, saving her. Dig finds Deadshot, who quickly saves Dig from the goons following him. Deadshot refuses to leave at first, claiming he wants an honorable death and telling Dig to save his team. Dog says that Deadshot is on his team and gets the man moving with the mention of his daughter Zoe. Deadshot and Dig jump into the getaway van just as the drone releases a missile. But rather than leveling the mansion, it follows the van and they all realize it is aimed at the bomb implanted in Deadshot's head. Lyla manages to remove the implant, which Dig tosses out of the van. The missile hits the implant and blows up a chunk of the street.

At Amanda's headquarters, she is furious that Dig and Lyla interfered with the plan and drew unwanted attention to them. The government of Markovia is livid about the drone. Dig walks out. Amanda tells Lyla that their removal of Deadshot's implant revealed a flaw which they can now fix. She wants Lyla to prep the men to get new implants, on their spines this time. Dig says goodbye to Deadshot, saying that he might get a pardon now. Deadshot doubts he'll be allowed to survive that long, and is locked back in his cell. Lyla finds Dig outside the cells. He tells her that the man who killed his brother was just a better person than her. But he also knows he cannot lose her. They kiss. Flashback. Gaynor recommends him for a commendation for saving Qadir, who has offered information. He feels guilty about killing the child solider, and Lyla tries to comfort him. She asks if she can call him Johnny and introduces herself officially. They shake hands. In Verdant, Ollie watches his mother on T.V. as she talks about a plan to provide swimming lessons to inner-city kids and mentions how much her children love swimming. Sara sees this and listens as Ollie angrily talks about how much he hates swimming and how his mother is selective with the truth. Sara comforts him again, and he thanks her, promising not to push her away anymore. Laurel arrives and Ollie says it must have been hard for her to help him and Sara. She says it was easy, she cares about them both. Then she invites Ollie to join her and Sara to dinner, but he has someplace to be. Arrow waits for Amanda in her headquarters. He removes his hood and asks for her help with Slade. Amanda says that Slade is dead, but Ollie convinces her that he is alive. Amanda says there is one thing, a mercenary called Deathstroke. She shows his image to Ollie.