Arrow - 'Who Are You?'

"Surprise!"

And so we come to the last and most anxiously awaited of the post-Christmas DC returns, picking up exactly where we left off with Oliver facing the apparently back-from-the-dead Laurel Lance.

So first, OMG, and OMG to the point that Felicity almost forgets to tell Olly that John has been rearrested. Soon enough though she's throwing a welcome back party and testing Laurel's glass for DNA, because girl got game even when she's grieving. It turns out that the DNA is right, however, so it is Laurel. Curtis suggests an evil twin, at which point Felicity twigs the truth, just as Black Siren jumps them.

And incidentally, I don't care if they have been going up against a self-proclaimed God of Speed, I am sorely disappointed in Team Flash, since they can apparently go for days without checking in on the inmates of their super-illegal detention centre. Also, I'm increasingly sure that Prometheus is a freaking wizard, because STAR Labs' security has been upgraded often enough that it should be a fucking fortress by now, but he waltzed in and out like he's Doctor Alchemy (although if it turns out that he's also Draco Malfoy, I'll give them a pass.)

"I'm a bloodsucking fiend! Just look at my outfit!"(1)

Right, anyway: Black Siren has been freed by Prometheus specifically to fuck with Olly, and its working. He agrees to meet with her alone (although Felicity sends backup and orders her brought in, in a takedown which does ever so slightly result in the destruction of the Black Canary statue, but what the hell, it was hideous,) and once she's in custody seems to be falling hook, line and sinker for the old 'I'm a victim of circumstance, guv,' plea. Felicity is having none of it, and offers her an escape vector after lacing her with tacking nanites. This does backfire a little as it leaves her basically running rogue, and while they are able to recapture her with a portable power disruptor and a solid right from Felicity, Prometheus turns out to be immune to opiates and once more escapes capture.

In flashback land, Oliver is pressured to fall in with the Bratva chief who sold out to Kovar, but is rescued by Talia Al Ghul. In the B-plot, the DA agrees to protect Diggle from summary murder by preventing his transfer to military jurisdiction, eventually achieving this by having Diggle punch him and thus racking up an assault charge in Star City which, being against a city official, has to be resolved before he is required to give him up for some penny-ante treason charge.

Oh, and there's a lass somewhere with the same sonic powers as Black Siren, but a more robust feminist agenda.

I think we've reached the stage in any given season of Arrow where the omnisicence of the villain begins to get old. Yes, Prometheus has to be a credible threat to NTA, but currently he's able to fight Olly to a standstill, while holding off the rest of the team, to sway people to his side despite the whole creepy mask deal(2), and to break into the Pipeline and abscond unnoticed with one of Team Flash's prisoners. The only reason he hasn't won yet is that 'Oliver Queen has to suffer,' which means that when he loses it's less of a triumph for our heroes and more his own stupid fault for not kicking his arch-nemesis when he's down. Also, he's too damned mysterious for his own good. I really hope he turns out to be something a little more interesting than the unseen long-lost son of a dead millionaire from Season 1, because we really need to be able to feel his motivation for the plot to work, rather than just understanding it from a theoretical perspective.

(1) The black leather look is much less sexy when you realise that it is literally the only outfit she's had to wear for the last six-to-eight months.
(2) Fair deal, Evelyn would have been used to that working with Ragman.