S07.E17: Inheritance

[insomniadreams88]

I still can't get over this. It screams "we need the print to be large enough/this to be obvious enough that you can see what it is immediately even though it looks absolutely ridiculous." 

[Cthulhudrew]

1 hour ago, insomniadreams88 said:

I still can't get over this. It screams "we need the print to be large enough/this to be obvious enough that you can see what it is immediately even though it looks absolutely ridiculous." 

Not to mention the giant "INVOICE TO MALCOLM MERLYN" label on the diagram of explosives. I mean, what kind of idiot contractor did Merlyn hire for this job? Did he work for President Skroob?

I hope he was appropriately beaten to death, or Merlyn covertly had his name scribbled in the margins of Oliver's dad's Booke of Citizens Whom Hath Failed This City.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Cthulhudrew

[JamieLynn832002]

Yeah, I refuse to believe Malcolm, who murdered everyone/destroyed all the research at Unidac Industries to tie up loose ends, would have ever been even a little bit okay with that existing. That's like two steps short of renting a billboard that reads "I blew up the Queen's Gambit, ask me how."  I know they needed to make it clear what was going on but there had to be a better/less ridiculous way.

[Featherhat]

Didn't Malcolm actually go through Frank Chen (whom he later murdered after Moira turned him in for trying to go through China White to get Deadshot to assassinate him) to organise the bombing. Frank could have used Ninth Circle to do it but why is the invoice directly to MM in LARGE LETTERS and details exactly what he paid for? Incompetent supervillain organisation. 

[ladylaw99]

As everyone knows I fell asleep during this episode, thanks son 🙂

That invoice cracks me up.  Since when do murders or criminals send invoices for their complete transactions 🙂

[Mellowyellow]

Hehe that invoice reminds me of the subway commercials Chuck used to have in their episodes. 

This is just so: WE DIDN'T RETCON ANYTHING!!! LOOK OUR OLD PLOT STILL WORKS!!! READ THE INVOICE!!! MM STILL DID IT!

[insomniadreams88]

9 hours ago, JamieLynn832002 said:

Yeah, I refuse to believe Malcolm, who murdered everyone/destroyed all the research at Unidac Industries to tie up loose ends, would have ever been even a little bit okay with that existing. That's like two steps short of renting a billboard that reads "I blew up the Queen's Gambit, ask me how."  I know they needed to make it clear what was going on but there had to be a better/less ridiculous way.

Right? 

They might as well go full-on ridiculous and just have Malcolm pop up — in the time when it existed, as Emiko was burning it, but the Malcolm who blew up on Lian Yu — and go, "Nope. This is so wrong that it not only brought me back to life, but I traveled through time without a speedster or any devices whatsoever." 

[Al Herkimer]

It makes no sense. Robert Q. would be desperately funneling money to Emiko and her mother to keep them quiet, not rubbing his lack of support in Emiko's face like we saw here.  I mean, there's usually a lot in this show that doesn't make sense, but this abandonment is the foundation of her entire plot, and the plot for this series going forward into the rest of the season.  The only way he, and Moira if she knew about Robert's 2nd family, could avoid scandal and DNA tests and court orders and public humiliation, would be to provide complete and total financial support... it makes no sense.

[Featherhat]

17 hours ago, Quark said:

Good episode, even if the twist at the end was quite baffling. Brave choice making an actress with limited experience the Big Bad, unless there is more too it. Poor Oliver can't catch a break, but it looks like Arrow has come full circle (pardon the pun) with family betrayal, which is clever I think.

Clever or just more of the same? Almost Every Single Season Oliver has had to learn the same lesson from ex friends/allies etc. I don't think it was a great choice making EQ a (potential) big bad. Even though it would have broken my heart Thea would have been a better actress for a Big Bad than SS, IMHO. 

I think if the show was going on without SA when she probably would have been the next main GA and that's why she was hired, in the same way the FFs are packed with legacies for continuation/spinoff purposes. 

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, Al Herkimer said:

It makes no sense. Robert Q. would be desperately funneling money to Emiko and her mother to keep them quiet, not rubbing his lack of support in Emiko's face like we saw here.  I mean, there's usually a lot in this show that doesn't make sense, but this abandonment is the foundation of her entire plot, and the plot for this series going forward into the rest of the season.  The only way he, and Moira if she knew about Robert's 2nd family, could avoid scandal and DNA tests and court orders and public humiliation, would be to provide complete and total financial support... it makes no sense.

That's actually very true.  It would have made more sense if Robert abandoned Emiko/Mom emotionally but threw money at her.  Why didn't her mom go public?  Demand a DNA test?  Go to court and sue for Child Support?  

Emotional Abandonment, turning down Emiko's desire to be part of the Queen Family/Queen Industries all while favoring the screw up brother?  That I could see leading to major emotional resentment.  The part about Emiko living in poverty in the Glades doesn't ring true by any stretch but, i guess they needed that to open the doorway for how Emiko fell in with Dante.  

Although a better option would have been for Emiko's mom to hook up with Criminal Dante who provides an outlet for her rage/anger at Robert Queen

[Al Herkimer]

I can only imagine they might lamely throw in that Emiko's mother is too proud to take Roberts help.  But there was an adult Emiko, sitting with Robert and plainly stating that she needed money, and plainly not happy... a disaster in the making, even if she wasn't a murderer.

[apinknightmare]

2 hours ago, Al Herkimer said:

The only way he, and Moira if she knew about Robert's 2nd family, could avoid scandal and DNA tests and court orders and public humiliation, would be to provide complete and total financial support... it makes no sense.

Yeah, Moira knew the value in paying people to shut up/go away. Telling Robert to cut them off? No way.

[Quark]

2 hours ago, Featherhat said:

Clever or just more of the same? Almost Every Single Season Oliver has had to learn the same lesson from ex friends/allies etc. I don't think it was a great choice making EQ a (potential) big bad. Even though it would have broken my heart Thea would have been a better actress for a Big Bad than SS, IMHO. 

I think if the show was going on without SA when she probably would have been the next main GA and that's why she was hired, in the same way the FFs are packed with legacies for continuation/spinoff purposes. 

It probably will end up being more of the same, but the writers could be clever about it.

[Morrigan2575]

51 minutes ago, Al Herkimer said:

I can only imagine they might lamely throw in that Emiko's mother is too proud to take Roberts help.  But there was an adult Emiko, sitting with Robert and plainly stating that she needed money, and plainly not happy... a disaster in the making, even if she wasn't a murderer.

I took that scene to be more about Emiko giving Robert one last chance to value her as a daughter/heir.  I thought the request for money for was a business plan that she presented to him as a way to get involved in the Queen Family Business and take her spot (I'm still not sure who is older, honestly) as heir.  Not so much Emiko asking for money because she was poor/broke/etc

[BkWurm1]

7 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

Hehe that invoice reminds me of the subway commercials Chuck used to have in their episodes. 

This is just so: WE DIDN'T RETCON ANYTHING!!! LOOK OUR OLD PLOT STILL WORKS!!! READ THE INVOICE!!! MM STILL DID IT!

Ha!  I was so happy that Subway was saving Chuck that I came to adore their blatant product placements like comedy bits of gold. Actually I could imagine the Nerd Herd being weirdly into Subway, lol.  

2 hours ago, apinknightmare said:

Yeah, Moira knew the value in paying people to shut up/go away. Telling Robert to cut them off? No way.

The only way it would make sense for Emiko and her mom to have been cut off monetarily would be if there was some reason they knew why Emiko's mom (what was her name?) COULDN'T come forward and sue for child support.  If they were living in a 3rd world country maybe I could believe it but in a borough right next door?  They could have gone to any paper and got the ball rolling.  So Emiko's mom had the access she needed to make it happen, the other possibility is that Robert had something over Emiko's mom that would ruin her life if she told anyone.

I could just imagine Robert reassuring Moira it would never come out about Emiko because of XY and Z and Moira making her ultimatum because she was ready to be done with him and wanted that divorce.   

Instead she agreed to pretend everything was fine.  Someone else brought up her secret about Thea.  Robert mentioned in plural that he'd lose his "children" so Thea was definately already there.  Did we learn when Robert found out Thea wasn't his?  Was it when she broke her leg and he still chose to stay or had he known from the start?  I can't recall.  If he HAD known from the start it seems like something he would have used to keep Emiko in his life.  Same thing actually if it was later when he found out about Thea's DNA.  The fact that he never did pretty much says he didn't give a crap about Emiko.  

Well, we already knew that or he would never have dumped her and her mom on the street.  Gah.  I HATE that Oliver wasted a second of his life trying to please the memory of this awful man.  

Edited March 27, 2019 by BkWurm1

[tv echo]

I suppose that 717 will be noteworthy in Arrow canon for introducing the Ninth Circle to the tv show, but still - what a meh episode...

I was rolling my eyes as soon as Oliver and Team Arrow brought Emiko into their secret lair and talked freely in front of her- and later didn't express any concern that Emiko, Dante and the Ninth Circle can now invade their secret lair at any time.

I was also distracted by the varying pronunciations of Emiko's name - with some characters stressing the first syllable (EMiko), while other characters stressed the second syllable (eMIko). It reminded me of how Ra's al Ghul's name was pronounced two different ways in S3.

The big mystery of this episode for me is, why would the clearly superior Dante be (or allow himself to be) subordinate to Emiko? Some possible theories:

1. Dante wanted to retire. Much like Ra's groomed Oliver to be his successor, Dante groomed Emiko to be his successor to head up the Ninth Circle. Once the successor took over, he would follow the new leader.

2. What's stated in #1 above. Plus: Dante's loyalty is to the Ninth Circle and its goals. The initial meeting between child Emiko and Dante was intentionally arranged so that Emiko would be mentored and trained by Dante, (comics spoilers) -

Spoiler

because she is a blood descendant of Robert Queen. From what I understand, in the comics, Robert Queen and Dante founded the Ninth Circle, and the leader has always been a blood descendant of one of its founders. With Robert dead and Dante retiring (with no children of his own), the only eligible successors are Oliver and Emiko. (Now, of course, there's also William and fetus Mia.)

Maybe Emiko was named head of the Ninth Circle during the five years that Oliver was believed to be dead. 

Also, what if Robert Queen and Dante knew each other? Then maybe Robert asked Dante to look after his secret daughter. On the other hand, maybe Robert cut off the adult Emiko from any connection to him in order to protect her from the Ninth Circle. (It was too late to hide Oliver.) That would provide an interesting parallel to Oliver cutting off any connection to William in order to protect him in the future.

3.  Dante is a rogue Monitor, hiding from the other Monitors (like, say, immortal Methos hiding for centuries under the guise of a human Watcher in Highlander). He prefers to guide others from behind the scenes. Then this theory will somehow tie into Oliver's deal with the Elseworlds' Monitor.

Edited March 27, 2019 by tv echo

[tennisgurl]

Now I just have this mental imagine of Malcolm trying to write off his sinking of the Queens Gambit on his taxes or something, collecting his recites for his assassinations and doomsday devices. Oh, and he might need glasses, consider how freaking big he writes everything apparently. 

So if Emiko hates her father so much, and is this big shot in this massive criminal conspiracy, why the hell was she dressing like the Green Arrow hanging around by Roberts grave? What was the point of that, exactly?

[AudienceofOne]

The pacing of this season is terrible. With all the emphasis on the flash forwards, I had completely forgotten Emiko's existence but suddenly we have an episode crammed with her origin story - straight after an episode crammed with Mia's origin story. I said at the beginning of this season that Amell seems to be playing Green Arrow in his spare time and this has never been more clear. I hate to say it but if they announced that he wasn't coming back next season but that Felicity was I would believe it. Then they could have him disappear or go into hiding or die or whatever they're planning and concentrate on the Arrow: The Next Generation with the current timeline being flashbacks...

.. And I think I will be grateful if that happens because it means I can finally quit this damn show.

[Cthulhudrew]

17 hours ago, insomniadreams88 said:

They might as well go full-on ridiculous and just have Malcolm pop up — in the time when it existed, as Emiko was burning it, but the Malcolm who blew up on Lian Yu — and go, "Nope. This is so wrong that it not only brought me back to life, but I traveled through time without a speedster or any devices whatsoever." 

Better yet, the next time Emiko tries to intimidate/blackmail Black Siren, KC reaches up and pulls off a rubber mask, and underneath... it's Malcolm Merlyn! He survived the island explosion by pretending to be BS all this time!

[AudienceofOne]

22 hours ago, tv echo said:

Also, what if Robert Queen and Dante knew each other? Then maybe Robert asked Dante to look after his secret daughter. On the other hand, maybe Robert cut off the adult Emiko from any connection to him in order to protect her from the Ninth Circle. (It was too late to hide Oliver.) That would provide an interesting parallel to Oliver cutting off any connection to William in order to protect him in the future.

Re this and your spoiler: I had thought this episode was saying that Robert sent her to the Ninth Circle intentionally and so was surprised that nobody else saw it that way. She was delivering a package to him from Robert Queen, no? He sent here there to be trained deliberately. That was my reading anyway. That he had cut them all off and fed her to the Ninth Circle. I can see Robert doing that - essentially breeding a child for the Ninth Circle in lieu of one of his "real" children.

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, AudienceofOne said:

Re this and your spoiler: I had thought this episode was saying that Robert sent her to the Ninth Circle intentionally and so was surprised that nobody else saw it that way. She was delivering a package to him from Robert Queen, no? He sent here there to be trained deliberately. That was my reading anyway. That he had cut them all off and fed her to the Ninth Circle. I can see Robert doing that - essentially breeding a child for the Ninth Circle in lieu of one of his "real" children.

no, she was delivering a package from/for Bertinelli to Dante

[AudienceofOne]

12 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

no, she was delivering a package from/for Bertinelli to Dante

God anyone would think I've stopped paying proper attention or something.

[statsgirl]

I couldn't stand the thought of Curtis working with Felicity to build the new company but I'm thrilled that she's doing it with Alena. Thank you, EK, for asking to be off the show.

On 3/27/2019 at 3:32 PM, BkWurm1 said:

The only way it would make sense for Emiko and her mom to have been cut off monetarily would be if there was some reason they knew why Emiko's mom (what was her name?) COULDN'T come forward and sue for child support.  If they were living in a 3rd world country maybe I could believe it but in a borough right next door? 

Was Emiko's mother in the country illegally and she would have been deported if she came publicized it? That's all I can think of.

Maybe Emiko was born out of country too and they both would have been deported?

On 3/26/2019 at 3:10 AM, bijoux said:

I get that Robert was a shit father, but Emiko has clearly been off her rocker to sign off on killing him. Go after his damn money and reputation and ruin him and his first family that way. Not to mention that while she couldn't know about Oliver and Sara being on board, she absolutely had to have been aware there would be other people there, Robert sure as hell wouldn't have steered a vessel that size over that distance alone. So cool on knowingly killing the ship crew. 

It's very sociopath. Does this show redeem sociopaths other than Malcolm Merlyn because JB a good actor? Come to think of it, even MM didn't murder his own blood kin.

On 3/26/2019 at 12:02 AM, Featherhat said:

So let me get this straight, Robert Queen wouldn't fund his own daughter even discreet seed money for her business plan but will raise some one who he knows is Malcolm's bio daughter as his own and never throw it back in Moira's face? I mean kudos to him for loving Thea but he was awful to the other kids. Lax with douchebag Ollie until he put the guilt of the world on him and abandoning Emiko to becoming a supervillain. 

On 3/26/2019 at 2:16 AM, BkWurm1 said:

So when we first heard about Emiko, Oliver and Felicity found a letter from Robert to Walter talking about the secret daughter his wife made him cut ties to.  And I blamed Moira and thought Robert was weak.  I still think Robert was weak and Moira covering up her existence after he died was cold but in how Robert phrased things to Emiko's mother in the first flashback, I now think that Moira was merely demanding a divorce if he didn't stop seeing them. 

I blame Robert way more for agreeing to her terms than Moira for making such a crazy demand.  I mean, she probably was ready for a divorce so what did it matter what she demanded? 

The competition has been stiff but Robert does seem to win the Worst Parenting Award even over Moira and Malcolm.

Robert comes across as more than just weak; he's someone who values appearances and his place in society even more than Moira does. Moira may have taken him to the cleaners over his second family (which I'm guessing she just found out about) but he still would have had a few billions and while he might have lost his country club membership, those who deal in money wouldn't have ostracized him for long.

It's too bad that Robert didn't have the courage to claim Emiko; she could have been an asset to QC.  And I'm sure Robert had some money in a Cayman's bank account he could have used to help Emiko's mother so she didn't have to live in a slum and Emiko didn't have to run errands for the Bertinelli's to survive.

How timely that the Ninth Circle was a criminal organization connected to captains of industry and big money. There seems to be a lot of that going around these days.

Walter was Robert's best friend -- I wonder if he knew about Emiko and her mother or only found out about it through the (extremely biased) letter that Robert wrote.

[Mellowyellow]

Considering everything she went through, she could have been more empathetic to the plight of innocent people and not bring them down too in trying to murder her old man.

Surely she could have just hidden somewhere and arrowed him right through the forehead (does that work?). 

I don't blame her for killing Robert. She just went about it so flamboyantly. An arrow or a bullet or a snapped neck would have sufficed and not harmed innocents!

[BkWurm1]

20 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

Better yet, the next time Emiko tries to intimidate/blackmail Black Siren, KC reaches up and pulls off a rubber mask, and underneath... it's Malcolm Merlyn! He survived the island explosion by pretending to be BS all this time!

JB would have looked FABULOUS in fishnets and spiky boots.

Quote

Walter was Robert's best friend -- I wonder if he knew about Emiko and her mother or only found out about it through the (extremely biased) letter that Robert wrote.

At this point I'm starting to side eye our beloved Walter for being Rober's BFF and marrying Moira.  

[RobertDeSneero]

I can't really explain it, but this episode made me think that this season will end with Ollie revealed as alive in the future and somehow the head of the Ninth Circle.  Then the writers go on summer vacation before trying to figure out a reason why that makes sense.

Maybe it's because this episode feels like they pick which big moments they want, then try to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B, but they are deadset on Point B and would rather accept weak reasoning rather than change Point B.  Maybe the writers are huge fans of Lost and want to copy that show's narrative techniques.

Laurel's relationship to Diaz being outed was the payoff to the implied threat of Emiko referring to her as "Black Siren". I knew Emiko was going  do something, but I suppose I expected something more physical.

[tv echo]

I still wouldn't be surprised if Robert Queen knew both Frank Bertinelli and Dante. It just doesn't make any sense that Emiko would somehow be head of the Ninth Circle over Dante, unless Dante willingly stepped aside.

[apinknightmare]

I would be really surprised if it isn't revealed that Dante is playing her, and she only *thinks* she's head of the Ninth Circle. 

[Morrigan2575]

Thematically, it could be that Dante loves Emiko like a daughter and helped elevate her to a position of power. To contrast with Robert's abandonment while propping his "heir" up.

There certainly seems to be a level of love and concern from Dante to Emiko. Not so much in the reverse

[BkWurm1]

There's no reason to assume that Dante was ever the real head honcho.  So far all we have is him in recent years being the face that ARGUS has rooted out.  But in the flashback, he was just some relatively low level guy working out of the Glades doing dirty work for local mobsters and businessmen.  

Emiko showed off her flair for running things in her proposal to Robert.  She had come up with pretty significant profit projections and the Ninth Circle isn't  like the LoA, they are trying to make money too.  We also know that she must be pretty good at her job as leader since she'd been head of the group for long enough that she could take many months off from that job looking for her mom's killer and people are only just now wondering why she wasn't back in front leading. 

Chances are pretty good that while the Ninth Circle had been around forever, she's probably the one that revitalized it and also likely used Dante as her front man while she did the actual leading.  

[Primal Slayer]

What should have happened, is that Dante be introduced at the beginning of the season as the big bad with Emiko being revealed to be his right hand woman that he raised since childhood. He dies or is arrested which puts Emiko in charge. Or Dante should've been more of a Giles to Emiko.

[BkWurm1]

1 hour ago, Primal Slayer said:

What should have happened, is that Dante be introduced at the beginning of the season as the big bad with Emiko being revealed to be his right hand woman that he raised since childhood. He dies or is arrested which puts Emiko in charge. Or Dante should've been more of a Giles to Emiko.

I will agree that Dante should have been introduced at the beginning of the season, but I don't see why they couldn't have kept the twist that Emiko is actually in charge.  There's no reason why Emiko couldn't be in charge other than what we are used to happening on shows.

 I do will wish that they had let us know that she is not Thea's age or younger a LOT sooner.  It would have made my expectations for what she was capable of doing much broader.  

[Primal Slayer]

1 hour ago, BkWurm1 said:

I will agree that Dante should have been introduced at the beginning of the season, but I don't see why they couldn't have kept the twist that Emiko is actually in charge.  There's no reason why Emiko couldn't be in charge other than what we are used to happening on shows.

 I do will wish that they had let us know that she is not Thea's age or younger a LOT sooner.  It would have made my expectations for what she was capable of doing much broader.  

It could be that I also thought she was A LOT younger that makes it harder for me to see her as the head honcho for this ancient order but I think either way just knowing how she came to be the leader is something that would be good to know. But that is also why I think if Dante had/is serving as a Giles type, someone would help show her more as a leader. 

[tv echo]

717 (Inheritance) – Oliver Queen’s voiceover intro: 
Oliver (voiceover): "My name is Oliver Queen. After months in hell, I have been released from prison and returned home with only one goal - to save my city. But things have changed. Instead of operating outside the law, I am now working alongside the police. I am no longer Inmate 4587. I am once more the Green Arrow."

717 (Inheritance) – Felicity offers to Alena Whitlock the position of CTO of her new company, Smoak Technologies:
Felicity: "Oh, come on, Smoak. You got this. You know you can be pregnant and be CEO of a company and a deputized vigilante by night. Women really can have it all. I'm talking to myself."
Archer (computerized voice): "DNA match complete. Identity confirmed. Alena Whitlock."
Alena (entering): "Well, that is ingenious. Was not expecting an entrance, or that you knew my last name."
Felicity: "Alena. Hi."
Alena: "Hi."
Felicity: "Hi! Oh, it's been so long. How have you been?"
Alena: "When you're the known associate of the evil and murder genius Cayden James, good to keep a low profile. So I'm working at Tech Village."
Felicity: "Oh, no. Oh. I have been there. Literally. I know your pain. The - the vests."
Alena: "So, um, how did you find me, actually?"
Felicity: "It's part of a new project I have been working on. It started off as, like, a home-based security system, and now it's turned into, like, a DNA-tracking-based surveillance system. Meet Archer."
Alena: "Sorry. So you located me using my DNA? When did you collect my DNA? Heh."
Felicity: "I know it's a little creepy."
Alena: "It's more than a little, but it's also impressive."
Felicity: "I've been using it for Team Arrow. But I think, if we scaled it up, it could be so much more than that. I mean, we could find missing persons, we could track terrorists, we could do crowd control, we could do anything! Just, I can't do it alone."
Alena: "I mean, whatever you need, I am game. I am so done telling customers to use the chip in their card when they insist on swiping."
Felicity: "Great! How does CTO of Smoak Technologies sound?"
Alena: "Oh! Oh! Oh!" (Excitedly hugs Felicity)
Felicity: "Oh! You're not even gonna ask about benefits?"
Alena: "I don't care about the benefits as long as there's no crappy vest requirement. I am in!"
Felicity: "No vest. Huge benefit."
Alena: "Music to my ears."

717 (Inheritance) – E2 Laurel tells a skeptical Oliver about Emiko’s murder of Ricardo Diaz: 
Oliver: "Once upon a time, I actually shot Roy Harper and Barry Allen. It was to illustrate a point. My guess is that her point is, she doesn't want to be stalked anymore."
E2 Laurel: "Or maybe sister has brother wrapped around her little finger. You know, the Oliver I knew, he had a blind spot for family, and I'm guessing you do, too."
Oliver: "It's called loyalty. I know that's a concept you don't totally understand."
E2 Laurel: "I have nothing to gain here. I am only trying to do what's right. Why can you not see that?"
Oliver: "There has to be more to this, and I will look into it, if you will promise to stay out of it."
E2 Laurel: "I already wish I would have. Good luck."

717 (Inheritance) – Oliver and Felicity tell Team Arrow about the Ninth Circle:
Rene: "The Ninth what?"
Oliver: "Circle."
Felicity: "Dante's a part of it. Turns out he's not just a banker for terrorists and cartels."
Diggle: "Okay. Lyla and I have been hunting Dante for months. Why are we just hearing this name?"
Felicity: "Because the Ninth Circle is practically invisible. I mean, I combed the entire Dark Web and came up with nada, but then I remembered this photo you sent me from the Ghost Initiative's last ride."
Diggle: "Right. That symbol was on all the weapons that Virgil's goons used."
Felicity: "The symbol also pops up on artifacts dating all the way back to 14th-century Italy, the real Dante's era. The insignia is mostly commonly found on ephemera that is connected to times of historical upheaval - the Russian Revolution, the colonization of the Americas, the War of Roses."
Rene: "So you're saying Dante runs a secret society responsible for centuries of worldwide regime change?"
Oliver: "Right. But if that's true, the Ninth Circle's clearly way bigger than just Dante."
Diggle: "Okay. Well, how did you run into Dante last night, Oliver? And why didn't you call for backup?"
Oliver (to Felicity): "Laurel came to speak with you and found me. Suggested that... Emiko has been hiding certain parts of her past and said that she killed Diaz."
Rene: "She killed Diaz?"
Felicity: "Which doesn't mean she's bad."
Oliver: "I followed Emiko, and it led me to Dante."
Diggle: "Okay. Well, all we really know about Emiko is what she's told us, which isn't much."
Oliver: "She's a vigilante. For all we know, she's gathering intel on the Ninth Circle to take them down."
Rene: "Also, why are we taking Laurel's word about anything?"
Felicity: "Hey. Laurel has changed a lot. I mean, she's been a really good friend to me. (To Oliver) Not to say that your sister's evil, but she's changed a lot."
Oliver: "Be that as it may, the Ninth Circle is clearly a threat, and we need to follow up every lead that we have."
Felicity: "Well, we know that they stole eight military-grade drones, which they could literally be planning to do anything with."
Diggle: "Okay. Can you use Archer to pinpoint Dante's location?"
Felicity: "Not without his DNA."
Diggle: "Okay. Well, I'll talk to Lyla, take this new intel back there, and see if we can use A.R.G.U.S.'s databases."
Rene: "Yeah. We should be able to use S.C.P.D. resources, too. I'll get D up to speed."
Oliver: "I'm gonna go speak with my sister. She deserves a chance to explain herself."
Felicity: "And I - I will - I'll be here."

717 (Inheritance) – Felicity uses her Archer program to track down Dante using his DNA sample:
Diggle: "Good news! Lyla got a DNA sample from the dagger used by Dante to kill Director Bell. Guess who now has said sample?"
Felicity: "John Diggle, you give the best gifts."
Dinah: "Now that we have Dante's DNA, will Archer be able to find him?"
Felicity: "Well, with all the money I'm spending on this program, that is the hope."
Rene: "How's Emiko? Did you find anything more - about her being -?"
Diggle: "Being on the wrong side."
Oliver: "She admitted to being in very deep with Dante and the Ninth Circle. Sounds like she could be in some real trouble."
Felicity: "Boom. I got him. Looks like he's at the Star City branch of Szrek Chemicals."
Dinah: "If we surprise Dante now, we could still take him down."
Oliver: "And get my sister out of trouble. Let's suit up."

717 (Inheritance) – Team Arrow brings Emiko back with them to the Arrow Bunker, where she reveals Dante’s plan: 
Emiko: "I shouldn't be here. Dante will find me. It's just a matter of time, and you will all be targets."
Oliver: "Yeah? Well it won't be the first time."
Rene: "Think about it like this. It'll be a hell of a lot easier to stop Dante with all of us working together, than you by yourself."
Emiko: "Okay. As long as I get to be the one who takes him down."
Dinah: "That sounds fair to me."
Felicity: "Well, yeah, except there's just one problem. Archer just crashed, which means I lost Dante's location."
Diggle: "Fine. We'll just have to find Dante the old-fashioned way."
Emiko: "Easier said than done. Now that he knows I'm working with you, we should consider all Ninth Circle locations burned."
Dinah: "But that op we just interrupted, I mean, Dante didn't get what he was looking for. You must know what he was after."
Emiko: "Enriched uranium. I told you he was dangerous."
Rene: "We need to figure out where else in the city he can get his hands on that uranium."
Felicity: "Yeah. I'm on it. Archer may have crashed, but computers will never replace people."
Dinah: "Do you have any idea what he was planning on doing with the drones and uranium?"
Emiko: "I wish I had more intel, but it was always on a need-to-know basis. That's how the Ninth Circle works."
Oliver: "Hey. You hurt?"
Emiko: "Not badly. You guys have some ice?"
Rene: "Yeah." (Leaves with Emiko)
(Dinah's cell rings)
Dinah: "This could not be worse timing, but I have to run to the S.C.P.D."
Diggle: "Go ahead, Captain. We'll handle it from here." (Dinah leaves)
Oliver: "Hey. What's wrong?"
Diggle: "Just be careful with her, Oliver."
Oliver: "Okay. I will."
Felicity: "Hey, guys. Think I got something."
Oliver: "That was fast."
Felicity: "One point for the humans. If Emiko is right and he's after uranium, there's only two places in Star City that have it - Dunkirk Power and Global Energy."
Diggle: "Sounds like a divide and conquer situation."
Oliver: "My thoughts exactly."

717 (Inheritance) – Emiko reveals her true allegiances:
Oliver: "Global Energy was a bust. No sign of Dante or the uranium."
Felicity: "Ah. You still came back looking like a prizefighter, though."
Emiko: "We ran into a couple thugs on the way back."
Felicity: "Ooh. Cute. A little brother-sister crime-fighting duo time. I like it."
Oliver: "Any word from John and Rene?"
Felicity: "They struck out, too."
Oliver: "Global Energy and Dunkirk Power are the only two spots in Star City that manufacture uranium."
Felicity: "Archer's still not working."
Oliver: "Right."
Felicity: "I'm just about to go down into the deepest, darkest, most dungeon-y part of this bunker and give it a full system reboot. And hopefully then, you know, Archer can be back online, we can find Dante, and all my dreams of Smoak Tech saving the world don't have to die." (Leaves)
Oliver: "I'm gonna clean this up." (Leaves Emiko alone)
*  *  *
(Cut to Oliver finding a blinking jammer device inside the dispensary drawer. He returns to the main room of the Arrow Bunker.)
Oliver: "Think I found the problem. Some kind of jammer."
Emiko (with bow drawn): "Wonder how that got there."
Oliver: "So you were never under duress."
Emiko: "Sorry to disappoint you, but that's what family does, right?"
Oliver: "This is the reason that Archer isn't working?"
Emiko: "I couldn't let you and your team get in the way again."
Oliver: "We don't give up that easily. (They exchange arrows) You've been lying this entire time, everything about our father, your debt to Dante?"
Emiko: "It was all true, but I never needed you to put me back together. I just knew you'd try. Can't resist playing the hero, can you?" (Hits him)
Oliver: "You went looking for a family, and you chose the Ninth Circle?"
Emiko: "Better than living as a Queen."
(More blows are exchanged.)
Emiko: "Always watch your opponent."
Oliver: "You don't have to be a part of this. You have a choice!"
Emiko: "I've made it! (More fighting) Bye, Brother." (Sets off an explosive light device and escapes.)

717 (Inheritance) – Team Arrow deals with Emiko's treachery:
Rene: "I was married to a junkie. You'd think I'd know when someone was lying to me."
Diggle: "At least now we know what side Emiko's really on."
Oliver: "It doesn't matter. The - the Ninth Circle are still out there, and they are a threat."
Felicity: "You can take a minute to process this if you need to."
Oliver: "I need to know where she is. How soon can you have Archer back up and running?"
Felicity: "Not as soon as I would like. Emiko's little device didn't just jam up the system. It wiped the entire memory card, which means I have to rebuild the entire infrastructure."
Diggle: "Looks like we have another problem. There's been a break-in at the waste treatment site at Orchard Bay."
Oliver: "I thought the only spots that manufactured uranium were the two sites we just canvassed."
Felicity: "Well, that's true, but how much do you want to bet that Dante and his pals aren't actually after uranium?"
Rene: "More of Emiko's lies."
Diggle: "What'd they get?"
Felicity: "All the ingredients to make a big batch of sarin gas. That plus the drones that they just stole makes one hell of a murder party."
Oliver: "We have to know where the Ninth Circle is planning on sending these drones."
Diggle: "Oliver, we're on it."
Felicity: "You might want to take 5."
Oliver: "I'm going to Emiko's hideout, see if she left behind a clue or something." (Leaves)
Felicity: "Yeah, or you could do exactly the opposite of what your wife recommends."
Diggle: "I'll go with him."

717 (Inheritance) – Team Arrow fights Dante, Emiko and Ninth Circle minions at an abandoned airfield north of Star City:
Oliver (over comms): "All right. They're still prepping the drones. Good news is, we're not too late."
Diggle (over comms): "Bad news is, we're outnumbered 5 to 1."
Rene (over comms): "Those are my kind of odds."
Dinah (over comms): "Got eyes on Dante."
Rene (over comms): "And Emiko."
Dante (to Emiko): "Once the drones are primed, we can begin the demonstration."
Felicity (over comms): "Eight stolen drones, which means eight potential targets, and each one runs on a separate signal. It's gonna take some time to hack into the guidance system. Oliver, that means that you need to stop those things before they take off."
Oliver (to Diggle): "You draw them out, I'll get the drones."
Diggle: "Copy that."
Rene: "Let's go!"
*  *  *
Felicity (over comms): "Bad news, guys. Those drones are airborne, which means you need to incinerate them mid-air or else that's a lot of sarin gas raining down on the city."
Oliver (over comms): "Overwatch, it would be very helpful if I could see them."
Felicity (over comms): "Okay. I'm working on decloaking them now. I'm in."
(Oliver shoots arrows into and destroys seven of the now visible drones.)
Oliver (over comms): "There's still one drone left."
Felicity (over comms): "I'm working on it."
Oliver: "Emiko, it's not too late. Whatever you owe Dante -"
Emiko: "I owe Dante everything. Dante taught me how to take care of myself, to cut the ties that bind us, that hold us back - which is why it's time for us to say good-bye, brother! Kill him!" (Leaves)
(Oliver fights and defeats several Ninth Circle minions.)
Oliver (over comms): "Please tell me you got that last drone."
Felicity (over comms): "By the time I locked on, the gas had already been deployed. Sorry, Oliver."
*  *  *
Oliver: "How many casualties?"
Felicity: "None. The target was an abandoned building."
Oliver: "What about the other targets?"
Felicity: "Well, that's the even weirder thing. All of the other buildings targeted were also empty."
Dinah: "Who goes to the trouble of bombing empty buildings?"
Diggle: "Seemed like some sort of weapons test."
Dinah: "Well, imagine what would happen if all the drones worked instead of just one."
Oliver: "They'd be able to take out multiple targets simultaneously."
Rene: "If we couldn't stop this test, how are we gonna stop the real thing?"

717 (Inheritance) – Felicity talks to Alena about her Archer program: 
Felicity: "Oh, hey. Good. You're still here. I'm sorry. It's been a day."
Alena: "I assume that's always the case. Honestly, going over Archer has made me happier than I've been in months. The algorithms you programmed are like this beautifully composed rondo finale."
Felicity: "A rondo what, now?"
Alena: "Not into opera. Got it."
Felicity: "Hey. So question for Version 2."
Alena: "Mm-hmm?"
Felicity: "What happens when we don't have the DNA of the person that we are looking for? What do we do then?"
Alena: "Well, that's a little trickier. We could reprogram the algorithm to highlight any individuals whose DNA we don't have, but unless we hack into a medical or criminal database and collect all of their DNA profiles first, all we'd really be doing is taking a couple pieces of straw out of the haystack we're looking in."
Felicity: "Ah. Guess we'd better get to work then."
Alena: "Okay."

Edited March 29, 2020 by tv echo