There was an absolutely tonne of info thrown at the viewers in this ep.
We had the leader of a future new group that will probably be frenemies of Oliver, Harbinger, Dead Shot reintroduced and an important future role, a probable future big bad is shown in the Russian gangster, the Japanese super soldier drug and H.I.V.E.
this show is awesome, kind of feels repetitive to keep saying it but yea. theyve just opened so many threads and seem to have such a good feel for how to make them all come together in a way that doesn't feel at all contrived.
I don't see how the Russian will become a bad guy, although I haven't read any comics.
This show is great, although some of the obvious flaws are better ignored. I did like the ruthless killer Oliver better than this seasons' softer version and I wouldn't deem it very realistic that someone that has gone through so much would suddenly go soft because of one friend.
I think it's pretty realistic. The guy was his best friend growing up, and Olivier lied to him multiple times, betrayed him by ****ing his girlfriend, then killed his Dad, all before he died saving Laurel.
It's like this show is deliberately trolling Agents of SHIELD by throwing as many references to the DCU around as possible while SHIELD feels completely disconnected.
The huge number of Teen Titans references (Slade, Brother Blood, HIVE) makes me wonder if there are long term plans in that direction. Then we also have the seeds of a Suicide Squad spin-off (yes, please!). If Harkness shows up it's a done deal.
(Or maybe Secret Six since Waller is Mockingbird?)
Really interested where they're doing with Ivo given there's a dozen mad scientist characters they could have used.
And of course STAR Labs playing with a super-collider could be going anywhere.
Meanwhile, Nanda Parbat is apparently controlled by the League of Assasins?
Cliff Notes: This show has been making a ****ton of comic references lately. Basically every character or place mentioned or introduced recently is from DC comic books (many not usually associated with Green Arrow).
A bunch of comic back-story below (many wiki links) that may be spoilerish. But the series has shown a willingness to move into uncharted territory so who knows.
Spoiler:
Teen Titans are a teenage super-hero group. Been around since the 60's, in the beginning consisted entirely of sidekicks. The following all originated as Teen Titan villains: Deathstroke, Brother Blood, H.I.V.E.
The Suicide Squad are a government special ops team comprised mostly of super-villians who are essentially doing "community service" (ie; participating in missions in return for reduced sentences). Amanda Waller serves a similar capacity as Nick Fury. Bronze Tiger and Deadshot are both members with Deadshot and Captain Boomerang aka George "Digger" Harkness being two of the higher profile members.
The Secret Six were originally a covert team (non-superhero) organized by Mockingbird who blackmailed the participants into taking on missions (ie; similar to the Suicide Squad). This later became a villain team spin-off/similar to the Suicide Squad (or Marvel's Thunderbolts) and included Deadshot.
The League of Assassins is Ra's al Ghul's organisation. Bronze Tiger was a member for a while. They have a ton of history with characters like Batman - But you've all seen the Nolan Batman movies I'm sure which do a pretty good job on the back story.
Nanda Parbat is a Utopian fictional city that is periodically under siege by the League of Assassins. It's most notable for Deadman which I can't see Arrow using. But it has exciting implications if they do.
Professor Ivo is one of DC's many mad scientists. He's most known for the constant pursuit of immortality (usually resulting in really bad side effects for himself) and the creation of Justice League super-villain Amazo. (Using Amazo would be really strange unless very long term planning going on here [Justice League] so only reason to use Ivo instead of one of a dozen other characters is crazy pursuit of immortality)
S.T.A.R. Labs is a pervasive research group used throughout DC comics though most associated with Superman. Though Cyborg of the Teen Titans and Justice League was created as a result of a S.T.A.R. Labs incident. Due to the Law of Conservation of Detail if Arrow were to ever go down those routes I could see them working in similar themse and characters like Flash, Firestorm or Project Cadmus into S.T.A.R.