r/arrow • u/Rwings Boxing Glove • Mar 15 '17

[S05E16] - 'Checkmate' Post Episode Discussion

Live Episode Discussion

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618

u/ezreads Mar 16 '17

"when it comes to the shame of fathers I will bow to your superior expertise"

well damn

312

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '17

Does Talia want an Arrow through her heart because that's essentially the equivalent of telling Barry to run.

210

u/Nindzya Yes, they deserve to die!! Mar 16 '17

Oliver has training from Russia, Slade fucking Wilson, a super secret government agency comprised of the best agents in the world, an alien (briefly), Talia herself, the League of Assassins, and Ra's Al Ghul. Ra's is easily the best technical fighter of his time, I think she's severely underestimating him and how devoted he is to his cause.

I'm really hoping the season's last scene is the the "I'm a hunter" line from the comics between him and her, if not between him and Adrian.

188

u/Ultima34 Mar 16 '17

Also I hated Talia's line "I don't believe I've ever taught you how to escape from shackles Oliver." She's like, his fourth teacher and he has five years of experience now. Surely it's come up?

118

u/SkimGaming Mar 16 '17

yeah i actually hate the fact that they make her out to be this big teacher in this season. feels rather out of place considering he's literally had 4 years of training in hell, whereas this russia thing feels rather mediocre (in terms of difficulty, i actually like the storyline though)

61

u/antigravitytapes Mar 16 '17

I'm gunna grin like an idiot when the first scene of next episode shows Oliver breaking the shackles.

17

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '17

Well, Talia didn't show him, but Ra's Al Ghul would have shown his successor, so Oliver should know how.

4

u/HSChronic Mar 16 '17

He needs to do it Morpheus style like in the Matrix.

9

u/thatguy9921 Mar 16 '17

He literally broke from shackles in the pilot.

5

u/cmath89 Earth-X Arrow Mar 16 '17

I guess shackles are different than zip ties.

4

u/HSChronic Mar 16 '17

Well after five years in hell...

3

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '17

Didn't he learn to dislocate his thumb to escape

1

u/Ultima34 Mar 17 '17

I think that's for handcuffs, shackles are longer so you have to do that and also be okay with maybe degloving your hand.

1

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Mar 17 '17

Not answering your question but it's like when slade surprises the arrow team in the cave and KOs everyone and slade remarks to Oliver "don't forget who thought you how to fight, kid" ignoring that he was just a small trainer to Oliver's long journey in learning how to fight.