Arrow returned this week after a pretty sad breakup and as with all breakups, now comes the awkward period. These recently ‘broken hearted’ souls and the return of Cupid – villainess of love and cray cray – might have taken center stage as far as the episode title is concerned; but the biggest point of this episode was what it started: The Trial of Damien Darhk. With Laurel Lance putting on her ‘other’ suit and the sleaziest of sleazy legal defenses on Darhk’s side, it’s a battle for the ages as we finally see if all the Arrow’s work was for nothing. But will a legal victory come with a dire cost?

As always, it’s time to take a closer look at what happened and look ahead to what’s coming next.

“Broken Hearts” – Paralleling Cupid & Felicity’s Situations:

When we last saw Cupid, she started crushing on Deadshot only to have him be “killed” a few moments later. Now Cupid’s never been the most stable of individuals, but with the loss of her most recent love – of 5 minutes – she’s now taken one of his passing comments and turned it into a guiding rule: “love is a bullet to the brain”. Now we can debate whether or not Cupid even knows what love is; but that’s beyond the point because in her head she’s lost two loves – the Arrow and Deadshot. So to her, she feels all those ‘fairytale happy endings’ is nothing but lies and she’s doing people a service by exposing love as the fragile lie that it is. Crazy of course. . . unless you’re Felicity . . . . . . . . . .

Felicity being upset over Oliver hiding the fact that he had a son is understandable – and we already saw it via this Season’s Crossover episode in the alternate future… uh past – but we didn’t expect her to be THIS upset about it. Now each person is free to fall on whosever side they want, but many times this episode Felicity’s anger and frustration is shown via actions and passive aggressive comments. Like Cupid, she’s suffering from a broken heart and is going overboard with it. Diggle of course is serving as the baseline for all of this and imagines she just needs time; but as the episode goes on Felicity shows more and more that it’s done done – even leaving team Arrow.

The final nail in that coffin was their final exchange, with how Felicity says that she meant everything she said to Cupid except not for Oliver, which is a pretty damaging reversal. This ends with her saying that since Oliver returning some people’s money recently, the team can function without her; but if you watched the last few times they were without her, you know that is the FURTHEST from the truth. Maybe this is how Felicity starts to leave the show. Maybe this is how Curtis comes into the fold of Team Arrow. Maybe I shouldn’t have started this segment off with ‘nail in a coffin’, which brings us to our next point…

Who’s In The Grave – New Evidence As We Near The Deadline:

We’ve been following this question since episode one and it’s gone through many iterations. At first, many suspected Felicity; but then we found her to be alive in the MidSeason Premier. Then we suspected it was Thea or Oliver’s son; but both of those fizzled out as well. The two most likely candidates have always been either Diggle or Quentin Lance, and after this week’s episode it seems like we have our frighteningly painful answer.

Now some have argued that the episode confirms Laurel to be the one in the grave; but that sadly misses a great deal of what this episode was about. YES, Darkh originally got Quentin to follow him by threatening his daughter; but more and more it’s become apparent that Darhk’s retaliation would be directed at Quentin himself. Darhk’s legal defense is impressive and it’s infuriating to see how he’s still able to dance around these made up figures. Whether its regular eye witnesses or members of Team Arrow, Darhk’s defense has a rebuttal for each one. The only one they don’t is Quentin.

If Darhk wanted to silence the trial, it’s the star witness that has to go – and that’s Quentin. Additionally, look at the story arcs of these characters. Quentin is now completely on board with Team Arrow and is now is at risk of losing his status on the Police Force. Additionally, his parting words to Laurel last night were incredibly touching and he probably already knows he signed his death warrant. In fact, I was entirely suspecting Quentin to get it last night from a corrupt cop. Laurel still has way too much story to tell, Quentin on the other hand, his storyline has just about run its course – and his death would be something so shocking that it would cause Team Arrow and viewers alike to call for Darhk’s death. Quentin isn’t just Laurel’s father; but also the closest thing Oliver has to a father figure as well.

As for where Laurel is during the funeral scene, perhaps she’s already on a rampage spree that Oliver will soon join in on. We have to keep our eyes peeled because we’ve been thrown off before, but all we know is that the death is coming soon. Felicity confirmed that it has indeed been 5 months since the season started, which means we’ll have our answer within a few weeks. So get your tissues ready and get ready to scream at the screen because this is showing itself to be one demise that’s going to hit us all pretty hard.

The Ring – Symbolism & Another Darhk Mystery:

It’s important to note that while Oliver kept giving Felicity a ring – and Felicity kept giving it back – the episode ended with Damien Darhk revealing a hidden ring and putting it on his finger. What is that ring? Is he REALLY that happily married or is there more to it? Am I seeing things or did the lights start flickering because of that ring? Well as you’ll remember from last episode, Vixen destroyed Darhk’s totem – seemingly the same totem we see in the flashbacks. And much like the totem in the flashbacks, it seems like different totems draw power from different things. Darhk’s resourceful and has thought of contingency plans for everything. So is this ring perhaps a backup totem that will bestow him with enough power to craft his escape/ victory/ etc. Then again, maybe it’s a way for him to communicate with the rest of HIVE.

Whatever it may be, it will be revealed very soon as Darhk is poisoned to make his move as his true trial draws near. So see you next week for more Arrow!