Arrow Recap: Kapiushon – Episode 517

Violet recaps Season 5 Episode 17 of Arrow, titled Kapiushon, in which Oliver confesses his darkest secret. Check out Josh’s recap, followed by our thoughts about the episode.

• His thoughts on Kapiushon, Episode 517 of Arrow
• Her thoughts on Arrow, Season 5 Episode 17: Kapiushon

The episode begins with Adrian Chase holding Oliver’s head underwater, then letting him up and talking about Oliver killing his father. Adrian wants Oliver to confess to something, but Oliver says he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Later, Oliver awakens to find that Adrian has posted pictures on the wall of the people Oliver killed. Adrian tries to get Oliver to confess his secret — or else he’ll shoot Oliver with arrows. Oliver tells Adrian to go to hell, so Adrian shoots him with three arrows. Adrian continues to prod Oliver to confess, even threatening Oliver’s son. But Oliver continues to say that he doesn’t know what Adrian wants.

Adrian brings Evelyn into the cell with Oliver. It is evident that she has been abused. Adrian tells Oliver that either Oliver kills Evelyn and he lets Oliver go, or Evelyn kills Oliver and he lets Evelyn go. Otherwise, Adrian will snap Evelyn’s neck. Evelyn apologizes to Oliver, saying she can’t take another day there, and picks up the knife that Adrian left on the floor.

Oliver tries to talk Evelyn down, and proposes to ambush Adrian together when he comes back. However, she goes after Oliver with the knife. He is able to push her away though. Adrian comes back in and is upset that Oliver didn’t kill Evelyn, considering that he has killed people for less than what she did. He again tries to get Oliver to confess, but Oliver again says he doesn’t know what he wants. Adrian snaps Evelyn’s neck, killing her.

Adrian continues to implore Oliver to confess, and suggests that it’s not really true that Oliver killed his father because he was a name on a list. Adrian finally gets the confession that he’s been wanting: that Oliver didn’t kill because he had to, it was because he wanted to, and he liked it.

It turns out that Adrian didn’t kill Evelyn after all. She was just faking, and they were in on this together. Adrian asks for a moment alone with Oliver. He criticizes Oliver for using his father’s memory to justify a killing spree. Oliver apologizes for the pain he has caused Adrian. He says he doesn’t care, then proceeds to burn Oliver’s Bratva captain tattoo.

When Oliver wakes up, his cell door is open. When he returns to the Arrow Cave, he has been gone for 6 days. He reports to the others that Adrian Chase had him, then let him go. He also says that it’s over for him — he doesn’t want to do this anymore, and is shutting everything down.

Flashbacks

Oliver and Anatoly question a dying Gregor, who tells Anatoly that he will beg Kovar to spare him, and then tells Oliver that he isn’t a hero, that everything and everyone that Oliver loves will wither and die at his touch. Then Gregor dies. Now that Gregor is dead, they need to choose a new Pakhan, which is chosen by seniority — which means Anatoly is the new Pakhan. The Bratva members perform the ceremony appointing him Pakhan, which involves cutting the palm of their hand and placing their hand to Anatoly’s.

As the new Pakhan, it is Anatoly’s duty to meet with Kovar. However, Oliver has an idea: he will meet with Galina, Taiana’s mother. He finds her in the outdoor market and asks for her help. However, the man with her recognizes Oliver and takes out his gun, but Oliver fights back and shoots the man. Then he tells Galina that she can’t tell Kovar that she saw him, and runs off.

As Anatoly comes in to meet with Kovar, Malcolm Merlyn is just leaving from meeting with Kovar. Kovar asks about the man who killed Gregor, and Anatoly tells him that Gregor called the man “Kapiushon,” which means “Hood.” Kovar also mentions that he had heard Anatoly may not have liked the deal he had with Gregor, but Anatoly says that now that he is Pakhan, so he must honor the deal. They talk a bit more.

Anatoly returns and tells Oliver that Kovar is planning to overthrow the Russian government. While in Kovar’s office, he happened to see a file on a shipyard. Oliver insists on helping Anatoly.

At the shipyard, Bratva finds sarin gas containers, enough to kill thousands. However, while they are unloading the gas, Kovar and his men show up and there’s a shootout. One of the sarin gas containers is hit in the cross fire, and a Bratva member dies from it. Oliver, dressed in his Hood costume, fires arrows into the fight. Unfortunately, Kovar and his men are able to get the sarin gas containers, and drive away with them.

Back at Bratva HQ, Viktor criticizes Oliver’s actions during the fight, but Oliver says that he was following Anatoly’s orders. Oliver ties one of Kovar’s men down and blindfolds him, then questions him about Kovar’s plans — and gets them out of him, via torture, which ultimately leads to the man’s death. Anatoly comes in and doesn’t like what he sees. Oliver says that wearing the Hood suit helps him direct the darkness inside him, and that he was practicing to become something else.

Oliver, Anatoly, and Viktor discuss how to stop the casino attack. Oliver goes to talk to Galina again. This time he knocks her bodyguard out first. He delivers the sad news about her children’s death. Oliver says that before Taiana died, she said that Kovar was a monster, and made him swear to bring Kovar to justice. He asks Galina to help him keep his promise to Taiana. She gives him a key. Before he goes, she asks who killed her children. Oliver simply replies that it was a monster.

Hooded Oliver uses the key to get in through the back door of Kovar’s casino, then is able to get into the security room, where he sees the location of the gas containers on the monitors. He directs Anatoly and the others to the gas, and they come in through the back door. Meanwhile, Kovar’s men have figured out what’s going on, and Kovar tries to question Galina about who she gave the key to. Later, Oliver enters Kovar’s office to find Galina’s dead body. When Anatoly and the others come in, he realizes that Viktor has betrayed him.

Kovar brings the Bratva members before the casino crowd, claiming that they had planned to stage a gas attack on government officials — or at least that’s what the newspapers will report. Kovar’s men then release the gas, while they all put on gas masks, leaving everyone else in the casino helpless.

Oliver finds the room from where the gas is being dispersed, and turns it off. But Kovar comes in and tells him that it’s too late. Oliver takes down the two men who came in with Kovar, then as he and Kovar fight, the hood comes off and he sees that it’s Oliver Queen.

Oliver is able to throw Kovar into the casino area without a gas mask. We see that the gas is killing Viktor, but Anatoly has covered his nose and mouth with a napkin and is doing okay. The gas must have dissipated enough by now, and Kovar and Oliver continue to fight. Oliver gets the upper hand and is getting ready to kill Kovar, but Anatoly stops him, saying that Kovar will face justice. Oliver agrees that Kovar will face justice, and stabs Kovar in the heart, killing him.

Oliver gets his Bratva captain tattoo. Afterwards, he and Anatoly talk about when they first met. Anatoly has seen that Oliver kills because he likes it, though Oliver tries to deny it. Anatoly warns Oliver that his Hood persona is one day going to fall apart, and that he won’t like the man underneath.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Merlyn has come to see Kovar, who is laying on a slab, and who apparently did not die after all.

 

Scenes from Arrow, Season 5 Episode 18: Disbanded

Preview of Season 5 Episode 18 of Arrow

What did you think of Season 5 Episode 17 of Arrow, titled Kapiushon? Let us know in the comments below!