Arrow 6X18: Fundamentals

I'm still not sure which parts of the Oliver/Felicity storyline in this episode actually happened, and which parts were a hallucination. But anyway, Vertigo is back! And as strong as ever.

So Oliver is getting ready for the hearing about his impeachment. He's been promised the opportunity to present evidence that proves Hill and Armand where taking money from Diaz. But, he doesn't actually have that evidence. He's got Felicity frantically looking for it some. Good news is, she finds some. Bad news is there is no way Oliver could have gotten it if he wasn't the Green Arrow.

Oliver has plans to take William and Felicity to the science fair, but he has to talk to Felicity so they are running late. William is pestering him to leave and Oliver loses his temper, destroys William's project and screams at him. Felicity demands he leave the house.

Shortly after Oliver is in the bunker and hears a strange noise. He turns around and Felicity is there telling him they need to take some space because the way he treated William is not okay. Then Adrian Chase shows up. At first he tries to convince Oliver that he never checked to see if he were dead, but he abandons that pretty quickly. But Oliver knows something is not right. He runs a blood test on himself and finds that he's been dosed with Vertigo.

Now we really have no idea what's real and what's what's not. Regardless, Chase follows him around, wheedling his way into Oliver's head. Making him think he hasn't changed, that he's still a killer. Reminding him that everything he said was going to happen, as. He's alone. Everyone has left him. He told Oliver that when he changed, he abandoned the mission and is no longer a hero. He convinced Oliver to don his old suit and show up to take down Diaz (who is protected by like 100 guys standing right in front of him).

Felicity has a GPS on his bow, she knows pretty quickly what he's doing. She runs over to the police department, and finds a trail of bodies before she finally finds Oliver who is ready to burst in. She begs him not to go inside. He tells her she left him. She promises that she'd never do that. Somehow she convinces him that she's the real Felicity and that they need to get out of there.

Inside, Diaz is tired of waiting and tell his guys just to go get him. Oliver and Felicity manage to escape just in time. But, back at the house, he tells Felicity that he really just needs to be a one man operation now. Meaning, no more Overwatch. He absolutely cannot do this without Felicity. I don't think he realizes that almost everything that gets accomplished is down to Felicity setting it in motion. Either way, he's convinced this is the right decision. I'm not, but it's not my life.

Oliver ends up getting impeached (when he showed up for the hearing he was an hour late, on Vertigo, and claimed his evidence was given to him by the Green Arrow) which makes Quentin the current mayor. And Diaz thrilled, as Star City is now open for crime.