The season five finale of Arrow was intense, thrilling and explosive. At the end of the episode, Oliver found himself on a boat with Chase, who was holding his son William hostage. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was back on Lian Yu.
The problem was, the island was rigged with thousands of explosive devices. All of those devices would be activated by a dead man switch. In other words, if Chase died, the island would go kaboom.
This put Oliver in a tough spot, as Chase was holding a gun to William’s head. If Oliver did nothing, Chase would kill William. But if he shot Chase to save his boy, the island with all of his friends and family would get blown to pieces. So Oliver did what any hero would do, and shot Chase in the leg.
This allowed William to break free of Chase’s hold, while Chase still lived. But as always, Chase had a backup plan. He pulled out a gun as he sat on the boat with an arrow in his leg. As Oliver clenched William against his chest, Chase went on talking about Oliver’s father. Oliver seemed confused until Chase pointed the gun at his own head. As he pulled the trigger, Oliver turned to see the island get blown up by thousands of explosions.
Now, we know that team Arrow was on their way to the other side of the island to get to an A.R.G.U.S base to save themselves. But there was no way there was enough time for them to make it. However, there is no way they can kill off the entire cast of the show outside of Oliver.
So I am going to go off the assumption that everyone who was alive last we saw them, is still breathing. And that includes Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke.
Slade was brought back into the fold as Oliver needed some assistance. As a piece offering, Oliver gave Slade a USB with information that would help him find his son. Ollie even said he would help in locating Slade’s boy. So that makes me wonder, is that going to be a key storyline in season six of Arrow?
Now, it is entirely possible that this was just a one-off for Slade. They needed a reason for him to side with Oliver. The two have a long history that did not exactly end on good terms, meaning he couldn’t just simply agree to join the fight for no reason. The information about his son helped progress the story.
But I would like to think there is going to be more to that plot point than just a quick reference to move the story along. There is currently room for Slade on the show. Now, I do not think he becomes a season regular, but rather a guest star.
This would allow him to fill in the hole that will be left by Malcolm Merlyn’s death in the finale. The last few years, Malcolm would pop in for a few episodes here and there. He was that character that loved to play both sides. Sometimes he was there to help, while other times he was there with bad intentions. In other words, he could never truly be trusted.
I see Slade sliding into that type of spot. While all seemed well and good in the finale, I still would not trust him completely. There is no erasing the past between him and Oliver, and Oliver will never fully trust Slade. So I would imagine it is the same for Slade with Ollie.
He could take off after one or two episodes as he tries to track down his son. Then later in the season, he could reemerge when his son shows up in Star City. My best guess would be that his son shows up as a villain that the Green Arrow and his team will need to take down. This could put Oliver and Slade at odds once more.
So while I do not think Manu Bennett will be around for all of season six, I still forsee him having a fairly large role. It would be cool to see Deathstroke and the Green Arrow have to square off at least once more before the show ends. Next season is the perfect time to do that.
What do you think? Do you think Slade was just back for the finale, and maybe the season six opener? Will he become a series regular again? Or will he have a prominant guest star role? Tell us in the comments!