Taken

You can’t hear this week’s title “Taken” and not draw a reference to Liam Neeson’s Taken. Neeson spends the movie rescuing his kidnapped child. Neeson has ties to DC. He portrayed Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins.

Olympian

Curtis’s husband mentioned that he was an Olympian during “Taken” and this is interesting because Curtis Holt is similar to Michael Holt in the comics, and Michael is Mr. Terrific. There have been plenty of hints that Curtis will—at some point—become Mr. Terrific. Ollie called him “terrific” when Curtis gave Oliver and Felicity the wedding gift of a chip that would allow Felicity to walk again. Both characters are former Olympians. Curtis has worn Mr. Terrific’s Fair Play jacket. And they both created T-Spheres.

William

“Taken” marked the longest air time William, Oliver Queen’s son, had on Arrow since the Arrow/Flash crossover, which was when Oliver discovered he had a child. It’s also worth noting that “Taken” occurred 24 hours before Connor Hawke appeared on Legends of Tomorrow, and Connor is Oliver’s son in the comics.

This happened already

So many of the lines we heard Felicity and Oliver share after Felicity learned about William echoed what she said when she broke up with Ollie during the Arrow/Flash crossover. So Jim wasn’t wrong about the inevitability of the Olicity show down. “Stop. I can’t hear another lie” and “you’re the only person on the planet that considers the truth complicated” are direct quotes Felicity made the first time around and here they are again.

Of course that time line was erased by Barry, so we’re getting a little bit of déjà vu all over again.

Constantine in Hell

John Constantine was unavailable to help Ollie this week because he was in Hell. Literally. While I’m not sure whether or not John would’ve helped Ollie if he was around (Ollie ignored John’s warning, and John hates that), it does make sense that John would spent time in Hell. He is from the Hellblazer comics.

Vixen

We got our first look at a live-action Vixen on this week’s Arrow, but Mari McCabe has her own animated series on the CW. Arrow fed us the bulk of her background and it matches the comic and cartoon, but in the comics, she was a member of the Detroit-era Justice League. A couple of her teammates have made the jump to primetime. J’Onn J’Onzz (The Martian Manhunter) is currently on Supergirl, while Vibe is on The Flash.

Animated Encounter

Remember how Vixen has her own animated series on the CW. Well, she ran into Barry and Ollie on her show last season, and that’s the encounter Ollie referenced in Arrow this week. I guess they just linked the CW live-action and animated TV universe, or that was just a nice wink to the fans. Either way, it was funny.

I had that under control

I’ll have to go back and count how many times we’ve heard the following dialogue exchange in Arrow: Some says, “I had that under control,” after another hero saves them from a beating, and the second character says, “I know.” Mari was the first character this week, and Ollie got to say, “I know,” but it was Ollie who was overwhelmed last year, and Ray got to take the role of the second hero who saved the day.

Don’t tell Barry

Should Barry just go public with his secret identity? No one cares about keeping his secret a secret. Ollie knew Barry was the CSI who helped Samantha and implied to his baby-momma that he knew Barry, and Samantha would have to be thick to not figure out that Barry Allen is The Flash.

An army of little Olivers

Captain Lance made the comment that he wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t an army of little Olivers, and that isn’t too far off. In the comics, Oliver Queen sired more than one illegitimate child. One of them is even an on-again, off-again villain.

Nelson Plaza

Arrow and Flash love naming buildings, street corners, and points of interest after writers, artists, and executives, and Nelson Plaza is no different. Darhk mentioned the plaza as a meeting place for him and Ollie, and Nelson Plaza has to be a reference for DC Entertainment’s president Diane Nelson.

Did you miss our Arrow “Taken” review? Here’s a link. Thanks for reading.