Kapiushon

Kapiushon is an episode of Arrow.

Synopsis

Present Day

After being captured by Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra), Oliver (Stephen Amell) finds himself being tortured over his many kills. Chase initially tortures Oliver by holding his head under water for 145 seconds at a time. When Chase names the Count (Count Vertigo) as one of Oliver's kills, he shoots Oliver with arrows the same way Oliver shot the count. Chase then tries unleashing the killer in Oliver by putting Evelyn Sharp (Madison McLauglin]]) in the cage with him. Oliver tries to appeal to Evelyn but fails and when Chase returns, he snaps Evelyn's neck. During Chase's torture, Oliver finally admits that he killed because he wanted to and liked it. Chase then burns Oliver's Bratva tattoo and releases him. Oliver returns to the bunker and informs John Diggle (David Ramsey), Felcity Smoak (Emily Bett Rikards) and Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum) that he is disbanding the team.

Production

The episode was originally called "Kapot" as shown in a tweet where Marc Guggenheim announced that shooting for the episode began on 30 January 2017. Madison McLaughlin returned after a seven episode hiatus in this episode as her character Evelyn Sharp.

Reception

Alasdair Wilkins of The A.V. Club wrote "At various points tonight, I was convinced I was watching either the best or the worst episode in Arrow history. If absolutely nothing else, that’s proof of audacity, as a show doesn’t flirt with such dizzying heights or such self-destructive lows by playing it safe. “Kapiushon” ends up somewhere between those two extremes, though I would place it closer to all-time best than all-time worst. Prometheus’ efforts to extract the confession from Oliver take Arrow into the darkest territory we have witnessed, yet even Adrian Chase’s (or Simon Morrison’s, or whatever we’re calling him) most brutal schemes can’t compete with what Oliver gets up to in Russia" Wilkins also stated "the basic point is that “Kapiushon” represents a logical endpoint for all the stories Arrow has told up to this point: the season-long battle between the Green Arrow and Prometheus, the concurrent exploration of Oliver’s time in Russia, the five-year evolution from the Hood to the Green Arrow, and the gradual transformation of Oliver Queen during his missing years." Jesse Schedeen of IGN wrote "Maybe the best that can be said for “Kapiushon” is that it felt like it could easily have been the finale to Season 5. We had Ollie captured and at the mercy of Adrian Chase. The season--long dilemma over whether the Green Arrow should kill was brought to a head. And after far too many weeks of heel-dragging, the Russian flashback storyline leapt forward as Dolph Lundgren’s Konstantin Kovar finally returned to the fold. A very eventful week, all in all." He also added about Amell and Segarra's performances "Above all, “Kapiushon” succeeded on the strength of Stephen Amell and Josh Segarra’s performances. Segarra has been on fire all season long, but especially these past two weeks as the mask has been cast aside and the true face of Adrian Chase has been revealed." Schedeen finished his review by saying "Arrow went very dark in this episode, thriving on two terrific performances from Stephen Amell and Josh Segarra. The Russian flashbacks also received a much-needed jolt of adrenaline here. "Kapiushon" could almost have served as a proper, if very depressing, finale to Season 5. Luckily, there are still several more weeks of darkness and despair to come for Team Arrow." Screen Crush wrote about the episode "Stephen Amell certainly had a hell of a time playing those pained realizations, as well as Oliver’s broken disdain in the final scene. “Kapiushon” was basically Arrow by way of the Saw bathroom, or a stage play, and there was incredible range on display between Oliver regretfully batting Evelyn away, or screaming in Josh Segarra’s face like that." Kayti Burt of Collider wrote "If you had told me at this time last year that the best episode of Arrow Season 5 would be a flashback-heavy one, I would have laughed in your face. “Kapishuon” proved me wrong by giving us a thematically-resonant episode that made Oliver — and the audience — face the stark darkness in his crusade without the rose-tinted glasses." Nora Dominick said "After five years of explosions and harrowing stunts, Arrow delivers a character driven episode that maybe one of the series best hours."