The BEST episodes of Arrow
Every episode of Arrow ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Arrow!
After being marooned for five years on a remote island and presumed dead, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns home with a mysterious agenda and a lethal set of new skills that he uses in a war on crime in his hometown of Starling City.
#1 - Crisis on Infinite Earths (4)
Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/14/2020
Stuck in the Vanishing Point, the Paragons search for a way to escape. The futility of the situation is compounded by The Flash’s disappearance. However, hope appears in the form of Oliver, who reveals that he has become something else. Meanwhile, the origin stories for The Monitor and Anti-Monitor are revealed.
#2 - Human Target
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/2/2016
When Tobias Church captures and tortures one of Oliver's new recruits, Oliver must turn to an old friend, Christopher Chance AKA the Human Target, for help. Meanwhile, Felicity's worlds collide when Detective Malone joins the ACU.
#3 - Sacrifice
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/15/2013
Oliver and Diggle race to stop the Dark Archer from unleashing his vengeance on The Glades. However, they run into a roadblock after Detective Lance picks up Felicity for questioning. Tommy and Oliver’s already tumultuous relationship takes a turn for the worse after Oliver makes a confession about Laurel. After hearing of the danger in The Glades, Thea races to find Roy, inadvertently putting herself directly in the line of fire for Malcolm’s devious plan. On the island, Oliver, Slade and Shado are locked in a life-or-death struggle against Fyers as his missiles lock on a full Ferris Air jetliner.
#4 - Haunted
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/4/2015
When things take a turn for the worse with Sara, Oliver calls in a favor from an old friend who deals in the mystical, John Constantine.
#5 - Fadeout
Season 8 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/28/2020
After eight seasons, and the launch of countless superheroes, the series wraps up the story of the Green Arrow.
#6 - A Matter of Trust
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/19/2016
Now that Oliver has his new team, they are ready to hit the streets but Oliver doesn’t feel they are ready. Headstrong Wild Dog defies the Green Arrow’s orders and sets out on his own after a new drug dealer, Derek Sampson, who is terrorizing Star City. Sampson proves more powerful than Wild Dog and it is up to the Green Arrow to go head to head with Sampson to save his teammate.
#7 - Leap of Faith
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/29/2019
Reunited with his sister, Oliver and Thea find themselves searching through a familiar maze of catacombs. Meanwhile, John and Lyla partner on a special ops mission.
#8 - Unthinkable
Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/14/2014
Slade moves forward with his plan to kill one more person in Oliver’s life. While Oliver has fought all year to be more than the killer he once was, when Slade kidnaps someone close to Oliver’s heart, Oliver is pushed to the edge and realizes sometimes it takes doing the unthinkable to stop the monster. Meanwhile, Diggle takes on Amanda Waller with a little help from some friends, and Thea turns to Roy in her time of need.
#9 - Penance
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/26/2016
Oliver and Lyla team up on a secret mission for Diggle. Felicity finds out and disapproves of the plan and opts to stay behind. When Tobias Church launches a deadly assault against the city, Felicity must decide if she wants to send the recruits out sans the Green Arrow.
#10 - What We Leave Behind
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/7/2016
After Prometheus attacks Curtis, Oliver realizes Prometheus knows all of Team Arrow’s secret identities and is planning to come for them one by one. Felicity and Detective Malone discover a clue that links Prometheus to Oliver’s past.
#11 - Legacy
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/5/2016
After Laurel's death and the departures of both Diggle and Thea from Team Arrow, Oliver takes to the streets solo to protect Star City's citizens as the Green Arrow. With Felicity guiding him from the bunker, Oliver is forced to deal with a city that has become overrun with both criminals and a slew of new (and painfully inexperienced) vigilantes. Watching Oliver try to balance his jobs as both the mayor and also the protector of Star City, Felicity suggests he form a new team, but Oliver resists. However, when a deadly new criminal, Tobias Church, enters the picture, Oliver realizes the best thing for the city might be a new team of superheroes. Meanwhile, the flashbacks take us to Russia where Oliver faces off against the Bratva.
#12 - Sins of the Father
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/10/2016
Oliver receives an offer from Nyssa that is hard to refuse. Meanwhile, Thea continues to battle the blood lust, Malcolm steps in to help his daughter, and Laurel has a heart to heart talk with Nyssa.
#13 - Streets of Fire
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/7/2014
Oliver rallies his team as Slade’s soldiers attack the city. Felicity gets a call from S.T.A.R. Labs with game-changing news and Thea comes face-to-face with her father — Malcolm Merlyn.
#14 - Deathstroke
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/2/2014
Slade makes his move against Oliver and the repercussions are enormous. While Oliver scrambles to protect his family, a key player in his team starts to question Oliver’s decisions. Meanwhile, Isabel makes her move to take Queen Consolidated away from Oliver.
#15 - The Man Under the Hood
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/16/2014
Oliver, Canary, Diggle and Felicity return to the lair and find Slade waiting for them. An epic battle breaks out and one member of Team Arrow is sent to the hospital. Thea hits her breaking point, but just as Oliver is about to reach her, Slade intervenes and Oliver is faced with a choice — his battle with Slade or his family. Meanwhile, Laurel struggles with a new secret.
#16 - Suicide Squad
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/19/2014
Following Slade’s return and his promise to make good on his threat to destroy Oliver’s loved ones, Oliver focuses all his energy on preparing for battle with his former friend. Sarah tries to help but, fearing for her safety, Oliver pushes her away. Meanwhile, Diggle is recruited by Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S. to stop a warlord he knew from his time in Afghanistan. Always the soldier, Diggle agrees to help. However, he’s not prepared when Amanda introduces him to the rest of the team — Deadshot, Bronze Tiger and Shrapnel, all criminals he and Arrow helped put away. Lyla defends the team and explains the world is a complicated place, but Diggle isn’t sure he agrees. When the mission takes a dangerous turn, Diggle is forced to make a difficult decision.
#17 - Birds of Prey
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/26/2014
When Frank Bertinelli is arrested, Oliver knows it’s only a matter of time before his daughter, Helena, AKA The Huntress, returns to town. To make matters worse, Laurel is picked to try Frank’s case, putting her right in the path of Helena. Oliver tells Sara he will handle his ex-girlfriend, but when Helena takes hostages at the courthouse, including Laurel, the Canary will stop at nothing to save her sister. When The Huntress and Canary meet, an epic battle begins. Meanwhile, Roy realizes he needs to keep Thea safe, but doesn’t like the way he is forced to go about it.
#18 - Three Ghosts
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/11/2013
After a fight with Cyrus Gold AKA the Acolyte, Oliver is drugged and left for dead. Determined to cure him, Felicity makes a risky decision. The cure causes Oliver to hallucinate, and what he sees forces him to confront his past. Meanwhile, Barry continues to help Felicity, and their connection grows stronger. The Arrow asks Lance to look into Gold, but when the stakeout on Gold goes bad, someone is killed. Roy is captured and tortured by Brother Blood.
#19 - Brotherhood
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/18/2015
Team Green Arrow's ongoing battle with Damien Darhk is complicated by a shocking revelation. Thea's bloodlust returns and she loses control in front of Alex.
#20 - Seeing Red
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/23/2014
The Mirakuru sends Roy into an uncontrollable rage and he unleashes on the city. After Roy’s deadly fight with a police officer, Oliver realizes the Mirakuru has taken over Roy completely and must figure out a way to stop him. Things get more complicated after Sara declares that Roy is too far gone and the only way to stop him is to kill him. Meanwhile, Thea believes she can break through to Roy so she goes on camera at Moira’s campaign rally to lure him to Verdant. Her ploy works but after Roy attacks Thea, Team Arrow unleashes on him.
#21 - The Scientist
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/4/2013
A seemingly impossible robbery at Queen Consolidated’s Applied Sciences Division brings Central City police scientist Barry Allen to town. Citing a similar case back home, Barry offers to help Oliver and team with the investigation. Oliver senses there is more to Barry than meets the eye, but he’s distracted by the similarities between this current case and something that happened on the island. Meanwhile, Felicity takes a liking to Barry, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Oliver. Sin asks Roy for help when a friend of hers goes missing. Roy is surprised when Thea not only encourages him to help, but joins the search. Unfortunately, Sin’s friend is connected to Brother Blood, and their search ultimately gets one of them seriously injured.
#22 - Time of Death
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/26/2014
Oliver brings Sara into the Arrow team. Watching Oliver and Diggle spar with Sara and talk old scars, Felicity starts to feel left out. The team is investigating a villain named William Tockman, a.k.a. The Clock King, who is a brilliant thief armed with technology that can open any bank vault in Starling City. After The Clock King infiltrates the computer systems in the lair, Felicity feels pressure to prove her worth. When she gets a lead on Tockman’s whereabouts, she heads out without the team, putting her in peril. Meanwhile, Oliver throws Sara a welcome home party, but Laurel refuses to attend. After Lance makes his case for a family dinner, Laurel acquiesces, but when Oliver shows up with Sara, she loses her temper on both of them.
#23 - The Recruits
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/12/2016
Oliver’s new recruits for Team Arrow are Curtis, Wild Dog and Evelyn Sharp. Unfortunately, the Green Arrow’s training methods prove to be too much for some of them to handle. Meanwhile, in the flashbacks, Oliver’s initiation into the Bratva continues.
#24 - The Climb
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/10/2014
Nyssa returns to Starling City and tells Oliver that her father, Ra’s al Ghul has given Oliver 48 hours to find Sara’s killer or the League of Assassins will start killing the citizens of Starling City. Laurel is stunned when her father delivers a very special Christmas gift — her mother, Dinah. Meanwhile, Ray tries to make amends with Felicity and Oliver sets a meeting with Ra’s al Ghul.
#25 - Blood Debts
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/20/2016
Oliver must deal with the devastating consequences of Darhk’s last attack. Seeking revenge, Oliver goes on a brutal manhunt looking for Dahrk.