Green Arrow: Stranded

Green Arrow: Stranded

• Oliver Queen is on a yacht with his parents and his date, Felicity Smoke. The boat capsizes in a storm and all seem to die, except of course for Oliver Queen, who washes up with some wreckage on the shore of a secluded island. 

• Oliver is initially hopeless on the island. Oliver makes a big SOS in the sand but it is evident that there is almost never air or boat traffic near the island. He wallows about in self-pity until he decides to try to make the most of it and thrive. He struggles to make fire, but is able to. Survive off coconuts. Eventually, he runs out of coconuts and constructs, a bow and arrow out of branches and twine. Oliver actually has amazing experience with the bow and arrow since his affluent family had him tracked for an Olympic path before he became a big partier. He arrow fishes and eats them raw. One dark and stormy night, lightning strikes down near the beach and ignites a tree. Oliver uses this flame to start a bonfire that he keeps going for days. 

• One afternoon, when Oliver returns from arrow fishing, he is surprised to find that his fire has been put out. Fear immediately sets into Oliver. And he draws his bow in defense. An arrow then miraculously grazes Oliver’s ear and a voice yells out telling him to lower his weapon. Oliver obliges and a man dressed all in black steps out of the bush. It is Malcolm Merlin, a wealthy man who Oliver actually recognizes. Malcolm compliments Oliver‘s skills with a bow and tells him how he found him due to the smoke from his fire. Malcolm explains the true nature of the island that he is on. He explains that it is called the Island of No Sun and is used by the League of Shadows as a training ground. Malcolm goes on to explain the League of Shadows and attempts to recruit Oliver to be a part of his secret coup to overthrow Sensei. Oliver has no seemingly no choice but to accept and Malcolm says training will begin soon.

• We follow Malcolm back to the League’s training camp and see some familiar faces. Sensei is the main head of the island and Lady Shiva is his second hand. We also see Sportsmaster and his girlfriend, Tigress. As well as Onix, the Kabuki Twins. The other assassins give Malcolm a hard time about where he ran off to. Malcolm covers by saying he was doing some jungle traversing training, but we can see that Lady Shiva is still skeptical. 

• On the beach, Oliver continues to practice with his bow and Malcolm emerges once again. Merlin presents Oliver with a green cloak and the idea that in a few days they will pretend to introduce Oliver as a new recruit, before assassinating the Sensei and any who are too loyal to him. They train but Oliver questions why Merlin is even here. Malcolm Merlin explains that he paid a large amount of money to train from the best. Merlin thinks that because he is so powerful in the corporate world he wanted to be just as dangerous when it comes to being an arbiter of life and death. He thinks that just as he has climbed the corporate ladder, he can do the same with underworld crime. Oliver questions his motives and as punishment, Malcolm beat him up. Malcolm leaves Oliver on the beach to continue as he says and says next time, he will introduce him to his other defector. 

• Back at the training facility, we witness a sparring session between a Sportsmaster and Malcolm Merlin. Malcolm Merlin beats Tigress, handedly and begins being arrogant and talking crap to her. This angers Sportsmaster and him and Merlin get into an argument. Sportsmaster threatens Malcolm and Merlin draws his bow. Sensei  steps in and orders them to stop this nonsense and to instead handle this the way they are trained to. They then fight and Sportsmaster wins.

• Sensei then verbally belittles Malcolm Merlin in front of everybody. Merlin is frustrated and speaks up against Sensei, so he orders Shiva to make an example of him. She tells her old friend sorry before she beats him up. 

• Later that night, we see Oliver working on his secret raft to escape the island if things go poorly. When Oliver gets back to his camp, he hears the voice of a woman and Shiva emerges from the tree line. She tells Oliver that she is the other secret companion to Malcolm Merlin and they seek to overthrow the Sensei together. She has Oliver show her his skill and she is very impressed. They spend the night together at the camp and she tells him that it will be going down tomorrow morning and they are to wait for Malcolm’s word. When Oliver wakes up in the morning, Shiva is not there. Oliver is panicked and runs to check on his boat to make sure he was not duped and it is still there. 

• His hidden raft still remains so he breaths a sigh of relief and heads back to the beach. When he gets back, he sees that Shiva is there waiting for him. She explains that now it was the time to act and they are to move now. Oliver questions where Malcolm Merlin is, but Shiva assures him that he is already in position.

• Shiva and Oliver, wearing his green hood, approach the camp as if she is introducing a new candidate for induction. They stop at the bottom of the Sensei’s spire and Shiva introduces him as Robin Hood. Sensei is pleased to make his acquaintance before saying that they have an opening for a good archer and revealing the hanged body of Malcolm Merlin and Onix. Oliver is shocked and looks at Shiva who demands he listen to Sensei. He explains that they had discovered Merlin’s plot and do not take too kindly to a dishonorable action such as defiance. Onix was Merlin’s true other ally and Shiva simply played along so they could use their deaths as an example to Oliver for what happens when talented assassins stray from the path of honor. 

• Oliver says he understands and feels disgusted by Malcolm’s actions. He asks if he may fire one last arrow into the chest of the renegades. Sensei smiles and allows it. Oliver draws two arrows then aims his arrow at Merlin but then at the last moment, fires at a chain holding up a lantern. The lantern falls into a powder keg that sets off an explosion on the spire! With the second arrow, he immediately turns around and stabs Shiva in the side. As she falls to the ground, Oliver books it out of there into the jungle, towards his raft.  Sportsmaster, Tigress, and the Kabuki Twins give chase. They attempt to kill him as he runs but Oliver moves through the jungle faster and gets ahead of them. He ends up at a deep river crossing and the assassins are close behind, so Oliver quickly ties a vine to his arrow and lets it fly across the valley. Oliver zip lines over the rapids with his bow and cuts the line once he lands, separating him from the assassins. 

• Oliver makes it to his boat and pushes off into the vast ocean ahead. 

• The last scene takes place in a different temple, this time underground. We see the bodies of Shiva and Sensei being lifted out of the Lazarus pit. Ra’s Al Ghul demands to know why happened and Sensei tells him that his runaway is not the only one.