This was a pretty good episode. Now, I have my reservations about trusting the producers and what they say, but one thing they've said in the past has stuck with me. They said that Slade's end-game is something Oliver won't expect. If that's the case, then there's something else in play and Slade is using the 'Shado's death' incident as smoke screen for his real purposes. This Slade seems far more cunning, far more.... well, awesome to be simply still grieving for Shado.
Felt sorry for Oliver this episode. He tried every little tactic he could without coming out and telling his family the truth to get Slade away from them. His SOS was awesome, though. I'm also glad that they had Sara take a leadership role in Team Arrow. This paves the way not only for more interaction for the team, but also preludes the promise that the Arrowcave won't be an Ollie-run dictatorship (so to speak) much longer. That promise is another reason I think we won't be seeing Sara die. It also gave us insight into the fact that Sara clearly is not, as some people suspected, working for Slade. Something tells me, with how she said, "it's not a voice you forget", that Slade might've let his new crew have some liberties.... it'd also give some history to her thing about sex predators (something I share, which is why I'm admittedly biased in Sara's favor).
The battle for the freighter was great, and the ship running into the shallows due to Slade and Oliver's quick fight on the bridge was damn cool; that explained why, in episode 1 of this season, the ship was in the shallows but sunken. But the best part, for me, was when Slade took command of the ship and proclaimed himself captain. That was.... awesome. I don't want to come off like Devon on Chuck, but there's few words and awesome is one of the few that can describe it. I'm looking forward to how Oliver and Anatoli become friends (because I suspect they'll be on that island together for a while).
My question is, who was it that took out Diggle? I've heard some people speculate Huntress, but I doubt it. She's too unpredictable and focused on her own revenge. I hope we'll find out who that was soon.
As for Slade's expression when he saw Sara..... I honestly can't decipher it. It could've been surprise, anger, or a sense of triumph in seeing that the woman Oliver saved is still alive. The problem is, if Slade wants to make Oliver suffer for making the choice, wouldn't he also want to make Sara suffer for being the reason for Shado's death? That's always been my theory, so that's why I don't think she's the ultimate target. If anyone is, it's Thea. Slade himself saw that Moira and Oliver's relationship is not the best, but not only saw the concern and desperation when Thea came when the two were having a contest of wills, but also likely heard the concern for Thea as opposed to the flat monotone at the end of the last episode.
All in all, this episode has proved worthy of the praise in my mind, and I look forward to seeing how things turn out in the future episodes.