'Arrow' season 5, episode 15 recap: Prometheus is unmasked in "Fighting Fire With Fire"

After last week's largely forgettable Arrow, season five, episode 15 upped the stakes, delivering one of the series' best episodes in several weeks. In "Fighting Fire With Fire," Oliver Queen has to deal with the ramifications of the leak that the Green Arrow killed Bill Malone. But the biggest plot point from episode 15 is that the identity of Prometheus is finally revealed.

(Editor's Note: Spoiler's ahead for season five, episode 15 of Arrow.)

Once news came to light that the mayor's office had covered up the Green Arrow's role in Detective Malone's murder, Oliver Queen is forced to fight against impeachment. And that's not all. Oliver's "corruption" also draws the attention of Vigilante, who tries to kill the mayor on several occasions. 

Elsewhere, both Thea and Felicity continue down a darker, morally ambiguous path, leading both to make drastic decisions in the latter moments of the episode. Finally, after spending a few weeks exploring other members of Team Arrow's personal lives — namely Dinah and Rene — "Fighting Fire With Fire" finds Curtis trying to repair his relationship with Paul. 

Who is Prometheus?

We might as well start with the biggest reveal of the night. After weeks and weeks of mystery, Prometheus' identity is finally revealed. And while the villain's alter ego may not come as a surprise to some, the way it was revealed is rather clever. 

Much like when Tobias Church attacked the Green Arrow, Prometheus takes offense to Vigilante going after Oliver Queen in "Fighting Fire With Fire." Prometheus attacks Vigilante, and after a quick scuffle, kicks him off a roof. Then comes the reveal. Prometheus removes his mask and we learn that he is none other than Adrian Chase! So, why is this surprising?

The fact that Adrian Chase is Prometheus is not terribly shocking. He is one of the new characters in season five, and more often than not, it is those additions that turn out to be the villains. The big surprise, though, is that Prometheus' identity is revealed during a battle with Vigilante, who many fans know is Chase in the comics. 

Part of me, though, thinks there may be something else going on here. Even after Chase calls in a Vigilante sighting, we never see the body — it's kicked off the roof. It is not so out of the realm of possibility, especially considering Chase's mental instability in the comics, that he is both characters. Could he have been seeing things? Perhaps some sort of an internal conflict, a la Legion?

That, of course, is just conjecture, and not entirely backed up by Vigilante's reappearance towards the end of the episode, when Chase was clearly outside with Oliver. Still, do not be surprised if something fishy is going on with Prometheus and Vigilante, even if they are not one in the same. 

Is Oliver still the mayor?

Oliver's attempts to keep his job as mayor make up most of the storyline in episode 15. To make a long story short, he narrowly avoids being thrown out of office. But how manages that is a bit shocking.

Throughout the episode, Oliver is given relatively unattractive options to prevent his impeachment. First, Adrian Chase offers to take the blame for covering up Detective Malone's murder. Not surprisingly, Oliver refuses to throw a colleague and friend under the bus — even if Chase is the one who covered up the murder (and, well, apparently caused it). 

Thea comes up with another less-than-desirable plan — fabricating information so Detective Malone looks like a dirty cop (come on Thea, what are you doing?). When Oliver doesn't go for that completely inappropriate idea, Thea decides to partner with Felicity (again?) to blackmail a member of the council voting on impeachment. Oliver shuts that down when he learns that the plan is to reveal to the public that the councilman's wife committed suicide. 

In the end, Oliver knows he has to sacrifice someone, so he decides to take the bullet. Well, specifically, he lets the Green Arrow take the blame. In a press conference, he paints the Green Arrow as a vigilante gone rogue — a cop killer who must be stopped. While this turns out to be enough to sway the council to vote against impeachment, the big question will be how this affects Oliver's nocturnal activities going forward.

Verdict

As disappointing as last week's episode was, "Fighting Fire With Fire" totally made up for it. After weeks of allowing the Prometheus storyline to barely simmer, Arrow finally turned up the heat with the Adrian Chase reveal. Having Prometheus remove his mask to reveal Chase, right after a battle with Vigilante was just perfect. 

The episode ending with Chase appearing to abduct Susan Williams also adds to the stakes of subsequent weeks, as we approach the latter part of the season. "Fighting Fire With Fire" also set up some compelling drama going forward, as Green Arrow will have a much tougher task playing hero with every cop in the city looking to bring him in (or worse). 

Ultimately, season five, episode 15 of Arrow was one of the strongest of the year, and has me pretty optimistic about the rest of the season. While the flashbacks (per usual) were largely forgettable, there were enough compelling arcs in the present to more than pick up the slack. 

The writers did throw in a bit of an emotional punch making it seem like Curtis was going to get back together with his husband, only to reveal that the latter was serving him divorce papers. But that angst will likely drive Mister Terrific going forward. It will also be interesting to see how Felicity meshes with Team Arrow now that she has joined the hacktivist group, Helix. Finally, Thea's resignation will leave Oliver with one less crutch as things get considerably more tense.

The biggest question now, though, is what will Prometheus (or should I say Chase) do next? For a quick tease at the answer to that question, check out the promo below.

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