SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for "Welcome to Hong Kong," the latest episode of Arrow Season 8.
Oliver Queen just can't escape the past. In "Welcome to Hong Kong," the latest episode of Arrow Season 8, he confronted one of his very first villains: China White. He ran afoul of the Chinese Triad leader when the Monitor charged him with recovering Dr. Robert Wong, a scientist who successfully recreated the Alpha Omega virus.
"I'm surprised you're not in an A.R.G.U.S. prison," Oliver quipped at her.
"Well, apparently the government doesn't like when agents put bombs in people's necks," she replied. "You know what else they don't like? Bad press."
"So they bought your silence," Oliver reaffirmed.
"It's a shame your friend Mr. Diggle had to lose his job over it," she said with a sly smile.
She is, of course, referring to Diggle's decision to resurrect the Suicide Squad under a new name: the Ghost Initiative. Last season, when he worked at A.R.G.U.S., he reinstated the organization's practice of using villains for high-risk missions by putting bombs in their necks as a fail-safe. White, of course, was part of this new team. As she mentioned, he found himself fired because he went behind A.R.G.U.S. director Lyla Michael's back for this. When her superiors caught wind of it, she was forced to terminate his employment.
Initially, Arrow created its own version of the Suicide Squad in Season 2. However, as a result of Warner Bros. developing David Ayer's Suicide Squad, The CW series was forced to get rid of its own take on Task Force X in subsequent seasons. This is why the program was known as "the Ghost Initiative" when it returned to the series earlier this year.
White, whose real name is Chien Na Wei, debuted in Season 1's second episode. Played by X2: X-Men United star Kelly Hu, she appeared as a recurring antagonist throughout the season. She returned for guest appearances in Seasons 2, 5 and 7. In her last appearance, she was part of this aforementioned Ghost Initiative.
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Arrow's final season stars Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary, Katie Cassidy as Black Siren, Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, Joseph David-Jones as Connor Hawke and Ben Lewis as William Clayton-Queen.