Josh recaps the latest episode of Arrow while Violet provides commentary (in pink font). Spoilers galore. Click to read more!
This week’s episode of Arrow begins with an “accountant” counting some money, and notifying a Cayman Fidelity Bank that a “special” deposit will be made. Unfortunately for him, this special deposit will not make it, as Oliver shows up all “Green’d” up and through a pretty entertaining action scene, takes down the guards and accountant. Interestingly enough, Oliver does not kill the accountant, and leaves him for who he works for, which in the words of the accountant he fears them more than The Vigilante. I have a feeling this scene was added in so we don’t think that Oliver has taken a sideline to his primary agenda. I think that Oliver is “softening” some though, as normally he would outright kill these people who have “failed” the city.
Yeah, I’ve gotten used to people who have “failed the city” not getting off this easy, so this was a surprise, as I was expecting more to happen to this guy.
Back at the hideout, Oliver has Felicity hack the laptop that belonged to the accountant to return the money to its rightful owners (which seems like it will take awhile), and then turn the laptop over to the police. Felicity then asks when Oliver will patch things up with Diggle. Oliver is not too keen on this idea yet, and tells Felicity to focus on hacking the laptop.
Back at the Queen’s mansion, Moira is talking on the phone with Walter’s life insurance company, who is eager to pay out on his death, while Moira tries to convince them that he is still alive. That seems a little backwards for a life insurance company, as they usually want proof of death, but I digress. Thea has overheard the conversation, and tries to comfort her mother.
Doesn’t someone have to be missing for 7 years before they can be declared dead? I guess things move a lot faster in Starling City, similar to the toxicology report that was available the same day in a recent episode!
The next scene is a flashback, where Malcolm has come to visit the Queen’s house, and Moira opens the door. Their conversation is light hearted, so it must take place prior to whatever plan Malcolm is cooking up. Moira takes Malcolm into a meeting, where Robert and a few other people we have met are having a meeting. He is there to meet Robert, but is not a part of the big meeting going on. In the meeting, Malcolm begins discussing how The Glades have become a spreading cancer to the city, and he seems to have a plan to “solve” the problem. He seems driven by his wife, as he mentions her a number of times in his speech he is giving. He says that their current plan isn’t working. He wants to abandon their current plan, and wants to level the Glades. How to without being caught? He seems to know a company called Uni-Deck Industries, which can make an Earthquake, and will be ready in 5 years. That would be the present at about now wouldn’t it?
Back in the present, Laurel has decided to come to visit Oliver at his club. She seems pretty gloomy, and tired, to which Oliver asks about. She informs Oliver that Tommy broke up with her. She asks if Oliver knows anything, he says no, and Oliver tries to comfort her. Felicity then barges in, to show Oliver a “thing”. Laurel seems surprised by her, and I hadn’t realized, but they hadn’t meant before. This might put a little strain on the Oliver/Laurel relationship if the show was planning to head that way I would think. Oliver won’t be able to say much about what Felicity does for Oliver which can sound quite suspicious if you ask me. Oliver tries to play off Felicity as “technical support” for his internet.
Seems kind of odd for his “tech support” person to already know so much about Laurel though! I am surprised that Laurel didn’t say anything about that.
Down in the hideout, Felicity explains she has found out something interesting about the deposits–One was made the day Walter disappeared, in the amount of two million dollars. Coincidence? They apparently think not. They begin discussing the possibility of the recipients of the money being paid to kidnap Walter. Felicity is able to follow the money, which traces back to a Dominic Alonso–a man who runs an underground casino and a kidnapping ring. Oliver seems to know that he is well guarded and would be hard to get to. Felicity then makes the decision to go undercover so they can discover Walter’s location on Alonso’s computer. Oliver protests, but Felicity insists. Looks like we will get to see her in the field for once!
Not like he has much choice with Digg out of the picture. It was inevitable that Felicity would have to step in as Arrow’s sidekick!
The flashback continues, picking up after the meeting, with Walter and Robert talking. Walter seems to read some trouble in Robert’s eyes, and asks how he is doing. Their meeting ends and Robert discovers that Malcolm is still at the house. Malcolm asks what his decision is regarding his new plan. Malcolm recounts his wife’s death to Robert, which is heartbreaking, especially due to what Malcolm did–he shut off his cell phone when she called him multiple times after being shot.
Back in the present Felicity visits Diggle, and tries to patch things up for Oliver. He seems a little aggravated that she is playing the middle-woman. Felicity asks for him to assist with finding Walter, and tries to explain Oliver’s ways, but Diggle isn’t buying it especially because Oliver is not the one doing the explaining and apologizing.
Laurel then visits Tommy at work, who has grown rather stern looking. She pleads for him to be honest with her regarding her feelings. Tommy retorts with telling Laurel that Oliver is still in love with Laurel, and she should be with him. He then leaves her as she stands there shocked by what Tommy has just said.
Apparently Laurel doesn’t want to be with Tommy that bad if she just lets him go after hearing this. But then, we already knew that Laurel’s been holding a candle for Oliver.
Back with Oliver and Felicity, Felicity is looking snazzy, all dressed up for her casino undercover mission. She heads towards the entrance, while Oliver watches from afar. He is able to catch the password for entry, and tells Felicity through some listening device, so she is able to enter without suspicion. Once inside, she canvases the area for Oliver, and relays the information. We then have a funny innuendo about Felicity being happy that Oliver is “in” Felicity. Felicity sits down for some hands of Blackjack, but is pretty quickly picked up by security for counting cards. She tries to play it cool describing where she is being taken verbally so that Oliver can hear through the ear piece, as she is taken to the casino “manager”, Dominic Alonso. As she is being banned from the casino, she plants a bug on Alonso’s computer. The guards are about to let her free, but they discover her ear piece, to which Felicity replies, “You’re going to be really upset when you meet my partner”. We get another fun action scene, with Oliver taking down the guards of the casino, then taking the manager down with relative ease. Oliver interrogates Dominic about the whereabouts of Walter, to which he replies that Walter is dead.
Malcolm and Moira are meeting, and it looks like his grand plan is about to come to fruition. They have a toast to Robert, and we flash back to Robert talking to Moira, where Robert tells Moira of Malcolm’s plan. Moira seems shocked Robert would consider it. Robert explains one of his dark secrets to Moira, to where he accidentally killed a man that had tried to bribe him. Robert explains the leveling of the Glades is his atonement, which I agree with Moira, is killing hundreds of people is not going to be an atonement for anything.
Robert then talks with Frank Chen about Malcolm’s plan (Frank Chen is the man that worked with Moira and tried to have Malcolm murdered a few episodes ago). Robert does not want to proceed with Malcolm’s plan. Interestingly enough Robert reveals that Malcolm has been buying property in the Glades for a long time now, leading both Frank and Robert to believe he has been working on his plan secretly for a long time. Robert comes up with a plan to counter Malcolm: buy up as much property in the Glades before Malcolm does so he doesn’t have enough property to “renovate” after he destroys it all, hoping to have Malcolm abandon the plan. We then get a scene with younger Oliver and Laurel discussing their future, and moving in together. Oliver is very hesitant, despite them being together for a long time it seems. Oliver agrees, seeming tentative about it though.
I found the flashback scene of Oliver quite humorous, as he seems like a stuck up brat. I’m not sure what Laurel saw in him back then if he acted like that all the time. Why would Oliver even want to move from a huge mansion, with servants at his beck and call, to a tiny apartment anyway? Doesn’t seem like something that the Oliver of this point in time would be willing to give up. Even the Oliver of the present still lives at the Queen mansion.
Back in the present, at the Queen mansion, Moira and Thea are shopping on their tablet (product placement anyone?). Oliver then comes in, very somber looking, and tells them both that an army buddy of Diggle works for the FBI, and told him that Walter is dead. Moira refuses to believe it, and leaves the house angrily. Oliver comforts Thea who has begun sobbing with hearing the news.
We find out next where Moira was heading–to confront Malcolm about Walter. Malcolm denies her accusations about Walter’s death, and shows a live feed of Walter’s cell to her. Then the big reveal! Arrow has been listening on the conversation, and now knows his mother has some involvement with Malcolm’s plan. Oliver has made it back to the hideout, and is sitting depressed on the ground when Felicity shows up, thinking he is upset over Walter’s death. Oliver explains Walter is alive, and tells her to pull up Malcolm’s phone records, tracing the call Malcolm made to Walter’s location.
Oliver then begins his assault onto Walter’s location. We have some more action scenes, with Oliver taking down the guards rather awesomely again. After the fighting is done, Oliver locates Walter, who is in fact alive. Walter ends up at the hospital, and Moira, Thea and Oliver come to visit. Felicity shows up too, bringing some flowers. It is a happy reunion for all except Oliver, who seems rightly suspicious of Moira. As Oliver leaves the hospital, he is stopped by none other than Mr. Merlin himself. Malcolm acts concerned, but fishes for information from Oliver, asking if Walter was able to identify his captors. Oliver informs Malcolm that the captors will “get what’s coming to them”, which we audience members take as a warning, but I assume Malcolm is oblivious to the double meaning. Laurel then has shown up at the hospital, asking Oliver how Walter is doing. They talk about Tommy yet again, and Laurel tells Oliver what Tommy said about her being meant for Oliver. She asks Oliver to talk to Tommy, but Oliver says he can’t because what Tommy said was true. True in the sense that he is still in love with Laurel at least. This seems to hit Laurel pretty hard, as she tears up with Oliver walking away.
Finally, Oliver admits it. It was only a matter of time, and has been coming all season. Just as it’s only a matter of time until they get back together. Boo. Sorry, just not a fan of the two of them together.
Our final flashback scene has Robert getting ready to take his fateful voyage on his boat. Moira is saying goodbye to Robert when Oliver shows up unexpectedly to go with his dad. Moira tries to talk him out of it, but Robert insists on letting him come. Laurel then shows up to say goodbye, when the old “dirtbag” Oliver warns Laurel’s sister to circle the dock a few times in order to avoid her bumping into Laurel (for those who don’t remember, Laurel’s sister went with Oliver on the boat trip, and died in the shipwreck). This scene makes you really hate Oliver a tiny bit, despite his seemingly “growing up” now. The boat sets sail while Malcolm is on the phone talking to Frank, who we learn has turned on Robert. Frank has planted a bomb aboard the boat, which leads to its sinking, and Robert’s death and Oliver’s being stranded on the island.
So we’re to assume that Oliver invited Laurel’s sister on this trip as a way to act out against her suggestion of the two of them moving in together. Genius move (not really) that seemed to come out of nowhere. And when she comes to say goodbye, like a good girlfriend, he still acts like nothing is wrong. Smooth, Oliver, real smooth.
The final scene ends with Oliver arriving at Diggle’s house to apologize for his selfishness. He admits he was wrong about everything, including his own mother’s involvement. As he continues to talk about Malcolm’s plan, we get a scene of a semi-truck carrying what must be the bomb referred to in this episode that will cause the earthquake in the Glades.
I say this almost every episode I review, but Arrow surprises me in its entertainment value. This episode had a lot of fun action in it, and the background of the story is brought to us interestingly enough. I thought it was fun seeing Felicity out in the field as well. John Barrowman’s character is very diabolical and great to see play out. I am glad that Diggle will be back in the “Arrow Cave”, and we are shaping up for an exciting season finale. One of my predictions I want to throw out there however, is Malcolm’s death by the finale. I think this will pave the way for Tommy to enter as one of Oliver’s next villains, akin to Norman Osbourne and Harry Osbourne in Spiderman. I can’t wait for the next episode though, until next week!
This was a great episode, lots of action, and useful flashbacks that explained a lot for us, filling in a lot of the holes that were missing. I thought Digg might be gone for longer than one episode, but I guess I’m glad to have him back, because Felicity is a bit too vulnerable to be Arrow’s sidekick. Maybe eventually she can get some training in and be more useful out in the field, able to defend herself instead of having to wait for Oliver to always come to her rescue. I really hope that Barrowman’s character doesn’t die by the end of the season! He is such a great actor, and I have enjoyed watching him play the villain all season. Plus, we need to have an episode with him and Alex Kingston together first!
