Previously on Arrow, Ra’s al Ghul offered Oliver his job but Oliver refused so Ra’s sent the League of Assassins to dress up as The Arrow and start killing people left and right, including Maseo, who shot the mayor and trained his next arrow on our darling Felicity.
The artist formerly known as Ray McSkeevy dives in front of the window and saves Felicity, thereby losing his nickname and becoming A-ok in my book from this moment forward. Laurel checks on Felicity and is as relieved as I am that she’s not injured.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Ray McSavey. He’s been shot through the heart. Maseo’s to blame. He gives Arrow a bad name.
OK, fine: Ray wasn’t shot through the heart, but he was taken to the hospital for the chest wound. And he’s better off than the mayor, who has been killed. Lance has moved from angry to manic, and has put a warrant out for an Arrow, re-started his anti-vigilante task force, and told pretty much everyone in the city they can shoot to kill the man in the green hood.
Oliver knows what he needs to do next: He needs to find Maseo.
Laurel goes to Lance’s office and they fight about the Arrow. Laurel asks him to trust her when she says he’s not behind these murders, but Lance can’t trust his oldest daughter, not anymore. Lance has had enough of all of the vigilante shenanigans and says he’s putting an end to it tonight.
Thea and Roy are snuggling naked in bed when they see the news story about the warrant and the manhunt, and their sweet fantasies about running away together come crashing down around them.
Felicity is at the hospital, also watching the news, and is just not a happy techie.
Especially since the broadcast manhunt is also calling for all of Arrow’s accomplices. Ray wakes up in his hospital bed, all smiley because who wouldn’t be to have Felicity at their side. The doctor comes in and shuts down smile time by saying he has bad news. Ray has a blood clot in his brain, but he’s too weak for surgery to not be super risky. Ray says no problem, he invented tiny robots called nanotech that can get rid of the clot lickety split. Doc says that even if that didn’t sound like the craziest thing he’s ever heard (and it does), the hospital can’t condone experimental technology or procedures. It’s an insurance thing.
Ray’s not too worried but Felicity is hella stressed. Sara’s body is barely cold, she can’t lose someone else she cares about. But just then, like an angel from heaven, Mama Smoak struts into the hospital room. And Felicity struts her right back out.
In the hallway, Mama Smoak says she heard on the news about Ray getting shot so she came to see her baby girl right away. Felicity starts to give in to the comfort of having her mother there, regardless of their complicated history, when Mama Smoak says, “At least you finally have a boyfriend,” in the way that reminds you that maybe you and your mom will never truly understand each other, but maybe you can get along anyhow if you learn to ignore the ridiculous things she thinks/says/does.
Across town, Oliver meets up with Nyssa in an alley and their conversation goes like this:
Oliver: Maseo is ruining my life.
Nyssa: Bruh, that’s your fault for betraying daddy-o when he offered you his job.
Oliver: And that hurt your feelings real bad right? That you didn’t get the gig?
Nyssa: Not bad enough to piss off my father. DEMON’s head, in case you’ve forgotten.
Oliver: Sara would want you to help me.
Nyssa: Fuck you.
Oliver: *whispers* Saraaa, Saaaara, Saaaaraaaaaa.
Nyssa: Ugh, OK fine.
A few minutes later, Nyssa meets Team Arrow in the Arrow cave with Maseo’s location. They ask her how on earth she did that so fast and she tells them she’s the daughter of the demon, plus also look at her, people tend to just do what she wants. And when they don’t, she breaks them. She warns them that Maseo can fit in the cage she was put in, but he’s not the only one at Ra’s al Ghul’s beck and call.
The team suits up, but Nyssa says she misses Sara but she’s not suicidal so she won’t be fighting the League with them but thanks for asking.
When the team gets to the location, they worry Nyssa set them up, but then Maseo appears with men who he orders to kill them all. It eventually comes down to Oliver and Maseo, but before Oliver can decide whether he wants to knock Maseo out or become the killer the city thinks he is, Ra’s al Ghul interrupts and applauds his efforts. He says Oliver has two choices, take his place or live in a cage.
At first Oliver isn’t sure what that means, but then the police descend and Team Arrow has to make a run for it.
They jump off a building and run but they keep getting cornered because every cop within driving distance has come in of this manhunt. Oliver makes them separate and Captain Lance ends up cornering the Black Canary. Laurel asks her if he would really kill his last remaining daughter, and he wouldn’t, but he would arrest her. But before he can, Nyssa shows up and shoots the gun out of Lance’s hand, then putting his arm in twist. She saves Laurel, like Sara would have wanted her to.
Laurel apologizes to her dad and leaves with Nyssa, just like his younger daughter once did.
Oliver eventually manages to get to Diggle’s van and he, too, gets away.
Thea is waiting for Oliver back in the Arrow Cave, and they realize Roy is still running around out in the cop-infested city. Oliver wants to put an end to this mayhem so he calls Lance with his voice modulator and asks what the hell he thinks he’s doing. Lance tells the Arrow to turn himself in and says it’s the only way this ends. Laurel apologizes but Oliver knows it’s not her fault. He knows what it’s like to have family members act in a way you don’t approve of, and how you can often feel responsible. Roy shows up then, thankfully safe and sound, but a little thrown off because he had to shoot some cops and it didn’t bring back great memories. Luckily they were only flesh wounds. Oliver apologizes to him, to all of them, for getting them caught up in all this, but Thea says it’s all Malcolm’s fault, unless of course there’s something he forgot to mention to her.
Still at the hospital, Felicity is watching the news and not loving what she sees.
Mama Smoak brings her coffee and reports with regret that she was unable to get the doctor to change his mind with a little flirting. Mama suggests Felicity just do the procedure; it’s technology-related and Felicity’s the most technology-minded person she knows. Felicity isn’t sure she wants that responsibility, but Mama Smoak says sometimes you have to take a risk. Otherwise, what kind of life are you living?
Captain Lance is on the phone in his favorite alley when an Assassin comes and knocks him down and takes him to see Ra’s al Ghul. Lance is not happy to see him, and says if Sara had never met Ra’s and his not-so-merry men, she’d still be alive. But Ra’s points out that if Sara had never met his daughter on Lian Yu, she would have died there. And then I took in a big breath and held it because I wished, oh how I wished, we were going to see a flashback. But alas.
Lance says that’s crazytalk because Sara was never on Lian Yu, but Ra’s tells him that he is wrong. Lance is more confused than usual and Ra’s says he’s going to tell him who the Arrow is, and then everything will make more sense. He’ll feel a little dumb, but everything will click into place. Because Oliver Queen is the Arrow.
Laurel goes into her father’s office once more, and Lance says he’s tired of these little chats where she begs him to listen and he says go away. It’s actually really heartbreaking, as someone who is close to her father, to see him treat her like this. I can’t imagine doing anything to make my father this angry for this long. Laurel asks him why he’s doing this, says that he knows damn well that the Arrow isn’t a murderer, and that he’s leading the entire city on a witch hunt because he has a grudge. Lance says maybe it started that way, but the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that all the masked vigilantes started with him, including Sara. And come to think of it, Sara would have never gotten into bed with the League of Assassins if she had never gotten on the boat with Oliver Queen.
Laurel is quick on her feet, and immediately scoffs and asks if he’s blaming Oliver now too, but Lance doesn’t bite and says he knows Oliver is the Arrow. Lance says it’s kind of funny-“Hey that’s a coincidence” funny not funny “haha”-that the first time he thought Sara died, he blamed Oliver Queen, and now that she’s really dead, Oliver’s still the one to blame.
Laurel is dumbfounded that Lance knows; she figured if he couldn’t tell from looking directly into the Arrow’s face, he’d never figure it out. She takes out her phone but Lance tells her not to bother because he has men going to everywhere Oliver Queen has ever even thought about stepping foot inside.
At the hospital, Ray is laughing in the face of danger, but the doc is a grump and doesn’t enjoy it when people on their deathbeds try to stay optimistic. Mama Smoak fakes a back spasm to distract him, and as soon as the doc is gone, Felicity takes out some Nanotech and shoves it into Ray’s throat. He’s fine at first, but then he has a short but spastic seizure. Felicity starts to panic but then Ray comes to and is totally fine again.
Mama Smoak comes back from her fake-out and tells Felicity that she’s proud of her for making the tough call, and the doc comes out and confirms that it was the right one by telling them Ray’s blood clot is totally and miraculously gone.
At Verdant, Thea and Roy are watching the news, but Roy can’t stop thinking about those cops he shot, and by extension, the cop he killed. He says maybe he should stop running, maybe he deserves to be in jail. Thea tells him that he has to forgive himself, because he wasn’t in control of his own self, and if he can’t forgive himself, how is she supposed to forgive herself? Oliver comes in and apologizes to Roy for getting him into this whole mess, but before Roy can tell him that he followed Oliver willingly, the police barge in, sending Oliver running.
Captain Lance holds a press conference announcing to all of Starling City that Oliver Queen is the Arrow, and that there is a warrant out for his arrest. Felicity comes to Diggle’s apartment and asks Oliver, hopefully, if he has a brilliant plan.
Oliver says she’s been gone all day of course no one here has a brilliant plan, so Felicity says, “Here’s an idea. GTFO. Run for your damn life.” Laurel says that’s not possible because her father basically has a ring of cops holding hands in a circle around the Starling City border. Oliver is pissed that Ra’s did this, that he’s using the city, OLIVER’S city, against him like this.
Felicity goes back to see Ray, who is as healthy and happy as can be. Felicity says, “All I had to do was stick something in you,” and then admonishes herself for always being awkward and quirky and accidentally setting herself up for “that’s what (s)he said” jokes on the regular, but Ray says it’s one of the very best things about her. He tells her that he loves her, and she does another one of the very best things about her and rambles until she decides he must be hungry and excuses herself lickety split.
She panics in the hallway, and Mama Smoak asks her what happened. Felicity says Ray told her he loved her and Mama can tell by the look on her daughter’s face that Felicity doesn’t love him back. Felicity doesn’t understand why; on paper, Ray is perfect for her. He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s handsome, he’s sweet, he’s rich, and he loves her. But if it isn’t there, it isn’t there, and just wishing it would be doesn’t make the butterflies suddenly appear. Mama Smoak says Felicity doesn’t love Ray because she’s in love with Oliver (but that’s only because she never saw Felicity and Sara interact) and Mama says this is actually good news because everyone loves her and now the choice is hers. Settle for Ray or fight for Oliver.
Lance is telling his squad that he wants everyone to have a photo of Oliver Queen as if everyone in this fictional universe doesn’t already know what he looks like, when the playboy-turned-vigilante himself walks in. He says he’s here to turn himself in and Lance cuffs him immediately.
Laurel leads Team Arrow in to see Oliver and Felicity demands to know what on earth he was thinking because that’s definitely not the advice she gave him. She leaves him alone to make his own decisions for one day… but Oliver explains that he turned himself in to guarantee immunity for the rest of them. He says jail will practically be a tropical vacation compared to his life in the past seven years. Oliver says they have followed him through worse things, just follow him on this plan, please. Ra’s made it so his only option was to tell the truth, and the truth is a powerful thing.
Throughout this episode, we saw flashbacks of long-haired Oliver and Maseo’s son seeking refuge with Shado’s twin sister Mei. She panics when she sees the tattoo he bears that is the same as her sister’s and calls the cops, but the men who had been chasing him intercepted the call and attacked. Luckily Maseo and his wife arrived just in time, stopping the bad guys and being reunited with their son. Before he leaves, Oliver tells Mei that he loved her family, and that her sister and her father are unfortunately dead now. Mei is sad, of course, but almost relieved, because at least she knows the truth, and the truth is a powerful thing.
Lance transports Oliver to prison, asking him why Oliver never told him that Sara was on Lian Yu with him. In fact, he even asks if Oliver realizes that everything would be better here in Starling City if he had just died on that island. Oliver says he came back to save people, but Lance starts listing everyone Oliver loved that died since he came back, because Lance has officially lost his damn mind. Lance says that Oliver made his friends and family into liars and criminals, and that Oliver isn’t a hero, that he’s a villain. And if Once Upon A Time is to be believed, villains never get a happy ending.
The transport van gets stopped and Lance immediately accuses Oliver, but he says he told Team Arrow to stand down. Lance is sure they’re just disobeying him, but when he gets out on the street, a man in a green hood appears and says Lance got the wrong guy. He pulls off his hood; it’s Roy, and he says Oliver is lying to protect him, and that he’s the real Arrow.
What did you think of “Public Enemy“?
