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“Arrow” recap (4.4): The Caged Bird Sings

Previously on Arrow, Oliver decided he was going to run for mayor, Lance had secret meetings with Damien Darhk, and Laurel brought Sara back from the Lazarus Pit despite everyone warning her that it wouldn’t be her sister she dragged back from the dead.

We begin at a crime scene, as we usually do, but this time, instead of Team Arrow busting it up, it’s a swat-looking faction of the SCPD. Soon after they get hold of the scene, a few SCPD detectives show up, following a tip, and are confused as to why officers are already on the scene. The first group then shoots the detectives and makes off with the loot they confiscated from the bad guys.

The next morning, Team Arrow starts to gather in what was supposed to be their new lair, but looks a lot like a regular building…with windows. The windows in particular bother Thea. While it’s just her and Laurel, though, she takes the opportunity to ask why they can’t tell Oliver about bringing Sara back from the dead. Laurel says she needs more time; she wants to socialize her a bit more first, so that Oliver doesn’t scold her TOO much.

Diggle bops in and says Oliver is acting weird and-get this-SMILEY, so everyone thinks they’re doomed. When Oliver and Felicity show up, Thea is surprised Felicity isn’t wearing a ring, but luckily backs out of it before she ruins the surprise. Instead, Oliver announces that he’s running for mayor. And at first, his team thinks he’s joking.

Despite this, Oliver presses on, saying Star City needs a leader, and Palmer Tech (aka Felicity) is funding his campaign. Even though his list of qualifications is very short (“He cares.” End of list.), he thinks he can do it; especially since he can protect himself unlike the last few candidates. When his friends are all still gaping at him, he says he’s surprised they’re not being more supportive, but Diggle and Laurel are just worried about him is all; they don’t want him biting off more than he can chew. Especially since there’s a rabid bird in the basement he doesn’t even know about. But Oliver rolls with the punches and says he thinks his next announcement will be better received.

Oliver opens a secret elevator, much to Thea’s delight, and he leads Team Arrow down, down, down.

Oliver welcomes them to the new Arrow HQ. No longer a Cave, it’s huge and shiny and full of tech from Cisco and Star Labs. They don’t have too much time to explore their new digs though, because (after a battle with a rolly chair) Felicity tells them about the ambush on SCPD detectives last night.

Oliver goes to visit Lance to tell him he’s planning to run for mayor, and Lance laughs, saying he hopes he wins so he dies like everyone else. Which, rude.

At Palmer Tech, Curtis is trying to figure out who the Green Arrow is, but he’s way off. Felicity tells him to stop guessing, and also to stop sending her prank messages. That second thing he wasn’t doing though, and when he looks at what she’s talking about, she says the code is two years old, and actually looks a lot like the code from Ray’s supersuit. Curtis gets excited, because he thinks he could extract the last message he recorded before he died, but Felicity is super not interested in that, so she nope nope nopes right out of there.

Oliver calls Felicity back to base to track the bad guys. Laurel is…busy, so it’s just the two Arrows and Diggle for now. They go to a warehouse where they find a bunch of professional equipment, including vests that say “SCPD” on them. That’s how they know: the detectives were killed by police officers.

Meanwhile, Laurel leads her father to a dark, dank basement. She says she doesn’t want to keep secrets anymore, so she shows him the wild-eyed Sara.

Lance is confused, probably having an out-of-body experience, so Laurel explains about the Lazarus Pit. Lance looks at this creature who looks like his daughter, but with wild eyes that are trying to size up how big of a threat he is instead of looking at him like he’s her father, and he doesn’t believe this is his Sara. Laurel is like SHE’S ALIVE IT’S FINE EVERYTHING’S FINE and says that even Buffy needed time to adjust from being brought back to life, Sara just needs more time.

Laurel shows Sara pictures of her family, talking to her like she’s a child, despite Sara’s eyes not focusing on any one thing for very long. Sara gathers up all of her strength and says her first words since emerging from the Pit: “Who am I?”

And instead of answering her question, or reacting like she said anything at all, Laurel turns to her father and is like, “See? It’s fiiiine,” but just as she says that, Sara wraps her chains around her sister’s neck. Laurel chokes out another “IT’S FINE” before getting free, and assures her father that she has everything under control. It’s fine.

Team Arrow needs money and drugs to lure out this team of rogue SCPD officers, and Thea knows just what to do. She slips on the persona of Thea Queen, Rich Bitch, and wears it oh so well, getting exactly what they need.

Oliver visits Lance and explains that his detectives were killed by his own cops, and says they have everything covered, they just need Lance to help lay the trap. Lance agrees, but only if he can be involved; if he has dirty cops on his hands, he wants to take care of it himself.

On the scene, Lance (like Felicity before him) is bummed he doesn’t get a code name, so the Green Arrow calls him Detective. Laurel wraps her arms around Oliver and they drop into the scene, and it’s kind of badass in its silent simplicity. Laurel starts to Canary Cry, but gets her voice box shot out.

These guys are good-too good. They’re organized and trained and seem impervious to the arrows and bullets sent their way. While they retreated, though, Lance caught the eyes of their leader, and she seemed to recognize him.

Team Arrow takes Lance back to their new fancy lair, despite Felicity’s protests, but Lance swears he’s here to help. He says based on their skills and gear, he thinks they’re his Anti-Vigilante Task Force, which is about 40 officers total. Lance says he’ll give them access to the police computer network and heads back to the station to figure out what to do next.

The Task Force thinks maybe they should just kill Lance, but their leader thinks whatever they’re doing is right. She says they don’t kill cops, and thinks they can use Lance to their advantage.

At Palmer Tech, Curtis says all he needs to get to Ray’s message now is his password, which he presumes she knows. She does know, but she doesn’t want to use it; when he looks at her desperately, she confesses they used to date, and that’s why she has no interest in the message. Curtis says that’s dumb, because if he could hear new words being said by his late brother, he’d love that so much. Which gets Felicity thinking.

Under the cloak of Darhkness, Lance meets Damien to tell him about his daughter, Sara. Darhk used to be in the League of Assassins, so maybe he knew things about the Pit, and why his daughter is acting like a caged animal. Damien’s advice (which he says is father to father…did we know he had a kid?) is that the girl chained up in that basement is not his daughter, that her soul is gone, and that he’d be doing everyone a favor if he just killed her dead. For good this time.

Back at the new HQ, Oliver is salmon laddering and Felicity appreciates it.

Felicity found out that the leader of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force is Liza Warner, and she’s currently scanning all the police cameras for her. But what they find instead is Lance talking to Damien Darhk.When Lance gets home, Oliver is waiting for him, ready to confront him about Damien Darhk. They yell at each other, Lance saying he’s stuck because Damien threatened Laurel, Oliver saying Laurel can take care of herself, Lance saying that’s what he said about Sara, etc. Oliver storms out, disappointed in this man whose favor he’d been trying to win back.

Thea finds Oliver brooding angrily alone, and he says that once upon a time, Starling City was a unified place, a city worth leading. But Star City might not be worth saving.

Lance goes back to see Sara, who is now rocking back and forth, probably wishing she could at least see the sun.

Lance pulls a gun on her and tries to convince himself the girl in front of him is not his daughter. Luckily Laurel comes in just in time (because it’s fiiiiiiiine) and talks him down, and when he realizes what he almost did, he runs away crying. But almost immediately gets kidnapped by the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Laurel tries to save him, but she’s tased and left behind.

The Task Force leads Lance to a warehouse, while he rattles on about how they’re dishonoring the badge. They force him to open a secret facility that requires his hand print to enter, but before they can go in, the Canary shows up and cries at them with a brand new frequency that knocks them off their asses.

Team Arrow starts fighting the Task Force until Liza gets the Green Arrow with a knife in his back. Lance tells her that she’s not beyond redemption, that there’s still time to do the right thing, so Liza releases the Green Arrow and lets Lance arrest her.

Lance goes home and Oliver is there again, asking if he meant all the things he said to Liza about there being no such thing as too late to be saved. Lance says he meant every word, and actually plans on turning himself in. But Oliver implores him not to; they need him to be their inside guy, to the SCPD, and to Damien Darhk. They shake on it, and maybe this pissing match is finally over.

Oliver goes back to his campaign room to find it full of cheerful interns. Thea asks what he thinks and he’s blown away by what she’s accomplished while he was hiding in Lance’s dark apartment waiting for him to come home.

Thea hands him his speech, that she wrote using the things he told her, and he gives it to the city as he announces his candidacy. He starts singing, “We’re All In This Together” from High School Musical and everyone cheers and sings along.

Later, Laurel goes to bring her sister some food, but finds only empty chains in the basement. Sara has escaped.

What did you think of “Beyond Redemption?” Do you think Sara ran off to find Nyssa?

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