SPOILER ALERT! (stop reading if you don’t want to know what happens in this episode)
This was definitely a seat gripper. A lot happened during this episode and it was so good that we’re just going to get into the recap!
Arrow runs into Shado’s twin sister May while trying to get away with Maseo’s son and asks her for help. She takes them back to her home and she starts to ask him about the last time he saw Shado. He tells her that he knew her from medical school but haven’t seen her in awhile. She tells him about how they disappeared and the police think they must be dead by now. She tells him to go take a shower and as he undresses sees his tattoo that matches Shado’s.
When he gets out of the shower May confronts him and wants to know the truth. He tells her that the less she knows the safer she is but she’s already called the police and the house goes under attack. The assassins shoot their way into the house and Oliver tries to take them on by himself until he’s saved by Maseo and Tatsu. Oliver apologizes to May for everything then tells her that he knew Shado and her father, their gone and the people after him will kill anyone who knows too much about him. She thanks him for telling her the truth before he leaves with Maseo.
The Chase
We start off intensely with Ray getting an arrow to th chest while the mayor died at the scene. Ray is taken to the hospital in critical condition while Detective Lance makes the announcement that there’s a first degree murder warrant for Arrow and to kill on sight. Olivier needs to talk to Maseo and turns to Nyssa for help. He tells her that Maseo is behind the Arrow murders and asks her what would Sara want her to do.
Meanwhile, Laurel is trying to get her father to trust her about the Arrow but he wants to know the Arrow’s identity. Roy and Thea are back to, ya know, kicking it and while in bed see the news coverage about the manhunt for Oliver. At the hospital Ray finds out that he developed a blood clot and operating on it could cause brain damage. Ray tells the doctor about his nano tech and wants it injected into him but the doctor tells him there’s a strict policy against experimental procedures. Felicity’s mom shows up with perfect timing of course to offer her support.
Nyssa gives Team Arrow Maseo’s location and they cover every floor but they don’t find anything. Diggle locates them on the rooftop and Maseo tells his team to kill them all. Oliver gets the upper hand on Maseo and Ra’s al Ghul appears and tells him he can either take his place or go to jail. Helicopters appear surrounding the team telling them to put their hands up. Detective Lance appears telling them to surrender but they escape over the side of the building with the police hot on their tail. Surrounded, Olivier tells Roy and Laurel to make a run for it while he distracts them.
Roy and Laurel split up and Detective Lance goes after her. He tells her he’s going to arrest her but Nyssa swoops in and saves her. Oliver barely makes it into Diggle’s getaway van.
Arrow’s Identity Revealed
Oliver returns to the lair but Roy isn’t back so he calls Detective Lance to try to end things but he won’t budge. Roy makes it back and Oliver apologizes to the team for getting them into this.Detective Lance gets kidnapped in the alley behind the police station and taken to Ra’s al Ghul. He tells him Arrow’s true identity and he’s been right under his nose the entire time. Laurel goes to talk to Detective Lance again and he tells her that he’s the reason that Sara got into all of this then pretty much tells her that he knows Oliver is Arrow. Laurel tries to warn Oliver but Detective Lance already had officers on their way to his house and the club.
Felicity’s mom tells her that she’s going to have to be the one to take the chance and inject Ray with the nanotechnology. She fakes a back cramp to get the doctor out of the room and Felicity jumps into action and injects him. He goes into a brief, and scary, seizure but then he’s fine and the tumor disappears. Back at Verdant, Roy tells Thea that he part of him felt good about shooting the cops so he could go to jail. Oliver comes in and apologizes for getting Roy into this when the police show up. Oliver barely escapes and makes refuge at Diggle’s house.
Detective Lance holds a press conference and tells the entire city that Oliver Queen is the Arrow and a warrant has been issued for his arrest and they will find him.
The rest of the team shows up at Diggle’s and want to know if Oliver has a plan. Felicity thinks he needs to get out of town but Thea’s assets have been frozen. Oliver tells them that Ra’s is using his city as a weapon and leaves telling them that he’s going to the only place he can go. Felicity returns to Ray who’s in good spirits and tells her that he’s in love with her and Felicity freaks out and makes an excuse to leave. She tells her mother what happened and her mother tells her that she doesn’t love Ray because she’s in love with Oliver. She tells her she has two men who want her and she just needs to make a choice.
Oliver turns himself in to the police and Detective Lance tells the officers to cuff him. Laurel gets the team ten minutes to talk to Oliver and Felicity asks him if he was thinking before he decided to turn himself in. He tells them that he’s going to make a deal to take all of the blame while they get immunity, the only way out is to tell the truth. Diggle tells him it’s the wrong move and he asks them to follow him just a little bit longer until it’s over.
Diggle, Felicity and Roy are at the lair but Diggle tells them they need to leave because it’s not secure anymore. Roy tells them that they need to do something because if it was the other way around Oliver would do something. During a heavily guarded transfer ride, Detective Lance asks Oliver about why he got his family involved in this mess and he tells him that he loves his family and Detective Lance punches him. Oliver tells him that he returned to save the city and Detective Lance throws it back into his face telling him he couldn’t protect Tommy, his mother, Sara and probably won’t be able to protect Laurel. He calls him a villain right before the truck starts shaking. They pull over and get out and Roy jumps down in the Arrow garb and tells the police that he’s the Arrow not Oliver and they arrest him.
Some takeaways…
– That was intense! I was literally holding my breath the entire episode. I really, really, really enjoyed this episode. It was definitely the best one of the second half of this season for sure.
– Y’all know I’m team Roy all day and I just love seeing how much he’s grown in this series. From the previews it looks like he’s going to be in jail for a little bit. I don’t know how this is all going to play out but things are getting very interesting.
– Detective Lance has gone back down to my shit list which he was on during season one. Yea Arrow has done some illegal things but he’s done a lot of good for the city. Without him a lot more people probably would’ve of died. I think Detective Lance let his personal feelings get too much in the way of his judgement which is very evident during the ride when he punches Oliver.
– Ra’s is not going to stop until Oliver takes his place and I have a feeling we just might see Oliver giving in because there’s only so much that one person can take. Especially since it looks like they might involve Thea.
What did you think about this episode? Let me know in the comments!
Arrow returns after a short break April 15.
Photos: The CW
