ARROW Season 2×18, “Deathstroke” recap

3 Apr

Welcome back, Arrow-heads! So here’s what you need to know: Roy has to break up with Thea because Ollie said so, and guess what happens after that? Slade kidnaps Thea! And hey, doesn’t Ollie run a company while going out at night fighting baddies? We got a lot of twists to get to, so let’s just jump in…

“How Much Is Thea Queen’s Life Worth?” We don’t spend long in Slade’s limo (besides a not quite reassuring talk from Mr. Wilson about dealing with heartbreak) before he kicks her out, only to end up in the hands of Brother Blood. Oliver’s way too busy to note that, as he’s got a lot on his plate. One: an annual board meeting and decisions that can’t just be left to Isabel Rochev. Two: appearing at a mayoral debate between Moira and Sebastian Blood. It’s during the second one that a mysterious transmission comes through, where Thea is clearly being held hostage by Slade in Deathstroke gear. Ollie’s rattled by this and before getting Team Arrow together, makes Isabel the temporary CEO of Queen Consolidated to handle things. Oh, no way can that go badly…

I’m sure some viewers would say “zero” to that question. Not me, but…

Slade Hunt. Felicity finds out where Slade may be, and Ollie takes Sara and Roy to bring him in. They find Slade waiting there, unwilling to talk, so Ollie hits him with an arrow with some of that handy venom Sara knows about and calls Quentin to arrest him. Bad news is Slade has evidence that puts him anywhere but Starling City, so they have to let him go. Before he goes, Ollie talks to him privately, and talks about how he got off the island (swimming…a LOT of swimming) and his regrets over what has happened to them. Before Slade can say anything, he’s cut loose, and ditches Team Arrow’s tail. Then he heads back to where Thea is being held, and tells her she’s free to go…but if she does, she won’t know about her brother’s big secret. Oh nuts.

Takeover. Bad news keeps piling up for Ollie, as he’s trying to console Moira during all of this (and maybe burying some of that bad blood of late between them). Roy’s getting angry about not being allowed to put the hurt on Slade because of Ollie’s orders, and the whole “breaking up with Thea” thing causes him to ditch the team. Before he can rest up, Ollie has to head back to Queen Consolidated for a big piece of bad news. Isabel had an emergency meeting with the staff and took the company from under Ollie. And that’s when the next shoe drops: Isabel was working with Slade the whole time! Ollie could ask why she was working with Slade, but after a brief fight in the boardroom, he wants Thea’s location instead. He gets it, and arrives there to find her missing. Meanwhile Deathstroke has taken a bus full of prisoners being transferred and wants to make them a deal. Can this get any worse? Oh, it can. Oh, it can.

Right idea, but not enough arrows.

Good News For People Who Love Bad News. While Ollie is punching his way through Slade’s goons, Felicity calls to tell him Thea arrived at the precinct house safe. As I’m sure the family would like to hear how the family company just got swiped from them, Ollie and Moira are happy to see Thea…and she’s not happy to see them. Slade told Thea Ollie’s secret, and it wasn’t the whole Arrow thing. It was that he knew for years Malcolm Merlyn’s her dad (technically it’s been a couple of months, but still, that’s a hard thing to take)! She heads off on her own, and Roy’s there to see it before he drives out of Starling City. Meanwhile, while Thea’s kidnapping has put Moira’s campaign on the ups, Blood is in Queen Consolidated where Slade and Isabel are setting up shop wondering why his mayoral campaign is in the toilet. Well, Slade reassures him that all of this is working out fine, especially now that they have Queen Consolidated science division making more Mirakuru for those prisoners he just freed. But Slade has another pressing engagement to make and…what the hell is Shado doing popping up out of nowhere? Slade has Shado on the head, ala Gaius Baltar, so welcome to the show, head Shado!

Listen To The Voice In Your Head. In the flashbacks, Sara is prepping Hendrik to be traded for Ollie, but also getting Anatoli to prepare a surprise for the exchange: a bomb strapped to Hendrik to kill Slade. Problem is, Slade’s new super senses smell explosives and he almost kills Sara…until he hears “head Shado” tell him to leave them all there on the island to die (including Dr. Ivo, in case you thought his recent amputation was fatal). He takes Hendrik, leaves Ollie and tells him once the ship is repaired, he’ll be “visiting” his family next. Oh hell no, Ollie thinks.

Lances in Trouble. As bad as things are for the Queen family by the end of this episode, the Lances get a few whammies of their own. For bringing in an “innocent” Slade Wilson (which I’ll argue something about that in the notes below) and not giving up the Arrow, Quentin is arrested for aiding Arrow in front of Sara. Ollie will hear about this eventually, but he returns to Arrow HQ where Diggle and Felicity are waiting to talk to their drained boss. He’s upset how he’s been played by Slade, and vows to put the hurt on him (and pretty much anyone who works for him) now. This takes us to the other whammy the Lance family has, in Laurel being visited by Slade (who by news reports, is confirmed to be Thea’s kidnapper, so, Quentin can get let out of jail, right? Right?), and he’s not there to hurt her. But he does let her know he’s after Oliver…and that Oliver is the Arrow! Aaaaa!!! AAAAAAAA!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Slade: “Hey there! My car’s stalled and I need some help…hey, what’s with the guns? Oh. Its the clothes, isn’t it?”

–Comic book connections: none this week, except yep, Isabel is a bad woman, and mentions something about “sins of the father revisited upon the son”. Oh no. I think I know exactly what she means. We got a few more episodes to see if I’m right.

–Really, jerkhole detective? It turns out Quentin was right about Slade thanks to Thea’s confession of such, and you still arrest him? This assclown will hopefully redeem himself by getting killed or horribly killed. Either will do.

–Come on, Thea, Ollie doesn’t sound like Moira at all defending his hiding that secret. Its not like he’s hiding he’s a vigilante who “killed” Malcolm Merlyn…oh. Um, this conversation isn’t over, I’m thinking.

–Roy still has a lot of training to do on the bow, that is, if he ever comes back.

–Well, Summer Glau reminds us why else she’s on this show. Also, Ollie may want to swear off women for the foreseeable future. Sorry, Olicity fans.

–“Now we fight back.” Not as good as “We kill them all” or “They screwed with the wrong people”, but, eh, it’ll work, Ollie.

–“Please, finish that sentence. I’m curious to see what threat a 19 year old girl can make.” You mean, a 19 year old girl whose daddy is a mass-murdering psychopath? Um, I don’t think she’ll need to.

–“I’m not one to hold a grudge.”

–“Just wondering…when did you become so scary?”

So, what did you think? Leave your thoughts and theories below as we come back in two weeks for “The Man Under The Hood”…