Welcome back from that brief break, Arrowheads! A lot of things went down last episode, so let’s just hit the big bullet points. Ray Palmer got his ATOM suit working along with his mojo by sleeping with Felicity. Thea gave up dear ol’ dad to the League of Assassins, and when that wasn’t enough to cure her of that whole “murdering a friend’s sister under the influence of mind-altering drugs” guilt, she offered herself up to Nyssa. Ollie and Diggle went to retrieve Malcolm from Nanda Parbat, but got captured. And then, we discover Ollie’s last experience with Ra’s was the world’s deadliest job interview, because Oliver Queen was offered the job of being the head of the League. Hopefully the League has a good dental plan.
Big Brother Ollie. In the flashback, Ollie is still stuck with Akio, and both of them are trying to lay low after that shootout at the docks. Akio thinks his parents may try waiting for him at a nearby botanical gardens. Ollie takes the little guy there, and before you can say “It’s a trap!”, Ollie sees shadowy agents hanging around. As Ollie is leading Akio away, he runs into someone who looks familiar. A woman who looks like Shado. You know, the quite dead Shado? Look, let’s just get to the present and pick this up later.
A Big Employment Opportunity. Ra’s gives Ollie a grand tour of Nanda Parbat, while laying out what job Mr. Queen is walking into. Ollie gets to see that cool pool Ra’s renews himself in that also extended his life, but learn its starting to become less effective, hence a new Ra’s will be needed. And it’s a tempting offer to Ollie: running the League his way, with a vast network of resources at his control. And Ra’s points out that sooner or later, this crusade he’s started with Team Arrow can only end with him alone, everyone against him, and eventually dead. But Ollie wants some time to think it over, and Ra’s offers an olive branch to let him, Diggle, and Malcolm go, and clear up those pesky blood oaths of revenge and all. “Oh, well that was easy”, Ollie thinks. If only.
“How’d she get out of the cell?” Back at Arrow HQ, Thea’s waiting for Nyssa to do her in, but instead gets a “Look, you clearly were used by your dad, so how about I kill him and we call it even Steven?” type of response. Before Thea escalates her need for self-flagellation, Laurel and Roy pop up and incapacitate Nyssa. Thea takes off, probably unsatisfied by this failure to punish her. Is there a Christian Grey in the DCU that can help her out?
“Dear Diary, Man, am I glad I don’t have any blood relations to any of my teammates.”
Taking Care of Things At Home. Some time later that night (really, I thought Nanda Parbat was way farther away than a few hours of flight time), Thea arrives at the loft to find Ollie home, and Malcolm crashed out on the couch. Ollie tells her to just let him heal up and we’ll see what happens. Hey, here’s a suggestion: if its implied that whole death warrant from the League is wiped clean, how about serving him up to the police for the hundreds of innocent people he killed in Starling City? “No, let him veg out on the couch” is your plan. I don’t even know why I bother suggesting the most obvious solution, people.
Ollie returns to the HQ, and lets Nyssa go, who’s not sure what’s going on. Ollie suggests talking to her dad before doing anything rash, and she leaves. Before he can answer anyone’s questions of “why did you let sexy ninja lady go?” and “hey, how did you come back from that place no one comes back from?”, Ollie wants Team Arrow to suit up to fight crime. They find one in a depot being robbed of low grade diamonds, and take down a few of the thugs being lead by some guy whose lips are sewn shut, before “mouth shut” guy drives off with a few crates of those diamonds. Arrow drops off the thugs to Quentin, who is not happy that he’s been lied to about Sara’s death, and tells him in some capacity, to not reach out to him again. Quentin, I think someone needs a hug.
“What Have I Accomplished?” At the HQ, Roy points out the diamonds stolen aren’t that valuable on the streets, which begs the question of why they were stolen. But, Diggle has some other questions to ask Ollie alone, like how they got out of Nanda Parbat alive. So Ollie mentions Ra’s offer, and Diggle thinks that’s a mistake. The only thing is, Ollie’s been having doubts about where he stands in this crusade anymore, and that chewing out from Quentin is not making it easier to ignore that wonderful job offer.
Around the next day, Nyssa comes back to hear the great news she’s not picked to be the next leader of the League. Oh wait, that’s bad news to Nyssa, who thinks she’s being punished for her relationship with Sara. Ra’s tells her Sara’s not on his brain, unlike with Nyssa, and tells her to deal with it. At the loft, Laurel visits Thea and they talk about how the guy who destroyed their lives is sleeping in the same room they’re talking in. Laurel leaves, and Malcolm finally speaks up, offering to let Thea kill him if that makes her feel better. Hey, he’s a psycho, remember?
“Hello, Laurel. Interesting meeting you here on this completely random visit to your father’s office.”
Murmurs. Felicity is working with Ray on the ATOM suit when Ollie stops by to visit. He has to borrow out Felicity to find out who that mouth-stitched guy is, and oh, she’s done that. It’s a hit man by the street name of Murmur, and yeah, Ollie’s noticed the whole Felicity/Ray thing. Ollie heads back to the loft to talk to Thea, who is being reflective about how things were before she asked for the truth and got it. She leaves to get some dinner, and Malcolm guesses right that Ra’s offered him something. But Malcolm points out that Ra’s doesn’t so much offer things as he does demand things. Something to keep in mind, Ollie.
At the precinct house, Laurel tries to reach out to her dad, but Quentin probably needs a bit more time to heal based on how uncertain he sounds from their conversation. At the HQ, Ollie ends up talking to Felicity about that offer from “Evil, Inc.” (her words, not mine), and she points out that this time without him around made everyone think about what they got from this whole vigilante gig, and that Ollie hasn’t really thought on it since he’s returned. As for Murmur, things are coming together there. It seems Quentin was the one who brought him in and kinda forced Murmur to see his lips shut, so he’s seeking revenge. How? With diamond tipped bullets that can pierce through body armor.
Diamonds Are A Madman’s Best Friend. Too bad Quentin’s not in the mood to answer Arrow-related calls, because he would have been able to prepare for that team Murmur leads guns blazing into the station. Quentin gives Laurel cover to get help, and help comes not from Team Arrow, but Nyssa. Then Team Arrow arrives to knock out Murmur, and still not much love from Quentin. “Thank you”, is what you were trying to say, Quentin.
“Sorry, Captain, I really should have knocked before letting myself in.”
The Tale Begins Thus. The team returns home, and Ollie tells Felicity that he’s finally got that angst about his crusade squashed. Thea heads over to Roy’s place for some consoling, among other things. Laurel gets visited by Nyssa, who’s planning to stay in town for a while and offers Laurel some fighting lessons. Ollie meets with Maseo, and tells him he’s turning down Ra’s offer. Then, Maseo reminds him, like Malcolm, if Ra’s mind is made up, things may happen to insure he gets what he wants.
Like what, you ask? Like say, executing some of Murmur’s leftover goons while wearing the Arrow costume! Hey, whatever it takes to seal the deal.
–Comic book connections: not too much, except Murmur being another villain transposed over from the DCU.
–Seriously, geography of where places are in relation to each other on this show is more fluid than the fight choreography.
–We get to briefly see what the pit–a Lazarus pit, if you will–does when healing Ra’s hand.
–At least we didn’t spend an act this episode trying to find an ammo maker that specializes in putting diamond tips into bullets. Really, wouldn’t that be a red flag that someone wants a bulk order of said bullets STAT?
–Apparently Laurel’s “sufficient” fighting skills is a good thing in Nyssa’s book. Hey, if Ollie’s not going to help get her skills up…
–“Where are you going?” “To buy my evil dad some soup.”
–“Ok, I’m not following anything anymore.” I’m sure you’re speaking for more than yourself, Felicity.
–“A ‘thank you’ and a ‘you were right’. I should really be recording this.”
So what do you think? Leave your comments and other thoughts on this episode below and come back next time for the recap of “Suicidal Tendencies”…
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What do you think?