ARROW Season 4×18, “Eleven-Fifty-Nine” recap

7 Apr

Welcome back, Arrowheads! So Damien Darhk is currently awaiting trial in Iron Heights Prison, but is getting help from ol’ Malcolm, through a little ace in the hole Darhk has been keeping up his sleeve…Diggle’s brother! The supposedly reformed brother of John looks like a secret bad guy, or is he? Also, are we ever going to find out who Ollie has buried in that flash-forward? And will anyone get around to needing up security in Arrow HQ?

A Pact. In this week’s flashbacks, Ollie and Taiana make a move to kill Reiter’s guards as they make their way back to the prison cells. That goes well, and the prisoners are freed to make their way to boats on the island they can escape in. Ollie wants to make sure Reiter is stuck in those chambers, so he starts rigging explosives to blow them up. As him and Taiana do this, they talk about their loved ones: for her, it was her brother; for him, its Laurel. Both of them make a pact in case the other doesn’t survive (she’ll let Laurel know what a hero he was, and he’ll tell her family what happened to her), and Ollie blows the tunnels. But seeing as how Reiter finds the idol, and uses it to suck the souls out of the soldiers still in there as the cave is collapsing, someone I don’t think we’re done with him yet.

Double-Crosses. Present Day at Diggle’s place, Andy is digging up a hidden weapon as Dig comes home. Dig asks what is going on, and Andy tells him about meeting some guy “with perfect teeth and a missing hand” (Malcolm) who represents HIVE and wants him to assist in the theft of some high-grade weapons. When Andy is confronted about this, Andy says he doesn’t know what to do, especially if Dig and his family could face retaliation from HIVE. Well this news is brought up at Arrow HQ to the Team and Ollie suggests Andy show up and they stakeout the theft. Also, they reassembled that creepy idol Darhk had for his powers (which, WHY?) and Ollie confesses he saw it before on Lian Yu with Reiter. Don’t linger on that too long, because Ollie and Laurel have to go somewhere.

That somewhere is Ruve Adams’ victory party for her mayoral campaign, which is one event I’m sure both Ollie and Laurel would want to not to go. But, apparently her victory was a close one, with Ollie getting 46 percent of the votes via write-in, so, guess people would have been fine with him getting back in the race. Ruve also has a pitch for Laurel: as the DA gets to be promoted to deputy mayor, Laurel is offered the DA position! Tough call, getting promoted while working for the wife of the bad guy that Laurel has to prosecute, and even Quentin admits that later when they have some dinner together. This promotion might also mean she can no longer be the Black Canary, so a lot to think on. I’m sure she’ll have plenty of time to figure it out.

Welcome back to another episode of Arrow, where absolutely nothing horrible is about to happen to one of these four seen here.

Taking An Arrow. Ollie and Dig wait for the weapons convoy to arrive, while Thea and Laurel talk about how Malcolm has turned on them (yeah, big shock there, ladies). As Thea talks about how she’s not even thinking of him as her father anymore, Malcolm shows up with a new robot hand or something and some ex-League goons, looking for the idol. The ladies fight, but Malcolm takes off with idol, while Ollie and Diggle stop the weapons theft. Ollie realizes something was too easy about stopping this theft, and comes back to the HQ to hear what’s happened. Ollie tells Laurel he thinks Andy might still be working for HIVE, and is warned to be really sure about that before accusing Diggle’s brother of it.

At Iron Heights, Malcolm brings the idol to Darhk, and there we learn that Malcolm is making a deal with Darhk to spare him and Thea from this Genesis project. Too bad the idol is missing a particular stone (looks like the Team didn’t do something and reassemble ALL of it) that Darhk needs, so he’ll need that. Isn’t it also weird that Andy has some news that Malcolm is at a factory with the idol, and that the Team should go there to catch him? Well they do and run into a trap that could’ve killed Ollie if it wasn’t for Andy getting in the way and taking an arrow in the shoulder. Hmmm, how convenient…

Brother Against Brother. Diggle is treating Andy at the scene, and is mentioning how the Team hid that pesky stone, just before Ollie reminds him to not say too much on that right now. Andy seems to be scared this trap means his cover is blown with HIVE, but Ollie is not so sure, so he sends Diggle and Thea to search surveillance footage for Malcolm while Laurel heads down to the prison to shakedown Darhk. Laurel doesn’t find anything at the prison, except Darhk subtly threatening her, which will obviously come to nothing. At Diggle’s home, Andy is searching through the place as Ollie arrives, asking what he’s doing. Andy says he’s checking for HIVE surveillance in the house, but Ollie doesn’t buy that, so Ollie goes to work beating on Andy for answers. Diggle just happens to arrive and pulls a gun on Ollie, telling him to leave.

It’s only later at the HQ, that Diggle confronts Ollie about what he was doing to Andy. Ollie confesses his suspicions, and Diggle reminds him that it was Ollie who wanted to save Andy in the first place and now was questioning that push. And then he says he can’t trust anyone, which is why Felicity left, and jeez, low blow there, man. Laurel comes back with the bad news about the prison search, and she and Ollie discuss the Diggle brothers, plus that whole job promotion she has yet to take. Ollie suggests that maybe if this is the job she always wanted, maybe its worth the risk to take it and leave the Black Canary behind. Well, let’s hope she makes the right call there.

Malcolm really can’t deal with the League of Assassins being dissolved, can he? He’s like a Circuit City employee still wearing his work clothes. Sad.

Murmurs. At the prison, Darhk had his lip-sewn-shut friend deliver some books full of shivs, and decides to take over the prison. This seems a big move, as the police are forced to stay out of the prison while Darhk and his escapees have prison guards as hostages. The Team hears the news, and Laurel decides to suit up for one last time. Nothing foreboding in that statement, right? The team arrives, and thanks to Quentin giving a distraction by getting into a fight with Pike, are able to get into the prison.

Prison Siege. The Team and Andy enter and split up, with the guys going for the hostages and the ladies handling any escaped inmates. Malcolm shows up where the ladies are, and Thea sends Laurel off to help the others while she fights dear old dad. That fight ends in a draw, which is better than the fight they had at the HQ earlier, and Malcolm boasts because of her lack of bloodlust, she’ll never have what it takes to stop him. Father of the year Malcolm Merlyn, everyone.

The rest of the team arrives in the prison cafeteria and get the prisoners free, but not before one of Darhk’s men takes Andy hostage. Darhk threatens to kill Andy if the Team doesn’t surrender, and reluctantly, they do. And that’s when we all learn Andy is STILL working with HIVE and also found that stone to finish the idol! Turns out Ollie was right!

Laurel and Thea come in at that moment, and Thea puts a few arrows into Darhk’s chest. While the Team fights the escaped prisoners, Darhk kills one of the men he freed and uses it with the idol to heal himself. Then, he freezes the Team, and lets the prisoners escape, but not before fulfilling his word to Quentin months ago about what would happen if he was betrayed…and runs one of Ollie’s arrows into Laurel! Darhk, Malcolm, and Andy escape, and the Team scramble to get Laurel medical attention.

“Okay, why are all of you looking at me like I’m about to die?”

Time of Death. Ollie gets Laurel to the hospital, and they start working on her as he has to leave to a kid getting arrested. At the precinct house, a handcuffed Quentin hears the news of the prisoners escaping and the Black Canary being hurt, and asks to get himself released like, NOW. Felicity arrives at the hospital as the rest of the Team is there, waiting for news of Laurel’s condition, and Diggle is beating himself up over his brother’s betrayal. The doctor tells them she’s in recovery now, and asked to see Ollie.

Ollie comes into Laurel’s room, and she tells him that this whole experience has actually taught her she wants to be the Black Canary more than a DA. And then she motions to a pocket in her suit, and in it is a picture of the two of them, in happier days. She’s happy that he found someone to care about in Felicity, just like she’s found someone to care for in him (Tommy is waving from the afterlife, going, “Wait, what about me?”). Before I can get all teary-eyed, she asks him to do something for her. We never get to hear it, because what may be not long afterwards, the doctors rush into her room, and she seems to convulse and die!

The whole Team is rattled by what just happened, and Ollie stumbles out of her room, only to see Quentin finally arrive. Ollie’s look says it all, and Quentin crumbles to the floor. Sniff.

Well, I guess Laurel Lance is dead. Or at least I think she might be. I mean, there’s a funeral next episode, but…look, I’m just going to play along and see where this goes, okay? But, man, the Lance family must be jinxed.

–Comic book connections: Murmur, that mouth seen shut guy, is a DCU villain, natch.

–According to interviews about this episode, the decision to have Laurel be the unfortunate fatality in that grave came a couple of episodes back (yep, they wrote themselves into that not knowing position at the beginning of the season), which explains her larger role in things up to now. And they claim she really is dead and not coming back, which I’m just gonna say, “Okay. We’ll see.”

–Malcolm has a new hand (robot, I assumed) with no explanation. Him and Coulson from Agents of SHIELD must be putting extra bank into the left hand glove industry.

–Oh, and Darhk figured out Ollie was the Green Arrow because, he clearly had some time to put the puzzle together, just like Andy in monitoring everyone’s movement so he could figure out where the stone was.

–RIP Laurel Lance (?).

–“You really love not talking about that place, don’t you?”

–“This kind of thing happens to us every week!”

–“Why does this thing scare me so much?” “Because its scary.”

That’s it for now, but comment below and come back in three weeks for “Canary Cry”…