ARROW Season 7×08, “Unmasked” recap

8 Dec

Welcome back, Arrowheads! So after a deal is made with the FBI, it looked like Oliver Queen was finally getting out Slabside Prison, and he did, but not before Diaz showed up and took over the place. Diaz got defeated and left in jail, while Ollie got to taste freedom after so many months is captivity. But he’s got a lot to deal with now, like what will he do now that he’s a free man, that hint that Felicity has gone dark side, and who is that faux Green Arrow running around town? We’ll get some answers to that here, but first…

Blackstar. In the flashforwards, Older William, Older Dinah, and Older Zoe are checking out some underground fighting establishment, minus Old Roy (apparently he’s persona non grata around there), looking for Blackstar, the person who Felicity talked to last before her supposed murder. “Blackstar” happens to be a woman who spends her free time cage fighting and is claiming to not know what is going on about Felicity, only that it can’t be good. Later on, Dinah talks to William about what Roy saw in that message in Ollie’s old bow back on Lian Yu: it was a marking called The Mark of Four. It was meant to be a symbol of heroic integrity, also meant to be a signal to show up for whoever knew it.

William thinks on it and realizes Blackstar may not be telling the truth, so our trio revisit her place, and discover a copy of the plans Felicity had to blow up Star City. This seems like a plan that may be happening soon, but they can’t exactly go to the authorities with this stuff. So Dinah suggests going to the Glades to see someone Zoe hasn’t seen in a long time: Rene!

She’s doing the “Daddy didn’t love me enough as a child to let me ride on his shoulders” move.

Back Home. We see some woman getting ready for the start of a new day by exercising and watching the news, where we learn it’s been a week since the mess at Slabside, and Oliver Queen is set to make his first public appearance since being released at an event for prison reform. Also we learn she’s the mystery Green Arrow, but we’ll get back to her soon. Meantime, Ollie is still not entirely adjusted to being back home with Felicity, let alone being in public, but he gets dressed and shows up to the big gala. His former teammates are there too (along with a face from season one, Max Fuller), and they all lament what to do now that Diaz is taken down and they have to live in a city with that cursed anti-vigilante law in effect.

Ollie is starting to make a speech about the need to reform prisons for the crowd, when an arrow strikes down one of the guests, almost two of it wasn’t for Ollie catching a second arrow before it hit its target. The new mayor, Pollard, is convinced this is the work of the new Green Arrow, but it doesn’t add up, as the mystery good guy is attacking people who have been hurting the Glades, unlike the victim at the gala. Ollie suggests it may be time to meet this mystery archer face to face. Meanwhile, Diggle is getting more information about that weird painting image they found recently from Lyla, and something about it really disturbs Diggle. More on that later.

Pretender To The Hood. Rene reaches out to the mystery Green Arrow, and Ollie and Dinah secretly tag along to find out if she (of course they don’t know she is a she) is responsible for the killing. She doesn’t answer, but does give Ollie a merry chase as he fails to catch her escaping. Later at the police station, Pollard is irritated at Dinah for not capturing the new Green Arrow and at Ollie for even attempting to help. Ignoring that ray of sunshine that is Pollard, we learn the other intended victim at the gala was murdered at the same time Ollie and company were chatting with the Faux Arrow, so that leaves Faux Arrow out as a suspect.

There is one connection between both victims: both are alumni of the same class that Max Fuller was in. Ollie offers to check in on the club owner, and that chat seems rather unusual, especially after Ollie offhandedly mentions the Faux Arrow is not a suspect in those murders. Later at their loft, Ollie and Felicity are just trying to relax for the night when someone trips their security system: a man in a sorta Green Arrow getup. While Ollie disarms the hitman, it’s Felicity shooting the guy a few times while interrogating him that really weirds Ollie out. We got a chat coming, don’t we?

Someone has to have the hood on in this show, because apparently it won’t be Oliver Queen doing that for now.

Different People. After that hitman is wheeled out of the apartment by the cops (I assume he’s still alive, but…), Ollie has to ask what brought on shooting that guy. Felicity of course says it was for protection, and reminds him she had to kind of step up to do that after he unilaterally decided to go to prison for the whole team. Way to deflect almost murdering a guy in your loft, girl.

Ollie meets Dinah at the station and they realize all of this points to that Green Arrow copycat hitman being hired by Fuller. It would be easy to move in on his nightclub, but not while it’s during a peak night and when he likely has a number of hired goons there. Dinah suggests that maybe Ollie can help he police in a more official way than being a vigilante and going back to prison. That involves later on getting that extra Green Arrow suit from Diggle, but for some reason, not the regular domino mask that comes with it. Hmmm…

Out In The Open. At Fuller’s nightclub, Ollie shows up in his Arrow getup sans mask, and he fights his way to Fuller. Fuller thinks Ollie is there to take him in, which he is, but right into Dinah’s waiting hands. At the station after Fuller is brought in, Pollard arrives demanding Ollie be locked up for breaking the anti-vigilante law. Then Dinah tells her, “I can’t do that, because he’s officially now working for us!” And after letting Pollard know the D.A. probably won’t press charges against Ollie in this anyway (tee hee hee, Evil Laurel), Pollard is left to grouse about this not being over. Whatever.

Nope, he’s not rusty after all those months in prison.

Struggle With The New. At home, Felicity is surprised to find out Ollie is basically a deputy in the SCPD now, but Ollie is concerned about fixing this problem in their relationship. She’s not ready to leave him, but she admits what she needs may not be what they want anymore. At ARGUS headquarters, Diggle and Lyla are heading to a cell, talking about how what they are about to do is going to be a problem for Ollie and Felicity. That thing is making a deal with Ricardo Diaz to learn about what’s behind that weird painting, which is also connected to the Longbow Hunters!

But wait, we got more surprises! We meet our mystery archer woman kneeling at a gravesite, talking about how Ollie seems so much like her dad (the one in the grave), and she promises she hasn’t given up on him. Then we see the grave is…Robert Queen! Yep, like Moira Queen, Robert had a daughter from someone else! So when will Ollie meet her half-sister without the mask? Well, probably after the winter break.

–Comic book connections: The idea of Robert Queen having another kid is a relatively new concept in the comic books, and something we’ll have to come back to in greater detail after the hiatus.

–So the Mark of Four is meant to represent four points of being a hero: courage, compassion, selflessness, and loyalty. So how many other people in Team Arrow know about this in the future?

–Dinah suggests Rene maybe run for office, which makes a bit more sense than Evil Laurel being the District Attorney. I mean, being a vigilante aside…

–The Queen loft has bulletproof drapes. Makes sense, considering what happens wherever either Ollie or Felicity live now.

–So, I guess present day William will be staying abroad for the foreseeable future, huh? As for future William, is he going to end up like dear ‘ol dad by the end of this season?

–“She put my ass in jail!” “Oh, I’m sorry I missed that.”

–“Envy is not a good look on you. Neither is the crab cake on your face.”

That’s it for now, but come back in January 2019 for more recaps proper. However, look around here next week, as we recap the last episode of Arrow for 2018, along with Supergirl and The Flash, as we cover the big Elseworlds crossover in one big post. See you there.