We pick up where we left off last week with Momma Moira at arrow point. She holds a picture of Ollie and Thea in front of her and pleads with Arrow not to kill her. Isn’t that an Oprah tip? Like, tell a crazed killer about you to keep them from killing you? Having to take over Walter’s job must be killing her daytime TV viewing. Nevertheless, as soon as Arrow lowers his bow because he loves his mom, she grabs a gun and fires off a bunch of shots at him. I’m sure this gives Arrow some emotional pain but it’s a smart move. What isn’t smart is Momma Moira just hangs out and calls security. Luckily for her, Arrow did what she should have done and bounces. He has lost a lot of blood though.
In Felicity’s car, Ollie reveals himself to Felicity. Not in the fun way. After some great banter, she promises to take him to the lair.
Felicity: “You’re bleeding.” Oliver: “I don’t need to be told that.”
At the lair, Diggle watches a news broadcast which sums up the opening scene. Felicity comes in and Diggle points a gun at her with the most panicked expression ever. To his credit, he doesn’t blow her head off. To her credit, she doesn’t waste any time to explain herself. They get Ollie inside and start working on him. Ollie had the forethought to draw his blood over a length of time so there’s lots of blood to infuse him. Plus, there’s lots of medical supplies. The one thing he forgot? To make sure Diggle updated his first aid training. You can plan and plan but sometimes your doctor is an ex-soldier and a girl whose medical experience is playing Operation as a kid.
Back on the island, Ollie gets beat up by Slade a bunch of times. Just like always it would seem. We find out that Ollie has been on the island for six months. Since a lot of the scenes have felt continuous, I guess he spent a lot of time with Yao. Despite the fact that Slade can knock Ollie down in his sleep, they still have to get off the island tomorrow. Slade will fight ten guys while Ollie takes on an air traffic controller by himself. Will he take the guy’s lunch money while he’s at it?
In a third level on the show, Shot Ollie who is flashbacking to Island Ollie then has Island Ollie’s dream. When did this show become “Inception?” In the dream, Ollie asks forgiveness for banging Sarah. Laurel just asks about his murder. That’s actually rather nice by Laurel’s standards.
Back on the island (I apologize. This episode is hard to recap), Ollie wakes up from his dream. Ollie and Slade set off on their journey when Ollie steps on a mine. Then soldiers come. Is this Ollie’s gunshot ridden body telling him “It Gets Better?” Slade kills the soldiers and throws one of the corpses on the mine.
On another part of the island, Fyers assigns Yao to teaching archery to all the soldiers. Fyers will be in charge of glitter and arts and crafts. The other member of Australian Intelligence comes in so it seems Slade was telling the truth. Also, there’s some “her” that Yao cares about. More on that later.
Back with Ollie and Slade, Ollie spends a long time trying to make a fire and Slade just lights up the sticks with his lighter. I totally accidentally did something like that to someone once. Ollie wants to go home and make things right with Laurel like that would actually happen without him being tortured a little more. Slade says his partner is Billy Wintergreen who is the one that tortured Ollie. (In the comics, Wintergreen is Slade’s butler. In other incarnations, he’s in the Brotherhood of Evil). They were besties but then Billy joined Fyers and Slade was all hurt. Slade also mentions his son, Joey. (Joey is Jericho from the Teen Titans who has the power to possess people). Kind of makes Ollie’s sister banging seem small by comparison.
Back in the lair (and the present. yay!), Felicity reveals that she put a lot of stuff together already about Ollie being Arrow. Diggle sweetly tells her about how she helped them fight evil. Still, they’re having a pretty chill conversation given they’re walking in circles around a gunshot victim. I’ve heard of keeping your spirits up but this is a little cold blooded.
Back on the island, Slade shoots all the guards so Ollie can get to the control tower. Once Ollie gets there he gets beat up by the air control guy. Really? What’s next? Is he going to run at a football when Lucy pulls it away at the last moment?
At the lair, Felicity and Diggle make me feel bad for doubting their sincerity. Ollie’s heart stops. Felicity fixes Ollie’s medical equipment while Diggle shocks him back to life. If Ollie also stored up some morphine, I think you’ve both earned a hit.
Back on the island, Slade kills the air traffic controller, saving Ollie once again. Ollie does prove his worth however, when he has to remember lines from The Odyssey to convince the plane of who they are. He then tries to call Laurel and actually hears her voice when Slade makes him hang up the phone. Fans rejoice, I’m sure. Seriously, Katie Cassidy does have onscreen charm in things like “Melrose Place” or “Supernatural” or “Harper’s Island.” It’s not working firing on all cylinders on this show. Anyway, Slade informs Ollie that he will be returned home in a few days after Slade orders an air strike on this island. Ollie refuses to leave without Yao as he owes him his life. Slade says Ollie has three hours and then Slade is leaving without him. Ollie says if he doesn’t make it out, Slade should call his family. Slade agrees.
Back at the lair, Diggle tells Felicity about how he worked for some bad guys in the war. Working for Ollie gives him some peace. Felicity points out how Ollie occasionally murders people. Diggle’s response is basically “sh*t happens.”
Back at Yao’s part of the island, Ollie shows up to rescue him. Yao refuses to leave to protect someone. Fyers and Billy walk up and Yao punches Ollie in the face. Why the face? Why his beautiful face?
Ollie is about to get executed by Billy and decides to take his time insulting Billy on the way out. Why not, right? Be honest. Would you plead for your life the Momma Moira way or just insult your attacker before you’re murdered? Ollie offers Billy money to keep him alive. Before we find out Billy’s answer, Slade arrives. Slade had a chance to get on the plane by himself but came back for Ollie. He ends up stabbing Billy in the eye. Not the first eye death we’ve had on this show if I’m not mistaken. Slade gets shot though in her arm. Ollie helps both of them get away and disarms a guard in the process. To get serious, I like the way we see Ollie evolving mentor to mentor. His dad gave him purpose. Yao got him ready to do what it takes to survive. Slade is teaching Ollie how to fight with a gun to his head.
Ollie digs the bullet out of Slade’s arm. Slade congratulates Ollie on his improvement. Aww. Mentor bonding.
Oliver: “I’m trapped on an island and my only friend is named Wilson, so…”
On Yao’s part of the island, Fyers tells his boss man that’s he’s handling things. Is he though? I feel like in another three months, everyone on the island could be offed. He’s still pleased with Yao though and lets him have five minutes with his hostage daughter, Shado. (In the comics, Shado is an archer avenging her father’s death. She works with Green Arrow occasionally and ends up making a baby with him while he’s high on painkillers).
When Ollie finally awakes, he gives Felicity his pitch. She has upgraded his computer system and destroyed DNA evidence of Arrow from his last crime scene. Yet, she does not want to be a part of his crime fighting crime. She wants to find Walter and then she’s out. Ollie agrees. Now you know your recruiting method, Ollie. Save them, don’t make them save you. When Felicity goes to the bathroom, Ollie says he still has faith in his mother and she is off limits for the time being. Ollie has the same tattoo as Shado. How many gangs is he in?
Ollie: “I guess I didn’t die again. Cool.”
Back at Ollie’s place, he pretends he was at the club all night. He then comforts his mother about Arrow attacking her while Quentin has to mumble about evidence being destroyed. It really is funny how Ollie is like, “that darn Arrow. What a psycho.” Well, he’s a psycho with a new computer system anyway.
As always, your recap had me laughing just about every other word. :)
I was a little disappointed about the major flashback episode, but for a mostly shallow reason: I hate his hair so much. Like really. I hate it.
I was also cursing out the writers (ok, that's an exaggeration) for making us wait a whole episode to really find out the damage Ollie did to his mom. I can't wait for her to find out who he is - if she ever does. I just want to see the look on her face when she realizes her son put an arrow to her head, and she shot him.
It's funny. Some of the fun people have in flashback episodes is making fun of the horrible wigs. So many CW shows suffer from this problem. I actually think his hair was a little better here than in the bad boy Ollie footage from previous episodes.
I also look forward to Moira finding out the truth. I know she's not all bad but she needs some more consequences for all her lies.
Yeah, his hair was a little better. I think having a rough beard come in is helping. When he was clean shaven, all I could think about was that awful, awful hair.
(Angel had some pretty bad hair, now that I think about it.)
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