'Arrow' Recap: Felicity's Bad Dad

Warning: This recap for the “Unchained” episode of Arrow contains spoilers.

There are so many old faces returning on this episode of Arrow, you’d think it was sweeps week. Roy is under the thumb of a new baddie, The Calculator (Tom Amandes); Tatsu faces off against Nyssa; and Shado has wisdom to impart from beyond the grave.

The Plot

Nyssa’s friends break her out of the confinement Merlyn has kept her under. She travels to Japan to find The Lotus, but must fight its guardian, Tatsu — aka Katana. Back in Star City, a burglar is stealing tech to build a web nuke. The burglar turns out to be Roy Harper, who is being blackmailed by The Calculator (where’s Cisco naming skills when you need them?), who intends on destroying the city’s infrastructure with his bomb.

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Roy and Thea spend some quality time together as Team Arrow thwarts the bomb, but her no-kill policy means the magic of the Lazarus Pit is draining her, and she falls into a coma. The only thing that can save her is The Lotus, which Nyssa promises to Oliver in exchange for him killing Merlyn. Oh, and The Calculator turns out to be Felicity’s dad!

Putting the Band Back Together

Roy, Katana, and Shado (though, only as a hallucination inside of a flashback inside of an Inception burrito with secret sauce) all return this episode. Shado appears on Lian Yu to try to get Oliver to let go of his guilt. Since there probably wouldn’t be a show without Ollie feeling guilty, we know how that will turn out. Katana has a very Kill Bill-like sword fight with Nyssa. And Roy has a very heartfelt and, frankly, very permanent-feeling final talk with Thea, where she tells him to go live a normal life and he tells her he wishes he could do it with her.

The wealth of characters that Arrowverse has created is such a strength that it spawned an entire spinoff. That means fun episodes like this, where old friends return. But it also gives us a chance to see that the optimal size for Team Arrow is, in fact, four. That means no Mr. Terrific permanently joining in Season 5… unless the person in that grave is Diggle, Laurel, or Thea.

Father’s Day Must Be Hell in Star City

After years of speculation, we finally get to see Felicity’s dad… and he’s a super-villain! Not only that, he’s got the most “dad” code name imaginable. It’s a fun turn, and it’ll be ten times more fun when he runs across Donna. And ten times more fun than that when Captain Lance realizes who Donna’s ex is. And then ten times more fun than that when Malcolm and The Calculator do some male bonding about their superhero kids over a nice Scotch.

Inside Comics Moment

That silver ball that Curtis threw is a trademark of Mr. Terrific. That, combined with this tweet…

… tells us that we still may have a bit to wait, but we will definitely be seeing some Terrific action soon. Hopefully, he figures out that they shouldn’t have a telltale beep, so that people can throw them back in his face.

Quiverful of Thoughts

* Line of the Night: “My pride that you understood what I was saying is slightly undercut by your lack of faith in me.” Hush up while Felicity’s doing her job, Oliver!

* Is The Calculator out to destroy Star City just because he can? Or is he connected with H.I.V.E.?

* Darhk’s wife has entered the mayoral campaign, which seems like a needless hassle. Just get any of Detroit’s mayors.

* The handshake between Oliver and Malcolm felt a little forced — just to add drama to Nyssa’s demand that he kill him. How could anybody in Star City not want to kill Merlyn?

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.