‘Arrow’ Recap: And Black Canary’s Secret Is...
Warning: This recap of the “Who Are You?” episode of Arrow contains spoilers.
Felicity fans are going to love tonight’s Arrow. She has zero effs to give after the death of her boyfriend and, when Laurel’s reappearance sends Oliver into a tailspin, Felcity steps up like a boss. Keep the team in line? Check. Wrangle a self-pitying mayor/vigilante? Check. Knock out a supervillain with a wicked right hook? Check and double check.
The Plot
Laurel is back, courtesy of the Legends of Tomorrow (spoiler: They were too busy convincing a young George Lucas to make movies this week to bother). Felicity figures out it’s really Earth-2’s Laurel, Black Siren. Prometheus sprung her from the Pipeline in Central City and she attacks the team, but calls later saying she was forced to by Prometheus. Oliver believes her, but Felicity doesn’t and has the rest of the team capture her. She escapes again, but it’s part of Felicity’s plan. Laurel leads them to Prometheus, who escapes, but Laurel is locked up with A.R.G.U.S.— so Oliver still has a chance to turn her into one of the good guys.
The Flashback
Gregor (David Meunier) beats on Oliver, trying to bring him back into the Bratva fold. But the interrogation is interrupted by Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig), who we’ve previously only seen as a child.
The Boss
What do you get when you combine an emotionally vulnerable Oliver, an imprisoned Diggle, a gaggle of new recruits, and a boyfriend murdered by your ex? You get Turbo Felicity. You get a Felicity who doesn’t put up with Ollie’s crap when it’s obvious he’s getting played by the Laurel doppelganger. She directs the team to take her down; she releases her to track down the big boss, then when that plan fails, she straight up decks Black Siren and sends her to prison. Brains and brawn. *sigh* Is there anything she can’t do?
We’ll probably get original flavor Felicity soon enough, but this is the version we should have – most of the time, anyway. It’s the Felicity we deserve, but maybe not the one we need.
Prison Digg
Diggle is back in prison, though he’s determined to beat the rap this time. Oliver asks DA Chase (Josh Segarra) to defend him at his court martial and, though he may not know much about military law, he does know a set-up when he sees one. General Walker (Garry Chalk) plans to “accidentally” kill Diggle as soon as he’s in custody, so Chase has Diggle punch him so he can be charged with assault and kept in Star City. It’s a fantastic turn and one that is largely absent from the city business scenes in general. If Oliver’s going to be mayor, do more stuff like this so it’s interesting.
Rene and Curtis, Sittin’ in a Tree, F-I-G-H-T-I-N-G
It’s nice to see these two get a little bonding time. Curtis is in a serious funk as a result of Paul leaving him — which, for him, means he’s bad at marriage and also bad at superheroing. So, basically, good for nothing. Rene pushes him a little too far and Curtis blows up; that’s the bad news. The good news is it inspires him to fix their sound dampener to stop Black Siren and convinces him that — despite getting his ass kicked constantly — he’s still a valuable member of the team.
Quiverful of Thoughts
*Oliver gets the bonus points this week for saying the titular line, “Who are you?” to Laurel. Did anybody else expect an episode of CSI to break out?
*1400 Brand Boulevard (where the team confronts Black Siren and Prometheus) is the address of a Chevy dealership in Los Angeles. Coincidence? Or does Stephen Amell have a secret fleet of Camaros somewhere?
*So … Prometheus broke Black Siren out of S.T.A.R. Labs and trained him to go deep cover just so Oliver could experience losing her again? He’s had some pretty convoluted plans before, but this might be the most complicated for the smallest return. Maybe this isn’t a vengeance thing. Maybe it’s Talia al Ghul who’s just running him through some weird League of Assassins training scenario?
*Line of the Night: “Hey — kept my wrists straight.” Bad. Ass.
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
