'Arrow' Recap: Buildings Fall, Felicity Stands Tall
Warning: This recap for the “Code of Silence” episode of Arrow contains spoilers.
Demolition Team, one of the sillier characters pulled from the original DC comics, provided a decent amount of action on this week’s Arrow, but it’s the heartfelt moments between Quentin Lance and Donna Smoak that really anchor the episode.
The Plot
As the mayoral debate approaches, H.I.V.E. brings in Demolition Team – first to kill Captain Lance, then to attack the debate itself. Laurel saves her father from the first attempt and Lance pushes Donna away because he fears for her safety. Donna, in turn, breaks it off completely because he won’t be honest with her. Team Arrow beats Team Demolition, Oliver beats Ruve in the debate, and Curtis gives Felicity his latest invention: An implantable bio-stimulant that will effectively cure her paralysis. Thea, meanwhile, discovers Oliver’s son, William, but not in time to stop Damien Darhk from kidnapping him.
The Flashback
The other workers now view Oliver as “Reiter’s pet” and force him to prove he’s on their side by killing Conklin. He doesn’t want to for fear of becoming the monster that Amanda Waller made him back in Hong Kong, but he does anyway. Reiter keeps him alive because the rock and map Oliver gave him has led him to the mystical object he seeks.
Again, Pointless Secrets
The Arrowverse has a real weak spot when it comes to secrets. Everybody’s protecting everybody else by keeping secrets, which inevitably turn out to hurt more than help. Quentin breaks that trend by — after an entire episode of hemming and hawing — being honest with Donna about why he’s pushing her away. Oliver doesn’t get the point and still thinks hiding his son from Felicity is a good idea. And Thea, inexplicably, agrees with him despite having “secret daddy” issues of her own. The only way this gets resolved satisfactorily is if Felicity reveals that she’s known about William all along. If Thea, who has zero detecting skills whatsoever, can find out about William, how can Felicity — master hacker and queen of a thousand surveillance cameras — not?
Extra kudos this week to Charlotte Ross as she gets to show off a little more beneath Donna’s ditzy exterior in her break-up scene with Paul Blackthorne. It kinda makes you wish Quentin did have a gambling habit so we can see some of her “Vegas girl” ass-kicking.
She’s Got Legs, She Knows How to Use Them
That’s one hell of a wedding present, Curtis! Combining his know-how with Palmer Tech’s new battery technology may allow Felicity to walk again — and, incidentally, would positively obliterate any bankruptcy concerns the company might have — but should it work? Honestly, it’s been kind of nice seeing a differently-abled person on a show like Arrow. It’s not like her paralysis is keeping her from being in the field — she never was in the field.
Inside Comics Moment
The Demolition Team in the comics are textbook examples of ‘80s silliness. The two members of the team we see onscreen — Hardhat and Rosie — are the least ridiculous of the lot. Rosie has a rivet gun (Get it?) instead of a nail gun and Hardhat wears what looks like a metal version of football pads. The others, thankfully, got left behind. Jackhammer carries around a huge jackhammer, Steamroller drives a tiny steamroller, and Scoopshovel has a scoopshovel for an arm, which he’s good at using because he used to be a professional jai-alai player. Get it? Because a shovel is like a jai-alai scoop? Oof.
Quiverful of Thoughts
H.I.V.E. thought the best way to make Captain Lance’s death look like an accident was to have an entire building coincidentally collapse on him as he investigates a false call? It’d be ridiculous, except that who doesn’t love to watch buildings get demolished, right? Those videos of Vegas buildings crumbling speaks to the 8-year old boy inside all of us and this episode did it twice!
Oliver: If you’re going to be a politician, you’re going to have to learn to lie better than when Thea confronts you about the check to Samantha Clayton. “Whatever was going on with this Samantha … person …” Take a page out of Bill Clinton’s book: “I did not have … sexual relations … with that woman.”
Line of the Night: “You did spend your education nailing chicks, not doing social studies.” Harsh, but even harsher coming from your little sister.
Move of the Night: Donna’s glitter bomb!
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
