'Arrow' Recap: Father Knows Best
Courtesy of:
Becca Ritchie from CW69 in Atlanta
[Spoilers from episode 6 below]
You know you're in for a good action-packed episode with a bank heist opener. Here are the Good, the Great, and the Brilliant moments.
The Good: Tommy Merlyn asks Oliver's lil sis for relationship advice and it backfires (only a little). It's starts off with Laurel needing money for her legal aid firm, and Merlyn offers to host a benefit to raise money after asking Thea Queen how to win over a girl. Only there's two little problems for Mr. Billionaire Merlyn. One, Laurel Lance hates handouts. Laurel's friend basically pinches her arm and forces Laurel to grit her teeth, smile and say thanks for the offer. Second, Thea actually thinks Tommy secretly likes her.
The benefit swings in Tommy's favor. Laurel ends up putting on a sweet smile and looks grateful by the end, actually kissing him on the cheek. His little speech about truly liking her — more than any other girl he's ever slept with — may have helped. After learning that Laurel is the girl Tommy intended to swoon, Thea throws back champagne and sloshes her way over to Tommy, saying that she's used to being rejected and dumped on. With this, she runs out and throws up in a back alley. Tommy drives her home, and even though she's clearly embarrassed, he says he won't ever leave her. Is Tommy growing on you? How about Tommy and Laurel? I still haven't decided if I like the match or not. Too soon to tell.
The Great: Mrs. Queen and Oliver have a heart to heart. Ever since Walter has left the Queen household, Mrs. Queen has been a little lonely, and she notices Oliver slipping out when they're having important discussions. She asks Oliver to attend brunch with some family friends, and he jets out to stop a few bank robbers. Mrs. Queen has had enough. She looks at her son and says that she doesn't even know why he came back. Even though he's home, it still feels like he's a thousand miles away. Who doesn't feel for her? Later, she apologizes for her harsh words, and acknowledges that she's been lonely without Walter.
The Brilliant: Oliver struggles between going after the "disease" rather than the "symptom" (or the more common metaphor: going after the head of the snake). The disease happens to be all the names in the book his father gave him — the rich CEOs and businessmen. But Diggle keeps pressing him to stop petty bank robbers after they shot a police officer. Oliver finally relents, and he traces down the robbers, identifying them as a family of four. Felicity Smoke uses her high-tech sleuthing abilities to find the dad's previous occupation, which shakes Oliver's moral compass.
What we know about Oliver Queen: He only kills bad guys. Like really bad guys. And the dad-turned-bank-robber was forced to poverty when Queen Consolidations shut down one of their factories, thus laying off hundreds of workers from The Glades. Oliver hunts down the dad and gives him a choice. He'll find him a new job, but the dad needs to remember that what he does from here on out will define him — no matter how much Oliver Queen's father ruined his life.
The dad makes the wrong choice. His son's adamant about stealing enough money to be set for life, so they hit up another bank in the middle of the night. This time, Oliver's ready. He stops the son with an arrow to the shoulder, but not before the security guard fatally shoots the dad in the chest. As Oliver hovers over the dying man, the dad says the he did this to his son — a recurring theme that we'll no doubt see in future episodes. It makes me wonder about Oliver and how his father turned him into a vigilante. Will the cost be Oliver's soul? How much will he pay to right his father's wrongs?
