ARROW RECAP AND REVIEW OF ‘CORTO MALTESE’

ARROW RECAP: Legion contributor Chrysta Bairre is recapping and reviewing Arrow this season! Follow her on Twitter @chrystaberry!

Previously on Arrow…. Sara dies, Moira dies, Thea left town because everyone she loves lied to her. Spoiler ahead, or, as Stephen Amell said, “When Moira died- spoiler alert- did I do that right?”

Six months ago… Thea gets into a limousine with her father, Malcolm Merlin. “I don’t want to feel this pain again. I don’t want to hurt, or get hurt.” Malcolm tells her they can go wherever she wants, but they can’t stay in Starling City. (After all, Malcolm is a psychopath that tried to level the Glades and, oh yeah, kill Oliver.)

Present day… Team Arrow is trying to find leads on Sara’s killer but they keep coming up empty. Sara’s killer is obviously long gone and finding him is going to be difficult.

Oliver asks Felicity for updates on Thea’s exact location in Italy. Only Thea’s not in Italy like she told them- she’s in Corto Maltese and Felicity has tracked Thea down to an address. Her work here being done, for now, Felicity heads off to work- not at Tech Village, but no one seems to know she accepted a job at Queen Consolidated, or QC, working for Ray Palmer.

Roy and Oliver discuss plans to leave for Corto Maltese. Roy grabs his bow and Oliver chides him about taking a weapon on a plane. “I’ve never actually been on a plane before,” Roy confesses adorably. (Oh, Roy!)

Diggle is back at home, adoring baby Sara. Lyla asks Diggle why he isn’t going with Oliver to Corto Maltese. (Isn’t this a man-cation, after all?) Okay, so maybe Lyla has an ulterior motive- she asks Diggle to look in on ARGUS agent Mark Shaw. Agent Shaw hasn’t checked in an awhile. Everything’s probably okay (but, really, probably not).

Cut to Laurel tracking down a punk kid who is a suspect in a robbery. Laurel questions the instructor at a local boxing club. The instructor covers for the kid, explaining sometimes people who’ve lost something do stupid things. “Just like you,” he says, “they are angry.” He tells Laurel to come see him when she’s ready to work out her anger and grief.

In Corto Maltese Oliver arrives at Thea’s. Malcolm waits behind the door with an arrow ready to fly should Oliver enter. A gardener approaches and asks Oliver if he’s looking for “Mia”, and tells Oliver she works at a cafe.

Flashback to 6 months ago, Malcolm is serving Thea meditative tea. He pours boiling water on his hand and tells her pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

At the cafe, Thea hugs Oliver and is glad to see him. Oliver apologizes for lying to her and Thea tells him, “I’m never coming back to Starling City.”

Six months ago, Malcolm pours boiling water on Thea’s hand. She can’t stand the pain and she puts her hand in cold water. “I can’t do this.”

At Queen Consolidated (apparently we’re calling it QC now), Ray Palmer greets Felicity with his usual charm. He babbles at her and apologizes for being over-caffienated. Felicity tells Ray she won’t be getting him coffee. Ray introduces Felicity to HER executive assistant and asks her if her assistant can get coffee for her. Felicity’s face does one of these: o.O

Ray explains he is salvaging QC applied sciences division, and asks Felicity to get to work recovering data from damaged hard drives. As he leaves, he tells Felicity that Oliver’s old office is now her office. o.O

In Corto Maltese, Diggle finds agent Shaw and explains he’s not ARGUS, he’s Lyla’s baby daddy. (Really?!?1?! Baby daddy? Ooooooo…kay.)

Shaw verifies Diggle’s identity with a fancy decoder ring (or, you know, a bit of fancy decoder tech). He tells Diggle that someone has hacked ARGUS data is going to sell information on ARGUS agents and their families.

Laurel attends an AA meeting. She shares that she is angry. She chooses not to elaborate when her father walks into the meeting. Another member shares that her boyfriend is still drinking and shows a recent bruise he gave her.

After the meeting Laurel tells Quentin she wants to go after the abusive boyfriend. Quentin tells her they can’t.

Shaw takes Diggle to the location of the buy of the hacked ARGUS data. Only it’s a setup. The buy is tomorrow and Shaw wants Diggle out of the way. Good thing Oliver is shadowing Diggle. Ollie to the rescue!

Roy goes to see Thea at the cafe. He tells her he’s worried about her. She tells him she didn’t leave because of Roy. She found herself in Corto Maltese and doesn’t want to go back to StarlingCity.In Corto Maltese there are no lies, no secrets.

Malcolm hugs Thea after she is unable to stand the boiling water on her hand. He tells her, “it’s not your fault, it’s mine.” He needs to treat her like a student, not a daughter. And he attacks her.

At QC, Diggle calls Felicity to get a lead on agent Shaw’s location. Laurel beeps in on the other line, wanting Felicity to track down the abusive boyfriend. “Are we favor friends,” Felicity asks Laurel.

In Corto Maltese, Oliver tells Diggle and Roy that he is going to tell Thea the truth about the 5 years he was missing. “The truth will bring Thea back.”

Laurel goes vigilante on the abusive boyfriend and gets her ass seriously whooped. Quentin goes to see Laurel in the hospital; she is covered in cuts and bruises. Sara’s jacket is on the table next to her. “I needed the world to be different,” she tells Quentin.

Oliver goes to see Thea one more time. He tells her he wants to tell her everything, but he’s afraid what she might think of him. She tells him she isn’t bothered by his secrets, but the secrets he kept about her. Oliver tells Thea that their father made it off the Queen’s Gambit, and shot himself so Oliver could have a chance to live. Oliver tells Thea that both their parents sacrificed themselves so they could live.

Oliver, Diggle, and Roy secretly watch agent Shaw at the new buy location. Oliver pulls out homemade bows and arrows, telling Roy he made them out of items in their hotel room. Shaw’s rent-a-soldiers arrive and fight with Team Arrow while the buy goes down.

Diggle chases after Shaw and pulls him from a moving jeep. Diggle admonishes Shaw for selling the data. Shaw tells Diggle he did it to get out because Amanda Waller has made him do terrible things.

Thea tells Malcolm she wants to return to Starling City. They fight and Thea wins. “You let me win, didn’t you,” Thea asks Malcolm.

At the airport in Corto Maltese Team Arrow waits for Thea- will she show up? Of course she will, and she does! While they wait a man spills hot coffee on Thea’s hand. She calmly brushes hot coffee off her hand.

Laurel is waiting for Oliver at Verdant. She tells Oliver she wants to help people like Sara. She asks Oliver to train her but he refuses. Laurel goes back to the boxing club and asks, “where do we start?”

Felicity shows Ray that she successfully recovered the data from the damaged hard drive. Everyone else told Ray it couldn’t be done. Felicity asks for time off to visit a friend who was hit by lightening and was in a coma (Flash crossover!). She leaves and Ray looks through the recovered data, specifically interested in advanced weapon designs.