Yeah, there’s an unpleasant talk coming. Ollie explains that Samantha Clayton wanted to protect William from the world of Green Arrow, with Felicity noting that it didn’t work. The rest of Team Arrow is shocked … except for Thea Queen, who already knows about Ollie’s son. Oh, and Malcolm Merlyn knows too. Felicity snips that it might be easier to list the people who don’t know about William.
Oliver has a tense meeting with Alex Davis before seeing a frantic Samantha, who blames him immediately. She says she simply went upstairs to get her son for dinner and he was gone, but that a Central City crime technician named Barry Allen told her to speak to Oliver. What can he do that the police can’t? Well, I’m the Green Arrow.
Plus side, Samantha gets to see the Arrow Lair. She has a talk with Laurel Lance, also uncomfortable for Felicity since Laurel and Oliver were dating when Samantha hooked up with him. The talk turns to who they can ask for help, and when John Constantine is suggested, Oliver says he’s literally in Hell. But he might know someone else …
The scene shifts to Detroit, where some gun-wielding crooks see the power of Vixen up close and personal. Green Arrow takes one of them out, and when Vixen says she had the situation under control, Green Arrow says he’s there because he needs her help.
Everyone gets to see the Arrow Lair today! Mari says she’s got to get herself one of those, and Oliver says they had an “animated” encounter last year. That’s a meta joke to beat all meta jokes. She sniffs a Flash action figure (making Oliver promise not to tell Barry) and gets the scent. Everyone gets their marching orders.
Thea tells Malcolm that Oliver could have chopped his head off instead of his hand, but she’s not too sympathetic since he refused to bargain to save her life. Merlyn lies about telling Darhk about William, because of course he does.
Diggle sees Vixen’s powers in action and notes how crazy their world is, including Oliver Queen, father. John says not to let the “What if?” questions eat him up and offers some advice on how to be there for his son, by keeping him close. In other words, the opposite of what he’s been doing. Samantha wants Felicity to remember it was her that prevented Oliver from telling the truth. Elsewhere, the Lances have a talk about old Oliver, and Laurel admits that it bothers her that Ollie cheated on her and had a secret son.
But now it’s action time. With Spartan covering, the rest of Team Arrow disables a bunch of Ghosts and Green Arrow busts into Darhk’s hotel room or apartment or whatever. Damien taunts GA about his inability to defeat him, and even with Vixen helping, it’s not looking good. Summoning the power of a gorilla at least puts some strain on Darhk, but he still ends up throwing Green Arrow out a window. Vixen saves him, but she also has bad news, reporting that she’s lost both Darhk and William.
At the Arrow Lair, Oliver gets a call from Damien, who’s not too happy. He wants Ollie out of the race now and to publicly endorse Ruve Adams. Vixen apologizes for her ineffectiveness but also wonders if Darhk has a totem of his own that powers him. Lance thinks he does, since he’s been on the inside of DD’s operation. Oliver still wants to drop out, saying he needs to save William.
Sure enough, Oliver says he’s suspending his campaign and endorsing Adams. He thanks all of his supporters and promises their hard work will not be forgotten. Alex has a harder time understanding why his hard work went for naught, but all he gets is an apology. Felicity comes in, and he tells his love about John’s advice, which is obviously weighing on him.
Mari explains Darhk’s idol, but Samantha wants to know why Darhk isn’t returning William. Oliver explains to Mari that Damien has gone back on his word before, but she has the opposite advice on what to do from Diggle. People, don’t give Oliver conflicting advice! That’s just going to keep him brooding for days. Months, maybe.
Felicity uses the info provided by Vixen to locate his idol, so they have a chance to strike a meaningful blow. Conveniently, Darhk calls and arranges a meeting for three hours from now to return William. Laurel notes that the villain could be lying, and Oliver attempts to punt the decision on what to do to Samantha. She tells him to get William back and take this son of a bitch down.
The assault is on. Using the power of a … cheetah, I think … Vixen takes Darhk’s totem. Alas, separating Darhk from his totem didn’t weaken him. Will breaking it? Darhk is busy force choking Green Arrow, Speedy and Black Canary when Vixen finally smashes the totem. With William watching, Green Arrow knocks out Darhk, and the heroes scatter just as the police arrive.
William has his joyous reunion with Samantha, noting that he now wants a Green Arrow action figure instead of a Flash toy. Lance has news too: William wasn’t taken by Darhk, but by a man with a missing hand.
Oliver thanks Mari, who repeats her advice from before. She also says she’s just a phone call away, which means … more of her, please!
Thea storms into a confrontation with Malcolm, who once again claims he did it for them. She’s really upset, enough that she says she wishes she never sought out her true father. He falls back on the usual bit about training her to be a warrior and insists that he’d rather she be alive and hate him than dead and love him. Yeah but dude, your actions as of late kind of contradict that.
Is Ollie recording a video message or just saying what he wants to type out loud? It’s a message for his son, and we see the other fathers, Diggle and Lance, with their kids. Whoa, he tells William he’s the Green Arrow. But the message isn’t to be shown to William until his 18th birthday, and Samantha is taking him away, not even telling Oliver where she’s going. Felicity arrives at the end, and she’s returning her engagement ring. She knows the tough spot he was in but still thinks he should have told her the truth.
As she reaches the end of her speech, she gets up and walks out of the loft. The bio-chip is powered by anger or sadness?
Meanwhile, (Back) on the Island: Oliver and Taiana are summoned by Reiter, who says he’s within striking distance of his prize. Time to dig!
Reiter says there is primordial energy in front of them, but what they find is … a creepily reanimated Conklin. He’s speaking in tongues and immune to gunfire, which isn’t good. Reiter leaves Oliver and his friends alone with demon Conklin, who disappears and says Ollie can pass. His tattoo, a gift from Constantine, is glowing.
A happy Reiter says he had faith Oliver would survive, and he wants ou hero to go into some creepy cave. Taiana too, naturally.
#GraveWatch: For the first time since we started this feature, I honestly don’t know who’s the leader. I suppose Malcolm could still kill William or lead to his death, but that seems less likely for the time being. The crappy thing is that it puts some other favorites like Diggle back in jeopardy.
Final Thought: First, props to the special effects people, because the visuals for Vixen’s powers were sweet. A lot happened in this episode without feeling like anything was crammed in, which isn’t always the case on this show. Felicity’s rapid healing is sure to be a divisive talking point in the fan community, and unfortunately, we’ll have nearly a month to argue about it before the next new episode.