In the present, Oliver Queen is getting some advice from campaign advisor Alex Davis. Ollie leaves to check on Felicity Smoak, who was supposed to be there too, and Alex turns his attention to hitting on Thea Queen. She shoots him down because her life is “complicated,” but seems to be flattered by the effort.
Oliver finds Felicity at Palmer Tech, where Curtis Holt is trying to get her to take a break from tracing Ray’s message. Curtis wonders if Oliver is Green Arrow before leaving, while Oliver says it’s impossible for Ray to be alive. Oh, but it’s not.
Speaking of people who shouldn’t be alive, Sara tells her mom she’s among the living … again. At their loft, Oliver wants Felicity to take a shower and a nap, but her backtrace program finally bears fruit. Ray makes contact and reveals he’s being held against his will by someone who wants his tech. Oliver asks if his suit didn’t work, but Ray says it worked a little too well …
Felicity tells Laurel Lance that Ray is now the size of a tater tot, but she thinks there are schematics at Palmer Tech for a machine that can restore him to normal. Oliver wants to help her, but she tells her beau there’s nothing he can do.
Can Curtis build the machine? He says yes, and that everything he needs is already at Palmer Tech except for something called a quantum manifold. Sadly, the only one nearby is at chief competitor Kord Industries. At least things can’t get any worse, says Holt, apparently unaware that in fiction, things will then immediately get worse. Mama Smoak is back in town, with Oliver’s blessing. Felicity tries to usher her mom out and assures Curtis that she’ll get the part.
Or rather, Team Arrow will. The assault on the Kord Industries warehouse showscases some of the lighter tone we were promised this season with a joke about a tear emoji, Felicity wondering how long Oliver and her mom have been texting each other and everyone giggling about Oliver’s new code name on the radio. Chatty Cathy. Okay, we get it. Lighter! Things turn serious when Thea sets off an alarm in the building and Sara almost beats a poor guard to death. Because who didn’t see that happening?
Ray makes contact with Felicity again, noting that the quantum manifold could be a problem. A bigger problem could be the person Felicity sees is his captor: Damien Darhk.
There’s nothing anyone can do right now, as Oliver says Diggle and Lance will work some leads, meaning a meeting with Darhk. In the meantime, Oliver suggests dinner with Felicity’s mom, but Felicity gets mad when she realizes he’s already made plans. Ollie won’t take no for an answer, so dinner at 7 pm.
Ah, but what about Ray? Darhk talks to him, revealing his knowledge of Felicity’s identity and threatening her if he doesn’t cooperate.
Oliver doesn’t make it in time to cook dinner, and we discover that Mama Smoak isn’t a competent cook. She’s smart enough to know that something is amiss, so she leaves and allows her daughter and Ollie to have a talk. It’s a sad one, with Felicity blaming herself because Ray was sending out distress calls for months while she was spending her time getting swept away by Oliver. He asks if this is really about them. She’s not sure, so Oliver says he’ll give her some time to figure it out.
That means heading to the Arrow Lair, where Diggle busts out some whiskey and some advice. It’s nice that we’ve made it from him resenting Ollie to being his buddy again. Diggle assures Oliver that relationships sometimes need some time and space to work out.
They break up the chat when Lance has his meeting with Darhk set up. The pretense is offering Damien more help in exchange for mystical assistance with Sara, but really it’s just a means to have Diggle tail him back to his base.
Elsewhere, Mama Smoak is giving the opposite side of the relationship pep talk to her daughter. Though her conclusion that Felicity wouldn’t be able to find another hot guy who can also cook is probably wrong. She has to leave anyway to brief Team Arrow after Diggle discovers where Darhk’s base is. It’s a super secure building, and they probably need Curtis to assemble the enlarging device in the field. He’s coming with them, and after a brief debate, they decide to let Sara come too. Laurel tells her sister to “suit up,” because we haven’t been able to play that drinking game yet this week.
The plan gets underway, but one of the Ghosts gets the drop on Green Arrow, knocking him out. Lame. Or maybe not — the “Ghost” was actually Diggle in disguise, and Green Arrow got captured on purpose. Felicity psyches up Curtis to base jump from a nearby building in through a window, where Diggle awaits. Speedy and the Canaries keep the Ghosts busy, while Green Arrow frees himself only to find that arrows are no good on Darhk. Magic, remember? DD commands some chains to choke Oliver, though when the villain is doing the “taunt you before I kill you” bit, Green Arrow uses a flare arrow to blind his captor and slip away. Meanwhile, Felicity and Curtis find Ray, who uses the cameras in his plastic cell to power his Atom suit. That allows Curtis to enlarge him inside the box, growing him right to freedom. Diggle gives the word that everyone is clear, but Sara has a Ghost cornered, and yep, she kills the guy.
Tests show that Ray is none the worse for his micro-sizing. Felicity offers him Palmer Tech, but he decides to leave it in her hands until he officially decides to return from the dead. And Oliver looks … jealous? Sara tells her sister and Thea that try as she might, she couldn’t control her bloodlust. She decides she needs to really start over, maybe going to visit her mom in Central City. Hugs, tears, etc.
As everyone who enjoys beefcake gets to ogle a shirtless Stephen Amell, Felicity returns and asks to clear the air. She thanks him for being so supportive in rescuing Ray, while he apologizes for not being a better listener. Both agree that they’ll be fine. They kiss, she straddles him, and we’re going to have to use our imagination for the rest. #Olicity shippers, I’m sure you already have.
Lance is out drowning his sorrows with club soda when he meets a nice lady named Donna who is feeling lonely. Oh yeah, that’s exactly who you think. Thea summons up the courage to ask Alex out, hoping he doesn’t turn out to be a bad guy plant, and last but not least, Darkh learns from one of his subordinates that they got some residual stuff from Palmer’s suit that they can use as a power source. Use it on this he says, revealing schematics for something.
Meanwhile, (Back) on the Island: Ollie, Conklin and the head honcho head into the hidden chamber we saw last week with John Constantine. Conklin tries again to sell Oliver out, but Conklin ignores him and reveals a secret message about a “heart of water.” He wants both men to take some workers and lead an excavation at a cave Oliver knows about.
Conklin promises Ollie it isn’t over between them, but after a complaint from one of the workers, Oliver decides to let the workers rest and eat. With Ollie away, Conklin asks the complainer, a man named Vlad, if he wants to make his life better.
Where’d Ollie go? To the cave where he stashed the woman in prior shows. He asks if the leader ever did anything mystical, because he believes the endgame must be power instead of money. Oliver promises to return again, and the woman believes him this time. Upon his return to camp, Vlad attacks Oliver, trying to drown him. His only option is to kill the worker to escape, but it’s a set-up, as Conklin and all the workers see it. Conklin tells Ollie he better have a good story to go with that body.
Burning Questions:
*What hope does the current Team Arrow really have against Darhk?
*Who thinks Ray ends up heading to Central City himself before too long? Need to get all those Legends in one place, right?
*Did the writers arrange that meeting between Mama Smoak and Captain Lance because the fans asked for it?
Final Thought: Possibly the best mix of humor, action and suspense in Season 4 thus far, though there wasn’t much to the fight scenes outside of the second showdown between Darkh and Green Arrow. Like “Restoration,” this was as much to move some more pieces around the board as anything, but fans who dig the show for the Oliver-Felicity portions will probably flag this as the best episode of the year.