Arrow - Recap: The Roy Harper Show
Arrow quite adequately pointed out that its entire cast is made up of figurative islands during “Salvation.” Arrow is a virtual archipelago of brooding heroes, single ladies, and crooked kids at this point. Thankfully, we have Diggle (David Ramsey) to keep things on lockdown as the group life coach! He works for burgers, guys!
Ever notice how when Arrow needs a throwaway baddie, i.e. some one-off to lead to a much bigger bad, they always run to the “faulty building planner”? Hood Guy never makes it on time when it comes to reprimanding someone who installed shoddy heaters, placed bad pipes, loved asbestos, etc. Hot on the tail of someone I was sure would be dead before he arrived, Ollie (Stephen Amell) found himself distraught after finding John Nichols’s apartment turned upside down and with no slum lord in sight!
YOLO, Diggle insisted that Oliver let the case rest for the time being while the two headed out for those delicious looking diner burgers. Now I’m starving, and all I had for dinner were, like, six tacos. The universal sound of nearly everyone's cell buzzing off at once concerned Diggle. Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards), who was stuck back at the lair researching and probably just as hungry as me, clued the diner duo into the discovery that some other vigilante was broadcasting from the Internet. He had Nichols tied up, and before we knew it, he was dead.
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This, of course, infuriated Oliver, who is normally one to give his captives a chance at redemption before eliminating them for good. Don’t worry, Hood, here comes chance number two. Another morally corrupt citizen had been kidnapped. This time, it was a DA who’d been taking advantage of the less fortunate folks of The Glades. This backwards vigilante was seeking vengeance for his fellow Glade dwellers, although we did quickly learn that he no longer lived there. The man let it slip on camera that his wife was murdered in a bodega some time prior, and this subsequently sent him over the edge. Having erased himself completely off the grid, Joseph Falk was a tough man to find. With ten minutes set for the captured lawyer to plead his case to Falk, Ollie knew he’d have to move fast. Although, the absolute non-cover of daylight wouldn’t be of any help. Felicity managed to track the man’s network, but there was a massive catch.
Oliver cycled over to the building Felicity had pinpointed as quickly as possible. After searching the entire building as fast as he could, he realized she’d screwed up the coordinates. Having realized the error herself, Felicity sent Ollie over to another nearby building. Oliver, having found himself on the rooftop of the first location, decided to leapfrog his way to the second. Boom! But it was just an empty old lot filled with nothing but dirt and garbage. Ouch, another kidnapped victim bit the dust on a live web show. Devastated, Felicity stormed off to lick her wounds following her failure to pinpoint a correct location. Once Oliver returned, he offered some sage advice. It’s not like this is T.V. Felicity. Sometimes all of us at Team Hood Guy lose. Ugh, how could she ever think about dating again, knowing all she’d have to explain. Cute computer geeks can be islands too, Hood.
Meanwhile, Thea (Willa Holland) had taken to cozying up with Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) down in The Glades. I have to say, Roy’s bachelor pad love shack seemed all right to me! Roy is an actual bad boy. He’s like the kind that holds up liquor stores to make quick cash, as opposed to, say, the type who cheats on his hot girlfriend with her hot sister. Ooh, sorry Oliver. Too soon? Thea had been attempting to entice Roy to change his ways, but Roy was relentless in his quest to prove himself as a permanent dastardly denizen. One minute you’re getting lucky with a sassy socialite and the next, it’s all, how’d this dirty needle get in my neck?
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Thea, having witnessed Roy’s capture by the super annoying mystery vigilante, ran to Oliver’s club out of desperation. There it was; the web show from Hell popped up on the club television. Falk’s next victim was Roy Harper, super sneerer and all-around (mostly) meanie. Welcome to prime time, Roy. It's a web show, but it's something, I guess. Still, this guy couldn’t dig up some other corporate scum to torture? Let’s leave the street thief out of this for now!
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Before we get to the shocking (not really) conclusion of this main story arc, let’s check in with Laurel (Katie Cassidy)! Laurel’s parents continued their wild goose chase this week, compiling all of the evidence they could in their quest to find Sarah, Laurel’s lost sister. Laurel had assumed her father (Paul Blackthorne) had understood that she wanted him to help her mom come to the end of her searching. As in, she wanted Detective Lance to shake some sense into her mother. Sarah was most likely swimming with the fishes. After doing some digging herself, and using a connection at the Chinese Embassy, Laurel managed to track down the girl in the photo. Sadly, Sarah was no more.
Laurel’s mother, refusing to quit even still, had recognized the hat on the girl in the picture. Sarah had owned the same one; a Starling City Rockets cap. That was a massive coincidence, right? At home, Laurel questioned how her mother knew Sarah even took the hat on her boat trip with Oliver. Shocker; Laurel’s mother knew Sarah had run away with Ollie behind her back. She let her “follow her heart.” She killed her daughter! Well, not really. Not really at all, but she felt so bad about it that both Laurel and Detective Lance inevitably caved. By the end of the episode, Laurel was inviting her mother back into her life. R.I.P probably, Sarah.
Moira (Susanna Thompson) decided to nip her current pickle in the bud this episode. Remember, Tommy’s father Malcolm (John Barrowman) was hot on the trail of the traitor who’d attempted to have him assassinated by The Triad. Moira, knowing she was that person, thought fast. Before Malcolm could use a connection in The Triad to link things back to her, she sold out her partner Frank. Blood on your hands, Moira. Actual, blood on your hands. Scary black arrows piercing through your only friend’s chest will splatter some of that red stuff.
What about our buddies on the island? Flashback: Slade (Manu Bennett) and long-haired Ollie continued to negotiate their trade off. Remember, Oliver had acquired the computer chip required to activate the massive missile launcher. For the chip, the two wanted a boat off the island. Surprise; that crafty evil genius Fyers pulled out Yao-Fei’s (Byron Mann) kidnapped daughter and threatened to kill her if Oliver refused to simply hand over his chip. Yao-Fei, who’d been working for Fyers in an attempt to protect his daughter, was shocked. Who knew the girl could fight like Chun-Li? As a team, our foursome took out Fyers’ men and managed to escape. Yao-Fei was shot, unfortunately, and decided to stay behind for fear of slowing them down. Oliver and Slade came to discover that Yao-Fei’s daughter spoke perfect English and knew the reason behind the devastatingly huge missile launcher. We didn’t get to find out, though. We’re just the lame-o viewers.
How the hell did Felicity manage to screw up pinpointing the villain’s location? Knowing Falk was a former city transportation worker, Diggle managed to figure out that he was using a moving subway train as his evil lair. The trains had stopped running long before, so they hadn’t thought to consider this earlier.
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Gun pointed at his head, Roy accepted his impending doom, even admitting to not feeling as though he deserved to live. He was just a waste. Ouch, Thea watched sobbing from the club. “Waste” was the word she’d used to describe him following their previous argument. Don’t worry Roy, Hood Guy is here! Disarming the man wasn’t too difficult, although Arrow did have to kill him in the process. Roy Harper lives to mug another day! Back at the club, Thea found herself relieved to see Roy. After she’d vanished into the depths of the nightclub ladies room for hours to primp, Roy pulled out a baby arrow Oliver had flung him to aid in his escape. Thus, the path to becoming Oliver’s sidekick can officially commence! Thea is still Speedy, though, so what gives?
Post win, Oliver returned to the lair. Felicity had managed to dig up an old subway map. Oliver recognized the grid. It matched the symbol marked in his father's book, and it was their first real clue as to what this "undertaking" is. Outside the club, Oliver ran into Laurel. She finally got the opportunity to talk to someone about the futile search for her dead sister, and Oliver took the first step in fully “coming home” from the island he’d never truly left. He invited Laurel to get coffee sometime.
What did you all think of Arrow Season 1 Episode 18, “Salvation”? Are you happy to see Roy Harper getting more involved? Are we about to see the original love triangle of Oliver/Laurel/Tommy reignited? How can Moira get herself out of this hole she’s dug herself into?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Arrow Season 1 Episode 18, “Salvation”!