Arrow - Recap: Life in Plastic, It's Fantastic!

Episode 3 of Season 2 of Arrow, “Broken Dolls,” introduced us ever so briefly to Barton Mathis, The Dollmaker, a prison escapee with an affinity for all things porcelain and fantastic taste in beauty products. While helping Officer Lance (Paul Blackthorne) track down the murderer for a second time, Oliver (Stephen Amell) would simultaneously attempt to uncover the mystery of “blonde girl in leather,” the feminist vigilante who’d recently begun popping up around The Glades. Laurel (Katie Cassidy) continued her crusade against the man her father had affectionately redubbed “The Arrow,” while Thea (Willa Holland) dealt with more of her mother’s legal woes. Here is the Recap and Review of Season 2 Episode 3 of Arrow, “Broken Dolls”!

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Episode 3 began where Episode 2 left off, with The Vigilante surrounded by the likes of Laurel Lance and her on-call police force. Remember, Laurel had baited Oliver into returning for another office visit and inevitably used it to her advantage. Luckily for Queen, there’s a new vigilante in town. The Black Canary shattered onto the scene just in time to sound her own personal sonic boom generator, an escape weapon we'd come to learn was her signature, busting eardrums along with anything remotely fragile. She and Oliver would escape to a back alley just before she’d fly the coop.

Meanwhile, Officer Lance realized something was amiss when he was asked to steer clear of a crime scene within his region. Instead of obeying orders, he’d snoop to discover that this aforementioned Dollmaker had returned. Apparently, the quake that swallowed half The Glades had, in turn, cracked straight through the man’s prison, freeing him along with a handful of other criminals. From what we were clued in on, his choice means of killing young women was by solidifying their esophagus internally via some sort of chemical blend. The final displayed product leaves the corpse frozen in a state of perpetual beauty and terror. Lance, who’d been the one to previously lock the lunatic away, would once again focus all of his attention on capturing Barton Mathis before he’d strike again. Remember, when we first met Lance he carried a massive chip on his shoulder following the death of his daughter, a burden he’d channel into other outlets including his work. Each time this Dollmaker would murder an innocent girl, he’d imagine losing Sara once more.

I’m enjoying Officer Lance so much more during Season 2. I appreciate his realization that the city is falling to pieces and any help is good help, even if it comes from outside of the seemingly incompetent police force. As Laurel would later point out, he’s not the only one to do a complete one-eighty. Laurel remained hell-bent on unmasking The Hood, continuing to blame him for the death of Tommy. Laurel’s father would spend some time during Episode 3 attempting to coax Laurel into accepting the truth, that she’d been displacing her rage and despair by blaming The Vigilante for the fact that his arrows couldn’t prevent an entire building from collapsing on Merlyn. Logic at its finest, Laurel!

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The Dollmaker would, indeed, kidnap another girl, and judging by his track record, Ollie and the gang would have approximately three days until she’d become another victim of his obsession with girly toys. Oliver’s first hunch would come through The Dollmaker’s lawyer, who’d previously been completely unaware of his client’s escape. The lawyer, sideswiped by Lance at his office after-hours and further disturbed by the sight of The Hood looming over his shoulder, initially stammered and stuttered utter nothingness, leading Oliver to plant an arrow square in his shoulder. For some reason, I’m finding the non-murdering Vigilante to be slightly more brutal. Am I right? The lawyer was barely given a moment to take in the situation and assess his options before an arrow was shot point blank through his body from within arm’s distance. Well, it did do the trick! The man revealed that The Dollmaker had a certain obsession with one specific museum, the Bisque Museum, a place that reminded him of Germany, the birthplace of porcelain dolls. Yikes. What a twisted and morbid way to break through gender stereotypes...

At this museum, the Mathis' former stomping ground, Oliver and Lance, my new favorite dynamic duo, would track down the murderer’s old quarters, eventually discovering nothing more than a doll, a newspaper clipping, and a phone. The phone then subsequently rang, prompting Lance to answer. On the other side of the phone, The Dollmaker had prepared his next victim, and Lance would listen in horror, begging for the girl’s life, as he killed yet again. Wowzers, the entire vibe of Episode 3 was very dark. It was almost like a PG-13 Saw sequel. Considering how incredibly awful and unwatchable that sounds, I was sufficiently entertained by “Broken Dolls”!

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The bright side to yet another dead victim was that Felicty (Emily Bett Rickards) would have the opportunity to compare and contrast records to search for similarities among the man's choices. Was the killer simply hunting down attractive girls at random? I appreciated that Arrow would have Felicity drudge up the chemical breakdowns of countless makeup products, but that they then chose to have Lance make note of one that was all too familiar. That one ingredient, one that had appeared in past forensics tests, would link the victims by a certain face cream, an ultra expensive high-end brand that was sold exclusively through four boutiques in Starling City. Lance, who’d previously never made the connection, had begun to rewrite history this time around.

Felicity, growing more and more daring as the episodes of Arrow pass by, volunteered to play the role of the man’s next potential victim, offering to shop at each of the four locations if only to purchase the same cream over and over again. Don’t worry! She’d save the receipts. Still, what rotten luck that she'd have to visit all four stores before she'd schlep her three vats of luxury face cream over to the only one The Dollmaker was stalking for beauties with skin of pure perfection. Oliver, Lance, and Diggle (David Ramsey) each stood from a certain vantage point, gazing over Felicity like hawks. Any passerby with a remotely strange appearance would set off Felicity’s creeper feelers, yet the actual Dollmaker wouldn’t pop up until she’d reach, you guessed it, a dank alleyway. There was a bit of a struggle that eventually led to Felicity bumping her head, and Diggle tending to her, while Oliver and Lance dueled with The Dollmaker. Sadly, the police would arrive in the nick of time to… What else?... Scare the criminal off into the darkness with a flash of their lights.

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While the hunt for the man who hopelessly wished his last name was Mattel continued, Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) had been enlisted by his hero to begin sniffing out the female vigilante in The Glades. Harper, trading half of a case of Thea's expensive champagne for a few bucks and some tips, eventually found his way to Sin (Bex Taylor-Klaus), a rough-and-tumble kind of a gal with a love for booze and leather. Well, she is Black Canary’s buddy. More DC lore! Welcome, Sin! Realizing that Roy was on the hunt for her friend, Sin would lead Harper through a pretty awesome street chase scene. After leaping cars, hopping through railings, etc. Harper would eventually take a pipe to the back of the head in the empty attic of a nearby building. Later, he'd arise to find he'd been bound for interrogation. Black Canary stood above him, waiting for answers.

Wake up, Abercrombie.

Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) also faced the continuation of her legal battle this week, appearing in court with Oliver and Thea behind her in support. While Queen’s lawyer attempted to seek bail for Moira following her good behavior, the District Attorney had a proposition of his own, throwing the death penalty on the table for consideration. Moira didn’t seem too worried at all, honestly. Thea, meanwhile, was sent into a bit of a tizzy. I like how Arrow has decided to empower Moira during Season 2. It would have been incredibly easy to have her buckle and break in jail as you’d expect from an incarcerated businesswoman/ mega-rich socialite facing twenty-five to life in prison. Even the idea of the death penalty didn’t faze her, as she’s finally made peace with her family and quite simply doesn’t consider herself truly free of guilt or blame for the crime. Then again, what sort of secret “that should never be spoken of” could Moira Queen still be hiding from her family?

We also spent some time on the island this week, and the flashback was packed with action, romance, and quite a cliffhanger! While Shado (Celina Jade) studied one of the mutated skeletons the trio had found in the cave at the close of last week’s episode, Slade (Manu Bennett) and Ollie ventured to one of the high points of the island in search of their assailants. Had they come by plane? Boat? Whatever the means, Slade was looking to swipe their vehicle in an attempt to head back to civilization.

“We shouldn’t have left Shado!... We shouldn’t have left Shado!... We shouldn’t have left Shado!” Longhaired-Ollie was like an island parrot this week, much to Slade’s dismay. Unfortunately, he might have been right. Missile attack from a ship off the coast seemed to target their airplane hideout, leading Oliver to believe that Shado was, indeed, in grave danger. The two sprinted back to their location; Ollie to save Shado, and Slade to look after Ollie. One of the blasts would inevitably knock Oliver into a stupor, offering him just enough time to witness the sight of Slade catching fire and the plane going up in flames. I'm guessing Shado had to escape if only to reveal what she'd learned regarding the decrepit mutant skeleton. Slade, on the other hand, I'm hoping snuffed those flames out and is slowly making his way to Starling City. What do you think Ollie would do if Slade just casually walked into Verdant on a random Friday night? When Queen would awake, he’d find himself alone within the confines of a jail cell… aboard one of the enemy ships.

To me, it was a no-brainer that Laurel would end up caught in the crossfire, yet again, in the battle between Lance and The Dollmaker. Both Lance and his daughter would inevitably end up kidnapped, only to eventually find themselves bound and gagged within the warehouse of the murderer’s deadly experiments. Boy, do the Arrow writers use Felicity as a skeleton key for all situations, or what? Each and every time we need an answer, boom! Thanks, Felicity! We don't even question her greatness. Smoak managed to hack enough garage surveillance footage to tag a peculiar van, one with the brand name of a former cosmetic company plastered across the side, that would lead Oliver to Laurel and Lance just in time to rescue her from death by beautification. Lance, who’d previously sat tied and helpless as he watched his enemy murder his daughter, was proven right in trusting The Hood when The Vigilante stepped in to rescue Laurel. While Oliver and The Dollmaker began their fight, Black Canary once again stepped in to lend a hand. As it turned out, a text to Roy Harper’s cell had tipped her off to Laurel’s need for assistance. It would make perfect sense that a vigilante with a knack for rescuing women in need would target this particular killer. In the end, she’d be the one to finish the melee, landing a bolt straight through The Dollmaker’s heart before disappearing once more, leaving Oliver without answers.

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The Black Canary closed out her arc this week by narrowly avoiding the demanding beck and call of her former organization (run by R'as al Ghul!), making a necessary kill of one of her own who’d threatened to report her whereabouts back to her higher-ups. Her attitude is very “Season 1 Oliver.” I like that her arc could very well mirror that which went down with The Huntress last season, at least up until the point when she refused to get her lust for blood and vengeance in check.

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Laurel, realizing the error of her ways, finally broke down to her father regarding the true reason for her agony. Had she not been so stubborn, staying in her office while The Glades began to crumble, Tommy would have had no reason to show up to play her knight in shining armor. Laurel blames herself for his tragic death. I'm thinking this will be a much better arc to watch Katie Cassidy play than the whole "displaced anger" bit we'd been witnessing go down over the last few weeks. Later, The Arrow would drop in to check on Laurel just as Officer Lance had finished tucking her into bed. Lance thanked The Vigilante for saving the life of his daughter. It is, however, only a matter of time before he discovers that this Arrow is Oliver Queen, the man essentially responsible for the death of his other little girl.

What did you think of Arrow Season 2 Episode 3, "Broken Dolls"? Are you enjoying Black Canary? Are you happy that Laurel is no longer fighting against Oliver? Do you enjoy Officer Lance more so than Detective Lance? What fate awaits Moira?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Arrow Season 2 Episode 3, "Broken Dolls"!