I will gladly admit that it’s been a few months since Arrow really shocked me. That streak ended with ‘Seeing Red.’ The threat of a major change hung over most of the characters, and before the logo at the end, change in fact came to Oliver Queen’s life.
I called last week the first episode of the five-part finale, but I was wrong. Now we begin the uncomfortable trek to the end of this season. The writers proved that no one is safe. And it should be a fantastic ending to an uneven season.
For now, here are the 6 Qs of this week’s Arrow.
1. What is it?
Arrow Season 2, Episode #220, titled ‘Seeing Red.’
2. Who’s in it?
Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen/Arrow; Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance; David Ramsey as John Diggle; Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak; Colton Haynes as Roy Harper; Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson; Willa Holland as Thea Queen; Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen; Caity Lotz as Sara; Kevin Alejandro as Sebastian Blood; Bex Taylor-Klaus as Sin; Nicholas Lea as Mark Francis; and Anna Hopkins as Ollie’s Baby Mama.
3. Who made it?
‘Seeing Red’ was written by Wendy Mericle & Beth Shwartz. The episode was directed by Doug Aarniokoski.
4. What is it about? (**spoilers galore**)
‘Seeing Red’ opens with Team Arrow monitoring an unconscious Roy (Haynes) and Diggle (Ramsey) is shocked that there has been no news of Rochev’s death. He conveniently goes out for food, leaving Felicity (Rickards) alone with Roy, who suddenly wakes and attacks both Felicity and Digg, who came back because he left his phone. Roy then escapes.
Sara (Lotz) and Ollie (Amell) are in bed together and Ollie mentions them getting an apartment together. Their phones go off and they have to pause the conversation to head back to the Arrow Cave.
Ollie is unhappy that Roy is gone, and Felicity says that it wasn’t Roy. He was different.
At Stately Queen Manor, Moira (Thompson) is giving an interview about her campaign and Thea (Holland) crashes it, telling her mother that she can’t hold her latest election rally at Verdant. Moira reminds her daughter that they have a contract. Mark Francis (Lea) tells Moira that she has to be a mother, or a candidate, but not both.
Felicity picks up a police run about an assault involving a man with a red hood, and Arrow and Canary rush to investigate.
Roy walks past a nightclub, and Sin (Taylor-Klaus) tries to talk to him. He proceeds to beat her — and her friends — and then walks away.
Ollie puts Diggle on Thea as security, even as Thea tells him that it’s not necessary. Sin comes to the club and Sara finds out that Sin has seen Roy.
Moira visits Sebastian Blood (Alejandro) and tells him she is bowing out of the race. He family is more important. Blood promises that that city will be in good hands — his hands.
Later that night, Sin calls Sara and tells her that Roy is at the clocktower. Team Arrow scrambles and Canary is beaten down and Arrow gets a dislocated kneecap. Roy then escapes and is confronted by two SCPD officers. He kills one and injures the other as Ollie watches from above, unable to help.
Sara takes Arrow to a doctor, who assists, as the Arrow is the reason that he has medication after stopping the Chinese traffickers from a season one episode.
At Verdant, Thea and Diggle have a chat, and Thea sees that Roy is on a rampage on TV. She and Diggle rush to meet Sin to find out what is going on. Sin tells Thea about the Mirakuru injection, and Thea realizes that Ollie knew that and that’s why he put the security detail on her.
At the Arrow Cave, Sara and Ollie have a conversation about the growing “Roy Problem,” and Sara argues that Roy must be put down, and that Ollie cannot make the same mistake he made with Slade Wilson.
Roy has a mental episode in the middle of the street, where a ghost Thea tells him that he should kill her. It’s very reminiscent of ghost Shado telling Slade to do the things that he does. That Mirakuru sure does use women to influence these fellas.
At Verdant, Mark tells Ollie that Moira is dropping out of the race, and the rally is a concession speech. Oliver confronts his mother and talks her into staying in the race — to do something to help save the city. Moira then tells her son that she knows his secret, and always has. It is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series.
Moira takes the stage to make her announcement. Thea sees Ollie in the crowd, followed by Thea, and decides then and there to stay in the race and to do what is necessary to save Starling City. Thea sees that the speech is being televised, so she uses that to get on TV and thank her mom for using her club for the announcement. Ollie realizes that she is trying to draw Roy to Verdant.
Ollie goes down to the Arrow Cave and Felicity shoots his knee up with drugs. Ollie then takes all of the Venom-tipped arrows and promises to stop Roy.
Topside, Roy appears and proceeds to beat the crap out of Diggle. Thea tries to talk Roy down and he begins to choke her. Canary shows up and shoots him in the leg. Thea gets clear and Roy begs Canary to kill him. Arrow shows up and shoots Roy with the Tibetan pit viper venom arrows.
At the Arrow cave, Team Arrow straps Roy to the table and Sara admits that she wanted to kill him. She confesses that she is a killer and that her life as an assassin is calling her back. She then leaves Team Arrow — and Ollie.
In the alley, Sara and Sin say their goodbyes and Sara rides off into the night, telling Sin that she’s going to “see an old friend.”
Moira covers for Ollie when Thea questions were he was during that fracas. The Queens all pile into the back of the car, and Thea questions Ollie about Roy and why he knew to sick Diggle on her. Thea says that secrets are killing the family, and Moira agrees. She has something to say about Malcolm Merlyn and as she begins to tell them — presumably that Merlyn is still alive — the car is violently hit by another, and the Queens are all knocked out.
The episode ends on the side of an abandoned road with Slade Wilson (Bennett) recreating the infamous “choice” that Ollie supposedly made on the island six years before, but this time, Oliver Queen must choose between his mother and his half-sister. Tears are shed, and Ollie once again refuses to choose (we’ve been over this as he never actually made a choice in ‘Three Ghosts.’ He offered himself up and Ivo shot Shado).
Moira refuses to let her son make such a choice and offers herself to be killed. Slade praises her for her courage, and puts the gun away. Then he wonders why she didn’t pass that courage to her son as he stabs her in the heart with his sword.
Moira dies in the arms of her children and Oliver swears that he will kill Slade for what he’s done.
Powerful stuff.
Replacing the island flashbacks this week is a chapter out of Ollie’s life a year before his trip on the Queen’s Gambit. In the flashback, Ollie and Laurel (Cassidy) are dating, but he doesn’t feel like going out. Laurel leaves and Moira questions Ollie’s choice. Ollie then informs his mother that she’s going to be a grandmother; unplanned, of course.
Moira invites the mother (Hopkins) over and offers her two million dollars to go away. The mother takes the cash and Ollie is told that the baby was lost and the mother moved to Central City. He’s not sad, and Moira proves that she will do anything to protect her children.
5. Any revelations, tie-ins, easter eggs, etc.? (**SPOILER!**)
Mentions of Central City and STAR labs; a Brittany Snow sighting; not much else.
6. Will we watch next week?
Yes. This was a very strong episode of Arrow with excellent performances and a truly shocking ending. Slade promises that one more has to die before this can end. He has three more episodes to do that. I can’t wait.
