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‘Arrow’ Recap ‘Tribute’

After that shocking reveal last week, I couldn’t even begin to contain my excitement for this weeks episode!

The episode opened with Oliver walking into a swarm of reporters at City Hall, all of whom were throwing questions at him about him being outed as the Green Arrow. Oliver addressed them, saying that he’s not a superhero and that the image could be photoshopped. He then made a quirky remark that anyone, including Bruce Wayne, could have had their head photoshopped in on that photo. He stated a final time that he is not a superhero, just the mayor. Rene stated that he would look into how the News station got a hold of that photo, and he would take it down to the forensics department.

As Oliver and Quentin walk into Oliver’s office, they were both greeted by an FBI Special Agent – Agent Watson. She abruptly stated that she was there for one purpose – to conduct an investigation on Oliver. After all, he was just outed as a ‘known criminal’ on television. Oliver told her that he was previously cleared, five years ago. Agent Watson states that he was cleared of being ‘the Hood’ not the ‘Green Arrow’.

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Image: The CW

Back at the Arrow cave, Team Arrow attempted to come up with a plan on how to ‘put the genie back in the bottle’. Curtis suggested hiring Human Target, but Diggle stated that he was more than likely out of the country and unreachable.

Rene, Oliver and Quentin met in Oliver’s office and Rene informed the pair that the letter with the photo had to be sent internally, due to the barcode that was on the outside of the envelope. Quentin suggested that perhaps it was Chase, sent months ago and it had only recently come to the surface. While the trio pondered, Curtis and Felicity continued to make an attempt on figuring out how to clear Oliver (and all of their) good names.

Oliver and Quentin walked through factory tour with Vortex reporters and Marcovian’s, as planned. However, the group seemed much more interested in questioning Oliver on his reveal as the Green Arrow instead of the property itself. In the middle of the tour, a massive shoot-out began. Quentin and Oliver managed to hurry all tour members into a van, and nearly managed to escape. Unfortunately, their van became surrounded and Oliver opened his van door to find Anatoly standing there.

After a rather harsh exchange of words, Anatoly stated that his business was with the Marcovian’s, and he persisted to take the Marcovian’s prisoner. Oliver, unable to do anything without revealing himself as the Green Arrow, could only sit there and let it happen.

Back in Oliver’s apartment, Diggle and Dinah had a rather intense discussion. Dinah continued to insist that Diggle is hiding something from the team, but Diggle dismissed the idea saying that it wasn’t her business. While Curtis and Felicity continued to look for a way to track Anatoly’s movements, Oliver headed to City Hall to meet up with Quentin and Rene. There, they watched a news report saying that there was an ‘anonymous call’ stating that the hostages would be released in exchange for $20 million. Almost immediately, Oliver knew who the anonymous caller was – Anatoly. While Quentin and Rene pondered their next move, Oliver took a phone call… from William’s school.

While in a limo ride home, Oliver learned that William had gotten into a fight with some bullies. William stated that the bullies told him they ‘knew’ his dad was the Green Arrow. Oliver told William that next time the bullies came at him, that he should find the biggest one, and just go and punch him in the nose. For a few brief moments, we saw some adorable father/son moments. Oliver then unexpectantly gets a phone call, and he told William that he had to go, and they would finish their conversation later.

Image: The CW

Oliver dressed up with his team, despite the accusations so that he could rescue the hostages. While they were successful in rescuing 3 out of the 4 hostages, the team ran into a near complication. While Dinah and Diggle took out some of the team members on their own, Diggle still could not bring himself to fire his gun.

Back in Oliver’s apartment, Curtis informed Oliver that he is working on a recoding of a photo analysis. Meanwhile, Rene and Quentin met with Special Agent Watson. Quentin asked Agent Watson for some leniency, being as Oliver is recently a single father. Agent Watson doesn’t seemed moved at all, she just merely stated the details of Samantha’s deaths were extremely mysterious and that the only evidence of Samantha’s death were a coroners report, and the accident report – all of which could have been forged.

Back in Oliver’s apartment, William and Oliver had a discussion about what was really bothering William deep down. William’s deepest fear is that one day Oliver won’t come home, and William will be left all alone. Oliver told William that he understood exactly what that felt like, as he had lost both of his parents before. He told William that no matter what happened, he would ‘always come back’.

Oliver got a FaceTime call, from Anatoly. Anatoly stated that he wants his $20 million, otherwise he is going to kill the Marcovian CEO that he is currently holding hostage. He had previously injected him with a virus, which was slowly causing his body to deteriorate. When Oliver asked why Anatoly was doing this, Anatoly informed Oliver that Anatoly had been exiled from the Bratva because he was ‘too weak’, especially because of his friendship with Oliver. So this move on Oliver, and Star City, would be his way of ‘showing everyone’ back in Russia that he is a strong man.

Down at Starling General, Diggle and Dinah met with one of the Doctors there. (The same doctor who was there when Oliver brought in Laurel as Black Canary and Green Arrow). She gave them an antidote that would cure the infection spreading in the Marcovian CEO’s body. She then turned to Diggle and asked how he was feeling, before taking an emergency call. Dinah almost immediately asked Diggle to explain. As it turns out, during the explosion Diggle caught some shrapnel in his shoulder. The reason why he can’t fire his gun is because he has degenerative nerve damage. He then begged Dinah not to inform the rest of the team about what was going on.

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Image: The CW

Back at City Hall, Rene told Oliver that Agent Watson wanted to interview William. Oliver immediately protested, saying that all he ever wanted to do was to keep William as far away from the whole ‘Green Arrow’ side of him as possible. Rene and Oliver shared a brief heart to heart about being alone and being an inspirational single parent. During their conversation, Felicity and Curtis get a lock on Anatoly’s location.

Team Arrow heads out, with Oliver and Wild Dog, and they face off against the Russian Mafia. At one point during the fight, Dinah was grabbed and nearly killed by a mobster because Diggle couldn’t bring himself to fire his weapon. Thankfully, Dinah managed to get away unharmed.

While his team handles the pawns, Oliver finds Anatoly. Oliver quickly shoots the hostage with an antidote arrow. Anatoly is quick to react, having one of his men fire upon the hostage – killing him. Oliver demands Anatoly tell him what happened to him, that he used to be a good and honorable man. Anatoly stated that he is still an honorable man, and that Oliver is just simply naïve.  Oliver asks Anatoly why he leaked the photo of Oliver as the Green Arrow to the news. Anatoly shook his head and stated that he wasn’t the one who did it, because he is after all, an honorable man.

After their victory, Oliver headed out to meet with Special Agent Watson. Oliver told her that he was completely willing to open up his life story to her, with the exception that she leaves William alone. In the middle of her interview, another FBI agent comes in and tells her to turn on the TV. The news report revealed that they got information from a reliable source that the leaked photo was digitally doctored. (Hurray Felicity and Curtis!)

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Image: The CW

 

Back at Felicity’s apartment, her and Curtis discussed who could have possibly been trying to frame Oliver. They also decide to join forces and start their own ‘tech’ business. Dinah and Diggle met up in the Arrowcave and Diggle informed Dinah that he would be telling Oliver the truth about his condition.

Oliver and William had a talk in which Oliver made a promise to William to be the best father that he can be, and that he will do everything within his power to make sure that he is never left alone. He then heads down to the Arrow Cave, and asked Diggle to meet him.

Before Diggle had a chance to tell Oliver about what was going on, Oliver asked for the ultimate favor. He asked Diggle to take up his mantle, and become The Green Arrow.

 

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