The hardest thing in life is to accept that someone you trusted is not the person you thought they were. Betrayal stings deep and while the Hood deals with criminals whose betrayals hurt the innocent, it’s the ones close to home that hurts Oliver the most making him rethink about those who is in his life.
The episode opens with the Hood going after another person on his list, an accountant named Harold Backman. While it would have been much better for Backman to have the vigilante kill him, the Hood decides to leave that task to Backman’s associates and grabs the accountant’s laptop before knocking him unconscious.
He gives the laptop to Felicity and has her work on getting the money that Backman stole back to the people who took it from. Felicity uses this opportunity to broach the subject of reconciliation with Diggle, but Oliver tells her that Diggle made a choice that he now has to live with. Stubborn much, Oli?
At the Queen Manor, Moira is on the phone telling the other person on the line that she hasn’t given up on finding Walter. Thea overhears the conversation and Moira tells her she was talking to the insurance company to tell them not to pay out Walter’s life insurance policy. Thea tells her that she misses Walter and his disappearance is like losing her dad all over again.
This has Moira flashbacking to a time when Robert was still alive and Walter was still a lackey in the company. Soon we find out that Malcolm, Robert, Frank and two other members are having a private meeting about crime in Starling City, specifically those coming out of The Glades. Surprisingly, the group was actually trying to help the city by getting the bad guys (listed in the now infamous book) to do good by blackmailing them to do the right thing, but Malcolm is unhappy with how slow their progress has been. He suggests a new “undertaking” and proposes that The Glades be leveled to the ground and start rebuilding the area so that Starling City is safe for everyone. He continues that if they can make it look like a natural disaster hit, no one would suspect their group of any involvement. Robert is skeptical because not even Malcolm is able to control nature, but his diabolical cohort tells him that there is a company, Unidac Industries, that is working on a prototype that can do just that.
Robert is still not fully on board with Malcolm’s plan and after everyone had left, the two friends discussed the ramifications of the “undertaking.” Robert reminds Malcolm that whatever he does, it won’t bring back his wife Rebecca. The story of how she died is finally revealed. Malcolm is full of guilt as she had called him but he didn’t answer the phone because he was busy. When she called the second time, he shut his phone off. It wasn’t until later when two police officers came to his office to tell him that she was murdered at The Glades. After they had left, he went to his phone and listened to her messages begging for help as she lay dying. Malcolm then asks Robert to imagine Moira in that same position and if he can now see why he’s so motivated in destroying the area.
Back in the present, Laurel is still bummed that Tommy broke up with her. Oliver suggests that she do something that they never did as a couple: talk. He tells her to go to Tommy and be honest. Their conversation is interrupted by Felicity who tells him that she found a lead to Walter’s kidnapping. Oliver decides to find out which one of Backman’s clients was hired to grab Walter in hopes it will lead them to his step-father.
They find out that a Dominic Alonzo is involved and with Diggle gone, that leaves Felicity and Oliver to solve this crime. Unfortunately, Alonzo owns an underground casino that is heavily guarded, and since the place is so shady that even Oliver Queen wouldn’t patronize the facility, that left tech genius Felicity to go undercover.
But before she dons her disguise, she pays a visit to Diggle and asks if he’d be willing to help in finding Walter. Diggle won’t budge and refuses to return to the fold until Oliver admits that he needs him.
Laurel decides to take Oliver’s advice and visits Tommy at his new job over at Merlyn Global Group. She insists that if they are going to end their relationship, then it needs to end in honest so he tells her that she belongs with Oliver since he’s still in love with her. That honest enough for you Laurel?
On the other side of town, Moira meets with Malcolm who tells her that the Markov Device is ready and will be shipped to Starling City. The “undertaking” is one step closer to being realized! Moira offers her congratulations and Malcolm thanks her for her friendship and support all these years. It’s this friendship that has made him continue with his plans even during times where he questioned himself. After all, he says, they do have a connection. (Now this can get interesting!) He then apologizes for having to take Robert away from her but she tells him that she is the one, if anyone, to be blamed for his death.
This leads us to the flashback of when Robert tells Moira about Malcolm’s plans to level The Glades and kill all those who live there. He tells her it’s his penance for an accidental death that occurred when a corrupt councilman came and asked for a payoff in order to keep the steel mill in the territory. A fight ensued and the councilman fell. Moira is shocked that Robert would go along with Malcolm’s plans and tells him that preventing this from happening will redeem him and begs that he tries to stop Malcolm.
Robert decides to bring in Frank to help him go up against Malcolm and he tells him that Malcolm has been quietly buying up property in The Glades under the holding company Sagittarius. They decide to try and buy up the rest of The Glades and thus prevent Malcolm from controlling the area. Frank tells Robert that he is already headed out to China and will try to drum up capital there and invites Robert to come along. However, Robert tells him that they shouldn’t be seen together as Malcolm already knows he’s not fully on board and plans on taking his yacht, the Queen’s Gambit, out for another voyage.
At the end of the flashbacks, we see Moira and Laurel saying goodbye to Robert and Oliver before the accident. We find that Oliver got freaked out by Laurel asking about moving in together and getting cold feet, he decides to ask his dad to join him on the 3 week trip and takes along Laurel’s sister. But before he can leave scott free, Laurel decides to surprise him with a goodbye visit and gives him a photo of her – the one that helped him survive the island all those years.
As Moira waves goodbye to her two men, Frank and Malcolm confirm the plans that a bomb was placed on the yacht and with an oncoming storm projected to coincide with the route, everyone will think it was the storm that broke the ship apart.
Back to the present, Felicity gets into the casino. After a bit of a Freudian slip on her part, she begins the rouse. Watching her, I’m now determined to hone my card counting skills as she is winning boatloads of money and has caught the attention of Alonzo. The pit bosses bring her to the head honcho who tells her that she is banned from the casin, but before she leaves, he tells her that most card counters work with a partner and he takes her comm and crushes it. Felicity tells them that they will be really upset when they meet her partner.
Cue in a dramatic entrance from the Hood who breaks down the front door of the casino (code word be damned!) and everyone takes cover as shots are fired. Arrow gets to Alonzo’s office, saves Felicity, and questions criminal about Walter’s whereabouts. Alonzo tells Arrow that Walter is dead. He delivered him and heard gunshots. (Yes, I bet you’re thinking what I am – no body no crime – until we see that corpse, there is still a chance he is still alive. Okay, even if we saw a body, he could still be alive. This is, after all, television.)
Oliver heads to the mansion and tells Thea and Moira that Walter is dead. He uses Diggle’s contact in the government as his source of information. While Thea is in shock, Moira is livid. She heads out to meet Malcolm and confronts him, telling him that she knows Walter is dead. Malcolm shows her a live feed of Walter and tells her that they had a deal. Walter would stay in his custody until the “undertaking” was complete – they are in this together. What neither Moira nor Malcolm know is that Oliver (as the Hood) followed Moira and heard every word.
Back in the lair, Oliver is trying to process what he just found out. He tells Felicity that Walter is alive and wants her to hack Malcolm’s phone at the time he showed Moira the feed. Felicity is able not only to find the number but where it lead to and tells Oliver that the call was made to a low income home. He heads there hoping to find Walter.
The Hood manages to infiltrate the house, take out a small army of guards and locate the cell that contained Walter all within 2 minutes. Upon entering Walter’s cell, the Hood tells the captive that he is going home.
Well, first he needs to be checked out by a doctor and is taken to Starling City General. There, he has a family reunion with Moira, Oliver and Thea. As Oliver is leaving Walter’s room, he bumps into Malcolm who asks him if Walter was able to identify his captures. Oliver, very angry and disgusted with his former best friend’s father, tells him that Walter knows nothing and that he is happy that his family is together. Also, he warns, that whoever did this will get what’s coming to them.
It a time for truths for Oliver after finding about his mother’s and Malcolm’s betrayal. Laurel decides to confront Oliver about what Tommy told her and begs him to tell Tommy that he is wrong and Oliver doesn’t have feelings for her. But Oliver can’t do that and confesses his love for her, much to her surprise. (At this point, I’m yelling at the set telling her to go for the guy with the better abs!)
Finally realizing his stubbornness, Oliver visits Diggle and apologizes to him. He tells his former bodyguard that Moira and Malcolm are planning something terrible and needs his help to stop them. The friendship has been mended and the team is whole again!
Next week the penultimate episode and war begins! Are you ready and will Arrow be able to stop Malcolm in time before all hell breaks loose?
