Last week, Quentin took much delight as he arrested Oliver while the Queen family looked on in shock. This episode, Oliver tries to finagle his way out of convincing everyone he’s not the city vigilante and be declared innocent in court. We also get a better understanding on John Barrowman’s well-dressed man character and get our first introduction to Deathstroke!

On with the recap! (Warning! As this is a recap, there are spoilers!)

Flashback on the island:

Oliver complains to Yao Fei about having to retrieve the dead animals the mentor kills so Yao Fei lets Oliver try to use his bow. After a dismal attempt, Yao Fei tells him to get the arrow back but as he does, three men in hoods grab, handcuff and toss Oliver into a caged hole in the ground.

Deathstroke!

Oliver is taken to an encampment where he meets Edward Fyers, the leader of the hooded mercenary men. Fyers asks Oliver if he’s seen Yao Fei to which Oliver claims he hasn’t but Fyers doesn’t believe him. He brings in his interrogator/torturer  – Deathstroke! We see that it’s Deathstroke that tortures Oliver as he’s questioned about Yao Fei and that it is this masked man that is the cause of all of Oliver’s scars on his body. Fyers is impressed with Oliver’s resolve and is almost convinced he knows nothing. He tells Deathstroke to put him out of his misery but that’s when Yao Fei comes in (green hood and all) to save Oliver. A great fight sequence is had and Yao Fei is able to lead Oliver back to the cave. There, he gives him a pouch and before he leaves, tells Oliver to breathe and he’ll be able to survive on the island. He then seals the entrance with Oliver inside.

Starling City:

Oliver is taken to the police station and is booked for murder. Quentin is extremely pleased that he has Oliver and starts telling him about all the circumstantial evidence he has against him but Oliver tells him he’s innocent (yeah, right) and is able to reason his evidence away. Moira and Walter come in and tell Quentin the interrogation is over until Oliver’s attorney arrives.

Oliver requests that Laurel be his lawyer as he feels that she would never believe he’s the vigilante (why is it the love interest is always the last to know?). He also reasons that she would be the one person to convince her father to drop the vendetta against him.

Moira heads to Laurel’s workplace to ask her to represent Oliver but she declines. This doesn’t surpise Moira who tells her that her idealism is what must attract Oliver to her, apologizes for making her uncomfortable and leaves.

Laurel defends Oliver.

In court, Oliver ends up representing himself and pleads not guilty. As the prosecution begins their argument against setting a bail amount, Laurel makes a grand entrance stating she is now representing Oliver and convinces the judge to let him out on the condition he wears an ankle GPS device. The judge agrees. Oliver is happy that Laurel came to his rescue. She tells him that she is representing him because the Starling City vigilante is trying to make a difference in the city and she knows that’s not how Oliver rolls.

Diggle visits Oliver who tells his bodyguard that he had planned the whole arrest fiasco. He knew that somewhere along the line someone would make a connection that the vigilante archer happened to appear a few days after he is rescued. He briefs him on the next target: Leo Mueller, a German arms dealer who has arrived in Starling City to sell automatic weapons. Since he has an ankle moniter, Oliver asks Diggle to shadow Mueller to find out where the buy is happening.

Later, Laurel and Oliver head to the courthouse where they meet Quentin and the district attorney. She offers a plea bargin as Quentin had made the arrest without consulting her office. Oliver turns it down and offers to take a polygraph in front of Quentin to convince him he’s not the vigilante which, of course, shows that Oliver is telling the truth. Quentin then turns his questions to when Oliver was on the island and asks about the scares on his body. Oliver tells him that he wasn’t alone on that island and didn’t want to talk about it because the people there tortured him. When Quentin asked if he’s ever killed anyone, Oliver replies in the affirmative stating that he killed his daughter, Sarah, when he asked her to join him on the yacht. Oliver removes himself from the polygraph and walks out. The technician tells Quentin and Laurel that the machine shows he’s telling the truth but Quentin is still unconvinced.

Moira is summoned by the well-dressed man who questions if Oliver is indeed the person targetting those on the list. Moira insists that Oliver is innocent.

That night, Oliver holds his prison themed party. Diggle takes him aside and tells him that Mueller’s deal is going down that night. It’s then that Oliver tells Diggle about his plan that he is to dress up as Arrow while Oliver uses the party as an alibi. Diggle is not happy that he was being played but agrees to do it anyway and while he’s at it, he might as well take down Mueller.

Oliver shows Laurel his scars.

Laurel comes by the house to talk to Oliver. He takes her to his bedroom where they can talk privately. She tells him how her family broke apart after her sister’s death and how she can no longer be angry at him. She asks to see his scars and he unbuttoned his shirt to show them to her (okay, I’m going to have to remember that line if it gets guys like him to show off their chests!). He tells her that thinking of her is what kept him alive and they kiss passionately (awwwwww). But she breaks away (of course) and runs out the room.

Walter finally confronts Moira about finding Robert’s salvaged yacht. He tells her that he was in the process of moving it when the person in charged was mysteriously killed. He accuses her of lying and Moira warns him that if he continues to delve into why she took out $2 million and about the yacht, he will be upsetting some very important people.

Meanwhile, Diggle does a great job in interruptting the arms deal dressed as Arrow and calls Oliver to let him know. A waiter (who’s really an assassin) knocks on Oliver’s door but when he opens the door, Oliver sees the gun and a fight ensues. Just as the assassin is about to take a shot at Oliver, Quentin comes running in and shoots the waiter dead.

Moira and Walter arrive home after hearing about Oliver’s encounter. Quentin removes the ankle moniter telling them that the police have received a report of the vigilante being in the Glades. The rouse worked!

The well dressed man – who exactly is he?

The next day, Moira visits the well-dressed man to accuse him of trying to kill Oliver. He tells her he had to do it in case he was the person targeting “their associates” but now Oliver seems to have been aquitted and is now safe.  She warns him that if anything happens to her family, she’ll bring down his enterprise.

Laurel arrives to see Oliver with the polygraph results in her hand. She tells him she knows that he lied on one of the questions and that means he could be lying about being the vigilante. Oliver tells her that he doesn’t tell anyone about what happened to him on the island as he’s afraid people will see him as damaged. After he exposes some bit of truth about himself to Laurel, she decides to tell him that nothing can every happen between them (way to kick a man when he’s down!), gives him the polygraph results and leaves.

The episode ends with Diggle asking  Oliver if he ever considered what not telling his friends and family the truth is costing them. Oliver cavalierly says it hurts him more than it hurts them and goes to cross Mueller off the list.

I’m a bit miffed that Deathstroke had a very minimalist part in this episode and have noticed so far that the DC villains are really not all that it’s cracked up to be in the series. Although it is known that he will be appearing in more episodes, hopefully his part will become more substantial as the season goes. And what did you think about Moira? Obviously her late husband knew about the “well-dressed man organization” but did he know of Moira’s deep involvement with them? After all, they obviously had a hand in causing the accident. Walter, on the other hand, obviously had no clue but now that he suspects, is his days numbered?

What do you think so far? Were you also hoping to see more of Deathstroke? Leave your speculations below!

And if you missed last week’s episode, be sure to read the recap for ‘An Innocent Man’ to catch up!