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“Arrow” recap (4.15): Take a Stand

Previously on Arrow, Oliver found out he had a son but had to lie to everyone about him, Merlyn told Darhk about said son, and Curtis made a biochip that he hoped would help Felicity walk again.

We begin in physical therapy, where instead of trying things like toe wiggling or knee bending, they decide to stand Felicity up and have her try to take a step. She’s super nervous because she really wants this to work.

She goes to take a step but ends up falling back into her chair. Curtis’s husband tells her that when he first met Curtis, he was injured while training for the Olympics, and cared more about progress than the most important thing: healing. She just needs to give it time.

On their way out, Felicity confesses to Oliver that she knew it was a long shot, but she still feels disappointed. And feels a little silly being sad. She wanted to walk down the aisle and knows that it’s not a thing that’s really worth getting all that worked up about. The moment earns them some slow claps from the darhkness, and in walks Damien himself.

Darhk issues Oliver a final threat. He has Oliver’s son, William, and if he ever wants to see his son alive again, he will resign from the mayoral race at 6pm on Friday.

After Darhk leaves, Felicity asks who William is, and Oliver confesses.

Felicity is so mad that he lied. Again. Haven’t they been through enough? Hasn’t lying gotten him into enough trouble? She literally couldn’t care less that he has a kid. But a SECRET kid?! No. Oliver says that the boy’s mother made him promise, but Felicity is like HOW WOULD SHE EVEN KNOW IF YOU TOLD ME. Besides, Darhk found out anyway, so that point is moot.

The rest of Team Arrow shows up and Felicity, to her credit, just says that Darhk has kidnapped a little boy. Oliver jumps in to confess that it’s his son, and Laurel and Diggle are pretty shocked. But it’s then revealed that Thea, Barry Allen and Malcolm knew too, Felicity is extra pissed.

William’s mother, Samantha, arrives upstairs to the campaign office, desperate and panicking about her missing child.

She blames Oliver and says an ME named Barry Allen sent her to him. Oliver promises he’ll get William back, and when she doesn’t believe him, he confesses that he’s the Green Arrow. Because if she can keep a human child a secret for 11 years, surely she can be trusted with his secret identity. He takes her down into the Arrow Cave and introduces her to the Team, one of which she already knows: Laurel Lance.

Samantha apologizes to Laurel for sleeping with her boyfriend, saying she was young and stupid, and says she should have been honest with Laurel, but Laurel says it was Oliver who owed her the truth.

Felicity says they need a new plan to stop Darhk since trying their old plans again would be madness, and Oliver thinks he knows who they can call in for backup: Mari McCabe, aka Vixen. He hilariously says they had an “animated” encounter last year, and that’s because they met on the CW Seed cartoon Vixen” which I have not seen, but I probably will watch ASAP. (And though it was clear there was backstory I didn’t know, I felt like they did a good job of telling us what Vixen was all about over the course of the episode.)

In Detroit, something is chasing some real scared men, growling and screeching from the darkness. One man yells, “Face us like a man” and a badass chick steps into the light and says she’ll kick his ass like a woman instead.

She channels the spirit of a rhino and tramples him, and Oliver joins her in taking down the last guys. He knows she didn’t need his help, but he needs hers.

Oliver takes Vixen to HQ, and for some reason she already knows Laurel, but he introduces her to everyone else. Vixen asks for something of William’s and sniffs the Flash action figure Samantha gives her. She’s able to track him and knows he’s still in Star City.

Everyone on the Team is given their own mission, and they split off, except Felicity and Samantha, who Oliver asks to stay in HQ and create a search profile.

Samantha tells Felicity that it was her fault Oliver couldn’t tell Felicity, and hopes she’ll remember that Oliver wanted to tell her. Felicity should be mad at her, not Ollie.

Laurel goes to see her dad, who isn’t surprised former playboy Oliver Queen has a mini-me out there. Laurel admits that Samantha is one of the girls Oliver cheated on her with, and even though she now much prefers having milkshakes with Nyssa and living with Thea to dating Oliver, it still stings a little. But it’s nothing a hug from dad can’t fix.

Vixen tracks William to a building, and Team Arrow goes to save him. Darhk isn’t surprised to see the Green Arrow, but it does seem that he thinks he’s just one of Oliver’s cronies and doesn’t realize it’s actually Oliver?? Anyway, Vixen drops in, and the two of them fight Darhk. They make a good team, but Darhk eventually disappears, taking William’s scent with him.

The Team reports back to HQ and Samantha is freaking out again. Darhk calls Oliver and moves up the resignation time, and Vixen feels bad. Oliver says it wasn’t his fault, and Vixen offers a good point as penance: Everyone she’s ever encountered who had magic, even her, has some sort of totem to focus it.

Lance says that he’s seen an idol in Darhk’s lair, and goes off to draw it for Vixen so she can help identify it.

Oliver holds his press conference and resigns, telling his constituents to support Adams instead. Afterwards, he apologizes to his campaign manager for dropping the election without so much as a fake reason.

After everyone clears out, Oliver apologizes again to Felicity, saying he should have let Felicity meet him, and should have kept William close to protect him, instead of pretending he didn’t exist to protect him-even though he’s kept Felicity as close as it gets and she still wasn’t very protected.

They figure out that in order for Darhk’s idol to work, he needs to be near the ley lines that run under the city. Samantha doesn’t understand why Darhk hasn’t given William back yet; they paid their ransom, and Vixen tells Oliver he can’t blame himself. Oliver says that’s literally all he knows how to do. He also knows that Darhk has a history of not following through with deals he strikes. Vixen also tells Oliver that he overheard what he said to Felicity (owl ears) and says that he was wrong; letting William go is the better plan, not bringing him closer.

She grew up in a foster home, wondering about her past, but now that she knows the truth, she’s glad she didn’t find out when she was little. It’s too much. The best thing he can do for William is let him have a normal, vigilante-free childhood. Because sometimes parents have to make the tough choices for their kids.

Thea interrupts them because Felicity has a possible location for Darhk. As if on cue, Darhk calls Oliver and gives him a time and a place to get William-a different place than Felicity thinks Darhk’s totem is. So they have to choose: Go after William, knowing it could be a trap, or go after Darhk’s totem and try to cut him off at the pass.

Oliver gives Samantha the choice, and she basically tells him to do both.

So the Team heads off, with Vixen flying, Diggle sniping, and SpeedyCanary on a the same goddamn motorcycle.

Vixen flies in to fight Darhk and uses the speed of a cheetah to grab the totem and GTFO. One by one the rest of the team goes in to fight Darhk, and he has them all in a magical chokehold while Vixen tries to smash the totem. It takes her an entire menagerie but eventually she smashes it, and Darhk is rendered powerless.

Oliver knocks Darhk out and nods at William, lingering just long enough to be sure the police are close enough to get him before slinking back off into the darkness.

Lance reunites William and Samantha at the station, and William tells his mother that he’s over The Flash and wants a Green Arrow action figure instead. She thinks that idea is just swell.

Lance tells Oliver that Darhk isn’t the one who actually snatched William, but that it was a man missing a hand. Thea. is. PISSED. Not only did her father choose the League over her, he lied to her face again, and kidnapped her nephew.

Oliver goes outside to thank Vixen for her help, and she reminds him how grateful she is that her biggest problem growing up was that she didn’t know who her parents were, and not that magic and evil existed. She says that’s the gift in itself. She calls herself a badass and he can’t help but agree, thanking her again for her help.

Thea goes back to her apartment to find Merlyn there creeping as per usual. She says he’s a liar, liar, stump on fire and that she’s 100% done with this twisted father/daughter relationship. He says that he saved her life, that he made her who she is, and that he doesn’t care what she thinks or wants, as long as she stays alive. (Scene not pictured because Thea is wearing the most hideous blazer I’ve ever seen.)

Back at the Olicity Loft, Oliver makes a video for William for when he turns 18. Felicity overhears and wants to talk to him, now that the storm has settled, and she’s had time to think about this humongous lie. She starts by giving him back his engagement ring.

She says she understands why he lied, but she still doesn’t think it was okay. Marriage is about partnership; unconditional trust, and she doesn’t think he’s ready for that. While she’s talking her foot twitches, and for the first time in months, Felicity Smoak stands.

And she walks right the fuck out the door. She doesn’t even smile. She hasn’t used her leg muscles in weeks, but she just stands up, turns round, and walks away, never stumbling, never faltering, never looking back.

What did you think of “Taken”?

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