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Arrow Recap – Season 3, Episode 18: Public Enemy

By Nick Tylwalk

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On-the-Mark Recap: We start right where we ended last week, with Maseo killing the mayor and opening fire on others in her office. Ray Palmer saves Felicity Smoak, but at a cost, as he takes an arrow to the chest.

Oliver and Diggle watch a news report and hear that Ray is in critical condition. Ollie knows Maseo is behind this, telling Diggle he knew him once, a lifetime ago.

The Lances are having a family disagreement after Captain Lance orders a warrant for the Arrow’s arrest. He just can’t trust Laurel’s assertion that it’s a copycat after what’s gone down between them. Elsewhere, Roy Harper and Thea Queen are having a more pleasant (post-sex) conversation. She wonders why they can’t run away like they originally planned, and he says things are complicated with Oliver right now. He also sees the TV reports about the Arrow, as does Ray in his hospital bed.

There’s bad news from the docs fro Ray, as he has a blood clot. If they leave it alone, he might die, and if they operate while he’s wounded, he might die. Ray mentions that he has tiny robots that the doctor could inject to destroy the clot, but since it’s an experimental procedure, he won’t do it. That upsets Felicity, so it’s probably not the best time for her mom to … oh, hey, hi Mama Smoak!

Oliver meets with Nyssa al Ghul to see if she’ll help with the hunt for Maseo. She’s not inclined to do so until he suggests it’s what Sara would want her to do. That turns out to be pretty convincing, as she visits the Arrow Cave with word that the League of Assassins is operating out a large, abandoned manufacturing building of some sort. Arrow, Arsenal, Black Canary and Diggle all suit up, though Nyssa declines to help.

At first, the heroes think they may have been misled, but Diggle spots activity on the roof, and we’ve got ourselves a fight. The good guys manage to defeat the League assassins and Oliver has Maseo at the end of an arrow when Ra’s al Ghul shows up, very pleased. As he sees it, the only choices Oliver has are to accept his offer or spend the rest of his life in a cage. Not the League’s cage, mind you. The cops are here.

The heroes flee, of course, and we’ve got ourselves one heck of a chase. Arrow tells Arsenal and Black Canary he’ll hold off the cops so they can escape. Arsenal has to shoot a cop in the leg as he flees, while Captain Lance gets the draw on his own daughter. Nyssa bails her out, while Diggle pulls up in a (bulletproof, apparently) van to extract Arrow.

Back at the Arrow Cave, Thea is worried as everyone has returned safely except Roy. He shows up a moment later, bemoaning the fact that he had to wound some officers. Thea is suspicious that there’s more she doesn’t know.

Later, the Smoaks watch as Captain Lance does more ranting on TV. Mama Smoak tries to convince her daughter to take the risk and inject Ray with the nanotech.

Lance is leaving work when he’s attacked by the League of Assassins. They take him to see Ra’s al Ghul, who offers to lead him to the Arrow … by revealing his name. That information comes in handy immediately, as Laurel accuses her dad of only seeking the Arrow because he covered up Sara’s death. Maybe once, Lance says, but he can’t help but think that Sara would still be alive if it wasn’t for Oliver Queen — or the Arrow, since they’re the same guy. Laurel’s jaw? Please meet floor.

Mama Smoak distracts the doctor, and Felicity is ready to inject the nanotech. Ray seizes up for a second but seems fine pretty quickly. “Maybe there are some side effects,” he muses.

At Verdant, Roy tells Thea that part of him was relieved when he was fleeing the police, as if he was caught, he’d go to jail and get what he deserves. He’s still feeling guilt over accidentally killing a cop last season, and Oliver feels some of his own for putting Roy in this situation. The cops arrive just then, seeking Oliver. He ends up fleeing to Diggle’s place, where he sees the cops have an APB out on him. A lot of information is being conveyed through TV news this week!

Felicity gets congrats from her mom for having the guts to help out Ray. The doctor approaches them with the near miraculous news that Ray’s blood clot has just disappeared, though she plays dumb.

Diggle reminds Ollie that he put the secret ID genie back in the bottle before, but this time is different since Ra’s al Ghul has co-opted his plan. The rest of Team Arrow arrives, and when Felicity asks if he has a brilliant plan, Oliver says he doesn’t even have a regular plan. With cops swarming every way out of Starling City, Ollie says he’s going to the only place he can.

Felicity goes to check on the recovering Ray, who ends up saying three powerful words: I love you. That freaks her out, so she goes to ostensibly get him food. Her mom knows what’s wrong, suggesting that Felicity is still in love with Oliver. With two incredible men in her life, she just has to make a choice.

Oh, and Oliver goes to the police station to turn herself in.

Team Arrow goes to visit Oliver in the station, earning them looks of disdain from Lance. He’s secured immunity for all of them in return for giving himself up, but they think it’s the wrong move, especially John. Oliver asks them to follow him just a little further, until this is all over. They continue to debate what they should do back in the Arrow Cave, with Roy pointing out that if the situation was reversed, Oliver would do something, regardless of the consequences. I don’t like that crazy look in his eyes …

As Oliver rides to prison in the back of a police truck, Lance lays into him. He smacks Oliver for saying he loves the Lance family (that’s not very by the book though) and continues by saying that the Arrow is actually a villain. Also not very good at saving people, like Tommy Merlyn, Sara, his own mom. Damn Captain, you aren’t holding anything back.

The truck gets attacked, and Oliver says he told Team Arrow to stand down. Lance goes outside and sees the Arrow standing there. He tells the police they have the wrong man … before unmasking as Roy Harper. Well, well, well.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong: As Oliver and Akio run, they bump into Shado. Except it’s not Shado, but her twin sister, May. They need help getting off the streets, so she takes them to her place. A flurry of lies follows, with Ollie claiming he met Shado in medical school. May says he can take a shower but happens to see the same tattoo on his shoulder that her sister had.

She confronts him with that knowledge and that she called the police. The thing is, these guys end up firing first before coming in the windows. Oliver tells May to get Akio to safety and fights off a number of the intruders, though it appears his luck is about to run out when he’s saved by Maseo and Tatsu. They followed the armed men, who work for Waller. Naturally.

After the bodies of the attackers are taken care of, Oliver asks his friends for a moment with May. He tells her the truth about her father and Shado, and though she’s sad, May thanks him for telling the truth.

Favorite Moment: Not too many lighthearted moments this week, but it was cool when Felicity said that all she did to Ray was stick something in him, then wonder aloud if there would ever be a time when everything she said didn’t turn into a double entendre.

Final Thought: This wasn’t my favorite episode of the season, as it mostly just propelled the overall story forward, and mostly in very predictable directions. Roy’s move at the end, for instance, was the product of some serious foreshadowing. Still, it left us in an interesting place for the stretch run, as Lance can’t exactly not accept Roy’s surrender. That buys Oliver some time, but he’s still going to have some tough decisions to make.

Next: Previously, on Arrow: our recap of Suicidal Tendencies

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