I spent a lot of last season of Arrow sort of holding my breath about what they were trying to do with Laurel. She was there, but uninformed, and spiraling hard, and then gradually, she got moved toward the center of the group, and out of the periphery. This season, she has all the info on Oliver and his team, and she’s finding her feet as a stronger version of herself who is now capable of standing on her own, trying to find out who she is at this stage in her life without Sara, when who she decided to be the first time she lost her was vastly different. I’m liking it.
So last week, her new friend/trainer, Ted was in the Hood hot seat because it looked like he might be a serial killer. Then we discovered he had essentially been a Hood for the Glades around the time Oliver landed on Lian Yu. That gives Ted special perspective on what Oliver’s up to, so he really doesn’t take it personally when Oliver’s hell-bent to put him behind bars. It’s like he knows Oliver will get to the right place in his opinion of him.
Separately, Roy is wrestling with a vivid recollection of murdering Sara, which he confides in Felicity. And surprisingly, Roy confesses to Laurel and Oliver what he might have done. Diggle and Laurel are ready to cut him loose, or worse. Oliver is standing by him, but he’s cautious. When Ted’s former protégé is revealed to be a scary loose cannon, who warns Roy that the Hood will abandon him, it empowers Roy to demand of Oliver that he not. Oliver says he never will.
Then Oliver shows Roy what he’s really been struggling with — via a handy self-hypnosis/meditation process he was taught in Hong Kong — that he killed a cop with handheld arrows while dosed with the Mirakuru. That only makes Roy feel a tiny bit less worse than the idea that he killed Sara.
Quentin gets involved when Laurel flashes her DA badge to get Ted released, and he, again, doesn’t have all the info, so he just tells her to be careful. Oliver warns her off of staying in training with Ted, and warns Ted, too. He tells Laurel he wouldn’t train her because she still hasn’t figured out that they’re not playing a game. She goes back to Ted and tells him very plainly she’s looking for a less due process-y way of dealing with things.
I haven’t made up my mind whether it would be a great or terrible idea for her to get involved with Ted, or whether it would doom him (I’m leaning toward yes on the latter), but I do like him with Laurel. And I like that they’re letting Katie Cassidy dress like someone who can take care of herself, and maybe kill you with a spoon.
I also like that Ted was really the first opportunity Oliver has had to see that when you get past the vigilantism, if you’re lucky enough to live, you still have to make a life for yourself. I’m not sure Oliver’s got a plan for down the road, which is what Felicity was trying to tell him, too.
Malcolm, Thea and Palmer has the week off, so no new news there for them.
Here are a couple of sneak peeks of tonight’s new episode:
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