Arrow s02e01 Episode Script
City of Heroes
Previously, on "Arrow" If I only knew how you were spending your nights.
Why should I trust you?! Oliver.
I thought it was past time we talked.
About what? You being a serial killer? Let's start with Laurel, since you're still in love with her.
So are you.
Lord knows that I am guilty of a lot of things between us, but not you and her.
She chose you.
My name is Moira Dearden Queen.
I'm the CEO of Queen Consolidated.
I have been complicit in an undertaking with one horrible purpose-- to destroy the Glades and everyone in it.
But you need to know that the architect of this nightmare is Malcolm Merlyn.
You can't beat me, Oliver, 'cause you don't know in your heart what you're fighting for.
Is Laurel safe? Yeah, you saved her.
No.
Tommy It should have been me.
Felicity, if you're so scared, why did you insist on sitting up front? This is the only seat with a seatbelt.
Which will come in handy when we hit the water at 180 miles an hour.
Which will not happen.
I think that means we're here.
Lian Yu.
ButYou said the parachutes were just in case! Yeah, just in case we made it here.
Come on.
No! All right, Felicity, on 3! I can't, I'm scared! I can't-- Thanks for waiting until we touched down.
My pleasure.
Let's move.
What is it? Thought I heard something.
Dig! Don't move.
It's a landmine.
I'm going to try to disarm it.
You can't! Diggle! Walk away.
Felicity, don't move.
God, you're-- you're really sweaty.
You're a hard man to find.
You shouldn't have come here.
Would have emailed, but this isn't exactly a WiFi hotspot.
Is this where you lived when you were here? I mean, the first time you were here.
For some of it.
Could you at least pretend like you're glad to see us? Dig and I spent weeks tracking you down.
We've traveled halfway across the world.
And this morning we flew in a plane so old, I'm pretty sure I was safer once I jumped out of it.
You couldat least offer us a water.
Or A coconut.
Fresh out of coconuts.
I am happy to see you.
But I know why you're here.
I'm not coming back to Starling City.
I can't.
My mission, my father's list, it was a fool's crusade.
And I failed.
Malcolm Merlyn destroyed the Glades.
Tommy died.
And the Hood couldn't stop it.
So don't ask me to put it on again.
Ever.
This isn't about you being the Vigilante.
This is about you being Oliver Queen.
Your mother's in prison, Oliver.
Her trial's coming up.
Thea's out on her own.
Your family needs you.
So does the family business.
All the bad press after the Undertaking left Queen Consolidated ripe for a hostile takeover by Stellmoor International.
They've gutted every company they've taken over.
Once they gobble up Queen Consolidated, to be out of a job.
Including one very blond I.
T.
expert.
Listen, I get why you had to leave, Oliver, probably better than anybody else.
I've been there.
And after what happened, nobody can blame you for leaving.
But it's time to come home.
You're not the first man to learn the hard way-- women are a distraction.
You've come very far in a few months.
Don't beat yourself up.
Ah, apparently that's his job.
And I love my job.
Not that I wouldn't trade it for a way off this island.
While you two were playing with each other, I was hunting.
Well, there's nothing more attractive than a woman who can hunt.
When I was marooned here, my first meal was a pheasant.
Your father cooked it for me.
He was an awful cook.
Yeah.
But a great father.
I'm looking at the proof.
Let's eat.
What's that? That's Fyers' proximity detector.
We salvaged it from the wreckage of the soldier's camp.
Picks up anything moving outside our safe zone.
It's been five months since we stopped Fyers.
He and all of his men were dead.
So maybe it's an animal.
There's an imaging interface.
Those are not animals.
And we're not alone on this island.
Who's blood? An alderman from the Glades trying to save the city.
Fill your shoes.
Here's everything on Stellmoor International.
The vice president of acquisitions is a woman named Isabel Rochev.
She looks angry in every photo.
So where to? Office? Home.
I want to check in on Thea.
Uh, she's not at your house, Oliver.
Where is she? I only have a second.
That's ok, my boss has been all over my ass today.
You should hear what she sounds like when-- Ow! You have got to be kidding me! Come on! I don't want to fight.
Clearly you do, since you keep on taking every street corner drug dealer that you can get your fists on.
It's not like that.
The Glades are worse than ever.
I know, but you already saved a busload of people and managed not to get buried alive.
I mean, how much more of a hero do you need to be? It's like you have a death wish.
And guess what-- it's going to come true.
Yeah, well, someone has to do something.
And stand up for what's right, like he did.
The Vigilante.
Who hasn't been seen since the earthquake, which means he did get buried alive and isn't coming back.
I'm back.
Ollie! Ah, you remember my friend Roy.
Still here? Always.
So how was Europe? You never texted, no postcards.
Almost like you're on the island all over again.
Yeah, sorry, I was kind of distracted.
With snow skiing, waterskiing.
A lot of skiing.
I hear rumors that my club is under new management.
Ah, actually, it's my club now, and you're not getting it back.
You're not old enough to drink.
But I am old enough to run a bar.
Have you made it to Iron Heights? To visit the woman who dropped a city on 500 innocent people? No, thank you.
TheaThat's not what mom did.
Right.
She had no choice.
But guess what? She did.
A choice not to be a mass murderer.
And I have a choice, too.
So I choose not to be her daughter.
But I am so happy you are home.
Honestly, I need to deal with our liquor distributor who shorted me on yesterday's delivery, and one of my bartenders called in sick, so What? Nothing.
It's-- it's nice to see you like this.
Like what? Together.
The representative from Central City says construction on the Star Labs particle accelerator should be completed by Christmas.
And in local news, billionaire Oliver Queen has returned once again to Starling City.
With his mother's upcoming trial and his father's company in freefall, analysts are asking what the Queen family scion has planned next.
Wasn't our country founded on a brand of vigilantism, Mr.
Donner? The revolutionaries in the Boston Tea Party were certainly choosing justice over law.
I'd hardly compare our founding fathers to the Hood, Mr.
Mayor, or these twisted copycats who have risen in his wake.
Ms.
Lance.
What do you think about vigilantes? I'd be foolish to disagree with my new boss.
I knew I was smart to hire you.
I'd heard you joined the district attorney's office.
It was time for a change.
Still, I'm sorry that you and your colleagues at CNRI won't be opening your doors again.
There were no doors left to be reopened.
They're playing my song.
Good evening.
It has been a very difficult year for Starling City.
Our losses have been incalculable, our grief unimaginable.
But with the generous donations you people are making tonight, we will come back from this tragedy.
You have failed this city, Mr.
Mayor! The Glades descended into hell on your watch! You swore to protect all the citizens of Starling, not just the wealthy! We're sorry about this, folks.
We'll have this sorted out in just a minute.
We are the Hoods.
And what was taken from us, we will take back.
Laurel! Dad, I'm fine.
You've got one very brave daughter there, sir.
Yeah, one daughter's right, and I can't stand to lose another.
Well, I still can't believe this happened.
The hoods attacks have strictly been limited to people in the financial sector trying to redistribute wealth in the Glades at gunpoint.
Yeah, well, clearly that's not getting the result they're looking for, is it? Did you get a good look at any of them? It was hard to focus on anything other than the gun barrel pointed at my face.
No tattoos, distinguishing marks? What do you think you're doing? Interviewing the witness is the job of the Detective.
Officer Lance.
This is my daughter.
She was nearly killed tonight.
Well, as a parent, you're welcome to stay.
But as a beat cop, you're more than free to go.
You know, that's one of the downsides of being demoted-- I don't get to witness his sunny disposition on a daily basis.
Dad, give me a sec.
Yeah.
I didn't know you were back in town.
I just got back a little while ago, and I was going to call, but then I Saw you on TV, so I thought that I would come and make sure you were safe.
Just four hooded gunmen.
Nothing a few self-defense classes couldn't handle.
Take a walk? Yeah.
Sorry I left.
Believe me, I get it.
After the funeral, I think we both needed time to figure things out.
On our own.
I didn't get very far on my own.
Did you? Figure anything out? That I made a mistake when I slept with you.
I know it wasn't exactly cheating, because Tommy had broken up with me, but he only did that because he thought that you and I should be together.
All I know is that I feel like I betrayed him.
And now he's gone.
And there's nothing I can do to make it right.
I know how that feels.
When I brought your sister on "the Queen's Gambit," I betrayed you and your father.
There's no forgiveness for what I led Sara into.
I would give anything to To go back.
Yeah.
But we can't go back.
Diggle! I don't like being played.
I'm not sure what you mean.
That's why you came to the island and brought me back to Starling City-- these hood copycats.
Well, what if it was? They're just doing what you did last year, terrorizing one-percenters into cleaning up their act.
Except they don't have your restraint, Oliver.
Or your honor.
I'm done being the Vigilante.
Maybe this town still needs a vigilante.
Now there's four of them.
How's that working? Please take me home.
Got a big day at the office tomorrow trying to save my family's company.
Absolutely.
Mr.
Queen.
And in local news, billionaire Oliver Queen has returned once again to Starling City.
Unbelievable.
We off the mayor on live TV, and what's the local news keep showing? Oliver Queen.
Why? Guess he's taking over the family business.
We've been going about this wrong.
What do you mean? If we want real payback, we got to take the fight to the name that did this to us.
Queen? Yeah.
He's some useless brat.
The applied sciences division of Queen Consolidated built the earthquake generator.
If we want real justice Then that family has to pay for the suffering it's caused us.
In full.
Hello, earth to Queen.
What, did you drop a Vertigo when I wasn't looking? I was just distracted.
About what your brother said, about your mom? Eavesdrop much? Ah, what I lack in height, I make up for in wicked good hearing.
Well, don't keep me in suspense, Harper.
What's your take on the matter? Though, keep in mind, I do control your paycheck and your sex life.
Well, both my parents weren't worth a damn, either of them.
You never talk about them.
You got nothing nice to say, right? Still, I-- I'd be glad to see them and talk to them if I could.
But Look, you already lost your dad.
Your mom, she's still here, and I'm sure she'd love to see you.
I'm sure she's dying to.
Just like a lot of mothers in the Glades who won't ever get to see their kids again Because my mother helped kill them.
I'm not going to that prison.
It's the only way I know how to hurt her.
You might want to consider how much it's hurting you.
They're in the conference room.
Just fyi, no one is eating the bagels.
Isabel Rochev.
Oliver Queen.
Sorry I'm late.
For this meeting or a career in business? I didn't realize hostile takeovers were filled with so much hostility.
Not at all.
I'm actually in quite a good mood.
Really? So destroying companies agrees with you? Winning agrees with me.
You haven't won yet.
Since you majored in dropping out of college, let me put this in terms that are easy for you to understand.
You control 45% of Queen Consolidated stock.
I control 45%, leaving 10% outstanding.
But, in two days the board will release the final 10%.
And I'll buy it before you do.
With what money? I doubt your trust fund is that large, and no angel investor will go near the company that build the machine that destroyed half the city.
Companies rise and fall, Mr.
Queen.
Your company has fallen.
Oliver Queen! You failed this city.
Pull back! Oliver, go! Go, go, go, go! Careful.
Go, go.
Quick! They're getting away.
Go! Move! Ms.
Rochev, I'm sorry about this.
'Cause they were after you? Because what happens in this building is my responsibility.
Only for the next I still can't get used to you in that uniform, Detective Lance.
It's "Officer" now.
And I'm just glad it still fits.
They hurt you? I'm ok.
You, uh, heard anything from our mutual friend lately? Nope.
In factI keep waiting for him to show up.
You could have stopped those guys.
Not without giving Isabel Rochev and the hoods a pretty good idea of what I'm capable of.
I think what Felicity's wondering is whether you avoided taking those hoods on.
And, Oliver, she's not the only one wondering.
I told you, I did not come back to Starling City to be the Vigilante.
But they came after you, Oliver.
You could have taken them out.
No, I couldn't, Diggle.
Look, there's a part of being the Hood that neither one of you are considering.
The body count.
And excuse me for saying this, but so what? Since when do you care? Since Tommy.
After he found out my secret, you know what Tommy called me? A murderer.
He was right.
My best friend died thinking that I was a murderer, and anyone that I kill dishonors his memory.
So don't.
It's not like you've killed every guy you've faced.
I could have.
Because when I put on the hood, it's kill or be killed.
That is what kept me alive.
That's why I should have stayed on the island.
Is that where you're going now? The two of you won't help me save my family's company, I'm going to talk to somebody who will.
Well, someone's definitely out there.
They're moving closer.
Where do you think you're going? Flanking position.
They get the drop on you, you'll want some back-up.
She's teaching you Chinese.
How sweet.
I'm sure she'd be happy to teach you, too-- Shado! Hey.
Hey.
I'm sorry I didn't make it here sooner.
Oh, no, no, no.
Please, Oliver.
There are going to be enough apologies with me apologizing to you for the rest of my life.
You don't have to.
You saved hundreds of lives.
And killed hundreds more.
Including Tommy.
That was Malcolm.
Your sister doesn't see it that way.
And, you know, my attorney is thrilled.
If my own daughter can't forgive me, she's not too optimistic about in a jury box.
All right, enough of that.
How has it been going at Queen Consolidated? Yes, we do get the news in here, Oliver.
Right.
You know, if I'd known the key to you taking your rightful place at the company was its demise, I would have declared bankruptcy a year ago.
I don't know if I'll get to run it for long.
Stellmoor.
Their VP is coming after us hard.
Isabel Rochev.
Yes.
Do not trust that woman, Oliver.
She is dangerous.
Well, mom, everywhere I look, there are no good options.
I don't know what to do.
You don't have to do it yourself.
This is a family business.
I love Thea.
I don't think that she wants anything to do with it.
I wasn't talking about Thea.
Table seven needs bottle service, and I need a round of Martinis on the three top.
You go see your mom yet? I thought about what you said.
And? AndI'll go see her when you stop going out at night looking to clean up the streets.
What does one thing have to do with the other? I guess they're both things that are never going to happen.
We're looking for Oliver Queen! He's back in town.
He owns this dump.
Where can we find him? Ok, then plan "B," I'm going to start shooting people until Mr.
Queen Grows a pair.
Roy! Aaah! Aah! Drop off, hero.
I'm just as happy to kill this Queen as her brother.
Let's go! One of the guys was missing a hand.
What's going on here? Mostly, anyway.
He still had sutures.
Excuse me.
It was the hoods, again.
They came here looking for you, they took Thea instead.
Where? I'm sorry.
I really tried to stop them, but I-- Queen.
Queen! We'll get your sister back.
I was going to check something downstairs.
I've made a few improvements down here.
Just in case, you know You decided to come back.
We need to find these guys.
I've been trying, ever since you got back.
I figured you'd come around eventually.
I kept that.
I liked watching you do that.
Thea's boyfriend said one of them was missing part of his hand.
Maybe a veteran? Check hospital records, any males that have had surgical amputations on their extremities.
Cross-checking by race and age.
Got one--Jeff Deveau.
Caucasian, late thirties.
What else can you get on him? Ex-Marine.
Would explain how he can handle himself.
Did he lose his hand overseas? No.
In the earthquake.
Says here he and his wife were trying to make it across the 52nd Street bridge when it collapsed.
She didn't make it.
Phone records, please.
I want to know he's in contact with.
He's made a lot of calls to a church in the Glades.
Something called Standing Strong.
It's a support group for those who lost loved ones in the quake.
Great place to meet three other guys as angry as you, looking for a little payback.
Get me an address, please.
You're going to need this.
I had it custom made.
How'd I do? It's perfect.
You were right.
Once I signed on, I stopped thinking about all the bodies you dropped.
Because I knew that being the Hood meant occasionally being a killer.
Maybe there's another way.
They have my sister.
What other way is there? What are you doing? We need to save her.
Listen, kid.
You are not the only one who cares for her.
But there's a lot of them.
Wait for my signal.
Where are the graves? Where are the graves? I don't know what you're talking about.
Uhh! Uhh! Tell me.
Oliver, no! Oliver! So What do you want to do with her? We could knock her out, drop her off somewhere.
Come on.
Why don't you just buy her a new pair of Pradas while you're at it? She's seen our faces.
Look, offing Oliver Queen's one thing, but his sister? She's not much older than my sister was when she was killed in the earthquake.
Your sister wasn't killed, she was murdered.
By her mother.
What we're doing here is justice, which makes us the heroes.
She didn't kill anybody.
My mother didn't kill anyone.
Malcolm Merlyn destroyed the Glades.
With mommy's help.
Merlyn killed my father.
She thought he'd kill my brother, too.
She was afraid of him.
She must have been so afraid.
Just like my wife When our house collapsed on top of her.
Ow! Get away from her! Let's go.
Please! Move! Go, move! Please! Let Her Go.
You want to save her? There was no justice for people like the Queens till you showed us how to get it.
You showed us.
Go! You shoot me, we both die.
You'll drop me anyway.
I know you.
You're a killer.
Keep it under 40 next time.
Have a good evening.
Do you know who they are? I think the hoods gives me a pretty good idea.
Bring them in.
Where you been? Typically when I bring in guys that you've gone after, they're a little more dead.
I'm trying another way.
I didn't mean to disturb you.
I didn't know that you were here.
I was just I come here a lot.
I can go.
No, it's You don't have to.
It's, uh Laurel, I understand.
After everything that's happened, I Understand why we can't be together.
But I still need you in my life.
We've been through too much for it to be any other way.
I feel like I betrayed him, too.
Before the Hood, we didn't have things like earthquake machines or copycat vigilantes-- Laurel.
Malcolm killed Tommy.
He was killed in the crossfire between two archers.
And now that Malcolm's dead, there's only one archer left.
And I'm going to help my boss catch him.
That outfit, with your coloring-- isn't that cruel and unusual punishment or something? I've done my best to avoid mirrors in here.
So, I-- How have you been? Don't worry about me.
I want to hear about you.
How are you doing? Are you still seeing, uh-- Roy was his name, wasn't it? Sweetheart, I'm fine, really.
It's not that.
I I almost died last night.
What? Thea, what happened? It doesn't matter.
But when I thought it was over, I kept thinking that if If I died, you would spend the rest of your life thinking that I hated you.
And I want to hate you.
I really tried to.
But I can't.
I can't, Mom.
However long I am in this place, you have freed me.
If I hug you, are they going to shoot us? I'm willing to risk it if you are.
Oh, shh, shh.
You can't win this.
I now own 50% of the stock.
By tomorrow, I'll have the outstanding five percent and I will control your company.
Any attempt to fight me will lead to litigation and leave you penniless.
And trust me, poverty isn't as glamorous as Charles Dickens made it look.
What if I found someone to invest new equity capital? A White Night? With all due respect, your last name is now associated with mass murder.
Even you don't have that good a friend.
You're right.
I have family.
Mr.
Steel.
It was my understanding that you had resigned as CEO.
I did.
I'm now Chief Financial Officer of Starling National Bank.
And my institution has committed rescue financing to Mr.
Queen.
We bought up the remaining shares of Queen Consolidated when they were released this morning.
Now I know I majored in dropping out, but I'm pretty sure that makes us partners going forward.
So I guess We will be seeing a lot of each other.
You aren't at all what people say about you.
Most people fail to see the real me.
Thank you, Walter.
Thank you, for reaching out to me.
Whatever's happened between your mother and me, I'm gratified that you know you can still count on me.
Your father would have been very proud of you, Oliver.
Ms.
Smoak.
Mr.
Steel.
You did it.
Not bad for someone who got a "D" in tenth grade Algebra.
If it's online, I can find it.
Yeah.
Well, it was just like a good friend once told me I had to find another way.
We're not alone.
The question is, where did they come from? Hey, what's up? Just came back from visiting my mom.
Really? Good for you.
So what do you say? You ready to start spending your nights safe with me? Absolutely.
Hey, I'm going to pick us up some big belly burger right now.
I'll see you later.
Ok.
We just want to be friendly.
What, we scare you or something? Yeah.
I think you do.
Me, though, not so much.
Run.
Where the hell did you come from? Well, it looks like Starling is back down to only one man in a hood.
And the three of us are back in the archery business? No.
I spent the past year trying to avenge my father.
If we're going to dothis, it has to be about honoring Tommy.
I need to become the man he hoped I could be.
You two have helped me take the first step.
So what's step two? I'm game for anything as long as it doesn't involve skydiving.
And I'm pretty down on landmines now, too.
The city still needs saving.
But not by the Hood.
And not by some vigilante who's just crossing names off a list.
It needs Something more.
It needs a hero, Oliver.
It's too bad the hoods kind of ruined your nickname.
No, it's good.
I never I don't want to be called the Hood anymore.
Ok.
So what do you want to be called?
Why should I trust you?! Oliver.
I thought it was past time we talked.
About what? You being a serial killer? Let's start with Laurel, since you're still in love with her.
So are you.
Lord knows that I am guilty of a lot of things between us, but not you and her.
She chose you.
My name is Moira Dearden Queen.
I'm the CEO of Queen Consolidated.
I have been complicit in an undertaking with one horrible purpose-- to destroy the Glades and everyone in it.
But you need to know that the architect of this nightmare is Malcolm Merlyn.
You can't beat me, Oliver, 'cause you don't know in your heart what you're fighting for.
Is Laurel safe? Yeah, you saved her.
No.
Tommy It should have been me.
Felicity, if you're so scared, why did you insist on sitting up front? This is the only seat with a seatbelt.
Which will come in handy when we hit the water at 180 miles an hour.
Which will not happen.
I think that means we're here.
Lian Yu.
ButYou said the parachutes were just in case! Yeah, just in case we made it here.
Come on.
No! All right, Felicity, on 3! I can't, I'm scared! I can't-- Thanks for waiting until we touched down.
My pleasure.
Let's move.
What is it? Thought I heard something.
Dig! Don't move.
It's a landmine.
I'm going to try to disarm it.
You can't! Diggle! Walk away.
Felicity, don't move.
God, you're-- you're really sweaty.
You're a hard man to find.
You shouldn't have come here.
Would have emailed, but this isn't exactly a WiFi hotspot.
Is this where you lived when you were here? I mean, the first time you were here.
For some of it.
Could you at least pretend like you're glad to see us? Dig and I spent weeks tracking you down.
We've traveled halfway across the world.
And this morning we flew in a plane so old, I'm pretty sure I was safer once I jumped out of it.
You couldat least offer us a water.
Or A coconut.
Fresh out of coconuts.
I am happy to see you.
But I know why you're here.
I'm not coming back to Starling City.
I can't.
My mission, my father's list, it was a fool's crusade.
And I failed.
Malcolm Merlyn destroyed the Glades.
Tommy died.
And the Hood couldn't stop it.
So don't ask me to put it on again.
Ever.
This isn't about you being the Vigilante.
This is about you being Oliver Queen.
Your mother's in prison, Oliver.
Her trial's coming up.
Thea's out on her own.
Your family needs you.
So does the family business.
All the bad press after the Undertaking left Queen Consolidated ripe for a hostile takeover by Stellmoor International.
They've gutted every company they've taken over.
Once they gobble up Queen Consolidated, to be out of a job.
Including one very blond I.
T.
expert.
Listen, I get why you had to leave, Oliver, probably better than anybody else.
I've been there.
And after what happened, nobody can blame you for leaving.
But it's time to come home.
You're not the first man to learn the hard way-- women are a distraction.
You've come very far in a few months.
Don't beat yourself up.
Ah, apparently that's his job.
And I love my job.
Not that I wouldn't trade it for a way off this island.
While you two were playing with each other, I was hunting.
Well, there's nothing more attractive than a woman who can hunt.
When I was marooned here, my first meal was a pheasant.
Your father cooked it for me.
He was an awful cook.
Yeah.
But a great father.
I'm looking at the proof.
Let's eat.
What's that? That's Fyers' proximity detector.
We salvaged it from the wreckage of the soldier's camp.
Picks up anything moving outside our safe zone.
It's been five months since we stopped Fyers.
He and all of his men were dead.
So maybe it's an animal.
There's an imaging interface.
Those are not animals.
And we're not alone on this island.
Who's blood? An alderman from the Glades trying to save the city.
Fill your shoes.
Here's everything on Stellmoor International.
The vice president of acquisitions is a woman named Isabel Rochev.
She looks angry in every photo.
So where to? Office? Home.
I want to check in on Thea.
Uh, she's not at your house, Oliver.
Where is she? I only have a second.
That's ok, my boss has been all over my ass today.
You should hear what she sounds like when-- Ow! You have got to be kidding me! Come on! I don't want to fight.
Clearly you do, since you keep on taking every street corner drug dealer that you can get your fists on.
It's not like that.
The Glades are worse than ever.
I know, but you already saved a busload of people and managed not to get buried alive.
I mean, how much more of a hero do you need to be? It's like you have a death wish.
And guess what-- it's going to come true.
Yeah, well, someone has to do something.
And stand up for what's right, like he did.
The Vigilante.
Who hasn't been seen since the earthquake, which means he did get buried alive and isn't coming back.
I'm back.
Ollie! Ah, you remember my friend Roy.
Still here? Always.
So how was Europe? You never texted, no postcards.
Almost like you're on the island all over again.
Yeah, sorry, I was kind of distracted.
With snow skiing, waterskiing.
A lot of skiing.
I hear rumors that my club is under new management.
Ah, actually, it's my club now, and you're not getting it back.
You're not old enough to drink.
But I am old enough to run a bar.
Have you made it to Iron Heights? To visit the woman who dropped a city on 500 innocent people? No, thank you.
TheaThat's not what mom did.
Right.
She had no choice.
But guess what? She did.
A choice not to be a mass murderer.
And I have a choice, too.
So I choose not to be her daughter.
But I am so happy you are home.
Honestly, I need to deal with our liquor distributor who shorted me on yesterday's delivery, and one of my bartenders called in sick, so What? Nothing.
It's-- it's nice to see you like this.
Like what? Together.
The representative from Central City says construction on the Star Labs particle accelerator should be completed by Christmas.
And in local news, billionaire Oliver Queen has returned once again to Starling City.
With his mother's upcoming trial and his father's company in freefall, analysts are asking what the Queen family scion has planned next.
Wasn't our country founded on a brand of vigilantism, Mr.
Donner? The revolutionaries in the Boston Tea Party were certainly choosing justice over law.
I'd hardly compare our founding fathers to the Hood, Mr.
Mayor, or these twisted copycats who have risen in his wake.
Ms.
Lance.
What do you think about vigilantes? I'd be foolish to disagree with my new boss.
I knew I was smart to hire you.
I'd heard you joined the district attorney's office.
It was time for a change.
Still, I'm sorry that you and your colleagues at CNRI won't be opening your doors again.
There were no doors left to be reopened.
They're playing my song.
Good evening.
It has been a very difficult year for Starling City.
Our losses have been incalculable, our grief unimaginable.
But with the generous donations you people are making tonight, we will come back from this tragedy.
You have failed this city, Mr.
Mayor! The Glades descended into hell on your watch! You swore to protect all the citizens of Starling, not just the wealthy! We're sorry about this, folks.
We'll have this sorted out in just a minute.
We are the Hoods.
And what was taken from us, we will take back.
Laurel! Dad, I'm fine.
You've got one very brave daughter there, sir.
Yeah, one daughter's right, and I can't stand to lose another.
Well, I still can't believe this happened.
The hoods attacks have strictly been limited to people in the financial sector trying to redistribute wealth in the Glades at gunpoint.
Yeah, well, clearly that's not getting the result they're looking for, is it? Did you get a good look at any of them? It was hard to focus on anything other than the gun barrel pointed at my face.
No tattoos, distinguishing marks? What do you think you're doing? Interviewing the witness is the job of the Detective.
Officer Lance.
This is my daughter.
She was nearly killed tonight.
Well, as a parent, you're welcome to stay.
But as a beat cop, you're more than free to go.
You know, that's one of the downsides of being demoted-- I don't get to witness his sunny disposition on a daily basis.
Dad, give me a sec.
Yeah.
I didn't know you were back in town.
I just got back a little while ago, and I was going to call, but then I Saw you on TV, so I thought that I would come and make sure you were safe.
Just four hooded gunmen.
Nothing a few self-defense classes couldn't handle.
Take a walk? Yeah.
Sorry I left.
Believe me, I get it.
After the funeral, I think we both needed time to figure things out.
On our own.
I didn't get very far on my own.
Did you? Figure anything out? That I made a mistake when I slept with you.
I know it wasn't exactly cheating, because Tommy had broken up with me, but he only did that because he thought that you and I should be together.
All I know is that I feel like I betrayed him.
And now he's gone.
And there's nothing I can do to make it right.
I know how that feels.
When I brought your sister on "the Queen's Gambit," I betrayed you and your father.
There's no forgiveness for what I led Sara into.
I would give anything to To go back.
Yeah.
But we can't go back.
Diggle! I don't like being played.
I'm not sure what you mean.
That's why you came to the island and brought me back to Starling City-- these hood copycats.
Well, what if it was? They're just doing what you did last year, terrorizing one-percenters into cleaning up their act.
Except they don't have your restraint, Oliver.
Or your honor.
I'm done being the Vigilante.
Maybe this town still needs a vigilante.
Now there's four of them.
How's that working? Please take me home.
Got a big day at the office tomorrow trying to save my family's company.
Absolutely.
Mr.
Queen.
And in local news, billionaire Oliver Queen has returned once again to Starling City.
Unbelievable.
We off the mayor on live TV, and what's the local news keep showing? Oliver Queen.
Why? Guess he's taking over the family business.
We've been going about this wrong.
What do you mean? If we want real payback, we got to take the fight to the name that did this to us.
Queen? Yeah.
He's some useless brat.
The applied sciences division of Queen Consolidated built the earthquake generator.
If we want real justice Then that family has to pay for the suffering it's caused us.
In full.
Hello, earth to Queen.
What, did you drop a Vertigo when I wasn't looking? I was just distracted.
About what your brother said, about your mom? Eavesdrop much? Ah, what I lack in height, I make up for in wicked good hearing.
Well, don't keep me in suspense, Harper.
What's your take on the matter? Though, keep in mind, I do control your paycheck and your sex life.
Well, both my parents weren't worth a damn, either of them.
You never talk about them.
You got nothing nice to say, right? Still, I-- I'd be glad to see them and talk to them if I could.
But Look, you already lost your dad.
Your mom, she's still here, and I'm sure she'd love to see you.
I'm sure she's dying to.
Just like a lot of mothers in the Glades who won't ever get to see their kids again Because my mother helped kill them.
I'm not going to that prison.
It's the only way I know how to hurt her.
You might want to consider how much it's hurting you.
They're in the conference room.
Just fyi, no one is eating the bagels.
Isabel Rochev.
Oliver Queen.
Sorry I'm late.
For this meeting or a career in business? I didn't realize hostile takeovers were filled with so much hostility.
Not at all.
I'm actually in quite a good mood.
Really? So destroying companies agrees with you? Winning agrees with me.
You haven't won yet.
Since you majored in dropping out of college, let me put this in terms that are easy for you to understand.
You control 45% of Queen Consolidated stock.
I control 45%, leaving 10% outstanding.
But, in two days the board will release the final 10%.
And I'll buy it before you do.
With what money? I doubt your trust fund is that large, and no angel investor will go near the company that build the machine that destroyed half the city.
Companies rise and fall, Mr.
Queen.
Your company has fallen.
Oliver Queen! You failed this city.
Pull back! Oliver, go! Go, go, go, go! Careful.
Go, go.
Quick! They're getting away.
Go! Move! Ms.
Rochev, I'm sorry about this.
'Cause they were after you? Because what happens in this building is my responsibility.
Only for the next I still can't get used to you in that uniform, Detective Lance.
It's "Officer" now.
And I'm just glad it still fits.
They hurt you? I'm ok.
You, uh, heard anything from our mutual friend lately? Nope.
In factI keep waiting for him to show up.
You could have stopped those guys.
Not without giving Isabel Rochev and the hoods a pretty good idea of what I'm capable of.
I think what Felicity's wondering is whether you avoided taking those hoods on.
And, Oliver, she's not the only one wondering.
I told you, I did not come back to Starling City to be the Vigilante.
But they came after you, Oliver.
You could have taken them out.
No, I couldn't, Diggle.
Look, there's a part of being the Hood that neither one of you are considering.
The body count.
And excuse me for saying this, but so what? Since when do you care? Since Tommy.
After he found out my secret, you know what Tommy called me? A murderer.
He was right.
My best friend died thinking that I was a murderer, and anyone that I kill dishonors his memory.
So don't.
It's not like you've killed every guy you've faced.
I could have.
Because when I put on the hood, it's kill or be killed.
That is what kept me alive.
That's why I should have stayed on the island.
Is that where you're going now? The two of you won't help me save my family's company, I'm going to talk to somebody who will.
Well, someone's definitely out there.
They're moving closer.
Where do you think you're going? Flanking position.
They get the drop on you, you'll want some back-up.
She's teaching you Chinese.
How sweet.
I'm sure she'd be happy to teach you, too-- Shado! Hey.
Hey.
I'm sorry I didn't make it here sooner.
Oh, no, no, no.
Please, Oliver.
There are going to be enough apologies with me apologizing to you for the rest of my life.
You don't have to.
You saved hundreds of lives.
And killed hundreds more.
Including Tommy.
That was Malcolm.
Your sister doesn't see it that way.
And, you know, my attorney is thrilled.
If my own daughter can't forgive me, she's not too optimistic about in a jury box.
All right, enough of that.
How has it been going at Queen Consolidated? Yes, we do get the news in here, Oliver.
Right.
You know, if I'd known the key to you taking your rightful place at the company was its demise, I would have declared bankruptcy a year ago.
I don't know if I'll get to run it for long.
Stellmoor.
Their VP is coming after us hard.
Isabel Rochev.
Yes.
Do not trust that woman, Oliver.
She is dangerous.
Well, mom, everywhere I look, there are no good options.
I don't know what to do.
You don't have to do it yourself.
This is a family business.
I love Thea.
I don't think that she wants anything to do with it.
I wasn't talking about Thea.
Table seven needs bottle service, and I need a round of Martinis on the three top.
You go see your mom yet? I thought about what you said.
And? AndI'll go see her when you stop going out at night looking to clean up the streets.
What does one thing have to do with the other? I guess they're both things that are never going to happen.
We're looking for Oliver Queen! He's back in town.
He owns this dump.
Where can we find him? Ok, then plan "B," I'm going to start shooting people until Mr.
Queen Grows a pair.
Roy! Aaah! Aah! Drop off, hero.
I'm just as happy to kill this Queen as her brother.
Let's go! One of the guys was missing a hand.
What's going on here? Mostly, anyway.
He still had sutures.
Excuse me.
It was the hoods, again.
They came here looking for you, they took Thea instead.
Where? I'm sorry.
I really tried to stop them, but I-- Queen.
Queen! We'll get your sister back.
I was going to check something downstairs.
I've made a few improvements down here.
Just in case, you know You decided to come back.
We need to find these guys.
I've been trying, ever since you got back.
I figured you'd come around eventually.
I kept that.
I liked watching you do that.
Thea's boyfriend said one of them was missing part of his hand.
Maybe a veteran? Check hospital records, any males that have had surgical amputations on their extremities.
Cross-checking by race and age.
Got one--Jeff Deveau.
Caucasian, late thirties.
What else can you get on him? Ex-Marine.
Would explain how he can handle himself.
Did he lose his hand overseas? No.
In the earthquake.
Says here he and his wife were trying to make it across the 52nd Street bridge when it collapsed.
She didn't make it.
Phone records, please.
I want to know he's in contact with.
He's made a lot of calls to a church in the Glades.
Something called Standing Strong.
It's a support group for those who lost loved ones in the quake.
Great place to meet three other guys as angry as you, looking for a little payback.
Get me an address, please.
You're going to need this.
I had it custom made.
How'd I do? It's perfect.
You were right.
Once I signed on, I stopped thinking about all the bodies you dropped.
Because I knew that being the Hood meant occasionally being a killer.
Maybe there's another way.
They have my sister.
What other way is there? What are you doing? We need to save her.
Listen, kid.
You are not the only one who cares for her.
But there's a lot of them.
Wait for my signal.
Where are the graves? Where are the graves? I don't know what you're talking about.
Uhh! Uhh! Tell me.
Oliver, no! Oliver! So What do you want to do with her? We could knock her out, drop her off somewhere.
Come on.
Why don't you just buy her a new pair of Pradas while you're at it? She's seen our faces.
Look, offing Oliver Queen's one thing, but his sister? She's not much older than my sister was when she was killed in the earthquake.
Your sister wasn't killed, she was murdered.
By her mother.
What we're doing here is justice, which makes us the heroes.
She didn't kill anybody.
My mother didn't kill anyone.
Malcolm Merlyn destroyed the Glades.
With mommy's help.
Merlyn killed my father.
She thought he'd kill my brother, too.
She was afraid of him.
She must have been so afraid.
Just like my wife When our house collapsed on top of her.
Ow! Get away from her! Let's go.
Please! Move! Go, move! Please! Let Her Go.
You want to save her? There was no justice for people like the Queens till you showed us how to get it.
You showed us.
Go! You shoot me, we both die.
You'll drop me anyway.
I know you.
You're a killer.
Keep it under 40 next time.
Have a good evening.
Do you know who they are? I think the hoods gives me a pretty good idea.
Bring them in.
Where you been? Typically when I bring in guys that you've gone after, they're a little more dead.
I'm trying another way.
I didn't mean to disturb you.
I didn't know that you were here.
I was just I come here a lot.
I can go.
No, it's You don't have to.
It's, uh Laurel, I understand.
After everything that's happened, I Understand why we can't be together.
But I still need you in my life.
We've been through too much for it to be any other way.
I feel like I betrayed him, too.
Before the Hood, we didn't have things like earthquake machines or copycat vigilantes-- Laurel.
Malcolm killed Tommy.
He was killed in the crossfire between two archers.
And now that Malcolm's dead, there's only one archer left.
And I'm going to help my boss catch him.
That outfit, with your coloring-- isn't that cruel and unusual punishment or something? I've done my best to avoid mirrors in here.
So, I-- How have you been? Don't worry about me.
I want to hear about you.
How are you doing? Are you still seeing, uh-- Roy was his name, wasn't it? Sweetheart, I'm fine, really.
It's not that.
I I almost died last night.
What? Thea, what happened? It doesn't matter.
But when I thought it was over, I kept thinking that if If I died, you would spend the rest of your life thinking that I hated you.
And I want to hate you.
I really tried to.
But I can't.
I can't, Mom.
However long I am in this place, you have freed me.
If I hug you, are they going to shoot us? I'm willing to risk it if you are.
Oh, shh, shh.
You can't win this.
I now own 50% of the stock.
By tomorrow, I'll have the outstanding five percent and I will control your company.
Any attempt to fight me will lead to litigation and leave you penniless.
And trust me, poverty isn't as glamorous as Charles Dickens made it look.
What if I found someone to invest new equity capital? A White Night? With all due respect, your last name is now associated with mass murder.
Even you don't have that good a friend.
You're right.
I have family.
Mr.
Steel.
It was my understanding that you had resigned as CEO.
I did.
I'm now Chief Financial Officer of Starling National Bank.
And my institution has committed rescue financing to Mr.
Queen.
We bought up the remaining shares of Queen Consolidated when they were released this morning.
Now I know I majored in dropping out, but I'm pretty sure that makes us partners going forward.
So I guess We will be seeing a lot of each other.
You aren't at all what people say about you.
Most people fail to see the real me.
Thank you, Walter.
Thank you, for reaching out to me.
Whatever's happened between your mother and me, I'm gratified that you know you can still count on me.
Your father would have been very proud of you, Oliver.
Ms.
Smoak.
Mr.
Steel.
You did it.
Not bad for someone who got a "D" in tenth grade Algebra.
If it's online, I can find it.
Yeah.
Well, it was just like a good friend once told me I had to find another way.
We're not alone.
The question is, where did they come from? Hey, what's up? Just came back from visiting my mom.
Really? Good for you.
So what do you say? You ready to start spending your nights safe with me? Absolutely.
Hey, I'm going to pick us up some big belly burger right now.
I'll see you later.
Ok.
We just want to be friendly.
What, we scare you or something? Yeah.
I think you do.
Me, though, not so much.
Run.
Where the hell did you come from? Well, it looks like Starling is back down to only one man in a hood.
And the three of us are back in the archery business? No.
I spent the past year trying to avenge my father.
If we're going to dothis, it has to be about honoring Tommy.
I need to become the man he hoped I could be.
You two have helped me take the first step.
So what's step two? I'm game for anything as long as it doesn't involve skydiving.
And I'm pretty down on landmines now, too.
The city still needs saving.
But not by the Hood.
And not by some vigilante who's just crossing names off a list.
It needs Something more.
It needs a hero, Oliver.
It's too bad the hoods kind of ruined your nickname.
No, it's good.
I never I don't want to be called the Hood anymore.
Ok.
So what do you want to be called?