Arrow 1.05: "Damaged"

“Of course I care but the mission comes first.”
- Oliver

We begin with a flashback to the island. Oliver’s cave buddy is teaching him how to shoot a bow. Oliver had made a stink about not wanting to go touch the bloody dead animals. Oliver kind of sucks at shooting. As he’s on the way to pick up the dead animal, he gets nabbed by a bunch of guys in black and locked in a case that is somewhat reminiscent of the pit on LOST. In the present, Oliver is getting printed and taken into custody. Detective Lance is trying to jam up Oliver when Moira and Walter arrive. They have an attorney on the way and they are cutting off the interrogation. I think it’s a little ridiculous since Oliver is an adult and he is the one who should have said “lawyer”. Anyway, Detective Lance has a bug up his ass because of the video footage he has from the Deadshot mess. Oliver wants Laurel to represent him. Moira takes the request to Laurel but she thinks it’s not a good idea for her to do so.

We cut to the arraignment and at first Oliver is representing himself. The prosecution is going on about Oliver’s wealth and why that means he shouldn’t be released on bail when Laurel strides into the courtroom and says that Oliver will submit to home confinement and electronic monitoring. She’s convinced the legal case is going to be fine since he’s so self-centered he can’t be the vigilante. Oliver seems like a pretty spoiled brat as he’s getting his anklet on. He insists on having a bit house party the next night to sort of celebrate. I think he wants to do it just to keep his playboy image to make it harder to believe he’s actually Arrow.

Later, Diggle shows up and Oliver tasks him with shadowing an arms dealer. Apparently getting arrested is part of Oliver’s master plan (he claims he knew the camera was there and that the cops would be looking at it). Diggle heads to the man cave and it is adorable to see him geeking out over all the tech and what not. Later that day, Oliver and Laurel head to a meeting with the DA and Detective Lance. The DA tries to offer Oli a deal but he says he wants to do a polygraph in front of Detective Lance to prove he isn’t the vigilante. Laurel can’t believe Oliver is potentially tossing a good deal away for the prospect of life in prison. Oliver flashes back to being taken to meet with a European man. He asks about the archer and Oli denies knowing him. Unfortunately, the guy can tell Oliver is lying and sends in a guy in with a mask (we saw it briefly on the island in the pilot). In a sort of minor plotline, Walter asks the head of security at Queen Consolidated for a meeting to move the Queen’s Gambit.

Thea isn’t reacting well to Oliver’s drama. Oliver is trying to reassure her but she’s skeptical. We jump to a rather exciting bit. John Barrowman is meeting with Moira (they met previously and realized that Arrow is targeting the list. So obviously they know about it, too). Barrowman’s “The Well Dressed Man” seems to think there might be something to the concerns about Oliver. We move to the polygraph and in between the questions about being on the island and whether he was the man in the hood (in a sketch) we see Oliver being tortured. He admits to being tortured and says that he killed Sarah and then rips off the polygraph tracking stuff and storms out. Laurel expects her dad to tell the DA to drop the charges but he’s not relenting.

Oliver is actually going through with his big crazy jail party. Oliver is being really obnoxious and for some reason Detective Lance is at the party. He’s probably trying to catch Oliver doing something sketchy. Oliver and Diggle are plotting to get the arms dealer at his buy and it reminds me quite a bit of the very end of BBC’s Robin Hood. Oliver basically says it doesn’t have to be him in the hood to be Arrow. It does present a clever alibi and diversion. So while Diggle is off to stop an arms deal, Oliver and Laurel bond a little bit. She basically tells him about her mom leaving and she asks to see the scars. They start making out and Laurel freaks out. Back on the island, Deathstroke is about to put Oli out of his misery when the archer shows up. We get a pretty decent stunt fight between Deathstroke and Asian Arrow.

Diggle takes out the buy while Moira gets called to the office by Walter. The head of security he sent to get to move the Queen’s Gambit is dead. I wasn’t expecting Walter to confront her about this so soon. She tries to warn him off the whole thing but it seems he’s not interested at all. Back at the party, Oli gets a call from Diggle that the arms dealers are taken care of. Just as Oli is finishing up his call a man dressed as a waiter approaches with a gun (silencer screwed on) and Oliver manages to mostly take him out. Detective Lance saves him. They don’t know who the guy is but they are dropping charges against Oliver because of a vigilante sighting at an arms deal. Detective Lance looks rather disappointed that Oliver isn’t the guy he was looking for but it looks like Oliver’s plan is working. I can’t help but wonder who Moira is playing, The Well Dressed Man or Walter. Moira ends up in Barrowman’s office, griping about how he almost had Oliver killed. It looks like blame is being tossed about between them. Moira leaves with a threat to Mr. Handsome. Go after her family again and she will end him.

Back on the island, Asian Arrow gets Oliver back to the cave and takes off to lead the baddies off his trail. Back in the present, it seems everyone is leaving everyone. Laurel says she and Oliver can’t be together and Walter is going on a long-overdue business trip to Australia. Diggle gets his very own voice over monologue for a bit while Oliver gets ready to take out the gun dealers for real.