Arrow 1.07: "Muse of Fire"

“I think we need to stop judging him for the Oliver his was and start accepting him for the Oliver he is.”
- Moira

We start this week with Oli out for a ride on his motorcycle. He stops in the middle of the street (not so safe) and answers a call from Thea. She’s reminding him that he is scheduled to have lunch with Moira. Oli pleads ignorance but Thea insists he just go have lunch with her. It’s good he shows up actually. Moira is telling off a guy who is trying to get her to hear his proposal. Just as Oliver starts over another motorcycle pulls up and the driver shoots Moira’s not-business associate. Oliver, after making sure Moira is okay, takes off after the driver. He gets *this* close to catching up when a big truck gets in his way. He ends up at the hospital because Moira was not in fact okay. She has a grade 2 concussion. She can be released from the hospital but someone needs to stay with her. Oli feeds them a line about trying to get the license plate but Thea doesn’t believe him. Oli learns from Detective Lance that the guy who was killed is connected to the mob. Back at the man cave, Oli is training and doing some digging on the mob boss. Turns out lots of the boss’s affiliates have disappeared or turned up dead lately. Regardless, when Oli finds the shooter, there’s going to be another corpse. We cut to the other rider and it turns out to be a woman. Seems Starling City isn’t only Oli’s hunting grounds.

In a smaller side plot, Tommy shows up at Laurel’s with sushi and a request to go on a dinner date. She eventually agrees. I have to say I don’t really find their relationship that interesting. Anyway, Oli is heading out later that night for a business meeting when Tommy shows up. Thea is crabby that she has to curtail her night of clubbing to stay in with Moira. Tommy wants to give Oli the heads up that he and Laurel are going on a date. Oliver acts cool with it at first but then tells his best bud that if he hurts Laurel, Oli will snap his neck. I don’t doubt that. Holed up in her mom’s bedroom, Thea bemoans that Oliver keeps lying. Moira tells her that they need to stop expecting him to be the old Oliver. Oliver ends up meeting with the mob boss, Frank Bertanelli. He wants the contract to build the new applied sciences building for Queen Consolidated and Oliver says he can have it. Unfortunately, Frank gets called away to another meeting, leaving Oliver to go to dinner with Franks’ daughter, Helena. Oh boy.

Frank (and his associate played by Tahmoh Penikett) ends up meeting with the Triad leader China White. The Triad insists they aren’t taking out Frank’s guys. Somehow, Lance and his partner have ears on the conversation and they think that it isn’t a professional taking the hits out. At first, Oliver and Helena seem not to like each other but as the evening goes on they seem to connect. They both understand what it’s like to hold a version of yourself out to the world that isn’t the real you (you think?). Helena hates what her father does and warns Oliver about getting into bed with him. Oliver gets called away big Diggle but he’s actually sad to see the evening end. Meanwhile, over at an Indian restaurant, Tommy is actually being charming and says he wishes he and Laurel could just start fresh. And then the big slap in the face comes. His credit card has been denied and the company wants the restaurant to confiscate it. I guess he hasn’t paid his bill in a while.

Back at the Queen mansion, Moira gets a visit from the Well Dressed Man. He wants to make sure her convictions to whatever it is they’re doing haven’t waivered given her recent near-death experience. I do love me some John Barrowman but must admit I miss seeing him in that Captain’s coat. Anyway, Oliver is back on the phone with Diggle. It turns out Frank’s enforcer buddy has been going to all the people who owe the mob protection money and has put 4 people in the hospital already and is heading right to where Oli and Helena were having dinner. Things aren’t looking good until Oli kills the lights and swans in as Arrow. Not surprising the biker from earlier is there too. They end up going at it and Oli smashes the visor of the helmet, revealing Helena. He’s more than a little surprised to see her as she takes off.

Back at the man cave, Diggle is giving Oliver a talking to. He warns that Helena is the bad guy and Oliver needs to get his head on straight. Oliver says he knows what he’s doing. He clearly has the hots for her. Back home, he gets a visit from Detective Lance who tells Oli pretty much the same thing. Yeah, I don’t’ think he’s going to listen to the advice from him either. Things aren’t looking so good for Tommy, either. He’s discovered all of his accounts and credit cards have been frozen and cancelled. And in the big twisty reveal, the Well Dressed Man turns out to be his father. He’s tired of Tommy being lazy.

Oliver finds Helena visiting her fiancé Michael’s grave. She takes off after she tells him that the love she felt for Michael has turned to hate. Unfortunately, Frank’s number two rolls up and kidnaps both she and Oliver. He admits to killing Helena’s fiancé because he was going to the FBI. Helena corrects him that she was the one talking to the FBI and just as she’s about to get shot, Oliver breaks free and a full out beat down gets underway. I have to say Oliver and Helena would make an awesome duo. They take out everyone and as Oliver looks at Helena, a little surprised that she snapped a guy’s neck, she proclaims that no one can know her secret.

The end of the episode is really all about couples. Walter has come home because he misses Moira so they’re back to mending things with their marriage. Thea apologizes to Oliver about the way she’s been acting. Tommy shows up at Laurel’s apartment, desperate for a place to stay and help getting on his feet again. And Oliver and Helena come clean with each other before making out.