Arrow 1.20: "Home Invasion"

“Oliver, we’re not even in the same book. I mean, not anymore. We’re done.”
- Diggle

We are closing in on the end of the first season of Arrow (for those following at home, it has already been renewed for season 2). We begin this week with Diggle working out, trying to funnel some of his frustrations over Deadshot into a productive use of his time. As Oli promises to help hunt down the assassin, we see him in Germany kill someone. Felicity pipes up that Diggle’s government friend haws set up a lure to get Deadshot back to Starling City. Diggle pays his contact, Lila, a visit but she cuts him off. She knows about his brother and orders him to stay away.

Meanwhile, Oli heads off to lunch with laurel, which has to be cancelled because she’s getting ready for a deposition with the Moores. They invested with a guy named Rasmus and he blew it all. That night, a man with no name (played by J. August Richards of Angel fame) shows up and kills Mr. and Mrs. Moore. Their seven-year-old son, Taylor, escapes. Oli sees the morning news and he gets that look like he wants to put an arrow in someone. He goes down to the precinct to check on Laurel. S he’s taking temporary guardianship of Taylor. There will be a patrol car outside her building and Detective Lance even gives Tommy orders to keep an eye on Laurel. Things are going to get kind of awkward I can just tell.

Back at the man cave, Felicity shares the plan to take down Deadshot. At least the plan that the feds have. Oli is going to make sure Deadshot doesn’t walk away again. And he wants Felicity to look into Rasmus to see if they can find the hired gun. That night at Laurel’s place, Tommy manages to connect with Taylor. He shares the loss of his mother. He tells Taylor that his parents aren’t gone because they will always be in his memories and his dreams. Tommy does have a few surprises left in him.

Back on the island, Shadow and Slade are trying to come up with a rescue plan to get the Archer and stop the baddie. Shadow suggests Oliver can provide cover by way of bow and arrow. She’ll teach him to shoot and if he can’t hit his mark by sundown, they find another way. Things get a little steamy between them as they practice out in the woods. She gets to show off a little bit as she tries to explain to Oliver how to shoot properly. It’s not so much his form as it is his focus. He needs to see his target, focus on it and just let it go. They share a kiss but Oli is still in love with Laurel at this point. Not that she knows it or feel the same way given how things ended with them pre-island getaway. We don’t entirely know if Oli succeeds by sundown but the pair do return to the plane wreckage. Unfortunately, the Archer shows up. He’s led the baddie and the soldiers right to them. I have to say the island plot is the part that keeps me guessing.

Roy Harper reappears this week for a very brief storyline. He wants to find the vigilante. He ends up snagging a police radio from Detective Lance and when he hears chatter while out on a date with Thea, he takes off. Too bad it was just Lance setting a trap for him to get the radio back. Later, Thea shows up at the precinct to try and talk to Lance about just letting Roy go. Lance complies but takes them down to the morgue. There’s a special part just for vigilante victims. Thea is pretty freaked out but Roy sees the justice in it all. After they leave, he explains to Thea that the Hood made him realize he could be more than what he was. And so they agree to find the vigilante together. That is going to be one awkward conversation when Thea realizes it’s her big brother.

After Tommy’s bonding with Taylor, things go from bad to worse. The assassin shows up at Laurel’s place and tries to take her and Taylor out. She figure shim out before she just opens the door because the badge he had didn’t’ start with the right number for the rank he stated. Laurel gets a few shots off at him but Arrow shows up and manages to save their lives. The assassin gets away, giving him another opportunity to try and take them out. In a rather surprising move, Tommy says they should go stay with the Queens. They have tons of security and unbeknownst to the Lances, their very own vigilante. Too bad, Oli has a date with Deadshot at 8pm. He swings by the club to get his Arrow gear when Felicity alerts to the fact that Rasmus is leaving the country on a flight that leaves at 8:15. So he’s going to have to pick, ditch Diggle and stop the assassin or take out Deadshot once and for all.

It becomes obvious as Diggle waits out of view at the Deadshot trap that Oliver isn’t showing. We see him take out Rasmus’ car with some arrows. So he’s at least taken care of. Things with Deadshot take a well, deadly turn. A bunch of agents get taken out before Diggle can do anything (though he does notice the glint of read from high up. He tackles his friend and she seems to be okay but stunned and maybe had the wind knocked out of her. Diggle goes after Deadshot and they fight hand to hand in a stairwell until Deadshot forces Dig onto his knees. But he won’t pull the trigger because no one is paying him. Oli gets back to the man cave to find Felicity tending to Diggle’s head wound and Diggle is furious that Oli broke his promise to help take out Deadshot. Who knows when they’ll get their next opportunity to find him? Rasmus won’t be an issue though because the assassin impersonates an attorney and kills him without leaving a mark.

Oliver heads back home as Laurel and Tommy put Taylor to bed. The power gets cut and Oli locks Laurel and Tommy in with Taylor to keep them safe. The assassin gets in (by using a UPS guy as cover) and takes out a lot of the bodyguards. But he is no match for Oliver. They trade blows and go dicing off stairwells but in the end Oliver stabs him through the chest with a fire poker. Use what’s handy I suppose. He feeds Detective Lance a story about one of the security guards doing the actual killing and surprisingly, Tommy back him up on it. They share an emotional moment where Tommy realizes Oli is still in love with Laurel. Oliver swears there’s no competition because she can never know his secret. But Tommy thinks that if she did find out, she’d choose him. And so, once Taylor is safely off with his grandparents, Tommy leaves.

And that’s not the only break up happening this week. After everything has gone down, Oliver shows up at the man cave and tells dig he wants to get on the same page again. But Dig isn’t interested. He is done being the side kick and being tossed around by Oliver and treated like crap. Oli can do his heroics without him. I really hope Diggle changes his mind. I know Oli can be one-track sometimes but he did what he thought was the best thing to save the most lives.