‘Arrow’ 1.07 Episode Recap And Review: Muse of Fire

Big reveals and the first appearance of Huntress on this week’s episode of Arrow

Recap time! So Ollie’s promised to take Mum to lunch in a fit of family bonding time. Just as he’s getting off his motorcycle (mind that, it’ll be important later), a mysterious black-clad motorcycle rider comes screeching past, shooting Mum’s business associate and injuring her just enough to be a plot point, but not enough to cause the costuming department any concern. Ollie takes off sprinting after the biker, conveniently forgetting that he was also riding a bike not 30 seconds ago. Alas, he is unable to catch “the guy” on foot.

In the first of several shocking reveals of the episode, we discover that not only is the shooter not a guy, but she’s Helena Bertinelli, daughter of major mob boss Frank Bertinelli. Ollie is lead to Frank’s doorstep in his own investigation when he discovers that the dead businessman was one of Frank’s lackeys. Sadly, Bertinelli doesn’t have much time to talk to Oliver, so he does what any savvy businessman and father would do: send his young, attractive daughter on a “dinner meeting” with the billionaire playboy to “discuss business.” Right.

Shortly after Ollie and Helena’s totally-not-a-date ends, Bertinelli’s goons, headed up by Tahmoh Penikett of Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse fame, show up to shake down the restaurant’s kindly owners for protection money. The Huntress and The Hood break up the fight, but Helena and Ollie are captured not long after at the grave of Helena’s fiancé. As it turns out, not only did Bertinelli order her beloved’s murder, Helo did it himself to keep him from informing on the Bertinellis to the FBI. Only Michael wasn’t the informant. Helena was. Ollie and Helena fight their way out of the slew of mob minions, snapping Helo’s neck in the process. Secret identities are revealed, and Distaff Counterpart Nookie ensues.

While Ollie is off chatting up his new soon-to-be love interest and shaking down her mob boss papa, Tommy has finally decided to ask Laurel on an actual date. They hit the down, and everything is going rather swimmingly until the check comes. Tommy’s card has not only been declined, it’s been confiscated. Tommy goes storming home to confront his Dad, who pauses his face-concealing fencing lesson long enough to reveal himself to be John Barrowman! He’s sick of Tommy’s irresponsible ways and has cut him off without a dime. Now Tommy’s going to have to live like one of the impoverished people Laurel has sworn to help. Convenient!

What a fun episode! There were no island flashbacks, but I have to admit that I didn’t miss them this time. Between the reveal of Tommy’s Dad and Helena playing the female version of Ollie, this episode was too packed to support the break in narrative of the flashbacks.

I think this show really hits its stride when it’s illuminating Ollie’s character through someone else. We saw a good bit of that last episode with Oliver’s connection to the Royal Flush gang. Having Ollie basically watch his own crusade in the guise of Helena was brilliant. I would love to watch him take a serious minute to see what kind of path his actions could lead him down. Her taking Oliver’s own line, “No one can know my secret,” was a smooth bit of dialogue. I’m definitely hoping Huntress will be sticking around for a few more episodes.

So John Barrowman accidentally tweeted a spoiler during the initial run of this episode of Arrow. I could not be happier that I didn’t catch it before he took the tweet down. There may have been copious amounts of excited flailing when I recognized the smooth tones of Jack Harkness behind that fencing mask. I can’t wait to see how this is going to affect Tommy’s character in the coming weeks!

Best quote:
Ollie: “If you hurt her, I’ll snap your neck… just kidding.”

Things to ponder:

• So in the comic books, Tommy’s a villain. Is Daddy Harkness taking on that role, or is he going to be a driving force behind Tommy’s turn to the Dark Side? Think Tommy’s trust fund will be restored in return for taking on some of the family business?
• On a related note, now we know that Moira and Tommy’s Dad were friends once. Are all the Founding Families of Mystic Falls Starling City in on this mysterious crime cabal, or are we going to meet some high-powered good guys at some point?