‘Arrow’ 1.20 Episode Recap and Review: Home Invasion

Things are coming to a head on this week’s episode of Arrow!

Deadshot is still in town, and Digg’s still got a yen for some serious vengeance. Ollie’s more than willing to help him take the sniper down, but Digg’s federal contact is no longer happy to play ball now that she’s figured out why Digg is involved. She tells him to stay the hell away from her investigation, especially the sting operation that may or may not be going down later.

Deadshot isn’t the only Big Bad in town, though. Laurel has taken on the case of Eric and Nancy Moore, who are suing big-time corporate bad guy Edward Rasmus for defrauding them in some unspecified evil scheme. Rasmus sends Mr. Blank to “take care” of the problem in a contract killing made to look like a home invasion (it’s kind of Mr. Blank’s calling card, hence the episode title). Eric and Nancy’s small son Tayler is the only one to escape. Laurel decides to take him in until his grandparents can be contacted. Of course, Mr. Blank isn’t going to just let the kid go. He attacks Laurel, Tommy, and Taylor at Laurel’s place. The Hood manages to fight him off just in time, and Tommy grudgingly admits that Laurel and Taylor would be safest at the Queen mansion.

Ollie leaves the trio on their own in order to help Digg out with the sting on Deadshot. Digg doesn’t want to see Deadshot brought to justice. He wants to see his brother’s killer dead. As Oliver is headed out of the Arrow-cave, Felicity gets a ping that Rasmus just bought a one-way ticket to Shanghai, leaving Ollie torn between targets. He decides to go after Rasmus, leaving Digg alone to watch over the Deadshot operation. Ollie successfully gets Rasmus to the cops, but Digg’s presence tips off Deadshot, who takes out four officers and beats the living dickens out of Digg himself. Diggle tells Ollie that he’s sick of Oliver always choosing Laurel, and quits the whole Hood business.

Mr. Blank isn’t ready to let anything lie, though. Both Rasmus and Taylor have seen his face, so neither can be allowed to live. He kills Rasmus in the police station, then heads for the Queen mansion. After a truly epic fight scene, Oliver manages to impale Mr. Blank with a fire poker. Tommy covers for him, backing Ollie’s story that one of the security guards did it. Tommy’s insecurities about Ollie and Laurel have come to a head, though. He says he’ll never be able to be with Laurel knowing that she’d choose Oliver if she ever found out that he was the Hood. In a rather tearful scene, he tells Laurel that it just isn’t working and gets his stuff out of her apartment.

Back on the island, Shado is teaching Oliver archery with a side of snogging. He’s not so great at either, as he’s missing both the targets and his girlfriend. Shado is still confident that she’ll be able to teach him, but it’s going to be a while before she gets the chance again. Yao Fei has come back to the fold, but he didn’t come alone. Our intrepid island heroes are surrounded by a whole lot of armed bad guys by the time the episode fades to black.

We’re coming up towards the end of the season, and I’d definitely call this a “darkest before the dawn” episode. Tommy and Laurel have called it quits, which I’m almost certain will push him that much further towards the dark side, especially given the fact that he blames Ollie for it. Digg has effectively told Ollie where he can keep his arrows. Even back on the island, Yao Fei has shown up at the airplane hideaway with a contingent of Fyres’ men, armed to the teeth. There’s a whole lot of unhappy going on, and I’m definitely interested to see the fall-out here.

I’m having trouble deciding whether Digg was wrong about Oliver choosing to go after Rasmus. On a personal level, Ollie definitely let Digg down in that he wasn’t there to kill Deadshot, rather than have him taken into custody. On the other hand, despite what Diggle said to Oliver, if Digg hadn’t felt the burning need to be there, Deadshot wouldn’t have been tipped off and those officers wouldn’t have died. Rasmus was swiftly heading somewhere with no extradition treaty, while Deadshot was still in town, but Deadshot is more of a direct killer. What do you think?

Next week’s episode is called “The Undertaking.” I can’t wait to delve back into the underlying Arrow conspiracy!

Best Quote:
Thea: Do you have a police radio in your pocket?
Roy: No, I’m just happy to see you.

Things to Ponder:

  • So Digg’s out of the Hood business. Is he still Oliver Queen’s bodyguard?
  • Between her nickname and his actual name, I think I’d really like to see Thea and Roy both end up helping the Hood. Thoughts?

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Things are definitely stirred up, can’t wait to see how it all turns out. Very surprised to see Tommy leave Laurel so suddenly (because of his insecurities???) at such an emotional time for all of them, seems to be his pattern to run! I do not think he needs much nudging to go further to the dark side. Maybe Laurel will discover she is pregnant and throw a whole new wrench in that. I think that Diggle will return to the fold after he licks his wounds and that Arrow/Oliver redeems himself, in Digg’s mind. in my opinion, the show needs to reduce the number of characters, but hoping Diggle is not leaving the show.

  2. I think Diggle will be back, he’s in previews for next week’s episode. I can’t wait to watch it and I really like how the show has been progressing. I can’t seem to live without Arrow, and because I work at DISH was thrilled to get my hands on a Hopper when it was released, and I’ve been happy with it as a DVR ever since. I really enjoy how I can use my Hopper DVR from DISH to record up to six shows at once during primetime hours. I use this technology to help minimize my DVR conflicts so that I won’t miss episodes of Arrow.

  3. I think Tommy’s been working up to leaving Laurel, and the events of the episode just pushed him over the edge. Without the support system, he’s definitely going to be flying his Dad’s flag soon enough.