‘Arrow’ 1.08 Episode Recap And Review: Vendetta

Oliver has a new partner in crime-fighting on this week’s Arrow!

To the recap! As our story begins, Helena and Ollie are sleeping off the activities of the previous evening. Helena leaves a tastefully nude Oliver alone in bed to attempt to take out one of the top members of the Triad, proving to the audience that this revenge gig has caused her to lose sight of the more important things in life. Ollie stops her just in time and tries to impress upon her the virtues of working for justice, rather than vengeance. Helena remains unimpressed, but eventually agrees to try things Ollie’s way.

Ollie gets Helena involved in his Hood activities, to the displeasure of Diggle. Oliver uses the Venn diagram of “Bad Guys on Dad’s Revenge List” and “Bad Guys Who Work for Helena’s Dad” to pick drug-dealer Anthony Venza as the Target of the Week. Helena and Ollie take out Venza “the right way,” which evidently involves only mostly-killing people with arrows and crossbow bolts. Helena seems intrigued by Ollie’s ideas and would like to subscribe to his newsletter.

Back in the land of the less-vengeful, Tommy convinces Laurel to go on another date with him, this time to check out the new, hot restaurant in town. Things are going less than well, given Tommy’s newfound lack of funds, and the couple are forced to wait with the regular peons who only have reservations to this place. Ollie and Helena show up and invite the pair to join them at their table, creating the most awkward date ever. Old in-jokes and jealousies abound, leaving both couples to break things off shortly after the dessert course.

Tommy patches things up with Helena, swallows his pride, and asks Ollie for a job. Helena, on the other hand, decides that the best way to deal with a break-up is to go on a Triad killing spree and spark off a war between the Triad and her father’s crime family. The Triad descends on Helena’s family home, killing off guards and retainers left and right. Helena goes after her father personally, then monologues just long enough for Ollie to arrive and stop her from striking final blow. Frank Bertinelli decides that “World’s Best Dad” mugs are overrated and shoots Helena with her own crossbow. Helena survives to see her father put behind bars, but warns Ollie to stay out of her way from here on out.

On the family front, Walter is back from ‘Australia’ and learning more and more about his wife’s clandestine activities. His investigations of the crazy, subway-map-like symbol that Felicity found attached to Moira’s company lead him to discover her own copy of the Revenge Book. The plot, how it thickens!

This episode may not have been as shocking as last week’s, but it was still a highly enjoyable watch. I loved seeing Helena in the Arrow version of her Huntress gear. Also, two Birds of Prey in an awkward, rom-com dinner date? Wacky fun!

I’ll admit, Helena’s final descent into angry vengeance lady seemed a little sudden after an entire episode of her buying Ollie’s version of no-kill vigilantism. I’m somewhat less than willing to believe that a bad date pushed her over that final edge. Spontaneous turn-around or not, the final confrontation was pretty epic. I can’t nay-say anything that leads to a good action scene, and I’m excited to see how and when Helena’s going to make her triumphant return later in the series.

Best Quotes:
Helena: “Thank you for the coffee and the sex.”

Tommy: “You have thinky face. Why do you have thinky face?”

Things to Ponder

• Ollie and Laurel are kind of the Justice League OTP, in my own opinion, but they’re doing a great job of making Tommy into a pretty swell guy. When and where do you think the turnaround is going to happen, or is Arrow going to take this off-book?
• Those of you who are more DC-savvy than I am, does Felicity Smoak have a comic-book counterpart? I’m wondering if they’re setting her up to be Starling City’s version of Oracle.