‘Arrow’ 2.05 Episode Recap and Review: League of Assassins

The League of Assassins is in town and they’re out for one of their own on this episode of Arrow!

There’s a new and upsetting development in Mo’s court case: Laurel is now assisting the D.A. in prosecuting her. Not cool, Laurel. She hasn’t gone completely to the dark side yet, though. Laurel was able to talk the D.A. into offering a plea deal. Mo can accept a life sentence with the possibility of parole, or she can go to trial and put her life on the line. Mo wants to take the deal, but Ollie knows that there’s something more behind her acceptance than she’s saying.

Back at Queen Manor, one of the Mystery Ninjas from a couple episodes back busts in on Sara and Oliver. Ollie recognizes the ninja’s gear as the same basic black armor that Malcolm Merlyn wore. After the usual display of awesome fight choreography (including the best use of door molding ever), Sara confesses to Ollie that she was a member of the League of Assassins and that the ninja was there to take her back.

Felicity uses a soil sample left behind by the bad guy to trace him to that one abandoned factory set that must have its own dedicated camera crew by now. The Main Mystery Ninja is in residence and drops a load of exposition on us, including the fact that he trained Merlyn and that he’ll be going after Quentin and Laurel for the rest of the episode. Felicity attempts to warn Papa Lance, but he’s not exactly open-minded, so Sara breaks cover and warns him herself in a ridiculously touching reunion scene. Quentin isn’t exactly a dim bulb. He puts together pretty quickly that Sara is the Canary and that she’s in league with the Arrow.

Meanwhile, Ollie is on Laurel-watch. They go on a totally platonic, hope-no-one-tries-to-kill-you date. Laurel misinterprets Ollie’s protectiveness as a romantic gesture and attempts to kiss him. His attempt at being a gentleman doesn’t go so well, and Laurel heads to her door in tears. The ninjas have already been there and left what I can only assume is a warning knife in the drywall. Laurel, predictably, pops more pills as soon as Ollie leaves with the knife.

Back in Canary Tower, Sara and Papa Lance are ambushed by the Ninja and his minions. The bad guys temporarily get the upper hand in the ensuing fight, until the Arrow swings in and turns the tide. Sara has to kill the main Ninja in front of her father, but he’s remarkably unfazed by the action. She begs him not to tell Laurel and River Mom that she’s back, then promises to get out of town.

Ollie’s learned a Valuable Lesson about keeping secrets, so he and Thea go to Mo to learn hers, promising that no matter what it is, they’ll still love her. With that in mind, Mo decides to reject the plea deal. Ollie follows up on this moment of personal growth by sitting down with Digg to talk about what happened on the Amazo.

Speaking of which, in this episode’s flashback we see how Sara survived the sinking of the Gambit. After drifting for a bit on a piece of debris, Sara was picked up by the Amazo and thrown in to a cell similar to the one that Ollie was thrown into a couple of episodes ago. She’s “rescued” from the cell by a well-dressed man who tells her all about how she’s going to help him build his “master race.” Because that always ends well. Nothing good can come of this, guys.

Oh, Papa Lance. I give you all of my tears, sir. Paul Blackthorne made a fantastic meal of that reunion scene in the best possible way, and I ate every last bite. I’m still not exactly on Team Sara at the moment (something about not being called “Dinah” and the perma-pout), but I very much appreciate how well that scene played. Well done, Arrow!

I’m starting to notice that all of my favorite quotes are coming from Felicity. I’m not sure if that’s because the writers are pushing Ollie in a more serious direction, there’s a snark-vacuum after Tommy’s loss, or just that Felicity is becoming more of a “Girl Wednesday” (another Felicitism). I definitely appreciate her one-liners, but not at the expense of her becoming another trope-ish wisecracking sidekick. Toe that line, Arrow, toe that line.

Best Quotes:
Felicity: “Gee, I didn’t get you a bag of dirt.”

Felicity (again): “We all join clubs we wish we hadn’t. Took me a year to get out of that gym membership.”

Things to Ponder:

  • Would Sarah and Malcolm Merlyn have been able to recognize each other, and if so, could they have been in Nanda Parbat at the same time?
  • So… why would legendary assassins break into a woman’s apartment, leave the door open, and just leave a knife? I see no assassinary (assassinic? assassinesque?) logic in this.

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