Arrow - S3E3 - Corto Maltese
Sorry for the lack of recap or review last week. Our regular Arrow writer is finishing up an important course and I’m under a crazy book deadline. But we’re back now. Let’s jump in it.
Thea and Daddy Dearest Flashbacks
Thea has tracked down Malcolm because she is sick of being hurt, being lied to, being a victim. She wants to be cold and emotionless, and he’s just the person to help with that. Yup. If you want to be dead inside, you’ve come to the right place, Thea.
Thea’s training begins with tea. And I don’t mean gossip. Malcolm says she’ll need it to clear her mind and heal her soul before she’s ready to wield a weapon. Oh, and then he pours scalding water over his arm and threatens to do the same to Thea. Hey, you wanted to learn! She can’t do it for long and apologizes. She’s not about this life after all.
Too bad! Malcolm can only train her as he was trained. And he was trained by getting his ass kicked, apparently. He smacks her around a few times, and when she grabs a sword to defend herself, he deems her ready.
Chasing Down a Lead
Oliver tracks down a possible lead in Sara’s murder, but it goes nowhere. There is some good news: Felicity has tracked down Thea to Corto Maltese. Roy insists on going with Oliver to make things right since he’s the reason Thea’s gone. But first he has to be schooled on which weapons are allowed on planes since he’s never been on one. Spoiler Alert: Roy, none of them. Lila insists that Diggle go with Oliver as well and track down an operative that’s gone missing.
In present day, Olivia catches up with Thea, who’s rocking a short hairdo and working in a cafe. She misses him, she loves him, but she’s never coming back to Starling City.
Diggle makes contact with the missing spy, Shaw. Shaw is working to bust someone willing to buy data that has the real name of their spies, plus their family members’ info. Diggle accompanies him to the sale, but realizes Shaw is full of shit. Despite Oliver being there as hidden backup, Shaw gets away.
Laurel Gets Strong
While working a case, Laurel is offered the opportunity to train at a boxing gym, and she seems tempted. Later, at an AA meeting, she admits to being angry after something terrible happened, but she can’t talk about it. She doesn’t want to drink - she’s just pissed off all the time. Her father arrives so she stops the sharing, but listens on as a woman in the meeting admits that her boyfriend is still drinking and beating her.
Felicity’s New Job
Felicity is shocked to learn that her new position at QC comes with a personal assistant and Oliver’s old office is now her office. Hmmm. Top that, Oliver. Ray ain’t messing around.
He’s also super understanding when Felicity puts him off to help Diggle track down Shaw and Laurel track down the guy beating on his girlfriend.
Last Ditch Efforts
After Roy is unable to convince Thea to come home, Oliver decides being honest with her about everything is the way to go. Diggle warns that all Thea will see is that he’d been lying even more than she thought.
Laurel approaches the domestic abuser in an alley. She’s wearing a mask, but wielding a baseball bat. She gets a few good hits in before he takes the bat away, hits her a few times, and then kicks her while she’s down. She refuses to explain what she’s going through when her dad visits her in the hospital. He points out she’s not the Arrow or Sara and then makes her promise she’ll never do anything like it again. We all know she’s lying.
Oliver tries to come clean with Thea, starting with telling her how their father killed himself on the lifeboat - he didn’t drown at sea. If she doesn’t need him; he needs her.
Felicity comes through and Diggle, Roy, and Oliver track down Shaw as he’s meeting with the buyers. And even though they couldn’t travel with weapons, Oliver has fashioned bows and arrows out of the furniture in their hotel room. Crafty! After a lengthy battle, our guys save the day.
Meanwhile, Thea tells Malcolm she wants to go back with Oliver. He takes this as a sign that she hasn’t come as far as he thought. She proves him wrong by beating him a sword fight so she can go home. Of course, he let her win and they both know it. She surprises Roy, Oliver, and Diggle, at the airport, and doesn’t even flinch when someone accidentally spilled hot coffee on her hand.
At home, Laurel goes to Oliver for help in training how to be Sara. The bruises on her face make it easy for him to tell her to have a damn seat. Think of how your father would feel, he tells her. She ends up at the boxing gym.
Diggle gets home and loves his family up. Felicity gets time off to see Barry. Ray’s in a giving mood since she accessed some hard to get data for him. He looks at the files - weapons blueprints - after she’s gone. Creepy. Oliver asks Roy if Thea seems different and if he thought she was seeing someone in Corto Maltese. Their convo is cut short when Talia ah Ghul shows up, crossbow trained on Oliver, demanding to know where Sara is.
