My "Arrow" 1x12 Recap
We open with Arrow chasing some dude everywhere. He finally corners the drug dealer who says The Count supplies them with Vertigo. This is an adaptation of Count Vertigo from the comics who has the power to give people vertigo. I guess drugs are the simpler way of doing that but it seems lazy on his part.
At the lair, Ollie has been at this for hours and still wants to keep going like the little energizer bunny he is. Diggle is thoughtful enough to remind him he has a family. Yes, I’m sure Thea’s involvement has nothing to do with his determination. Diggle does make one great point though:
Diggle: “The Count? That’s worse than The Hood.”
At the Ollie’s home, he gives Thea sage advice like don’t play tic tac toe during the trial. I guess troublesome older brothers do come in handy on occasion. Thea is genuinely vulnerable and it’s nice seeing Ollie there for her.
Thea gets hounded at the courthouse and Ollie holds her hand. Inside, Thea tries to get a plea deal but the judge wants to be tough on crime and is using Thea as an example. No deal. Laurel shows up. Her gift to the family is staying silent through the whole scene. It’s the greatest help she has been so far.
At the house, the best defense lawyer ever according to Momma Moira, informs them that Thea might go to jail. Thea mouths off to her mom a little and though she got herself into this mess, given the news she just got I think she’s understandably upset. Ollie goes off to handle things himself but stops to give himself a comforting little flashback.
Back on the island, Ollie is in a cell when his former mentor stops by with some water for him. Ollie is all upset because he thought they were bros but he’s willing to forget this whole betrayal thing if he will be let go. No dice. Ollie throws a hissy fit. They can’t all be Diggle, Ollie.
Ollie shows up at the police station to drop off the name The Count. He runs into a cop named McKenna Hall, who he used to party with. She’s also Luna from “True Blood” but manages to keep her shirt on for the entire scene. She already knew about The Count, admires Ollie love for his sister but wants to handle the case herself. When Ollie leaves, Quentin shows up to be all up in Ollie’s business. McKenna is respectful but doesn’t give up anything.
In a warehouse somewhere, the drug dealer from early on meets up with The Count. The Count knows that the dealer knows nothing other than his name but he also wants to set an example. At least Thea will fare slightly better than this dude. Small favors? The Count injects Vertigo into the drug dealer’s blood stream which makes your pain receptors think you’re in pain until your heart gives out. The Count gives the guy a loaded gun to either kill him (The Count) or kill himself. The drug dealer kills himself. I feel like The Count might not be all there. Thoughts?
At Laurel’s place, Laurel gets her product placement on to look at pictures of Thea. Tommy shows up to banter about their opposite schedules and their lack of snuggling. Ollie shows up like the third wheel he often is, to beg Laurel to talk to her dad on Thea’s behalf. She agrees.
In the police station parking lot I guess, Laurel makes the case that Quentin should help Thea because she’s like Sarah. Laurel stops just short of saying if Sarah hadn’t been banging her boyfriend in the first place, she wouldn’t have died. Quentin agrees for some reason. Maybe he’s also trying to play the quiet game with Laurel.
At a car garage, Ollie brings Diggle to meet his gang friends. Ollie wants a meeting with The Count and hands over two duffle bags of money (presumably, could be jellybeans or something) and the police’s file on The Count. Apparently, Ollie was brought into the organization for saving a guy and they would like him to off a guy as yearly dues. Ollie does.
Back on the island, Ollie is released from his cell and is still naive enough to think it’s because he gets to escape. Actually, his mentor has decided to take him to fight club. There’s nothing more team building than beating a coworker to death. I guess if Ollie manages not to get his neck snapped by his mentor, he gets to be recruited. Robert Queen really got off easy, huh?
Back at the garage, Ollie waits until he’s outside to revive the guy he supposedly killed and orders Diggle to get the guy a new identity. Ollie flip flops on the killing thing so often. I think he is just trying to impress Diggle at this point. He tells Diggle he’s going to meet The Count as himself and then kill him later to avoid losing his mob ties. Inside, his gang friend sets up the meeting with The Count.
At Ollie’s house, Laurel has come by to tell Thea about a deal she’s gotten her where she gets 500 hours of community service and has to be Laurel’s apprentice. Thea rejects it. Once Laurel is gone, Thea admits she’s going to jail to spite Momma Moira for hooking up with Captain Jack. I feel like Thea hasn’t given this plan long term thought. Just a feeling. Ollie tells Thea what Momma Moira told him about the cheating and adds out of context stuff about their dad’s last words. This pisses off Thea and Momma Moira. I understand Momma Moira feels some trust is violated here but she lies to everyone all the time and her husband is currently being held hostage because of it so no pity there. Diggle takes Ollie to the meeting.
At the meeting in a parking lot, Ollie learns The Count got his name because all the people who died in the testing stages of Vertigo had puncture marks in the necks like a vampire. In the comics he got his name because he really was royalty. Either way, this man does not deserve the name Chocula. Ollie tells The Count he wants drugs for his club. The Count says 56 people died in the making of the drug and hands a suitcase full of it over. Unfortunately, Quentin and McKenna show up and start shooting everybody. Ollie runs and gets a bunch of Vertigo to the chest. Diggle whisks him away before more harm can come to him.
At the lair, Ollie does not handle his high well as he tries to choke Diggle out. All hope is not lost as it sends Ollie into a flashback.
Back on the island, Ollie fought his mentor until he got fake killed like Ollie fake killed the guy earlier in the car garage.
Back in the lair, we see Diggle and a groggy Ollie in some handcuffs. There must already be fic about this. Ollie is doing an exceptional recovery from his drug overdose but that still means he looks and feels a little like crap. Nevertheless, Ollie is campaigning for best brother ever and so he’s off to see Thea.
Once Ollie and Diggle are back at the house, they’re met with Momma Moira, McKenna and Quentin instead. McKenna saw Ollie last night at the bust. Ollie says he paid some lowlife to get him a meeting with The Count. Then he could ID him for Thea. Quentin miraculously accepts this and lets him go. Ollie goes a step further to thank him for helping Thea with the deal (not to mention keeping his ass out of prison) and Quentin shoots him down like always. Seems fair this time. Ollie also doesn’t mind McKenna ratting him out since she was just doing her job. Momma Moira yells at Ollie once they’re alone (with Diggle) and he says she’s just mad about him ratting Robert out to Thea. No, I actually think it’s this most recent thing. Luckily for Ollie, Thea makes her entrance and apologizes to her mother and they make up so Ollie can slip out of the room unpunished. He’s ready for more action but Vertigo is still in his system and he collapses.
Back on the island, Yao asks to be the one to push Ollie’s fake dead body into a waterfall. Seems like a sweet burial place actually. These prison guys are somewhat thoughtful.
At Queen Consolidated, Ollie and Diggle meet with Felicity. Felicity babbles to show she’s interested in Ollie. Ollie lies that he wants her to test a sports drink which is actually a leftover double syringe of Vertigo. She does it because it’s Ollie.
At the lair, Felicity sends over the address that manufactures Vertigo. Diggle tries to stop Ollie by holding a ball next to his own head (get your mind out of the gutter) and tells Ollie to shoot it. Ollie cannot but he plans to go anyway to stop the drug from being spread through the city. Diggle gave up kinda easy, no?
At the lab, Arrow tears apart the lab and fights off the thugs, falling down all along the way. He finally grabs The Count and shoots him up with Vertigo. Before a lethal amount can be given (though who knows how much is lethal, Arrow can be dying in his leather pants right now), Quentin runs in. He gives a guilt trip. So, that’s where Laurel gets it from. Arrow decides to avoid the lecture and let The Count go. Then he runs himself out of there.
At CNRI, Thea is ready to work now that her father is a supposed adulterer. Laurel loads her up with work and calls her Speedy. Looks like Laurel and Ollie have a communal sister now, which is totally awkward. McKenna calls Ollie to let him know that The Count has been charged with everything and will be going away for a long time. She’s mostly calling to flirt him up like everyone else on the planet.
At a hospital, we find that The Count is not going to jail but staying in a hospital until they find out how much brain damage Arrow gave him. So, how long do we think until The Count breaks out? Season finale? I’m betting Yao is back by then.
Back on the island, Yao knocked Ollie back to life several hours later and left him a helpful get away map. Ollie is immediately on his way. He really takes the expression “walk it off” very seriously.
At Big Belly Burger, we find that while The Count does not have vertigo powers, Felicity can come in from the rain without getting wet. She also has common sense.
Felicity to Ollie: “I’m not an idiot. You’ve dropped some fairly ridiculous lies on me.”
Felicity asked to meet Ollie to give him Walter’s copy of the Little Brown Book which he got from Momma Moira. Ollie is deeply shaken by this info. He’s probably also going to use this for himself right? This LBB is in such better condition.
Tell me your thoughts if you have any.