ARROW - Season 7.20

ARROW – SEASON 7, EP. 20:  “Confessions”

“Things are tough all over” would be a great way to describe Team Arrow this season.  Just when we THINK they have a handle on things, we realize they don’t.  And this week’s installment was no different.

We begin at a subway station where it’s now a crime scene.  Two guards are dead, and the police are trying to figure out what happened.  Ollie is being interrogated by Dinah and the Sergeant of the SCPD about what exactly transpired at that subway station, and how two security guards ended up dead.  There were arrows nearby, and Ollie is the likely suspect.  The Sarge comments that there’s a new Green Arrow floating around shooting arrows as well, and Ollie admits that the new Green Arrow is, in fact, his sister Emiko.  They were there to stop a terrorist attack by the Ninth Circle.  But Dinah wasn’t made aware of this information, which upsets her.

3 Days Earlier, the team is still having trouble trying to track the Ninth Circle.  However, they come across a security company called Aerodyne, and it’s possible the Circle might’ve tried to hit them.  Ollie and Diggle pay the company a visit, but the CEO tells them he’s heard nothing, and that he has no information for them.  They offer their services to protect him in case they do, and he declines.

Dinah asks Ollie WHY she wasn’t kept in the loop, and he said that he couldn’t confirm that Aerodyne was, in fact, in with the Circle.  The Sarge obviously wants to really work Ollie for the guard’s death…and Ollie calls him out on the fact that he’s had it out for Team Arrow for awhile, so he’s just getting his jollies with the interrogation.  Ollie insists that they stopped a terrorist attack on the city, and doesn’t have a clue about HOW the guards were killed.

Next up, Dinah and the Sarge interrogate Felicity about HER version of the events, and she’s very matter of fact, all the while eating (because damn those pregnancy food cravings).  It’s then that Felicity reveals that they called in Roy Harper for some assistance.  They wonder where Roy’s been, and she states he’s been travelling the world (not entirely untrue, considering he’s been closing all the remaining Lazarus Pits with Thea and Nyssa).  Since he was good at sneaking into very secure places, they called on his expertise to infiltrate Aerodyne to get the bio weapon the Circle was seeking.  Once in, Roy had witnessed the transaction between the Aerodyne CEO, and Emiko.  Unfortunately, he’s discovered and a fight breaks out.  Unfortunately, they were unable to stop the Circle from making off with the weapon.  They get into an underground station, and begin to hack the system, in order to try and locate the weapon.  They then see some soldiers of the Circle coming, and Roy goes to buy her some time.  Felicity said she heard two gun shots, but didn’t know what happened.  Dinah asks her where Roy’s whereabouts were, and she couldn’t answer.

Roy is next to be interrogated, and they get right to the point.  They ask for HIS whereabouts at the time the gunshots rang out, and the guards were killed.  He says that he was battling members of the Circle, and was eventually outnumbered, and knocked unconscious.  Dinah and the Sarge accuse Roy of being the murderer.

It’s John’s turn to be interrogated by Dinah, who says he’ll protect anyone on the team, and cover for them if necessary.  He recalls that he and Rene were together at the time of the attack, and they both were attacked by Emiko.  Rene says he’s got Emiko, and for him to stop the weapon from getting away.  John says he heard the two shots rang out, and when he got there, he saw Rene over the two dead guards.

Rene’s being interrogated now, and he’s doesn’t get too worked up by the interrogation…not the first time it’s happened to him before.  He recalls the story of him and John together when Emiko attacked.  And, as John said, they separated, and he went after Emiko.  He catches up to her, tries to reason with her, but gets shot at by Emiko for his troubles.  They noted his bloody hand, and that was from the arrow that grazed him.  She said she’s getting revenge against the Queens and everything they did to her.  When she took off, he gave chase, but heard the two gunshots.  When he got there, he saw Ollie on the platform with the two dead guards.

Ollie is once more interrogated, and Ollie recounts the fight with the members of the Circle, reminding them that they stopped a bomb from going off, killing thousands of people.  But when they asked him how the guards died…he said Emiko killed them.

Since the team gave very compelling stories, and it all checks out, Dinah and the Sarge have to let them go free.  We later see the team back at the Bunker, where Dinah is with them.  Apparently, it was all a cover-up and a ruse by both Dinah AND the team to cover up what REALLY happened:  Roy had killed the guards in a fit of rage when he got caught by them on the platform.  They went out of their way to protect him.  Dinah knows they took a big risk with her job, but ALL their freedom for what happened.  Dinah says that Felicity did a good job getting rid of the security tape.  To which Felicity thought Dinah did it.

Ollie and Roy have a heart to heart, and it turns out that Ollie knows Roy died, and was revived by the Lazarus Pit.  He’s suffering from the Marakuru.  Ollie wishes he had found out, but Roy said there was no way to tell him.  He feels he’s a liability, but Ollie says they stick together because full time or part time, he’s a part of the team.

They manage to get a lead on Emiko, and head off to face her.  Ollie confronts her, and she reveals that she took the security footage of what really happened at the platform, and she sent it to the police.   She then reveals to Ollie that SHE knew about the Queen’s Gambit being set to explode, and she did nothing about it…because she wanted revenge on the Queens for everything that happened to her.  She wanted her father dead, and now Ollie.  Ollie goes to attack her, but his arrow hits some plexiglass.  Emiko says she’s going to destroy the city and get her justice, as she sets off a bomb, collapsing the building, and trapping Ollie and the team, except Felicity, underneath the rubble.

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The action has picked up, and more things are We revealed about Emiko, as we near the end of this season, and Oliver Queen’s journey.  Heavy drama, and some cool action scenes, and a great surprise appearance from Roy Harper to get this season ready for its big finale. 

This was an interesting angle to take for an episode, having every member of the team recount a particular battle with the Ninth Circle that ended up with two dead guards.  I enjoyed every team’s rendition of the tale, especially Felicity’s.  She seemed so unfazed by the whole thing, and was quick to answer the barrage of questions put forth by Dinah and the Sarge.  Her snacking because of her pregnancy just added a tad of light heartedness to what was already a very dramatic story.  I especially enjoyed how one version of the story led into another person being right at the scene of the crime, giving the audience the impression that each new person mentioned was, in fact, the guilty party.  

The story was woven nicely, with the surprise being that the one responsible for the death of the guards WAS Roy, who’d went off the handle in a rage.  A rage we’d seen before---in both Sara Lance and Thea Queen after being immersed in the Lazarus Pits to be revived from death.  THAT was not something I expected to hear.  We knew Roy was there to help keep Thea safe along with Nyssa…but I guess even Roy wasn’t good enough to avoid getting dropped on and murdered.  So, with Dinah in tow, they crafted this very well told story to protect HIM.  It’s a major gamble that will now have SEVERE consequences, now that Emiko is the one who not only took the security footage, but sent it to the cops to ensure the team gets implicated in a crime.  

I’ll say this for Emiko…she’s dotted her I’s and crossed her T’s.  She’s practically one step ahead of Felicity on that one.  I honestly thought that maybe Adela might’ve done that for Felicity, but I was wrong.  And now, we have gotten all of Emiko’s master plan out in the open.  She did nothing to stop her father and Ollie from being potentially killed at sea, she wanted revenge against the entire Queen family for basically shoving her aside (although Ollie is being made to pay for his father’s transgressions, but that means NOTHING to Emiko), and wants to destroy all they hold dear.  Which, in Ollie’s case…is Star City.  I DO wonder, at one point, when Emiko will go after Felicity---and killing her, thinking that she would be ALSO be the one thing Ollie loved most---or William for that matter.  And let’s not forget Mia---Ollie and Felicity’s unborn child.  Just how much more Emiko knows in regards to Ollie’s personal life, and what she’ll do remains to be seen.  But for now, she’s got Team Arrow right where she wants them…and it’s not going to get better the last two episodes.

Another solid effort as we get ready to call it a season.  I enjoyed it, and look forward to what the final two episodes bring in the next couple of weeks.  

Thanks for reading and sticking with me, and I hope you guys will subscribe and pass the good word along.  I’m also curious as to what YOU think, so leave a comment if you can!

Until next week…keep your sights on the bullseye!