DC Comics, Recaps, Television

NOC Recaps Arrow: Oh Sara, No Time is a Good Time for Goodbyes

After an action-packed season premiere, complete with a shocking twist ending, you knew the second episode — titled “Sara” — was going to be all about the fallout.

[Ed. note: I can’t be the only one who was thinking of the old Jefferson Starship song throughout this episode, right?]

Spoilers ahead.

Three arrows in the stomach and Black Canary falling off a building is how we start the episode. Laurel finds her sister and brings her to the only place she can think of: the Arrowcave. Ollie and company walk in to headquarters and see Sara laying dead on the table. Laurel explains that this is the first place she thought of bringing Sara. Ollie walks over to the body of Sara closes her eyes, and consoles Laurel. Felicity and Roy both in shock, hold each other, perhaps waiting for Ollie to give orders.

It should be pointed out that in the comics, Dinah Laurel Lance is Black Canary. Sara was a character created solely for this show. Could it be that season three will be about the birth of Laurel as Black Canary?

Can’t say that I am happy with the choice since Laurel throughout season two was more of a burden than anything. As fellow NOC N’Jaila has stated many times, the less Laurel we see the better. And in this episode, and this holds true so far.

As Team Arrow is still in shock and mourning, Ollie receives a call from Captain Lance. When they meet, Lance can tell that Ollie is full of emotions and is barely holding it together. The captain tells him that there is an assassin on the loose, killing people with Ollie’s favorite weapon of choice, arrows. It seems Team Arrow has a lead on Sara’s killer.

As they try to investigate the new assassin in town, we are thrown back five years in the rewind when Ollie was held prisoner in Hong Kong. He and Maseo are on a rooftop with a sniper rifle. Turns out Amanda Waller has given Ollie the assignment to take out a target of interest. As he sits on the roof, waiting for a clear shot, the target turns out to be Tommy.  Ollie goes into a tirade because he can’t kill his best friend. Turns out Tommy is in town because he thinks Ollie is still alive.

Back in present day Starling City, we someone in a warehouse running away from a masked archer. He shoots an arrow that goes through three or four windows before piercing its target. Add another body to the list.

Felicity has been using an algorithm to track their new assassin and sees that there has been another hit.Ollie and he sets off for the warehouse and tries to question a witness before he runs away. Ollie intercepts him, and after a couple of punches and swings of the bow, the interrogation is over.

Meanwhile, Diggle uses intel gathered at A.R.G.U.S. headquarters to learn that Simon LaCroix, aka Komodo, is the culprit of the hits. Felicity pushes a couple of buttons on her fancy computer, and Ollie sets off to intercept. What happens next is bows, arrows, and motorcycles.

A jousting match occurs as both race towards each other with arrows drawn. Both miss and they get ready to do it again. This time LaCroix hits Ollie. Just as it seems that Arrow may be out of commission, police sirens are heard, allowing Team Arrow to fight another day.

Ollie relies the information to Felicity to try to see a connection. Laurel exits and goes and visits Komodo’s latest victim, who’s actually recovering at the hospital. After forcing her way in, she starts questioning him about his would-be killer. He is not too forthcoming with helpful information so Laurel takes a page out of Oliver’s interrogation practice and bangs the dude’s broken against the railing of his hospital bed until she gets the information she needs. Right as he was going to reveal everything, an arrow flies through the window and embeds itself into the victim’s chest.

Back at headquarters, Felicity catches Roy using her computer to run a search on Thea. He confronts her and reveals the letter she left for him in last season’s finale. Roy is the only one that knows that Thea is not on vacation, but is long gone. Felicity convinces Roy to tell Ollie what he knows about Thea, setting up for what might be an ugly interaction.

The team finds out that there is a pattern with the people killed. The next victim is Tom Weston, who just happens to be at a party hosted by Ray Palmer. In a scene reminiscent of the one in The Dark Knight, Komodo crashes the party to kill Weston, but Arrow and Arsenal show up just in time. Komodo makes a run for it and after a quick game of cat and mouse, Ollie snatches an arrow from the air and pins LaCroix to the wall. Out of nowhere, Laurel pops out with a gun, threatening to kill LaCroix to avenge her sister. He denies it, but Laurel still pulls the trigger. No bullets in chamber. Ollie had removed them.

Knowing Komodo is not the killer they go back and give Sara a proper burial in an unknown location.  Diggle tells Laurel that they will name their new baby after Sara. A touching moment indeed.

Ollie tells Laurel that she needs to tell her father about Sara’s murder. She visits him at his office and tries to tell him, but she can’t. She just ends up apologizing for the stuff that happened between them the night before. Back at the Arrowcave, Ollie and John have a moment together and then Dig tells Ollie he’s back on the team.

Roy gives Ollie the note Thea left him last season and apologizes for not telling him sooner. Now Ollie has another crusade: to go get Thea. But then we find out, she has been training on the island of Corto Maltese (another comic reference!) with her biological pops Malcolm Merlyn.

Setting up what will look like an action packed “rescue” mission for next week.

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  1. Pingback: NOC Recaps Arrow: The Five Year Hacktivist Reunion | thenerdsofcolor

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