'Arrow' recap: 'Beacon of Hope'

The ramp-up for this episode promised a very Felicity-centric episode and after her standing up to Cupid and Oliver last week, I was excited to see how she was handling life outside of the Arrow Cave. Plus, with a villain that’s got a neural implant to control a hive of bees, it marks the perfect chance to make a fun drinking game out of all the bee puns we know are to come (I counted eight in total, be warned) and also give a little levity to what was sure to be a heavy episode as it dealt with the fallout of Felicity leaving the team.

Walking Dead fan favorite Emily Kinney returns as Brie Larvin, the hacker extraordinaire with a penchant for bees. After being put in Iron Heights by Felicity and Team Flash in The Flash last season, she’s been granted 30 minutes of Internet-less computer time (which is, personally, probably worse than actual torture) by a judge -- and is using it to hack into the prison network and get herself an early release date.

The Broken Hearts Club

Oliver is handling his grieving over losing Felicity by upping his training sessions with Team Arrow but Laurel, Thea and eventually Diggle all tap out after being worn out by his intense pace. Oliver continues to insist he’s not upset about Felicity when Laurel offhandedly mentions Alex, Oliver’s former campaign manager, go to work with Felicity at Palmer Tech before remembering Oliver’s feelings.

Similarly, at Palmer Tech, Felicity and Curtis are going over the bio-implant in her spine when her mom interrupts in an effort to cheer her up. Thea also saunters in, hoping to talk with her about Alex getting a job with her.

In prison, Darhk gets a visit from Malcolm who, shockingly, doesn’t bring good news. Turns out, H.I.V.E. is happier with Darhk in prison and is moving on with Project Genesis without him. Darhk is less than pleased.

Alone in the foundry, Oliver is continuing his training in an effort to keep busy. Laurel comes back down to help him. Despite the awkwardness of helping him through his problems with another woman after “what we had,” she's definitely the best person for the job and it’s nice to see the two making a conscious effort to be friends after everything.

Attack of the Bees

At the board meeting, the board is frustrated by Felicity’s tardiness when one of them randomly drops and Brie pops in, demanding to speak with their CEO.

In her office, Felicity is agreeing to talk about the job with Alex but their conversation is cut short as Brie hacks all of the computer screens available, demanding a meeting with Felicity. Locked in her office with Thea and Donna, they try to get a signal out before realizing she’s not only jammed all the signals but has surrounded Palmer Tech with her bees.

Watching the news, Curtis tries to call Felicity to check in with her before realizing there’s not a signal. Nearly delirious, he runs out and, using the phone they gave him to help find Ray earlier in the season, he tracks down Oliver to his old campaign office. He accidentally stumbles into the Arrow Cave and promptly passes out.

Fortunately, the team pumps him with an IV to hydrate him, giving him a boost. Upon waking, he freaks out over the impressive tech the team (or Felicity, really) has down there. Oliver forces him to focus, though and he takes over IT while the team heads out to get the girls out safely. He gets to work on hacking into the bees.

Inside the building, Brie is getting impatient and threatens to start killing off her board members. When they try to escape, Thea quickly runs back in and announces the bees have made their way into the building. The trio decides to try and make their way out through the ventilation system.

Downstairs, they realize they’re not as safe as they thought. The bees have tracked them down and they’re trapped in a supply closet. A bee slips in but, luckily, Curtis has managed to hack in and uses it to lead the way for the girls to get out.

Unluckily, just as Team Arrow pulls up, Curtis gets kicked out and Oliver gets stung. The team brings him back to the bunker but Oliver’s struggling to fight the bee. Turns out the bees are not only cloning themselves inside him but have adapted their software to not be as easily hackable as before. Thanks another bout of Curtis’ quick thinking, he manages to manipulate Laurel’s Canary Cry into a weapon that matches the bee’s frequency and stops it from continuing to clone.

“I'm in Die Hard ... with bees.”

Locked back in the supply closet, turns out Brie has moved upstairs to Felicity’s office. The girls feel temporarily locked but Felicity decides to use the fact that Brie is in her office to hatch a plan. They make their way back upstairs to Curtis’ lab and using a secret elevator, land on the same floor as the conference room, using a (fortunately) malfunctioning product to blow the wall and send the board members and Donna to safety, staying behind with Thea to fight off Brie.

As she’s threatening them, however, she has a moment of weakness and admits she’s after the “miracle chip” because she’s got a tumor wrapped around her spine and the surgery to remove it will result in her never walking again. Though Thea tries to stand up for her, Felicity tells her where to find the blueprints.

In the foundry, Curtis is celebrating their temporary victory over the bees but Oliver, frustrated and annoyed they still haven’t managed to rescue Felicity and Thea, lashes out at him. Laurel pulls him aside to remind him that this is a new thing for Curtis but Oliver just wants him to know this isn’t an easy or fun life. He only came back because of Felicity and, now that she’s gone, it doesn’t have the same joy for him.

Laurel dishes out the truth, telling Oliver Felicity didn’t leave him because of their secret life, she left because of the choices Oliver as himself made in lying to her. It seems to get through to him and he apologizes to Curtis.

Rise of the Hackers

Felicity manages to make it back to her office and tries to hack past Brie’s block. As she’s working, Thea tries to get Felicity to come back to the team, to return as the “beacon of hope” for them she always was. She stays strong on her decision to leave her bunker life behind.

As Curtis comes up with a solution for the bees, Felicity works on overriding them herself...until Brie returns. As she was working past Palmer Tech’s security to get the blueprints for her own chip, she recognized Felicity’s code. “You never forget the hacker that sent you to prison,” she tells her, cocking the gun and readying her bees.

Jumping in, Oliver does his best to fight off the “Bee Man” but he manages to get the better of him until Felicity breaks a lamp and electrocutes the bees, saving Oliver. Brie makes a last ditch effort to get her revenge but Curtis, back in control of the bees, uses their toxins to knock her unconscious.

A “Bee-con” of Light

Team Arrow, minus Thea and Felicity, head back to the foundry. Oliver makes amends with Curtis and tells him he’s always welcome. Feeling his fever return, Curtis heads home to his husband.

Cleaning up the mess, Thea makes a last-ditch effort to get Felicity to come back to Team Arrow. Felicity’s always been on the team for a different reason, though, hoping to be the light to Oliver’s darkness. Inspired by Brie, she’s decided to form Palmer Tech into the “beacon of light” she’s always wanted to be and use her power to help other people with spinal injuries.

Delivering the best twist of the episode, though, was Malcolm. He’s talking to a mystery man about how H.I.V.E. has turned their back on Darhk now that he’s in prison, happier with him locked up. Fortunately, Darhk has an “ace in the hole” on the outside that’s going to help him get out. “Do you prefer that name or do you prefer Mr. Diggle?” In the car, Andy remains stony.

Woah. I’ve got to admit: I’m rarely surprised by the twists on the show at the level that this surprised me on. After his emotional reunion with John and his seeming desire to redeem himself, I truly thought Andy was done with Darhk’s dirty work. I’m hoping he’s playing Malcolm and Darhk and trying to take him out in his own twisted attempt to get his own revenge but, if we’re keeping in line with his past and his resentment towards John’s desires for him, I don’t see that being a likely case.

All in all, this was a solid episode of Arrow. We finally got to see Laurel be a real character, with acknowledgment of her job as not just Black Canary but as the butt-kicking ADA as well as her past relationship with Oliver.

Next week promises to finally reveal who is going to be in the grave and the promo teased quite a few people. I’ve got a couple working theories but I’m about 99 percent sure who’s leaving.

Have any of your own theories about who’s in the grave? Share in the comments below.

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