Team Arrow is on a mission…or a bad idea, as Felicity reminds them before Oliver retorts that this plan was hers in the first place. Turns out, they’re on a mission to destroy the Queen Consolidated Applied Sciences warehouse in an effort to deter Slade’s plans. After meeting back up at the foundry, the team discusses the fact that they’re eager to attack but they can’t because they’re unsure of how he’s going to strike next.
Meanwhile, Laurel is dealing with the bomb Slade dropped on her. She’s tracking down any lead on Oliver and The Arrow, compiling them on a board in her living room. When she goes to visit her father in prison, she tries to convince him to tell her the identities of the Arrow and Black Canary in an effort to get him released but he admits he doesn’t know.
The Queens aren’t exactly a picture of a happy family either. Isabel’s takeover has not only taken away Queen Consolidated but has also caused the Queen’s shares in the company to become nearly worthless, leaving them broke. Oliver questions why Isabel wanted to do this to them and Moira tells him about his father’s affair with his young, pretty intern Isabel Rochev.
Back at Verdant, the team realizes that Roy has cleared out and been gone for a couple days. Unfortunately, their planning gets put on hold when they walk into the basement and find a surprise: Slade waiting for them. Quickly, the team springs into action but Sara isn’t so lucky when she ends up in the hospital. When Laurel comes to check in on her, it’s clear that she’s beginning to see through the shaky alibis Sara and Oliver keep giving her as to how they keep getting hurt.
Oliver doesn’t stay away from the club for long, however, as he finally gets a chance to talk to Thea. Unfortunately, she’s less interested in hearing what he has to say as she’s working through the knowledge of her further messed up family tree. Oliver’s day gets worse when Felicity breaks the news that Slade was only down there to steal the skeleton key and suggests he’s going to use it to find a replacement for what they were trying to use at QC’s Applied Sciences division.
At Star Labs, two unsuspecting scientists quickly find out what Deathstroke was after. Though they manage to escape due to some quick thinking, Slade still manages to take what he was after. When Felicity goes to check on them, it turns out she knows them: Caitlin and Cisco are friend’s of Barry’s (and set to star in The CW’s new show The Flash coming this fall). Though they won’t tell her what Slade stole, Felicity still manages to hack into the Star Lab’s directors and realizes that he stole a machine to make dozens of blood transfusions possible from one vial of blood.
Oliver goes to talk to Isabel about her motives. It turns out that Isabel was more than a mistress: Robert was about to leave behind Oliver, Thea, and Moira to run away with Isabel before he was called back because Thea was injured. Though they planned to simply leave the next day, she came to find out her internship terminated and Robert never spoke to her again. Unfortunately, she has security escort Oliver out before he can continue questioning her.
On the ride down, however, Diggle tells Oliver that Laurel is hoping to have a meeting with The Arrow that night. Though he’s confused, Oliver goes anyway and Laurel hints that she knows his identity. However, their conversation is cut short by a call from Sara. A prisoner broke free at Iron Heights and attacked Quentin.
When Laurel goes to see him, however, she admits she knows the identity of the Arrow. Quentin stops her from telling him; he says that knowing who he is would ruin him. Knowing his identity would make him a man but it’s not the man under the hood that’s important. It’s his symbolism that makes him so useful. Laurel’s touched by this and on her way out, blackmails the DA to get her father out of jail and back on the force.
At Verdant, Oliver and Thea try to have a conversation but he’s interrupted by a call from Felicity. Though she tries to convince him to stay with Thea, he needs to stop Slade. When he turns around to apologize, Thea’s gone.
Finding the device, Oliver is surprised to find Roy hooked up to the machine. When he tries to disconnect the machine, Slade and Isabel go to stop him but Oliver stops Slade and Diggle shoots Isabel twice. They take Roy back to the foundry but they’re unsure of how to save him. The team feels at a loss before Oliver admits that there’s a cure.
Flashback to the island: Ivo is begging for mercy from Sara. In exchange for information on how to take down Slade, Sara must give him a quick death. When she agrees, he admits that when he tried to copy the effects of the mirakuru, he ended up with an antidote to the serum’s effects. The only issue is that it’s currently in his own personal safe…back on the freighter. However, when Sara goes to hold up her end of the bargain, she hesitates. Oliver shoots him instead.
At the mansion, Thea’s moving out. Though Oliver tries to stop her by telling her that Robert knew about Malcolm being her real father, Thea’s further convinced that all her family has done is lie and leaves.
Back at Star Labs, Felicity goes to visit Cisco and Caitlin. She gives them the vial of mirakuru that Oliver managed to steal and enlists them to help, further solidifying the alliance between the two future heroes.
In a final, chilling scene, however, Slade hovers over an unconscious Isabel. He’s done the transfusion to her in an effort to save her life but we’re unsure of her fate.
Arrow airs Wednesdays on The CW at 8/7c.
Photo courtesy of The CW