Join us each week as we review the latest episode of ARROW. Warning: the following review contains major spoilers for the newest episode of the show.
Episode 6: "Guilty"
Synopsis: After a body is found strung up in the Wildcat gym, Ted Grant becomes the main suspect. Oliver and Laurel argue over Ted’s innocence. Meanwhile, in flashbacks, when Maseo needs Oliver to remember where an informant for China White stashed key information, he asks Tatsu to help jog Oliver’s memory. Roy shares a secret with Felicity.
In Starling City: Last week's episode ended with the disturbing dream reveal that Roy may have been Sara's killer thanks to the Mirakuru he was injected with last season. Flashing back to that as the episode opens, we see that Roy is still not entirely present, even as the team aims to take down a drug cartel in Starling City. I have enjoyed Oliver and Roy's partnership this season and yet I am still confused as to why Diggle is left to wear a ski mask and a leather jacket while the other two get cool superhero attire.
The cartel has been taken down by someone who strings up their bodies and paints the word "guilty" in blood. Oliver and Diggle plan to investigate and Roy is forced to the bench to get some sleep. Alone with Felicity, Roy asks her to test his blood for Mirakuru and waffles on whether to tell her about his dream. Felicity tests Sara's wounds and finds the could be consistent with someone throwing arrows versus shooting them.
Laurel continues to get her aggresion out via the ring with teacher Ted Grant at the Wildcat Gym. While the pair grab some dinner, Oliver tracks the mysterious Paco, a suspect in the cartel murders, and finds another body with another bloody guilty message. As the lights flick on, we see we are actually in the Wildcat Gym. Storylines are converging! Laurel's father arrives to investigate and Oliver is given an alibi for Ted by Laurel. Laurel questions whether Oliver is worried about Ted or about a potential romance and Oliver scoffs.
Felicity finds that Ted has a prior record and Oliver decides to track him down. Finding him, the two fight, but Oliver shoots him with an arrow with a boxing glove on it. Grant's hidden base is full of knives and weapons, clippings of the vigilante, and a guilty message. Ted proclaims he is being setup and that it is not him despite the fact he was accused of murdering someone six years prior by beating them to death. Oliver begs Laurel to stay away from Ted.
Grant is arrested despite Oliver seeing another masked man but Oliver is interrupted as Roy admits he killed Sara while under the effects of Mirakuru. None of the team seems able to process the shocking news but Oliver tells Laurel he needs her to focus to try and help Ted. Meeting at the station, Laurel demands that Ted reveal who is behind the mask. Ted explains that six years before, he became a vigilante and Isaac Stanzler was his right hand man. The crime that Grant went down for was actually due to Stanzler who is now out for more.
Released from jail, Stanzler takes Laurel and Ted hostage with the plan to kill them for abandoning him six years before. Laurel calls Felicity on her cell so Oliver can track them. Diggle arrives in a van while Oliver pursues via a motorcycle. As Oliver tries to stop them, he is knocked from his bike but quickly pursues again. Laurel crashes but Roy arrives geared up to fight and stop Stanzler.
Back at the Gym, Arrow asks Ted to stop helping Laurel train but Ted says he will if she stops coming. Oliver meets Laurel at the hospital (seriously, she is admitted every episode, isn't she?). Oliver passes on the meditation he learned in Hong Kong to help Roy alleviate his guilt. As he meditates, Roy sees that his dream was actually a memory of his rampage through Starling back in season two and he did not actually kill Sara. Roy doesn't feel any better since he is still a murderer.
At the gym, Laurel returns saying she has expunged Ted's record. She also said that her fear is fading and the training is helping and she wants to continue. We then see Stanzler being escorted from jail when his escorts are shot and killed. The shooter is revealed to be a female archer who calls herself Cupid.
Flashbacks: In Hong Kong, Oliver and Tatsu track a courier through the streets of the city and try to find an envelope he has hid. Since it happened during a chase, Tatsu uses meditation to try and remember where the envelope went but is unsuccessful. Tatsu asks his wife to help and she obliges. Slowing down his thoughts, Oliver remembers the courier throwing the envelope onto a stack of crates. They find the item which is a photograph with a hidden message that says "contact Li Quan Hi".
Episode Grade: 6/10
Another weak entry that seems to serve only as filler for the season. The shocking twist that Roy could have killed Sara ends up being merely a red herring. Even the Hong Kong flashback served no purpose for the plot aside from progressing Roy's story. Laurel's development as heir to her sister's mantle also seems to be the central focus this season. I am hoping we can get back to the form of the first three episodes of this season soon rather than continue the trend of the last three.
Next on ARROW: "Draw Back Your Bow" – Oliver must stop an Arrow-obsessed serial killer, Carrie Cutter, who is convinced that The Arrow is her one true love and will stop at nothing to get his attention.