Arrow season 4, episode 2, “The Candidate,” aired tonight. Read our recap and discuss the episode with fellow fans.
Running for mayor
Star City has been mayor-less for six months on the account of the last three mayors being murdered, but an old Queen family friend, Jessica Danforth, gets in touch with Oliver and Thea to tell them she’ll be running for mayor. They think it’s a terrible idea but agree to support her anyway — and it’s a good thing, since her campaign rally is interrupted by an automated rifle taking shots at her.
Though SCPD has Jessica on protective detail, Oliver wants his team to protect her themselves. Captain Lance isn’t thrilled about the idea and doesn’t buy that Oliver is going to be different this time around.
H.I.V.E., though, is intent on keeping Jessica from running for mayor and hires Anarky to keep it from happening. Jessica refuses to drop out, and her daughter is kidnapped. Darhk is furious at this turn of events, saying there are lines not to be crossed. He tells Anarky to clean up his mess.
Thankfully, Team Arrow gets there in time to stop Anarky from torturing and murdering Jessica’s daughter. They rescue her, and Jessica, relieved that her daughter is all right, withdraws her candidacy.
Thea and the Pit
Thea continues to struggle with violent aftereffects of the Lazarus Pit. She breaks the arm of a drug dealer and gets into a fight with Oliver. He tells her the truth about the Pit and its side effects, and a furious Thea storms off.
Later, Thea tells Laurel about Ra’s attacking her and using the Lazarus Pit to resurrect her.
During the fight with Anarky, Thea takes him down and uses his own weapon to set him on fire. Oliver manages to extinguish the fire, but he and Thea share a horrified look.
Laurel offers to take Thea out of town for a spa vacation — but that’s a front for going to Nanda Parbat to get help from the League. She also wants to bring Sara, though. She and Thea dig up Sara’s grave and Laurel opens it in a nightmare-inducing sequence. It seems odd that this would be Laurel’s takeaway considering the effects Thea is dealing with, but Sara has a new show to star in.
Felicity the CEO
Felicity makes her debut as the CEO of Palmer Technologies, and immediately has to initiate downsizing. She meets Curtis Holt, an employee whose algorithm was meant to be used to get employees pay raises but was instead used to determine who would be downsized. Curtis is also on the downsizing list.
Felicity takes charge and halts the downsizing. She rehires everyone and assigns Curtis to a “proprietary” project for some world-astonishing technology. They have six months until the shareholders meeting to finish it.
Meanwhile, on Lian Yu
Oliver kills the guard who attacked him when he landed and receives orders to infiltrate. Oliver rips up his clothes and covers himself with mud. He’s taken to the leader of the troops, who recognizes him. He’s offered the job of the soldier he killed.
Also worth noting…
- Diggle admits to Laurel that Darhk leads the group that killed his brother, and she tells him not to keep secrets because it will only end up poorly. She knows from experience after Sara’s death.
- Quentin Lance confronts Darhk about Jessica Danforth’s daughter, and Darhk threatens Laurel. However, he also gives Lance the location of Jessica’s daughter. He clearly has his own moral code, which makes for an intriguing villain.
- Anarky survived the fire but the ambulance doesn’t make it to the hospital; Anarky killed the paramedics and left his sign in blood before fleeing. Dun dun dun.
- Oliver decides to run for mayor because the city needs someone who can inspire people and act in the light. This is a storyline from the Green Arrow comics, though, so it’s not totally out of nowhere.
- Okay, but seriously. Did we really need to see Sara’s decomposing body?
Watch a promo for the next episode
