Arrow season 5, episode 2, “The Recruits,” saw Oliver bringing in a new team of vigilantes. But he had to work on his leadership first.
The Green Arrow is a terrible leader. On the other hand, Oliver Queen has some potential. That is the lesson Oliver learns in “The Recruits,” as he’s finally agreed to start training a new team. Besides Curtis, who wanted to be trained after being attacked in the city, our new recruits are Evelyn Sharp — last season’s fake Black Canary — and Wild Dog.
And none of them are particularly impressed with the Green Arrow’s attempts to whip them into shape with nothing but violence and cruel words.
So, while the Green Arrow struggles with his new team, Oliver as mayor has joined forces with a tech company to put on a community health day. Oliver is trying to both rehab his image as a mayor who does nothing to help the city as well as genuinely help people. However, things get complicated when higher ups in the tech company are attacked by a man in ancient rags that seem to have a life of their own.
The twist comes when the team discovers our Ragman is actually trying to right some wrongs; he is the last survivor of Havenrock — the city that the nuke Felicity wasn’t able to stop on Genesis Day destroyed. And the tech company produced the tech that made the bomb possible for Darhk to launch in the first place, thus the revenge.
Green Arrow is able to talk down Ragman, however, and convince him to join in on helping people rather than looking for revenge. It’s a quest Oliver knows only too well — as is the futility that comes along with it.
Along the way, Oliver has to re-recruit the rest of the team because they quit on him for, you know, being ridiculous and not worth following. To do so, he reveals his identity to the trio (though Curtis already knew), and they agree to come back.
Oliver being better able to inspire people than his masked counterpart is a theme that Arrow has long explored. The Hood/Arrow/Green Arrow operates at night, doing the nitty-gritty and getting his hands dirty. He works outside the law, doing the things who work in the light cannot. But while darkness can spread, it can’t inspire.
That was the initial reason wanted to become the mayor last season; he wanted to operate in the light, helping the city both in the light and, as needed, in the dark. But now that he’s become the mayor, front and center in the light he’s been clawing to return to, he’s really fallen back into the darkness. The loss of Laurel has hit him hard.
But it’s a positive sign that he’s starting to act more as mayor, sponsoring the community health event. That, on top of him opening himself up to his new recruits and the trust he’s putting in them with that knowledge, gives me hope for him. Oliver needs people in his life to keep him from falling back into the darkness.
Also in Central City, Thea is a quality human being as she hires Quentin to work security at the community health event. However, he’s late and the rag man came in through the door he was supposed to be working.
Thea realizes he’s started drinking again; however, she recognizes he’s hurting from Laurel’s death. Remember when she was doing drugs in the wake of Oliver’s “death”? She knows how he’s feeling. And she knows he needs something to not drink for, so she offers him the position of deputy mayor.
He accepts and those aren’t tears in my eyes; I have allergies, OK? (No but seriously, this is really lovely and I love Thea for it.)
Meanwhile, Diggle is on a mission in Chechnya to recover one of the failed warheads from Genesis Day. It turns out, however, that his commanders are corrupt. They are looking to steal the bomb to use against the increasing threats the world is facing, like metahumans and magic, and they plan to have Diggle take the fall.
Oh, and the young soldier Diggle gave a pep talk to prior to the mission (the soldier’s first) is killed right in front of a tied up Diggle because people suck.
Diggle re-enlisted in the military to do some good and find himself after killing Andy, and this is definitely not helping. However, him facing a court martial and potentially being discharged from the military would be a reason for him to return to Team Arrow sooner than expected. Assuming he’s not put in prison for this frame job.
Oh, and in the flashbacks, Oliver goes through an initiation into the Bratva, doing the same bell-ringing exercise he put his recruits through in the present. He realizes the initiates need to work together. However, after Oliver rings the bell, the others are shot. Well, what do you expect working with the mob?
Watch a promo for the next episode
