Arrow season 2, episode 19, “The Man Under the Mask,” aired tonight. Read our recap and discuss the episode with fellow fans.
Setbacks
The episode opens with Team Arrow sneaking into Queen Consolidated’s applied science division with Tockman’s skeleton key and blowing it up, though it will only be a temporary setback to Slade.
Meanwhile, Laurel is putting together what she knows about the vigilante when she visits her father at Iron Heights. He insists he doesn’t know who the Arrow or the woman in black are.
Oliver and Moira meet with their lawyer, who tells them that Isabel diluted the value of their Queen Consolidated stock, so the only thing they can do is save their assets. Doing so, though, requires signatures from Moira, Oliver, and Thea, who isn’t speaking to her family.
Moira also reveals that Isabel and Robert had an affair when Isabel was an intern.
Family feud
Team Arrow reconvenes and heads down into the foundry — where Deathstroke is waiting. “Welcome home,” he greets chillingly before quickly dispatching Sara, Diggle, and Oliver.
Laurel rushes to the hospital after hearing Sara was hurt. The doctor tells her that Sara broke her wrist, though the injury is nothing like her previous injuries. Laurel catches sight of scars on Sara’s back and makes the connection between Sara and Canary.
Later, Oliver finds Thea at Verdant and tries to talk to her, but Thea is still furious. She brings up her crush on Tommy, her half-brother who was killed by their father. “I was never going to be okay. It’s not in my genes,” Thea snaps.
A ‘Flash’ encounter
It turns out Slade’s attack wasn’t just to hit Oliver at home; he took the skeleton key, and the team realizes his most likely target is S.T.A.R. Labs.
The Flash‘s Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon are taking inventory when Deathstroke appears. They flee and end up shooting him with some trial tech. It’s enough of a distraction for them to get out, but Deathstroke’s more interested in taking what he needs than killing a couple of scientists.
Felicity and Diggle arrive at S.T.A.R. Labs and greet Cisco and Caitlin. Felicity met them when Barry’s condition deteriorated and he was moved to S.T.A.R. Labs. The pair can’t reveal what was stolen, but Cisco assures Felicity that Barry gets lots of visitors, including Iris, Barry’s something.
Sins of the father revealed
Slade, it turns out, took a patent-pending blood transfusion device that will metabolize the Mirakuru from his system before it enters someone else’s bloodstream, thus a higher survival rate. Felicity plans to track the massive amount of power the device will require once turned on.
The next day, Oliver and Diggle confront Isabel at Queen Consolidated. Isabel calls herself Robert’s soulmate, saying he was going to leave his family; they had their bags backed and were at the airport when Robert got a call that Thea had broken her arm. Isabel reminded Robert that Thea wasn’t his, but he still went to her. The next day, Isabel was fired and she never saw Robert again.
Vendetta
That night, Laurel meets the Arrow to tell him she knows his identity, but she gets a call about her father: He was attacked by a prisoner with a vendetta. In the prison infirmary, Laurel tells her father she knows the Arrow’s identity, but he doesn’t want to know.
He says that knowing the Arrow’s identity makes him a person with friends, a family, and a life. And that isn’t what Quentin — what the city — needs him to be. The man under the hood isn’t important, he says. But being that symbol must be a huge burden.
Laurel then threatens to quit her job and sue the D.A.’s office for what happened to her father. The D.A. agrees to release and reinstate Quentin, but she also warns Laurel to pick her battles carefully.
Confrontation
Meanwhile, Oliver and Thea meet at Verdant but are interrupted when the stolen device goes online. Thea leaves, so the Arrow heads into action. He finds Slade’s recruits hooked up to the device. But it’s not Slade at the center — it’s Roy. The Arrow is about to unhook him when Slade and Isabel appear, warning him that interrupting the cycle would kill Roy.
The Arrow knocks out the power and fights Isabel, then shoots Slade with an explosive arrow. As he frees Roy, Isabel aims her gun at him, but Diggle shoots Isabel first. The Arrow grabs Roy and flees.
Team Arrow looks after Roy in the Arrow cave, but he’s lost a lot of blood. Meanwhile, Oliver reveals a vial of Mirakuru that he wants to make a cure from. He admits that he had the chance five years earlier to use the cure on Slade but chose to kill him instead, making everything going on now his fault. Felicity brings the Mirakuru to Caitlin and Cisco and asks for a favor.
Revivals
The next day, Oliver tells Thea and Moira that Robert knew the truth about Merlyn but he chose to be Thea’s father anyway. Thea says that makes him a liar as well and packs her things.
Later, Laurel finds Oliver at Verdant and hugs him. “Because you’re important to me,” she says.
Elsewhere, Slade uses his own blood to save Isabel and finish his recruits’ transformation.
Meanwhile, on the island…
Anatoli wants to torture Ivo, but Ivo says he can help them stop Slade — that there is a cure for the Mirakuru. In exchange for the cure, he wants Sara to grant him a quick death.
Since he couldn’t replicate the Mirakuru, Ivo synthesized a serum that counteracts its physiological effects. The cure is located in his quarters on the freighter.
Sara prepares to shoot Ivo to uphold her end of the bargain, but Oliver stops her — and shoots Ivo himself.
