After a strong first season, Arrow season 2 kicked things into high gear. We’ve picked 10 moments that stood out above the rest.
Arrow‘s first season introduced us to Oliver Queen, a billionaire playboy who, after five years on a remote island, undertook a quest to save his city. He gained allies in ex-soldier John Diggle and IT genius Felicity Smoak, and together they fought street criminals and the corrupt one percent alike.
But after Oliver’s best friend was killed in the crossfire, Oliver was forced to reassess his methods and take a different approach to honor his friend’s memory. With that in mind, Arrow season 2 saw raised emotional stakes and an ever-expanding universe, including an upcoming spinoff.
Look back at the emerald archer’s second season with our top 10 moments below, listed in chronological order.
Sara Lance is Canary
Oliver took Laurel’s younger sister, Sara, on the fateful trip on the Gambit, and it was thought she drowned when the ship went down. However, she survived and spent a chunk of time on the island with Oliver before being rescued from a second sinking ship and trained by the League of Assassins to become the Canary.
Sara’s presence came as a surprise, as her sister is the Black Canary of the comics, and indicated early on that the showrunners weren’t afraid to spin the source material. She also represented an interesting mirror to Oliver, as she struggled with much of the same baggage, particularly making the transition from killer to hero.
Malcolm Merlyn returns from the dead
It should probably come as no surprise that after playing Captain Jack Harkness, John Barrowman wouldn’t be easily killed. And indeed, after supposedly dying in the season 1 finale, Malcolm Merlyn returned in season 2, revealing that it was his influence that secured Moira’s acquittal for her role in the Undertaking and demanding contact with Thea, his biological daughter.
Though Moira temporarily held him off, her death brought him back to Starling and he eventually convinced Thea to join him in the season finale. Their father/daughter antics are set to be explored in season 3, as Barrowman has been promoted to series regular.
Introducing Barry Allen
The Arrow world expanded vastly with Barry Allen’s introduction. An assistant crime scene investigator, Barry arrived in Starling to investigate a strange robbery at Queen Consolidated and sparks flew between him and Felicity. The superhero fanboy was also brought in on Oliver’s secret and helped save his life.
Though the case didn’t give Barry any new leads on his mother’s murder, it set up the shared world the upcoming Flash spinoff will inhabit, as Barry was struck by lightning and thrown into a tower of chemicals after the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator malfunctioned. He fell into a coma but was frequently mentioned through the rest of the season.
Oliver dons his mask for the first time
Oliver’s attempts to hide his identity as the vigilante were haphazard at best, as he wore a hood and spread green grease paint across his face. While this look may have been fine for your run of the mill vigilante, Oliver strove to be more in season 2. He finally got the heroic look when Barry left him a Christmas present: a traditional domino mask. The midseason finale closed with Oliver donning the mask, thus taking yet another step toward becoming a true hero.
The heir to the demon appears
The Arrow-verse expanded once again when Nyssa al Ghul, daughter of DC comics supervillain Ra’s al Ghul, appeared on the scene. Nyssa, it was revealed, was the one who rescued Sara when the Amazo sunk, and the two were lovers for a time. Both Sara and Malcolm Merlyn were trained by the League of Assassins and both were released, though Sara agreed to return in exchange for the League’s help against Slade’s Mirakuru army.
According to executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, “[N]ow that the Dark Knight movies are completed and [the Ra’s al Ghul] storyline has been wrapped, it’s allowed us to open it, and put it through the Arrow lens, and do it in a new way,” starting with his daughter.
Continue on to the next page to see the next five moments that made our list.
Welcome to the Suicide Squad
Yet another expansion of the Arrow-verse came in the form of the Suicide Squad, which was established by A.R.G.U.S. leader Amanda Waller. Waller recruited criminals for high-risk government-sanctioned missions.
The first mission run by the Suicide Squad saw Diggle and Lyla leading the team of Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, and Shrapnel. Though Shrapnel was killed for refusing to follow orders and Diggle was dismissed, the Suicide Squad remains an active operation, and Deadshot even appeared in the season finale. The team will no doubt be seen again and could potentially even anchor a spinoff.
Laurel learns Oliver’s identity
Laurel’s arc over the second season was uneven, as she fell into the grips of addiction in her grief over Tommy’s death. But after hitting rock bottom, Laurel finally started clawing her way back up, particularly once Slade revealed to her that Oliver is the Arrow. Though Slade expected to destroy that relationship, he underestimated Laurel, who did some soul searching and decided to keep Oliver’s secret.
But more than that, Laurel was the one to kick Oliver back into gear after his mother’s death by revealing that Sebastian Blood was working with Slade. Laurel gained a sense of purpose after learning Oliver’s secret, giving her character sky-high potential for season 3.
Moira sacrifices herself
Moira has always been a family woman, even when her actions seemed questionable, and her season 2 arc revolved around her children. After being acquitted for her role in the Undertaking, Moira was convinced to run for mayor of Starling City against Sebastian Blood.
Rifts with her children over her many lies made things difficult, but in the end, Moira showed Thea and Oliver how much she loved them by making the ultimate sacrifice; when Slade kidnapped Moira and Thea, Moira volunteered herself to protect her children, prompting Slade to commend her “true courage.” Her death shattered her children and will drive them into season 3 and beyond.
Felicity cures Slade
Felicity had numerous standout moments over the course of the season, but the culmination of her journey from Oliver’s personal researcher to his trusted partner came when Slade kidnapped her and planned to kill her in front of Oliver. What Slade was not expecting was Felicity’s heroic moment of truth when, with a sword to her throat, Felicity pulled out a syringe of Mirakuru cure from her pocket and stuck it in his neck. Kreisberg called the moment “certainly one of the bravest things we’ve ever seen anybody do in the course of the series.”
Oliver becomes a hero
Arrow‘s second season followed Oliver’s journey, both forward and back, in his attempt to honor Tommy’s memory, and he struggled over the back half of the season with whether he would need to kill Slade to stop him. In the end, Oliver captured Slade and had him locked in an A.R.G.U.S. prison facility on Lian Yu, bringing everything full circle.
In Oliver’s season-closing monologue, he told Slade it was thanks to him that he became a hero, showing his acceptance of his transition from vigilante to true hero.