Arrow season 3, episode 14, “The Return,” aired tonight. Read our recap and discuss the episode with fellow fans.
The episode opens with Oliver and Thea training on the island, where Oliver is impressed with everything Thea has learned. Later that night, Thea hears Oliver saying Sara’s name in his sleep and she wakes him up. She presses him about why he never told her about Sara. Oliver replies that her secrets weren’t his to tell and goes for a walk.
Oliver ends up at the A.R.G.U.S. prison facility, only to find the guard dead and Slade gone. Oliver runs back to find Thea and tells her they need to get off the island. He then gets a call from Malcolm, who was behind Slade’s jailbreak because he’s the actual worst.
Oliver and Thea head to the graves of Robert Queen, Shado, and Yao Fei, where Oliver uncovers a gun and gives it to Thea. However, Slade jumps from the shadows and knocks Oliver out. When Oliver comes to, he and Thea are locked in Slade’s cell. Slade plans to let them rot in the cell while he leads the world to believe they were killed. While Thea is furious with the man who killed her mother, Slade replies that Oliver is still keeping secrets from her before leaving.
In the cell, Thea pressing Oliver for the secret he’s keeping gives Oliver an idea — the cells were made for adult men, not someone Thea’s size. She tries to reach through the bars to the release hatch but can’t quite reach, so she agrees to let Oliver dislocate her shoulder for more reach, and this sets them free.
The two flee across the island but run into one of Oliver’s booby traps. Oliver is hurt protecting Thea from it, so she convinces him to rest. During this break, Oliver finally tells Thea the truth about Sara. Thea is absolutely wrecked to learn she killed her friend and that she was manipulated to do it.
They’re interrupted by Slade, though. A fight ensues, but the Queen siblings eventually take Slade down. Thea is prepared to shoot Slade to avenge Moira, but Oliver talks her down and she only wounds Slade.
They lock Slade back in his cell, and as Oliver is leaving, Slade taunts him about all the people he has lost — and who he still has to lose (evoking Felicity in particular).
In Starling City, Laurel finds Quentin at Sara’s grave. He’s contemplating a drink because he’s completely betrayed by Laurel not telling him about Sara. He leaves without taking a drink, though.
Back at the Queen sibling apartment, Oliver asks Thea to keep the truth about Sara’s murder to herself. Malcolm then appears like a dark cloud of self-righteousness, but Thea is having none of it. She is beyond done and says she’ll work with Malcolm but she’ll never be his daughter.
Five years ago…
In Starling City, Oliver and Maseo are tasked with following Queen family friend Peter Kang, who appears in cahoots with China White and her Omega auction. Oliver is warned that if he makes contact with anyone from his old life, he and anyone who finds out will be killed.
He and Maseo track Kang, and in the process Oliver sees Thea. He follows her to his and his father’s graves, where she buys drugs from a dealer. Tommy interrupts the deal, though, and tells her not to come to his 21-and-up party that night. Meanwhile, Laurel finds Detective Lance at a bar, where he’s hitting the bottle hard in the wake of Sara’s death. The two share some hurtful words before Laurel takes him home.
Oliver sneaks into Queen Consolidated after hours and accesses the system because his security credentials were never revoked after his death. He downloads the files on the Omega auction, but in the process finds a secret file his father made for him so downloads it for himself. While he’s finishing up, Felicity comes in with some files. She admires a picture on the desk of Robert and Oliver before leaving.
While Maseo and Waller go over the information, Oliver heads to Tommy’s party. Patrolling the party, interestingly, are Diggle and his brother (played by Eugene Byrd). Inside, Tommy and Laurel flirt, but then Thea comes in.
Tommy is unhappy, but Thea doesn’t particularly care. Her dealer then comes in, and she wants him to wait for her upstairs. Oliver, though, follows him upstairs to threaten him away from Thea, and when the dealer realizes who Oliver is, Oliver kills him.
This brings the police, and a clearly drunk Detective Lance has some nasty things to say to Tommy and Laurel. Meanwhile, Maseo arrives to bring Oliver back, but Oliver is done. He returns to his empty house and finds a tablet, where he plugs in the drive with his father’s message in it: it’s about the book and list from season 1, and Robert Queen asks Oliver to save the city.
While Oliver plans to return to his family, Maseo and A.R.G.U.S. agents attempt to stop the Omega auction but fail. Maseo is captured and about to be killed when Oliver arrives to save him. China White and Kang flee, but Oliver and Maseo stop them, getting the Omega back.
When they bring the Omega back to Waller, Oliver is ready to stay in Starling, but General Matthew Shrieve arrives to tell Oliver he has to be debriefed in China. After that, though, he is free to go wherever he wants. Oliver agrees. Meanwhile, Laurel and Tommy run into each other, and Tommy convinces Laurel to go to dinner with him.
Watch a promo for the next episode
