'Arrow' Recap: "Honor Thy Father"

The second episode of “Arrow” aired tonight on The CW and Oliver Queen continued his quest to bring justice back to the streets of Starling City in “Honor Thy Father.” But things weren’t easy for Oliver as he dealt with (legally) coming back from the dead, balanced that with his mother wanting him to take over the company, a new threat in the form of China White and the Chinese Triad and of course his lingering issues with Laurel. It was another jam packed episode and it was gripping from start to finish.

Arrow kicked off the episode by literally kicking some bad guy ass down by the docks (that’s where crime happens, people). He was taking down someone who he’d deemed had failed the city. The next morning, Oliver walked into the living room to find his family gathered around the TV, watching said criminal paying back all the people that he stole from. Then it was off to court where Oliver had to go before the judge so he could be declared legally alive (I’m kind of impressed the show bothered with that technicality. Way to keep it real). Poor Oliver had a flashback to watching his father die and he was a little shaken up so he dodged his mother’s attempt to bring him to Queen…(I know it’s not Industries like on “Smallville,” but I’m too lazy to look up the actual name). So Moira left with Walter and Oliver and Tommy ran right into Laurel.

She was not pleased to see Oliver after the way he treated her at the party and she was rather cold with him, explaining that she was in court doing her job and that was that. She was going up against Martin Summers, who was responsible for the murder of her client’s father (also down by the docks). But Martin had an in with the Chinese triad and he put a hit out on Laurel. Her father (who seems to be getting mixed results from the audience) wanted Laurel off the case, but she refused. He insisted on giving her police protection and confining her to her apartment though.

After giving Diggle the slip for the second time, Oliver went out and did his Arrow thing only to return home to an angry mother (But is she angry because she loves him or because she doesn’t trust him and doesn’t like that she can’t keep tabs on him? That’s the question). Oliver made it clear that he was out getting some much needed female company and that shut Moira up. But Diggle was pretty pissed off at Oliver as well and basically told him that if he did it again, he was going to quit? (That didn’t really make sense to me because wouldn’t Oliver like that?).

Thea wanted to go out and get drunk and Oliver was not amused. Later, (in a moment filled with inappropriate chemistry), she came into his room and saw all of his scars. Oliver didn’t want to talk about them, but Thea made it clear that she was tired of him shutting her out. She took him to see the headstones they’d put in for Oliver and their father and she told him how she used to talk to “him” there because she missed him so much. Thea warned Oliver that even if he didn’t want to talk to her, he had to talk to someone because it wasn’t okay to keep everything that happened bottled up inside.

Oliver took his sister’s advice and went to see Laurel. He apologized for the way he treated her and said that he was damaged. He also apologized again for that whole thing where he slept with her sister and said he couldn’t ever apologize enough (accurate). He told Laurel that the whole time he was gone, there was one thing he kept thinking about and he wanted to do it wither her (Get your minds out of the gutters, people). Oliver brought ice cream for the two of them and they had a nice moment where he told her about how his mother wanted him to take over Queen *insert company name here* and Laurel said she understood pushy parents (Let’s pause for a moment to once again praise the amazing chemistry Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy have).

But that nice moment was ruined when Oliver heard someone coming on the fire escape. He grabbed Laurel’s hand and pulled her from the room, but China White and her people were already coming in. Oliver was trying to protect Laurel and it was pretty obvious he was trying to decide if he should go all Arrow on them, but then Diggle burst in and started shooting people. In what can only be described as a BAMF moment, Diggle and China White got into it and just when she started to get the better of him, Oliver grabbed a butter knife and hurled it across the room, forcing her to step back. The cops showed up after that and Laurel ran into Oliver’s arms (pausing for a fangirl ‘aw’ moment) and Diggle was eyeing Oliver in a new light after seeing him throw that knife.

Detective Lance blamed Oliver for everything, even though the Chinese Triad had taken out the cops he’d had guarding Laurel, but whatever, he hates Oliver. He was, however, very gracious to Diggle and promised him that he could speed through all the red lights in town (safety first). Later, Diggle and Oliver were back at the Luthor Queen mansion and Diggle was impressed with his butter knife throwing abilities and said that maybe he’d misjudged him. The two had a moment, but Oliver tried to play it off, even though he seemed to realize Diggle was starting to know stuff. Diggle asked if he was going out that night and Oliver confirmed he was.

Arrow returned to the docks (where crime happens) and tortured Summers into admitting that he’d set everything up. Once again, China White appeared and her and Arrow got into it, but then the cops came and everyone made a run for it, except Summers, who was still chained up. Detective Lance cornered Arrow, ordered him to put down his bow, but then he got distracted by something shiny and Oliver sent an arrow into the fence and took off. But once again, it wasn’t just any arrow; the computer chip inside had recorded Summers’ confession. Basically, Arrow handed the bad guy to the cops on a silver platter and China White got away in case they want to bring her back in a future episode.

Detective Lance and Laurel argued about Arrow. The detective thinks he’s a menace and wants to bring him to justice, but Laurel pointed out that he’s helping and she thinks he might be good to have around. Laurel and Tommy both showed up at the Queen press conference to announce the new division of the company dedicated to Robert. Tommy told Laurel that he doesn’t want Oliver to know about them because he’s been through a lot. Laurel pointed out that they’d all been through a lot.

Oliver showed up for the press conference “drunk” and made an ass out of himself, calling out Walter for sleeping with his mother and making things super awkward. Afterward, Moira was seen getting into a limo with a man in the shadows (if you’ve seen this video, you probably know who he is) and telling him that he saw for himself that her son knows nothing, Robert didn’t tell him anything and he has no idea the yacht was sabotaged. The mystery guy has a book with the same symbol as Robert’s journal.

Meanwhile, as Oliver was crossing out Martin Summers’ name in his revenge book, his voiceover was talking to his father about how if he’s going to carry out his wishes and take out all these bad dudes, he’s not going to be able to be the Oliver that his mother wants him to be. He ordered the headstone taken down and then he had a flashback to being on the island and being shot with an arrow. It looked painful, but what was even more confusing was the guy in the green who shot him with it. Could it be the Dark Archer? Here’s hoping this particular flashback picks up next week.

Did you enjoy the second installment of “Arrow?” What did you think about China White coming to life? Are you looking forward to the other DC villains coming to play over the coming weeks? Hit the comments and let us know what you think.