Arrow Recap: “Dead to Rights”

by Eric Levy:

Arrow Recap: “Dead to Rights”
Original Air Date (CW): Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Season 1 Episode 16

WARNING: This article contains spoilers.

Thank you, Geoff Johns. Thank you for everything you did this week on Arrow.

Johns, DC’s Chief Creative Officer, is known for turning green to gold. He’s done it for years with Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), and now he did it with Oliver Queen–for the second time.

You might remember another episode Johns played a role in–“Muse of Fire,” which introduced Helena Bertinelli.

In “Dead to Rights” a lot happened… I mean a lot. The most shocking thing, hands down, was when Oliver revealed to Tommy that he is the vigilante. In a close second, the emergence of Laurel’s mother, who told her daughter that her sister might still be alive. All of that was just the tip of the iceberg for fans. Floyd Lawton returned, Oliver took out Guillermo Barrera (Brutale in the comics) at the start of the episode, and Laurel made a canary reference (Google it). Again… thank you, Geoff Johns.

So the main plot for this episode continued where we left off last week. Moira, looking to kill Malcolm Merlyn, has hired China White, who in turn has hired Floyd Lawton to do it. The hit takes place during an event where Malcolm is being honored. Things, however, don’t go as planned. “The Hood” shows up when stuff starts to go down and allows Malcolm, along with Tommy (who was in attendance at the event), to get to safety. Apparently it wasn’t safe enough, because Lawton manages to shoot Malcolm in the chest with posion-laced bullets. Luckily for Malcolm, Oliver knows how to pull off an emergency blood transfusion. It is in this moment that Oliver reveals his “Hood” identity to his best friend… a moment of desperation.

Malcolm ends up surviving the ordeal, and realizes that someone in his group has tried to kill him. He asks Moira to get to the bottom of it (if he only knew…).

The Island was used sparingly in this episode. To tell you the truth, for once, I didn’t miss it. That’s how good this episode was.

So now we, the viewers, are left with some questions. Is Laurel’s sister really alive? Will Malcolm discover Moira’s intentions? What will become of Oliver and Tommy’s friendship? I’m sure we’ll get answers to all these questions… and probably a whole lot more.

Another question that fans have been waiting to have answered: when will The Huntress return? Next week! Don’t believe me? Well, see for yourselves.

See you next time, Arrow Heads.

Eric Levy covers the hit CW TV show Arrow for DarkMedia. He is a comic book enthusiast who loves to read, watch, and write about his favorite characters. You can follow Eric on Twitter at @LifeinStrips. You can also check out his blog at lifeinstrips.blogspot.com