by Demi Moumas, Reporter
This episode of Arrow starts with a heist of an armored truck done by only three people. They’ve got skills I’ll tell you. So this episode literally starts off with a bang, but unfortunately for them Oliver sees it on his living room TV. Mister multi-tasking Ollie Queen somehow looks over all the heist footage, even the other two that happened, while training his muscular abs off still in the Hood cave. Diggle comes in and Oliver reveals to him that the heist movements are the same as some military offenses. Oliver tells his bodyguard the only reason he found this out was he was looking into Ted Gaynor, who happened to be Diggle’s commanding officer and a name in the book.
DUN, DUN, DUN!
This puts Oliver and Diggle at odds now. Gaynor had saved Diggs in Afghanistan and keeps in touch every so often, but Oliver is adamant about the list never being wrong. He tells the older man that he is going to have a talk with the former commanding officer and gives Diggs the week off. Diggle simple can’t believe a man of Gaynor’s caliber would do this, so he decided he’ll look into this himself.
In the flashback land, on the island, Oliver makes it into an enemy camp after killing one of them and taking his clothes. When he gets further in, he sees that it is a meal break and quickly lines up to get a meal. Probably the first good meal he has had in a while. One of the soldiers calls him out on being new, Oliver uses this to his advantage and says he is to escort a prisoner. As him and the soldier get into the vehicle, Edward Fryers, the man that had Deathstroke torture Oliver gets in also.
Meanwhile in the present, Tommy gets a call from his father about a dinner date with Laurel. It’s all very vague and mysterious and I felt like I should be tapping my fingers together like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons.
Back with present day Ollie, the Hood heads to Black Hawk to talk to Gaynor. Let me tell you for a security firm, their own security sucks. He is able to get to the man, only to have Diggle appear and forces Oliver to leave or else he would have shot the bodyguard. Diggle is apparently taking Gaynor up on that position at Black Hawk in order to get more information to see if he is really warranted to be on the list. When the night is over, both men are arguing back in the Hood-cave. Oliver worried about shooting Diggle, while Diggle seems to still think Gaynor is innocent. Really, after all the information Oliver collects for each target don’t you think he would have known if the man was wrongly put in the book? Who is letting their emotions cloud their judgment now? During the argument Oliver lets it slip that his father left him a message explaining that all the names are in the book for a reason. This message…was not found on the island. That this is why Oliver is damn sure that the book is legit and everyone in is there for a crime they committed and it has nothing to do about any lack of trust he has in Diggle. The older man explains that he is in Black Hawk and that Oliver owes him enough to prove Gaynor’s innocence.
Spiraling back into the flashback, Fryers is interrogating Ollie who is masquerading around as a new guy. Many questions are asked about his positioning and how he got to the island, things that only true recruits are supposed to know. Seriously, I just want Fryers to end up on the wrong side of the arrow. He is annoying. I bet he really knew it was Oliver and is just toying with him. You can tell it by his tone.
Let’s sped up and see what’s going on with Thea and Moira Queen. They are in the limo after going shopping for what looks like some awesome dresses. Aw, it’s some mother-daughter bonding time. All the way up until Malcolm calls Moira interrupting them, forcing her to lie to Thea, cutting their girl’s day short. While on the Merlyn side of things, Tommy convinces Laurel to come to dinner with him and his father. She is very wary about it, but figures they need to spring this trap to see if Malcolm is being truthful in his intentions. Later that day, both the matriarch of the Queen family and the Patriarch of the Merlyn family then have their secret meeting about ‘the plan’ at Queen Consolidating letting Thea see Malcolm get touchy feely with her mother. So natural as most teenagers, Thea starts to jump to conclusions.
At the diner in the glades, Diggle is chatting it up with Gaynor, catching up on the things that have been going on in their lives. Ah the feeling of comparing bodyguard stories is just so…hilarious apparently…at least to Diggle. When it starts getting into territory in which Gaynor hits on Diggle’s sister-in-law, yeah…things are not so funny anymore are they! That’s when a member of Black Hawk – Paul Knox, who was a few ranks under Diggle in the military, appears and pulls Gaynor away for a drop off. And boy does the man look shady as hell. Diggle watches them leaving and you can see it on his face that he is thinking that Oliver may be right. I got one thing to say….WELL DUH!
Speaking of our man in green, he is trying to hack into the thumb drive he stole from Gaynor’s office. Unfortunately for him it is encrypted and not even his slightly above average skills can’t open it. Before he can check it out more, Thea comes in freaking out about their mother and Malcolm. Oliver thinks it is ridiculous but Thea explains that their parents had a bunch of arguments months before Oliver left on the yacht. Then Moira would have these lunch meetings with Malcolm. The older Queen siblings denies that Moira would cheat on their dad, let alone Walter. Thea claims Oliver is in denial and he doesn’t want to see the true Moira before leaving him to those thoughts. Not knowing how to respond, Oliver takes it to his mother and explains it to her. Let me say, the explanation she gives back is not what I was expecting. She tells Oliver that Robert was cheating on her repeatedly during their marriage and she didn’t want them to find out. Oliver takes that in stride…well more than stride he is too calm for a man that just found out that his father cheated on his mother. He then asks about the relationship with Malcolm and she lies to his face. The face that Oliver makes when Moira isn’t in front of him though…bad Moira, your son is starting to get onto your naughty lies and evasions.
On the island, Oliver makes it to where they are holding the prisoners. He is trying to go through each cage to see if he can find Yao Fei as Fryers explains what this place is. The older man also reveals he knew who Oliver was the whole time (a big fat ‘I told you’ goes right here). So he is knocked out for what seems like the millionth time on the island and dragged away. Thank god Oliver mans up in his future, because I can’t take him getting knocked out like that and not laughing.
Tommy and Laurel are enjoying sushi with Malcolm who is trading stories with the young couple. Despite the happy atmosphere it starts out as, it soon descends into the rocks. Malcolm starts speaking about Tommy’s mother’s death and how she was murdered. This puts Tommy on edge. Why would Malcolm bring up his mother when he hasn’t before? I hear forewarning music….and out comes the business side of the dinner. Malcolm wants to shut down Tommy’s mother’s free clinic. Tommy realizes what this was all about and doesn’t sign the papers and quickly leaves before he does something he regrets. Laurel is indignant on Tommy’s behalf and takes a jab at Malcolm, only to have him tell her the blunt truth about his wife’s death before he leaves.
Now since the thumb drive is secured and Oliver can’t get in, he has to find someone who can open it pretty easily. Enter in Felicity Smoaks, our favorite computer geek. Her and her snarky quips and witty remarks, I just love her. He entices her to help him with a promise of a bottle of red wine. It is funny because despite all the stories Oliver weaves around her that she CLEARLY does not believe, she still does what he asks of her. I mean if I could do what she would do and someone gave me mysterious items to look up, my curious would pique too. And probably get me killed….but let us move on. Felicity finds what they are looking and Oliver has her forward it to him under the guise that he doesn’t want her in trouble with his ‘friend’.
During the armor truck heist, the Hood foils it and is able to injure one of the men participating in it. After getting back home in time for Thea’s party, Oliver has a talk with Diggle conceding that he may be right. He explains that he injured a man and the blood should be in the back of the van still. The older man tells Oliver he has it handle and stay at Thea’s party until he calls. Upstairs, Thea see Malcolm being touchy with Moira as he shows her proof of Walter’s life. She gets made at her mother and storms out of the house with some new drug, Vertigo, that her friends gave her and her car keys. Kids, don’t ever get stoned and drive…like Thea you’ll find out it is not fun at all.
At Black Hawk, Diggle is searching for the evidence that Oliver said there would be. He soon finds it and Gaynor forces him to work a heist, showing Diggle that he is the one calling the shots. See bet you wished you believed Oliver now. They bring in Carly and use her as leverage against Diggle. Once out on the heist, they are about to get started. One thing though, Diggs has the grenade launcher dummies! BOOM! He is able to help Carly escape just as the Hood comes in to take care of the other guy who is still trying to kill him. It soon becomes a standoff between Diggle and Gaynor. Knowing the other man won’t shoot him, Gaynor raises his gun only to die by an arrow to his chest. After advice is solicited to be more subtle when he drops a bug on someone, Oliver explains that he trusts Diggle, but he doesn’t trust the other people. The older man waves away the masked billionaire letting him know he’ll explain things to the cops.
Thea gets into a car accident due to being on drugs. When Oliver and Moira appear at the hospital, she is responsive to Oliver more than her mother. She even goes as far as to worry about the car more than her health. This is where I face palmed and thought to myself, ‘God, I hope I wasn’t that stupid as a teen’. She laughs at Moira’s attempt to care, confusing Oliver in the process.
Diggle is at the Hood-cave when Oliver gets in from the hospital. Luckily for Diggle, he is a war vet and his story made perfect sense to the cops and they let him go. He then goes to apologize to Oliver about doubting him and thinking Gaynor was the same man he was from Afghanistan. The younger man dismisses the apology by telling his bodyguard that he was right in telling Oliver that he doesn’t trust people as much as he trusts the list. Oliver hands over the book and allows Diggle to cross Gaynor’s name from the list. He then tells the other man he never wants to know what other names are in the book until he needs to.
The next day starts with Oliver and Thea leaving the hospital after she has been discharged arguing over the Malcolm issue. That’s when a cop comes in to arrest Thea because her blood tested positive for Vertigo. Oliver’s face is unbelievable as he looks at his little sister in disbelief (I would too if my sibling was found out to be taking a drug that is highly dangerous and illegal). You could tell that she is very shamed face about it. Now is she shamed of getting caught or doing the drug in the first place? She was using earlier in the season. I wouldn’t want to be here though, with Oliver looking at me like that.
The episode ends with a last flashback showing us that Yao Fei is now working with Edward Fryers. Cliff hanger episodes that end with betrayal make me rage so hard. I love the drama in this episode between all the characters. The trust issues between Diggle and Oliver have been mounting for a while with the things Oliver doesn’t tell anyone. While the issues between Thea and Moira are five years overdue. What was unexpected was the issue between Malcolm and Tommy Merlyn. Something tells me this is going to build in the background until it explodes viciously into the foreground of the story arc. So many trust issues to go around. No one left behind! But it might have been too many trust and family issues in one episode. Despite not having that many action scenes, the fight scene between with Hood and the men of the heist was more realistic to me. It didn’t seem like something you would find in a martial arts movie or something of the sort. I like it better this way because Arrow is supposed to be more realistic than any of the other adaptations of comics so far.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Arrow – “Trust But Verify” 4 die hard psychological issues out of 5.
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