Arrow 4x15 Recap: "Taken"

Taken.
After William's taken by Darhk, Oliver realizes he needs help and calls an old friend, Vixen. Using her powers, Vixen gets a hold of his location and the team goes to war. Felicity's also finding out about William this week, so it'll be interesting to see how she reacts and how that affects her and Oliver's relationship.

Felicity has implanted the gift Curtis created for her to walk again and she's not making her attempt to walk through physical therapy with Paul (husband) and Oliver by her side. However, she's not successful in her first attempt, but Paul reassures her that these things take time and she must have patience with herself. When they leave, Felicity admits that she's upset with herself because she wanted to walk down the aisle on her wedding day, but before they can finish, they're interrupted by the one who put her in the wheelchair, Damien Darhk. Oliver is furious, especially when he threatens him with a video of his son and says the only way to get him back is to drop out of the race. And boom, Felicity now finds out about Oliver's son.

Felicity's not mad that he has a child, but that he kept this from her. And then the rest of the team, well Diggle and Laurel, find out, since Thea already knew. To make things worse, when Felicity says she'll contact Barry and asks if she should tell him, Oliver's face tells her that Barry already knows, too. So, the secret hits even harder.

Samantha's in Star City because, of course, she's flipping out about the fact that William's missing and was told by Barry that she should talk to Oliver about things. Oliver tells her he's going to get him back, but she doubts his capability of doing something the entire police force can't. Cue the big reveal that he's the Green Arrow. She's taken around the lair and introduced to the rest of the team, and also sees Laurel, who she knows. Samantha apologizes since their one night stand happened when she knew Laurel and Oliver were still together and she should have been honest with her, but Laurel says that Oliver should've been honest with her, not Samantha.

They need a new plan, so Oliver brings up Vixen, since she has magic and a totem that will her them out. She hugs Laurel hello and meets the rest of the Team in the lair. Using William's favorite toy, his Flash figurine, she catches his scent and now it's time to get to work. (She also says to never mention this to Barry, ever.) Oliver starts to give orders like usual, but then stops when he gets to Felicity and instead asks her to stay with Samantha.

Malcolm shows up at Thea's apartment and Thea's upset about what she's heard about the way he couldn't give up being Ra's to save her life. She also questions whether it was Malcolm who told Darhk about William, and he denies it, but we all know that's a lie, and eventually, Thea learns it is, too, and she's furious. She's done with him by the end of the episode. Such a strong scene from the two of them at the end, but especially Thea.

While Felicity and Samantha are working on a profile for William together, she tells her that Oliver told her about Felicity and that he wanted to tell her about William, but she told him he couldn't. She wants Felicity to know that she was the one that made him choose.

They discover where William's being held and the team goes to work getting through Darhk's men, but they can't actually get past Darhk and find his son. Vixen also lost William's scent, but she's also got a new plan to somehow get to Darhk's totem, since he must have one that gives him his magic ability. Lucky for them, Lance remembers what it looks like. However, in order to save William's life now, Oliver suspends his campaign and sends his full support to Darhk's wife.

Felicity drops by the campaign office after Alex leaves and Oliver tells her that he didn't want to be a part of William's life if Felicity couldn't be a part of it. He figured Samantha would have trusted him eventually and also mentions that Diggle said the best way to protect him might have been to keep him close, even with everything.

Samantha's still angry that William hasn't been given back yet, and Oliver's worried that Darhk won't keep his end of the bargain now. Vixen talks to him on the side after and she tells him that she hated that she didn't know her parents, but she's glad she had didn't have all the answers throughout her childhood. She wouldn't of been able to deal with it, and she advises Oliver to do the same; to allow William to have his childhood and then give him the answers later.

Oliver has two options after Darhk sets a meeting place: meet up with Darhk as Oliver Queen, or meet up with Darhk as the Green Arrow. Samantha wants William back and Darhk taken out, so it's clear that the route is the Green Arrow. Vixen gets the totem, but separating it from Darhk didn't have any effect. So, plan B. Vixen smashes the totem down multiple times and basically cuts off Darhk's magic abilities. Let's just say he's not so good in hand-to-hand combat and is easily defeated. William's reunited with Samantha and even tells his mom that he wants a Green Arrow action figure, and she admits he is pretty amazing.

Perhaps one of the most heart wrenching scenes this season is Oliver recording his video message for William after he's told Samantha to move him far away where not even he will know where William is. He tells him that he's his father, biologically (he hasn't earned the actual title of father, yet), that he's the Green Arrow, and tells him that that's why he won't see this video until after his 18th birthday. He wants to give him a real childhood. And Felicity heard most of him recording this and tells him that they need to talk and puts the ring on the table. She realized that she needs space and she understands how hard the decision was, but in marriage, she needs to be included. And she's also been left out of the decision to send William away. And then, Felicity's able to stand and walk again, and Oliver wants to be happy and celebrate so much, but he can't and she walks right out the door.

I loved that scene, but, personally, I didn't like the way it ended. For me, Felicity being able to walk out killed it for me because I wanted that scene where she walks again to be so much better. And because of what occurred during the episode, her calling things off then seemed a little bit... out of place? However, Emily Bett Rickards did an awesome job, and I can't say enough about Stephen Amell and how much he pulled at my heart during that scene. Outstanding job.

The next episode is involved Cupid and supposedly, there will be a wedding occurring, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes down. Unfortunately, we have to wait 4 weeks for March 23 to come around. What did you think about tonight's episode? Feel free to leave it down below and hopefully this four week hiatus doesn't feel too long!

Other things worth mentioning:
↠Constantine's in hell. Literally, in hell.
↠Oliver talks to Diggle as they're waiting to fight and he says that maybe he should've never entered William's life, but Diggle says he can't beat himself up over "what ifs." He also says that he understands why he made the decision he made and it's part of being a parent. You have to make tough decisions.
↠Laurel's still hurt by the whole Oliver situation, even though she knows it was so long ago. So she gets a little emotional in the episode around Lance.