Arrow 4x17 Recap: "Beacon of Hope"

Beacon of Hope. 
The bee has escaped the hive, I repeat, the bee has escaped the hive... well, actually the Bug-Eyed Bandit (guest start Emily Kinney) has escaped her jail cell. She's after one thing and one thing specifically: the chip in Felicity's spine. Felicity, Donna, and Thea are all trapped in Palmer Tech with everyone else, so Oliver must turn to a new ally to help rescue them.

Buzz. Brie Larvin was granted a small amount of computer time per week and this time she used it to change her release date.

Felicity sends Curtis home sick as Donna and Thea show up. Donna's there to see how Felicity is and Thea's there to ask about a job for Alex. While they're talking, Brie crashes the board meeting looking for Felicity and her bio-chip. She's jammed all forms of communication, but when Curtis sees what's happening on TV, he heads to tell Oliver (with an 104 fever). He tracks his way to the secret lair using the phone they gave him to help find Ray and walks in to see Oliver ready in his Arrow suit and Laurel in her Black Canary outfit, at which point he passes out.

Sitting himself in front of the high tech computers in the lair, he begins to find out information they need to know. So Curtis is Team Arrow's newest ally and he's ecstatic about it. While Diggle, Oliver, and Laurel head to Palmer Tech, Curtis is able to disable the bees, but then he gets kicked out and they now form Exoskeleton. Arrows don't hurt it at all, so they'll have to find a way to stop them some other way.

Oliver's stung badly and now that the bee is inside him, it's replicating itself. The only way to lure it out is to generate a high enough frequency for the bees to follow. Luckily, Laurel's got the perfect tool for that. It works perfectly, destroys the drones, and he's safe. Curtis considers this a victory and after his small jokes and celebration of the win, no matter how little, Oliver's bother by it because he doesn't want him to think that this life is enjoyable. He has some harsh words for him and it takes Laurel to talk him down.

Felicity, Donna, and Thea are still stuck in Palmer Tech, though. If Felicity doesn't give her the chip, she'll start to kill the board members, but she's got another plan. They take an elevator down to the conference room level that doesn't actually stop on that floor and use an explosive (well a device that Curtis hasn't figured out how to stop from exploding yet) to break through the wall. The board members are safe and Felicity faces Brie with Thea by her side.

The reason why Brie wants the bio-chip is because she has a tumor that's wrapped around her spine. When she gets surgery, she'll be paralyzed, so, naturally, instead of asking nicely, she did this to get one. She threatens Thea and Felicity gives her what she wanted. Felicity goes to work on her computer after Brie leaves to get the blueprints and Thea says that she should come back to the Team, but now that Felicity's gone, she sees things differently and says that she isn't going to return again. When Brie returns with the blueprint, she's out for something else now because she recognized the coding she saw and discovered that Felicity was the one who sent her to prison.

Oliver, Laurel, and Diggle head back to Palmer Tech and Laurel uses his Canary cry to slow down Exoskeleton so Oliver can get inside. Brie makes a comment about how Felicity's friend didn't forget about her and when the Arrow walks in he says he never will. Thea's knocked to the ground and Brie's tied to a pole, but while Exoskeleton is slowed down, it's still strong. When Oliver gets knocked down, Felicity breaks a lamp and stabs Exoskeleton with that, destroying the drones. Curtis is able to redirect the bees towards the Bug-Eyed Bandit and everyone's safe. Felicity thanks him, but Oliver says she never has to ever thank him for saving her. Oliver also apologizes to Curtis for how he may have made him felt and tells him that he did great. He tells him that he's always welcomed. Oliver's goal is to try and be a beacon of hope, while also saving a little bit of that hope for himself, following Laurel's advice.

Felicity's Future. After going through the whole thing with Brie's drones, Felicity decides that she wants to still help the Team but in her own way. She wants Palmer Tech to contribute to this beacon of hope the Team has created and make the bio-chips available to change people's lives.

Alex's job search. Alex has an interview with Darhk's wife to work for her campaign now that Oliver's out of the race, but Thea's not too keen on him working for her. Instead, Laurel suggests that he possibly interview with Palmer Tech as there's a job opening that she's heard about, but she won't mention who from. (We all know it's Felicity.) And with that, Oliver makes a few jokes about how Felicity's not Voldemort and Thea says that she didn't even think Oliver knew what Harry Potter was. (He read the books.)

Darhk. Malcolm visits Damien in jail to tell him a few things, but what's important is that Damien's powers don't work when he attempts to use them. It appears he's having a bit of trouble with that. He sends a man out with a message after he has him attack other prisoners, but I, personally, didn't fully understand the scene, so I'm sure more will be explained in the future. Malcolm also gets into contact with Andy (Diggle's brother) to help Darhk, which by the looks of next week it seems like he will be.

Oliver's heartache. Oliver's been practicing combat a lot to get out his frustration and anger. While doing some one-on-one with Laurel, she points out that it's clear he's still hurting. He thinks that after everything he's been through, he should be tougher, but this is a different kind of pain, a kind that takes longer to heal. Laurel's certainly gone through that pain, actually caused by Oliver, so she knows what it's like. Really enjoyed this scene from the two of them.

After Oliver yells at Curtis, Laurel pulls him over to the side and tells him that no one ever deserves to have the speech he just gave, but he gave it because he wants him to see how this life isn't a happy one. He hates the fact that he's unhappy and he feels as though his relationship is destroyed now because he came back from the small time of happiness they had, it's all gone and they weren't able to make it through the darkness. Laurel points out that it was Oliver's own lies, not the lies of the Green Arrow that drove them apart, and she makes a valid point. He needs to find some hope for himself in all of this.

I really enjoyed tonight's episode and think it was one of the best this season. Lots happened, which is why the recap was so long, but I hope you all enjoyed. Next week we'll be seeing Andy go against the Team and in the preview, we're also getting a time of death. Could next week be the week we find out who the mysterious death is? We'll see.

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.