Arrow (Episode 3x13) Recap

Tonight's episode of Arrow was enjoyable from the very beginning. (Spoilers ahead)

I really love how Oliver reacted to Laurel as the Canary. Stephen Amell said this in an interview and I agree with it: "I feel like if I treat her with kid gloves, it's not giving respect to that character." He knows that she can take the harsh criticism. He knows that she's strong. That doesn't mean that he has to agree with what she's doing. He wants her to prove herself, prove that she can be as strong as she makes herself seem. That she can be a hero. Everyone starts somewhere, and in order to be a hero, you need to prove you live up to the task.

Thea finally knows that Oliver is the Arrow. That scene definitely goes down as one of my favorites between them. Oliver looked like he was bracing himself for her to yell at him for lying, for her to be so mad at him for keeping this a secret, but her response was 'Thank you' and you could see it on his face just how much that means to him. For her to be so accepting, to understand that he was protecting her, and to show a level of maturity was such a great moment. I love that they can now talk openly about Oliver's life and troubles. It's only going to deepen their relationship. I also love how he called her "Speedy" again during this episode. I missed that.

Thea also started to see through Malcolm just a bit this episode. She recognized that he manipulated her, but she doesn't even know the major part of it. There was also a bit of Thea and Roy in this episode and like I said last week, I've always loved them together, friends or more than friends. Glad we still get scenes with them, but his face when he saw Thea and Chase together made me sad.

I really liked the scene where Laurel was injected with Vertigo and thought she was fighting Sara, although the fight between the Canaries was a tad bit short. I like that it showed that Laurel still had things to learn. She wasn't suddenly some hero. I also loved the Laurel and Felicity scene. I really hope they become best friends. I want to see it happen. The advice she gave her, that she has to stop trying to be her sister, came into play when Laurel was again injected with Vertigo. This time, she knew how to fight it, and she won that fight because of Felicity's advice helping her realize she needed to be herself.

The scene where Roy and Team Arrow stood up to Oliver, telling him that things changed while he was gone. That scene was just fantastic. It hurt to watch, but everything Roy and Felicity said was the truth and Oliver needed to hear it. I also loved where Diggle talked to Oliver, being the voice of reason, trying to help him understand what happened. They thought Oliver was dead, not just gone. Of course things were going to change.

Thea recognizes she was being set up by Chase and just full on goes at him. I loved that. She protected herself, then Roy showed up to protect her, and then Malcolm, all to try and get rid of Chase or get some information out of him. Unfortunately, they didn't because he killed himself before they could actually full out kick his ass, but I'm glad he's out of the picture.

And Lance finally knows. I've been wanting him to know for so long about Sara's death and Laurel finally told him. That scene was such a tearjerker. I'm so glad she finally told him.

Thea and Oliver are back on Lian Yu. I'm very excited for her to see where Oliver spent time while he was gone and I've also seen some pretty good promo shots for 3x14 that look fantastic, and also, Slade is back, which should come along with some great scenes. This episode was intense in some scenes, sad in others, and overall great. I'm definitely looking forward to next week!

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