“Birds of Prey” is episode seventeen of season two of Arrow.
Armed cops are being briefed by Lance about a Hugo Manheim that they are here to arrest. Oliver and Sara are watching from a nearby roof; Sara thanks him for helping her keep an eye on her father. Oliver replies that, with Slade out there, neither of their families are safe.
On hearing gunshots inside, Oliver and Sara join in. Lance gets shot by someone and Sara checks on him. He says that he’s fine and to go. Oliver takes down a runner, which proves to be Frank Bertinelli who asks if he was sent by Frank’s daughter to kill him. Then Sara throws a man from a window. Not a ground floor one either.
Bertinelli is taken into custody and Lance goes to see Oliver and Sara. He understands that Sara doesn’t believe in reading perps their Mirandas, but she can’t just toss a guy out of a window. Sara’s response is that the man shot her father; Lance points out that he’s still here. He’d like Sara to show a little restraint next time. That was Sara showing a little restraint. Oliver says that they have another problem. Lance already knows what it is; with Bertinelli in custody, it’s only a matter of time before she rolls back into town. Sara asks who ‘she’ is.
Back at arrow base, Diggle explains that ‘she’ is Helen Bertinelli. Or, as Felicity likes to call her, Oliver’s psycho ex-girlfriend hell bent on revenge against her father. Sara focuses on the ‘ex-girlfriend’ part and Oliver asks her if that’s what she took from the sentence. Roy asks why Helen wants to kill her father. Because he murdered her fiancé. Felicity has been keeping tabs on Helen;’ she’s been torturing and killing any mafioso who might know where her dad is.
Laurel is at a meeting, saying how she loved being a lawyer but she loved drinking more. Then she gets a call from ADA Donner. He apologises for how things ended; Laurel tells him he did her a favour, as that was the only way she could hit rock bottom. Which she did. Donner would like a favour in return; he wants Laurel to come back to work to prosecute Bertinelli. He thinks she’s the best qualified and he’s already sorted out the problem with sanction from the bar.
At Verdant, Felicity explains that she has a line on Helen’s fiancée. He may have been dead for five years but that hasn’t stopped him from renting a car. Felicity has hacked the GPS and it’s heading straight to Starling City. Oliver asks Roy if he wants to go out in the field. That would be a yes.
Oliver and Sara ambush the car, which stops, and Roy sees the driver pull out a gun. He puts his hand in front of it, getting shot through the palm, and yanks the man – it isn’t Helen – out of the car. Roy nearly loses control again. The man says he was just paid to take the car for a joyride. Helen herself is forcing someone else to drive her into town.
Afterwards, Felicity says Helen used a frat boy and they are easy to manipulate. Oliver says he was a frat boy. Felicity rests her case. Sara thinks Oliver has a type. She also indicates Roy. His palm is nearly healed already, a benefit of the Mirakuru. The only one, according to Oliver. Roy is dangerous and Oliver thought he was helping to control him, yet he was still ready to kill a man. Oliver apologises; he should have asked Roy to do this months ago. Roy needs to stay away from Thea. She isn’t safe when around Roy. Oliver isn’t sure anyone is when Roy loses control. Felicity has the news on, is about Laurel.
Sara goes to see Laurel; Laurel didn’t tell her because, for one thing, she thought Sara and her father would try and talk Laurel out of it. They would have. Sara isn’t worried that Laurel is going to slip; she’s worried about Laurel’s safety with Helen on the scene. Not that Sara knows that, she claims. Laurel says Sara has never seen her be a lawyer. She’s really good at it.
Oliver is making non-lethal arrows when Sara returns. Oliver is going to head to the courthouse to see Laurel. Sara says he forgot his baby arrows. She thinks it’s a binary choice between saving Laurel and killing Helen. Oliver was happy to let Diggle take the kill shot for Slade. Oliver says it’s different. He failed Helena; he created the Huntress. Sara says Oliver created Slade too. She regrets that once it’s said, but Oliver says she’s right. Neither of them think clearly when it comes to their families. Oliver tells Sara she has to stay. After Oliver is gone, Sara asks Felicity and Dig’s opinion. Felicity suggests Sara kick Helena’s ass. Dig agrees.
At the courthouse, Oliver is talking to Laurel when Frank Bertinelli is brought in. Through the front door. Which Oliver thinks is odd. Then a grenade is thrown and the two officers with Frank are taken down by Helena. This is, however, a trap for Helena, and there are more police on the scene. Helena was prepared, and she has armed men in the courthouse. It gets rather messy; Oliver gets Frank out but Helena is inside with a bunch of hostages. Either she gets her father or she starts killing them.
Roy is definitely having control issues and he decides that Oliver is right; Roy needs to break up with Thea. Only she refuses to break up with him. So, Roy takes other measures. Felicity makes a comment on how it’s getting hard to keep track of who knows whose secret identity.
Back on the island, Oliver is a prisoner of Slade, who is having him beaten up. The freighter’s engine was damaged during the attack in “The Promise” and Slade doesn’t have anyone who knows how to fix it. So, he calls Sara at the fuselage, Sara suggests that Slade leave Oliver and just sail away. Slade says he can’t. The engine is broken and, during their attack, he decapitated the chief engineer. So, he wants Hendrick, who is with Sara. Hendrick is not keen on this idea.