“Darkness on the Edge of Town” is episode twenty-two of season one of Arrow.
In the previous episode, “The Undertaking”, Oliver had discovered that his mother was working with Malcolm Merlyn. So he had gone to Diggle and apologised, telling Digg he was right. About everything. That his mother was working with Malcolm Merlyn and that they were planning something terrible.
This episode opens with a man and woman wearing lab coats entering some sort of lab area, one with more than a few doors to get through. The man is telling the woman about late night happy hour at a place across the street, and the woman asks if he means the one that plays salsa music all night when she is trying to work. Yes, that one. The man wonders if the woman wants to grab a drink and she says maybe two. Then they enter the computer-filled lab they were heading for. Which has more than a few dead bodies on the floor.
One scientist is kneeling on the floor in front of the other archer – Malcolm Merlyn. He is pleading, saying that he did everything Malcolm Merlyn required of him. The archer tells the man, Dr Markov, that Merlyn knows – of course he does, he’s standing in front of Markov – and that he thanks Markov for his service. Then shoots an arrow into Markov. Merlyn then does something to the computers which causes them to start overloading. The two new arrivals try to escape but the doors now won’t open. Security guards appear and Malcolm kills one of them. The lab goes dark and Merlyn goes over to the only scientists left alive. And presumably kills them, for Malcolm is next seen speeding off from the place. Which is UNIDAC Industries.
Diggle is telling Oliver that he has been watching Oliver’s mother for days and seen nothing. She goes to work, she goes home. Sometimes she goes out for dinner. Felicity has been tapping Moira’s home and work phones and has heard nothing out of the ordinary. Just some innocuous calls to Malcolm Merlyn. Oliver replies that why shouldn’t she call Malcolm – they are old friends. They are all old friends.
Felicity asks Oliver if he’s okay. He replies that his mother and his best friend’s father are involved in something that has dire consequences for the city and he is also pretty sure his mother murdered his father. Oliver isn’t planning on using the word ‘okay’ any time soon.
Diggle says that all they know is that something is being planned for the Glades, and when Walter got close to it, he was kidnapped. They need to know what the Undertaking is. Oliver says he will ask his mother. Felicity tells Oliver that the last time the vigilante paid Oliver’s mother a visit, in “The Odyssey”, Oliver got shot and Felicity got to play doctor with him. Felicity really doesn’t think these things through properly before she says them. Which Felicity knows, as she mutters that her brain thinks of the worst way to say things. Oliver replies that this time it will be him asking. A friendly mother-son chat.
Oliver enters the club upstairs to find Laurel there (do they never lock the doors? There’s a secret vigilante lair under the place). Oliver asks why she is there as it is only 7 AM. Which Laurel replies must be just after closing. She asks Oliver how business is and he replies that it’s busy, and it was easier when Tommy was running things. Laurel says that Tommy is a good guy and Oliver agrees. She then asks Oliver if he is a good guy. Because when Laurel asked Oliver to go and tell Tommy he no longer had feelings for her, he said he couldn’t do that – because he did. And she hasn’t been able to think of much else since. Oliver admits he shouldn’t have told her that as he doesn’t want to make things more difficult for her and Tommy. Laurel tells Oliver that, after he disappeared with Sara, she was sorry she ever knew him. But when he came home, things were different and she’s now seeing Oliver for who he really is. And that she still has feelings for Oliver too. Oliver replies that nothing’s changed, life hasn’t. he hasn’t changed. That last is certainly not true. Oliver tells Laurel he has to leave as Walter, who Oliver rescues, is coming home.
At the Queen mansion, Moira tells Walter she is so glad he’s home and has had a delicious brunch prepared, all his favourites. To which Thea says yum, English food. Walter says that he’s tired and needs to lie down for a bit instead. He seems a little off. As Walter leaves, Thea gets a message from Roy saying he needs to see her. Thea, having noticed Walter being off, says to Oliver that Walter doesn’t seem like himself. Oliver replies that Walter has gone through a lot and it will take time. Thea is sick of all of them going through a lot.
The television is on and there is a news article about six scientists, including seismic specialist Dr Markov, and three security personnel have been confirmed dead at the UNIDAC Industries massacre. Moira is watching this, looking more than a little disturbed, when Oliver approaches and says they need to talk. Moira tells him later and leaves; Oliver seems to notice she is worried and looks at the news story himself.
Lance and Hilton are at UNIDAC and Hilton is telling Lance that the arrows are black, not green, so they are dealing with the copycat archer again. Lance considers it helpful that the psychopaths are colour-coding themselves. Well, there may be an element of sarcasm in his ‘helpful’ remark. Hilton continues, saying that they haven’t seen the copycat for some time. Lance replies that last time, in “Year’s End”, the copycat took a bunch of hostages to draw out the vigilante and this time he massacred a bunch of lab nerds. He wants to keep the involvement of the other archer quiet. Lance asks Hilton what the dead scientists were working on. Nobody knows. Only the scientists, who are dead, knew and the copycat fried their computers and burned their research.
Thea and Roy are outside UNIDAC and Roy is photographing the police. Thea asks Roy where he got the camera from – and for that matter, where did he get the car. Roy replies that he borrowed it. Illegally. The word is ‘stole.’ Thea tells him this isn’t quite what she had in mind for the two of them in a car. Roy replies that she said she would help find the vigilante – Lance’s attempt to scare the two off by showing them one of Oliver’s kills didn’t work – and Thea replies that in two weeks the closest they have come is taking photos of a cop who hates the Hood as much as Roy worships him. Besides, it’s not like the police know anything. Roy has an idea at this – he says that they don’t know what the police know. Thea doesn’t think it’s like they can take a look. And Roy asks her if she still works at CRI.
Oliver has cornered his mother at the mansion and he objects when she basically says to him the same thing she told the press yesterday. Oliver wants Moira to tell the truth. That when he found his father’s notebook, she said it put their family in great danger. Moira asks if Oliver thinks she knew about Walter’s kidnapping – she did – and he says she is scared and only just keeping her head above water. And to let Oliver help her before she drowns. Moira tells Oliver she needs him to stop asking. He says he can’t; he needs to know. Then the lights go out and Oliver then Moira are both hit by some sort of tranquiliser darts. When they come too, they are both tied to chairs in a dark place. The Hood us there and he tells Moira she has failed this city. It’s obviously a ploy.
Thea arrives at SCPD and tells an officer she is from CRI and is investigating claims of racial bias in SCPD arrests. She needs a copy of each file from the people arrested between January 2011 and the present. She also appears to have a signed court order for this. Now, how did she get that? As Thea is waiting, Lance and Hilton arrive, so Thea ducks out of sight and listens. The two are discussing how Dr Markov made some calls to an unclaimed line at Merlyn Global. Hilton had thought it was a bit of a reach thinking that Merlyn Global was involved; now he corrects himself – by ‘reach’ he meant ‘leap.’ It’s an accurate one though. When Thea returns to Roy she tells him that there is a connection to Merlyn – or at least to the victims – with the copycat. Roy says he’s looking for the Hood, not the wannabee. Thea states that the guy with the black arrows hates the guy with the green, so they could show up at Merlyn Global and hope the Hood shows up too.
Moira begs the ‘Hood’ not to hurt her son. He replies that if she tells him what the Undertaking is he won’t have to. Moira is still holding out and the ‘Hood’ – it’s Digg – looks at Oliver who nods. So Diggle hits Oliver. Moira says if she tells he will kill her, kill her family, and Digg tells her to be more worried about what he will do. Moira eventually starts talking. Merlyn is planning to level the Glades so that they can rebuild. When asked how Moira says that Malcolm has got a device that can cause earthquakes; she doesn’t know how it works. It was invented by UNIDAC and Queen Consolidated’ Applied Sciences unit turned it into a weapon. When Diggle asks Moira why she got involved in something like this she says it was her husband – Robert – who got involved without her knowing. When Robert was lost, his decisions left Moira vulnerable to Malcolm. She doesn’t know where the device is. Diggle cuts both Moira and Oliver free then leaves. Moira rushes over to Oliver and says she would never willingly be part of something like this. He replies that he doesn’t know anything anymore.
When Felicity sees Oliver she says to Digg that she thought he was going to pull his punches. Digg replies he did and Felicity says she will get an icepack for Oliver’s, well, everything. Oliver wants to know about UNIDAC Industries. Felicity replies that Queen Consolidated bought them 7 months ago – that’s when she and Oliver met. Oliver wants information about what they don’t know. Felicity replies that Markov was an expert in psychic infringement and that a website claiming that the police suspect the copycat archer works for Merlyn. Diggle suggests that it’s time Oliver has a pointed chat with Mr Merlyn. Oliver replies that even if he takes Malcolm out, the other archer is still out there and could set off the device. Well, actually he couldn’t, seeing as Malcolm is the other archer. He’s also not going to be easy to take down – Oliver came off second best in their previous confrontation. Oliver says that they need to find out more and Felicity replies that there is another way to get Malcolm to tell them. People keep secrets; computers don’t. Oliver asks Felicity if she’s hacking into the Merlyn Global mainframe. Felicity replies that hacking is such an ugly word, she’s… well, okay, she’s hacking.
Moira arrives home to find Walter talking to Malcolm; Walter tells her that Malcolm stopped by to check up on his nemesis. Nemesis on the racquetball court that is. Malcolm tells Moira it’s good to see Walter back where he belongs, with his family. As Moira shows Malcolm out she tells him his assassin is not subtle. Malcolm’s aim is to get the police focused on the archer – a distraction. Moira says to Malcolm that no doubt he had Walter questioned during his captivity and if Walter did know something, their agreement be damned, she would be a widow again. Moira asks Malcolm if she’s wrong and he tells her rarely.
Lance is speaking to someone and says that when he asked Merlyn Global for help, of course they sent down the one guy who’s been working their 30 seconds and knows nothing. Because he’s speaking to Tommy. Tommy replies that if there is someone involved he wants them caught, and if Lance has something more than phone calls, he will help anyway he can. Laurel appears at that point and Tommy leaves. Lance first has a quiet word with a tech guy, saying he wants him to snoop around Merlyn Global’s computers. Lance is told he needs a warrant; he replies he needs a judge who owes him a favour. Lance returns to Laurel and says she never told him what happened between her and Tommy. She doesn’t have to tell him either. So Laurel does, blurting out it’s Oliver. Laurel tells her father that she knows he will think she’s crazy after Oliver broke her heart and Sara’s death and would probably rather drink acid than see her with Oliver again. Laurel is sure he’s disappointed. Lance replies that, since Queen came back, he’s different – you have no idea how much – but he will deny ever having said that.
Felicity’s attempt to hack Merlyn Global fails – she says she needs direct access to the mainframe. Oliver says they will get it then. Felicity points out the mainframe is inside Merlyn’s headquarters, on the 23rd floor, with restricted access. So Oliver says they will have to break in. Which conjures up images of scaling the building from the Outside as the Hood. What is actually done bears more to something from an old Mission: Impossible episode.
In “Home Invasion”, Oliver, Shado and Slade were all captured by Fyers when Yao Fei led Fyers’ men to the crashed plane. The three are now captives and are being taken to Fyers’ base, past the SAM battery which is working once more. When the three are escorted into a tent, Oliver recognises the man working a radio – he’s the man who Oliver found, bound, bloodied and pleading for help, in Yao Fei’s cave in “Dodger”. Oliver tries going for him but Slade tells him there isn’t time. When Yao Fei enters, Slade accuses him of leading Fyers right to them. Yao Fei replies that Fyers was going to firebomb the entire forest just to eliminate them – this way they have a chance.
Fyers enters and says that everyone is reunited for the end. The man on the radio is communicating with a plane, Ferris 637, and pretending to be Hong Kong International Airport. Fyers is told that the plane will be in range in 26 minutes. Oliver says that the plane is a commercial airliner; it’s not like it could land on the island. Fyers replies that it isn’t landing anywhere – they are going to destroy it. Fyers continues, saying that after the New York Stock Exchange reopened following 9/11, the Dow Jones plunged. He asks them to imagine what will happen to China, the world’s second largest economy, if all air travel in and out is grounded indefinitely.
Slade says that Fyers is going to destabilise China’s economy; Fyers replies not him, his employer. They have enough missiles to shoot down any aircraft approaching the mainland, which will decimate China’s economy. Especially if a rogue element in China’s military claims responsibility. Which is Yao Fei. Fyers tells Yao Fei he is worth more alive than dead – but shoots Oliver in the leg and Shado in the shoulder. Fyers tells Yao Fei he needs him alive, but Fyers can kill everyone Yao Fei cares about.
Things are heating up for the season finale, “Sacrifice”, both in Starling City in the present and on the island in the past. Roy lets slip just why he wants to meet the Hood so badly. Walter reveals why he is a bit off. Quite a few strands in Starling City are going to get tangled, and just what is going to happen with the Oliver/Tommy/Laurel triangle? That has potential for disaster. There’s also a brief glimpse of Fyers’ employer – not enough to identify her, only enough to reveal that she is a ‘her.’