“Legacies” is episode six of season one of Arrow.
In the previous episode, “Damaged”, Oliver had managed to make it look as if he wasn’t the Hood, by having Diggle impersonate him and by Oliver himself taking a polygraph. However, Detective Lance is probably unconvinced – given that he saw Oliver fighting an assassin who was sent by Michael Merlyn to kill Oliver (Merlyn later apologised for this to Moira) and Laurel had noticed an anomaly in Oliver’s polygraph. Walter had also left town – for Australia, indefinitely – as he doesn’t really trust Moira at the moment.
This episode opens with three men wearing masks depicting cards coming into a bank, brandishing automatic weapons. One of the tellers does manage to activate the silent alarm. One of the customers on the floor starts reaching for a gun in an ankle holster. The woman next to him asks what he’s doing, and he reassures her that he’s a cop. She says, a little too loudly, that she doesn’t want to die, and one of the robbers shoots the cop in the back several times. When the police arrive, the hostages all come running out, and all wearing masks too. Inside, there’s a hole in the floor of the vault. The robbers are getting into a van by a sewer grate and one tells the shooter that shooting cops is not what they do.
Diggle and Oliver are sparring with metal rods, and Diggle is asking Oliver where he learned some of his moves. Diggle says that one day Oliver is going to have to be straight with him about what happened on the island. Oliver says absolutely – just not today. Oliver’s next target is Scott Morgan, whose company supplies water and power to the Glades. Morgan tends to jack the prices up when winter rolls around – and both demand and need go up.
Diggle points out that winter is a month away, and brings up the bank robbery. Oliver tells him that, with a cop injured – he’s in a coma – the SCPD will be all over it. Oliver wants to know what Diggle thinks he does – Diggle says take out bad guys with a bow and arrow. Oliver tells him that he doesn’t fight street crime. Diggle says that if Oliver wants to make a difference, he needs to think beyond the pages of his father’s book. According to Diggle, there is more than one way to save the city, and the crew that just robbed the Starling City Trust will have more planned, because that’s how they operate. Oliver’s argument is that crime happens in the city every day – does Diggle expect him to stop all of it. Diggle thinks Oliver has a very narrow definition of a hero; Oliver responds that he isn’t a hero.
At the CNRI, Joanna is telling Laurel that their biggest sponsor has pulled out, which is going to cause problems. Tommy arrives and his answer is to take Laurel out in his new sports car and take her to Coast City. Which is a little shallow and doesn’t get him anywhere.
At the Queens’, Thea is telling Oliver that their mother is a bit down, ever since Walter decided to go on a business trip halfway around the world. Moira wants her children to come to brunch with Janice Bowen and her son, Carter. Both Oliver and Thea point out how many times Carter has been held up to them as the perfect son. But Oliver agrees anyway.
Oliver gets a call from Diggle who tells him that Scott Morgan is in the hospital after attempting to kill himself. Tommy turns up just as Oliver is leaving – so gets blown off. Again. Tommy then asks Thea for advice with a girl – not mentioning that the girl is Laurel – and she gives him some he finds helpful.
At the hospital, Oliver says to Diggle that Morgan doesn’t seem like the type to try and kill himself. This is because it’s not true; Diggle just wanted Oliver to turn up. Then Stan Washington, the cop who was shot in the bank gets wheeled, accompanied by his wife. Diggle informs Mrs Washington that Oliver is paying for her husband’s medical expenses. Diggle says that he’s known a few cops and that they are always willing to help others by putting themselves at risk. Diggle obviously doesn’t do subtle that well. It works though.
Oliver manages to identify the shooter from the bank, and finds out that he, and his brother, father and mother all disappeared several years ago. There were three men robbing the bank – and it turns out one of the customers was the mother. So, it’s a case of the robbers keeping it in the family. Oliver also reaches out to Felicity (who apparently was originally supposed to just be in one episode) for help, and finds a connection to his family’s own sins.
A few flashbacks from the island this episode.