“State v. Queen” is episode seven of season two of Arrow.
The episode begins six months previously, with Moira giving the press conference she did in “Sacrifice”. About how she became involved in an undertaking to destroy the glades and everyone on it. In Iron Heights, in a security room, a guard is watching this on a monitor when another comes in. The second starts grabbing the guns and tells the first that the warden says they need to evacuate, and to help him get the guns out of there. The inmates? Leave them.
One of the monitors shows a man reading in his cell. It’s the Count. The light starts shaking, then the entire building. Afterwards, the Count’s cell has been breached. He leaves and grabs the keys from a guard. Other inmates are asking him to release them, but he has a very low opinion of them. Until he comes to the cell holding the Dollmaker. The Count says he loves his work and has a big future, and hands him the keys. The Dollmaker warns him that there may be aftershocks. The Count is… counting on it. The prison wall has also been breached.
In the present, Oliver, Thea and Digg are arriving at the courthouse for Moira’s trial. Laura is watching, along with ADA Donner. Laura thinks it isn’t fair how the press is hounding Oliver and Thea. Donner is less impressed. Moira confessed to being an accomplice on live television. To the reply that Malcolm Merlyn coerced her, Donner simply smiles. He has something, but he isn’t willing to share.
In the previous episode, “Keep Your Enemies Closer”, back on the freighter Sara had seemingly betrayed Oliver into giving up the location of Shado and Slade. Ivo and his men arrive at the crashed plane and, despite Oliver shouting a warning, riddling the plane with bullets. And hitting no-one, for it appears to be empty. Ivo has explosives set in the plane and they leave; Ivo wants to see the graves. Inside, Shado and Slade were hiding, and Shado disarms the explosives. Shado is going after Oliver and Slade, despite being barely able to walk, is accompanying her. He considers that a reason not to stay and potentially be blown up.
In the courthouse, Digg is asking Oliver and Thea if they are okay. Oliver wants to know if Digg is, because he doesn’t look well. As if he has the flu. Digg replies that it was a waste of time getting vaccinated then. Oliver orders Digg to go home and rest. Don’t make Oliver call a cop – there are a few around. In the courtroom, Moira enters and the trial starts. Donner is blaming everything on Moira; Jean is claiming she was coerced.
Felicity is at Queen Consolidated and is watching another report on the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator being turned on right on schedule. It should be getting clear from all the background reports on this that this is important. Diggle arrives and she tells him not to take it the wrong way, but he looks disgusting. Digg admits he doesn’t feel great – and is there a right way to take that? He’s going home, after he arranges a replacement bodyguard. Felicity goes into Oliver’s office and talks about her dislike of needles and other pointy things – which she admits is ironic – and comes out again to see Digg collapse.
Elsewhere, the Count is meeting with a doctor to pay him for something. The doctor tries to double his fee. This goes badly for him. The Count tells the, dead, doctor that it’s too bad he won’t see what he has created, but people will beg for it to end. Whatever it is.
Oliver arrives and tells Diggle that Felicity was right to call him. Digg needs medical attention. felicity says he needs more. She had a sample of Digg’s blood analysed by a chemist who owes her a favour. It contains trace amounts of Vertigo. Which Digg has never used. Oliver is told that the Count escaped from Iron Heights and, like the Dollmaker, prison officials have been keeping it quiet. Oliver has an antidote to counter the effects of Vertigo, and gives it to Felicity. He’s heading back to court.
In court, Thea is on the stand and Donner is cross-examining her. It’s not painting a good picture. Donner looks to be struggling, though. Then he collapses. He’s taken away in an ambulance – driven by the Count. Back at court, Jean admits that Thea’s testimony was a setback and that Moira has to testify. Even though she doesn’t want to. Oliver agrees; it’s time to tell the truth.
Back at the club, the news is about Donner. The antidote isn’t working on Digg. Then the Count appears on the television, with a tied-up Donner. The Count is promising an end to everyone’s pain. With Vertigo. Simply request a cure from your local dealer. Somehow, the Count has got a good number of people addicted to Vertigo. He manages to get Donner to beg for a hit. The Count has only managed to dose some of the city though.
The DA wants Laurel to take first chair, because she’s the one the jury knows. Laurel has been going through Donner’s notes, and found his trump card. She goes to see Moira – and tells her she could be disbarred for doing so – and tells Moira she can’t testify. If she does, Laura will have to cross-examine her to the best of her ability. And something will come out, which will not only affect Thea and Oliver, it could undermine Moira’s whole case.
Felicity tracks down the Count, who is disappointed that Oliver has given up one of life’s true pleasures – killing people. There are limits though. With Oliver in court and Diggle ill, Felicity decides to head out by herself. Laurel feels bad at going up against Moira in court. Sebastian Blood is definitely up to something – in “Crucible” he was revealed to be not entirely what he claimed to be.
On the island, Ivo is looking for the arrowhead that was found on the Japanese bodies in “Identity” – the same arrowhead that Oliver gave to Thea in “Pilot”. Oliver might not have been entirely truthful about what it was. Or, at least, didn’t tell the entire truth. There are also a couple of shocks at the end.