“The Huntress Returns” is episode seventeen of season one of Arrow.
The episode opens in a strip club and a man sits down to watch a pole dancer. Another woman comes up to him, her face hidden in shadow, and asks the man if he wants a dance. The woman’s figure and outfit isn’t hidden, and the man agrees enthusiastically. In a VIP room, the man asks the woman if it’s her first night. She says it is – then steps forward revealing her face, and says it’s also her last. The man, who she greets as Gus, knows the woman. Helena Bertinelli, who left town in “Vendetta”.
Helena tells Frank that she’s looking for her father, and if anyone would know where he is, it’s his attorney. Gus says he doesn’t, and swears he doesn’t know where the FBI is keeping Frank Bertinelli. After Frank made his plea deal, the FBI stopped telling him anything. Gus tells Helena she has to believe him, and she replies that she does. She leaves the club and get son her motorbike whilst inside a man enters the VIP room and finds Frank dead with two crossbow bolts in his chest.
Oliver is with McKenna, as his club is ready to open tomorrow. Oliver tells McKenna who the DJ is and he says it’s Steve Aoki (an actual, real-life DJ). McKenna asks how Oliver was able to arrange that and he tells her he used to date Aoki’s sister. A million years ago. Oliver wants McKenna to be his date tomorrow and she asks if a club opening is a proper date. He replies that he hopes it is. She agrees to it.
Lance meets his daughter Laurel in a coffee shop and he starts by apologising for trying to use her to catch the archer. She tells her father she owes him an apology as well and he asks for what. Then Laurel’s mother, Lance’s wife, Dinah (Alex Kingston), shows up. Lance is not hugely pleased to see her for the first time in three years.
At the end of the previous episode, “Dead to Rights”, Dinah Lance had turned up at Laurel’s apartment, telling her she believes that Sara, Laurel’s sister, is alive. Even though she was washed out to sea when the Queen’s Gambit went down. Dinah tells Lance that there are thousands of deserted islands in the chain where Oliver was found. If Sara was washed up on one of them, nobody would know. Which frankly sounds like wishful thinking. Lance thinks so as well, as he assumes Dinah has no proof. She does have something, a photo taken by a tourist that she thinks is Sara. The meeting does not end well.
Thea is talking to a friend about Oliver’s club opening; the friend wants to know if they have plus ones. Thea thinks so, then spots Roy, the man who snatched her purse in “Dodger”, and goes over to speak to him. Roy comments that, for a stuck up bitch, Thea spends a lot of time in the Glades. She tells him that’s where her job takes her. Roy is surprised that she has a job and Thea suggests he should try it some time. He asks how many openings there are for a high school dropout with a couple of priors, no references and a history of violence. Thea tells him she might. Her brother is opening a new club in the Glades and he will need valets. Roy asks if Thea thinks it’s a good idea to give him the keys to strangers’ cars. She tells him to put up or shut up.
Diggle is looking at a news item that looks as if it might involve Deadshot when Oliver comes in and Digg clears the screen. Oliver says, with the club opening, he has decided to give the bad guys a rest. Digg tells Oliver that it’s bad girls he’s concerned about, showing him CCTV footage of Helena – or, as Digg likes to call her, Oliver’s psycho ex-girlfriend – in the strip club. Diggle wonders why she’s back. He tells Oliver that Oliver tried to help Helena, and failed, and that she could drop the dime on them all.
Oliver arrives home to find Helena chatting to Thea. Thea asks about Roy having a job and he says yes, call Tommy. In fact, go upstairs and call Tommy right now. With Thea gone, Oliver asks why she is back in town as her father is serving consecutive life sentences. She tells him that Frank has cut a deal to inform on the East Coast mob. In 48 hours, he will enter Witness Protection, with a new name and a new life, totally off the grid. Helena doesn’t think her father deserves that. She can’t take on the Marshals without Oliver’s help. Oliver isn’t interested in helping but, as she leaves, Helena whispers to him that she will have to be more persuasive. As Oliver has family too.
Oliver asks Diggle to increase the security on his mother and sister; Diggle says he’s way ahead of him. Oliver thanks him and Digg replies that it’s his job. Oliver was actually thanking Diggle for not saying ‘I told you so.’ Diggle replies that the night is young.
Oliver then sees Tommy and tells him they need to talk. For, in the previous episode, Oliver revealed to Tommy that he was the Hood, in order to save Tommy’s father. Oliver doesn’t know that Malcolm is the other archer. Malcolm had also told Moira that they had a traitor, and he wanted her to look for the traitor. Not knowing that Moira was the one who tried to have him assassinated. Complicated.
Oliver tells Tommy that he kept his actions a secret to protect the people close to him. Tommy isn’t upset because his feelings are hurt. He’s upset because Oliver was his best friend and now it turns out he’s a murderer. Tommy feels he doesn’t even know Oliver any longer. Oliver admits he’s changed, and wants to explain now that Tommy knows the truth. Tommy doesn’t see the point as he wouldn’t believe a word of it.
Laurel arrives at the precinct to find her father beating up a stapler. She apologises and tells Lance that she didn’t tell him the truth about Dinah being there, because if she had he wouldn’t have shown. Lance asks if Laurel actually believes her mother. She doesn’t, really, but asks what would it hurt to take a look, even if it’s just to set Dinah straight. Lance still is not enthused, asking if Laurel knows how long it took him to get to a place where Sara wasn’t the first thing he thought about every morning.
At the club’s opening night, Laurel tells Tommy she’s proud of him. She then tells him that breakfast did not go well. Laurel realises something is wrong and asks Tommy about it. He says there’s nothing wrong. Yes, there is. Then Tommy sees Helena. Oliver gets a message to meet him downstairs and finds that Helena has Tommy pinned. Oliver tells Helena he taught her how to achieve her objectives without killing. She agrees that he did, that Oliver taught her to use leverage and exploit weaknesses. Which is what she’s doing – by the looks of it, Helena is going to leverage Tommy’s arm off. And there’s an entire club full of leverage.
After Oliver agrees to help he speaks to Diggle about her. Digg says that Oliver still has feelings, or he would have found a different solution. Oliver asks what Diggle is suggesting – to just kill Helena. Digg replies that Oliver would have if Helena looked like him and not the T-Mobile girl. Oliver says he can’t kill Helena and he can’t turn her in to the police so he has to contain her to minimise the collateral damage.
Oliver tells Helena that they don’t know where the FBI safe house is – as Felicity walks in, saying she could hack the FBI database and find out. Oliver tells her to leave, but that statement Felicity made might be a mistake. Oliver continues to Helena that her father is being moved tonight, but there are two vans, one a decoy. So she replies it’s lucky there are two of them.
Things don’t go to plan and Helena is captured – Lance calls her the Huntress, the first time that name is used. Will she think Oliver betrayed her? And will she tell the police who the Hood is? Probably not something Oliver can risk.
Quite a few personal problems. Oliver’s vigilante life is causing problems in his personal life, and he realises this. Laurel knows that Tommy is keeping something from her, but it’s not a secret he can share. Tommy is not too happy with Oliver.
Back on the island, Slade and Oliver are looking at the mobile SAM battery they found Fyers has had delivered. Slade tells Oliver that those things have a range of 2,400 km and they need to know what Fyers is planning. Oliver suggests he’s planning to blow something up – a reasonable deduction admittedly. Slade tells Oliver that one of the missiles on the battery could do the job – all of them could start war. Slade doesn’t know who with but wants to stop Fyers before he kills thousands of innocents. Oliver points out that, with the soldiers, they can’t exactly steal the missile launcher. Slade, who is looking at some boxes of explosives the soldiers are carrying, is not thinking of stealing it. So they need to get to the launcher. Turns out Slade is ridiculously good at guns akimbo.