“The Man Under the Hood” is episode nineteen of season two of Arrow.
The episode opens with a van at night. Felicity is in the back struggling with a balaclava. Sara tells her not to be nervous; Felicity is a lot nervous. This is a big move, even for them, and they’ve cornered the market in big moves. Oliver tells her that Slade has given her no choice; in the previous episode, “Deathstroke”, Isabel was revealed to be working with Slade and had seized control of Queen Consolidated, and Slade is going to use the company’s Applied Sciences division to mass produce Mirakuru. Which he will then use on the bus full of criminals he recruited. Felicity replies that, as plans go, it’s not the good one. Oliver reminds Felicity it’s her plan. She didn’t think he would say yes. Diggle tells them that they are there; there being the Robert Queen Applies Sciences Center.
With the guards taken down, Felicity uses the skeleton key taken from William ‘Clock King’ Tockman in “Time of Death” to enter. Inside, she comments that this is where they met Barry. Explosives are planted all over the building to blow it to pieces. Really tiny pieces. The next day, Isabel is on the news saying that the cowardly terrorists will be caught and punished. Slade now can’t use Queen Consolidated’s centrifuge, but that will simply slow him down.
Slade also paid a call on Laurel, and told her that Oliver was the Arrow. She is now assembling a board of crazy, combining stories about both Oliver and the vigilante. Her next stop is Iron Heights where Lance is being held. Lance was arrested in the previous episode for working with the Arrow. Lance says he’s okay and wants to know if Laurel is still going to meetings. Yes, she is; that’s where she talks about how her father is facing prison. Lance tells her it will blow over; Laurel replies that last year working with the Arrow cost him his detective’s shield; this year he’s facing 18 months. Laurel wants to know if Lance knows the Arrow’s name. He doesn’t. He’s telling the truth. She next asks about the woman in black, as Sara arrives. Lance again says he doesn’t. This time he’s definitely lying.
Moira and Oliver are speaking to their advisor, Ned Foster. They may still own the majority of the stock of Queen Consolidated, but Isabel has been planning this for months and the stock is so diluted it’s practically worthless (that does not sound right). On paper, they are virtually broke. They need to form a new trust that Isabel can’t touch but the beneficiaries of the current one need to approve the transfer (that also doesn’t sound right; either the Queens have had some truly incompetent advisors or there’s a whole bunch of errors here). The current beneficiaries include Thea. Who is not talking to them, as Slade told her that Malcolm Merlyn was her biological father. After Ned leaves, Moira tells Oliver that Isabel would have gone after the company even if he hadn’t trusted her. Because Robert Queen had a weakness for beautiful, strong women. They had an affair when Isabel was at business school and working as an intern. Which explains Isabel’s ‘sins of the father’ comment.
At Verdant, Felicity and Dig tell Sara and Oliver that Roy is missing – he had left town. They head to Arrow base and discover Slade waiting there for them, in full Deathstroke getup. Sara, Dig and Oliver all get taken out quite easily, and when Felicity turns on the lights again, Slade is gone. That could have gone better.
Laurel arrives in hospital to check on Sara. The doctor tells her that Sara has a hairline fracture of the wrist and the bruises make it look worse than it is. Besides, it’s nothing compared to Sara’s previous injuries. She has scar tissue all over her body and the last person the doctor saw that injured was an Iraq veteran. Laurel enters the room as Sara is dressing and sees her back is covered in scars. Sara, and Oliver when he arrives, say that they got involved in a motorcycle accident. Laurel is now more suspicious; the last person she saw that badly scarred was Oliver, and she’s thinking that Sara might be the woman in black. Oliver’s later talk with Thea does not go well.
Felicity has discovered that Slade was after something in particular; the skeleton key. He will be after a new way to mass produce the serum. Slade can now get in anywhere, but they need to find where it is. So, what’s the most cutting-edge tech place in Starling City?
That would be a S.T.A.R. Labs warehouse, where two people, Cisco and Caitlin (remember the names), are doing inventory. Cisco cannot believe that Dr Wells is shutting the place down. Caitlin points out that, when S.T.A.R. Labs turned on the particle accelerator, it blew a hole in Central City. It isn’t surprising Starling City cancelled the lease. A noise is heard and a guard appears. There looks to be something wrong with him. Then he spits blood and collapses, revealing Slade behind him. Oliver and Sara are heading to the warehouse. Inside, Caitlin leads Cisco to the possessions of Dr. Arthur Light, who Wells fired two years ago. For being a psycho. She hopes Cisco can get something working. The something is some type of energy weapon, which blasts Slade down before fizzling. This allows the two of them to run, and Slade takes something. Oliver and Sara arrive too late and Laurel is outside watching. Felicity knows Caitlin and Cisco; Barry was taken to S.T.A.R. Labs, which is where she met them.
On the island, the plan to blow up Slade didn’t work, because he could smell the explosives. Oliver and Ivo are now with Sara and the others. Anatoly wants to torture Ivo, but Ivo says he can help them stop Slade. By reversing the effects of the Mirakuru. There’s a cure.
Slade’s plan is still working, Oliver gets a bit of a shock and Thea doesn’t want to cooperate with, or even know, her brother and mother.