“Vertigo” is episode twelve of season one of Arrow.
The episode opens at night and a man is running through what looks like some type of industrial facility. He’s being pursued by someone swinging through the pipes and catwalks above – Oliver. The man climbs up something but an arrow through his sleeve pins him in place, dangling in the air. The man claims he is just trying to make an honest living. He’s actually a drug dealer selling Vertigo – by definition, not an honest living, and Oliver wants to know who supplies the dealer with Vertigo.
In the previous episode, “Trust But Verify”, Thea had seen Moira apparently rekindling her (perhaps nonexistent) relationship with Malcolm Merlyn at her birthday party, so had taken some Vertigo given to her by a friend, driven off in her brand new car and had a crash. In the hospital, Thea had been tested and the drug had been found in her system so the police had come to arrest her. Which is why Oliver is chasing down drug dealers.
Oliver tells the drug dealer to state who is supplier is and live. The dealer says the supplier will kill him if he does. Oliver says that whoever he fears, he should fear him more. So the dealer says the supplier is simply known as The Count, and that’s all he knows. Oliver leaves him dangling in the air though.
Back at base, Diggle comments that Oliver has dealt with three pushers and Oliver tells him that he now knows the name of the supplier. Dig comments that ‘The Count’ is a worse name than ‘The Hood.’ He also thinks Oliver should not go out again. Oliver says that the Count has a lot of blood on his hands and deserves to pay. Diggle says he’s missing the point; Thea’s hearing is in a few hours and he thinks she will appreciate having her brother there more than the Count being found.
Thea is getting ready when Oliver enters and tells her that judges do not appreciate people being fashionably late. She asks if he has any other advice. Oliver tells Thea to let her lawyer do all the talking and that, although they give you a pad and paper, do not play tic tac toe on it, because judges don’t appreciate that either. Oliver had a fair bit of experience with judges in his prior life.
The arriving at the courthouse is a big deal from a media standpoint. In the court, Thea has been charged with possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Her lawyer tells the judge that a plea agreement has been arranged with the prosecution, as Thea is a juvenile and the people have agreed to probation.
The judge, Brackett, questions the juvenile bit, because Thea is 18. Her lawyer says that at the time of the incident, she was still two days shy of her birthday and has no priors. Judge Brackett comments that is because the Queens stopped Thea’s priors from showing up on her record. Brackett says that it’s a win-win situation; the lawyer gets his client off and the prosecution helps their boss avoid dealing with the drug that is sweeping through the city like a plague. Brackett says everyone wins except the people of Starling City. Judge Brackett tells Thea that she has become a poster child for Vertigo and, if it can be shown that even the Queen family cannot get away with using it, this may have an impact. So the judge rejects the deal and sends the case to trial.
Back at the Queen mansion, the lawyer says he will file an interlocutory appeal, but it may not go their way. Moira wants to know why, if the judge has to make an example, it has to be of Thea. Oliver comments that maybe it doesn’t. The discussion of prison leads to an island flashback. Oliver had been captured by Fyers when he went to rescue Yao Fei Gulong; Fyers recognised him and said the reason his men wear balaclavas is so that only the eyes are visible, which are the part that can be recognised. Yao Fei Gulong seems now to be working for Fyers and, when Oliver asks him to free him, he is told he cannot. There are more flashbacks following on from this, including of a fairly brutal – as in fatal – fighting ring.
Oliver turns up at the police precinct looking for a Vice detective called Hall. The detective, McKenna Hall, is someone Oliver actually knows, although she didn’t use to be a cop. Instead, she was a party girl that Oliver associated with, and they are friends. McKenna says she still go to raves, just undercover and she has to dress slightly more appropriately – it seems in the past they got thrown out of a club due to her ending up less dressed than when they entered – in order to hide her badge and gun. Oliver says he thought if the person behind Vertigo could be found, it would take some heat off Thea. He tells McKenna he discovered the name the Count but she says they have known about him for months, but don’t have much on him.
The dealer Oliver questioned is on a chair in a room when several men enter. One, presumably the Count, goes over to the man who says he didn’t say anything. The Count says he knows that, as he couldn’t divulge secrets he didn’t have. Still, examples have to be made. So the Count injects the man with what he says is pure Vertigo. Which makes the person think they are in excruciating pain by affecting the pain centre of the brain. The Count then gives the dealer a revolver with one bullet in it; he can choose to shoot himself or the Count.
Laurel and Tommy are discussing their conflicting schedules when Oliver arrives. He wants Laurel to talk to her father about getting Thea a better deal. Laurel does so and Lance says no, as she knows how he feels about Oliver, and that perhaps an example should be made of the Queen family. Laurel asks whether one should be made of the Lance family too, for she knows her father got her sister off from a shoplifting charge and that she sees a lot of Sara in Thea. She does make a case and Lance agrees.
Oliver and Diggle arrive at what Oliver tells Dig is the headquarters for the local chapter of the Bratva, which he first visited in “Lone Gunmen”. He also tells Dig to go with it, no matter what Oliver does. Alexi Leonov comments that it’s been a while, especially for a captain in the Bratva, and Oliver tells him he was deciding what to invest in. He’s decided on pharmaceuticals, and he doesn’t mean aspirin. Leonov complements Oliver – and he knows who he is – on his choice and suggests methadone, as it’s the newest thing.
Oliver wants to invest in Vertigo, which is even newer. He’s told that there is only one seller, who is difficult and does not like new friends. Oliver has a gift for the Count though – his police file. Leonov wants to know if Oliver will do him a favour, for it is unusual for an American to achieve such a rank, and that Anatoly Knyazev speaks highly of him. According to Oliver, he saved Knyazev’s life. The favour is to kill someone and Oliver apparently chokes the life out of him.
Diggle is looking forward to his new and exciting career as a drug dealer (which turns out to involve dealing with Bratva, drug suppliers and police shootouts). Thea, when Lance comes through with a deal, does not prove cooperative. And Oliver approaches Felicity again with another request. Diggle comments that Oliver’s lies when he asks Felicity to do things are getting really bad – Oliver had just told her that the syringe full of liquid he wanted analysing was an energy drink and it was in a syringe because he was out of sports bottles. Oliver says that he knows. Frankly, he isn’t even trying now.