S02.E11: Blind Spot

[Actionmage]

Oliver is conflicted after Laurel reaches out to the Arrow asking him to investigate Sebastian Blood. Oliver is unsure whether to believe her accusations against the man he has publically supported for mayor, but decides to trust Laurel. However, when the pair gets too close to the truth, Sebastian exposes Laurel’s drug addiction and has her arrested. Meanwhile, Roy reveals his new super-strength to Sin who wants to test out his abilities. Unfortunately, Roy isn’t able to contain his rage once unleashed and almost kills a man. Back on the island, Oliver is surprised when Sara reveals a secret about Laurel.

 

 

[tv echo]

This episode is notable for a number of things, including making Oliver look gullible for believing in Sebastian Blood in order to prop up Laurel, and having Oliver & Laurel (wearing a white coat) break into city archives even though Laurel could've legitimately accessed those archives as an ADA.  If she didn't want to openly access the archives because she didn't want to alert Blood to her suspicions, then that ship already sailed when she visited Blood's mother in the sanitarium (which would keep records of all visitors).  It's also notable because Laurel shoots the cop henchman six times and never suffers any remorse over killing another human being (I'm assuming it's her first kill).

 

I also noticed another little thing that just contributes to the perception that Laurel has a sense of entitlement - when Laurel says to Oliver "I could really use a drink of water" and he gets a glass of water for her, while they're in her apartment.  

Edited July 17, 2014 by tv echo

[Actionmage]

tv echo, maybe the script had Oliver do that to show how shady Oliver thinks Laurel is? Because...DRUGS and LIES!!

 

It was an interesting episode because the writers set Laurel up as a Truth Teller/Cassandra, when it didn't have to be so. Oliver should have been, on reflection, more suspicious of Blood and/or Some Other Criminal/Criminal Faction as setting up Laurel. Maybe we were supposed to draw the line from FlashbackStory!Laurel  lying to get Sara in trouble to Present!Laurel 'lying' to get Sebastian in trouble in order to divert from her drug problem, such as it was presented. (At least, there were no 'scorned ex' charges as to the why Laurel "turned" on Sebastian. Yay?)

 

Diggle Giggle-- Oliver: "Roy isn't the type to...talk about his fellings."

                          John: "Not like us."

 

Also, Roy: "I have something I want to show you."

         Sin:"Whoa! Slow down there, Harper!"

This is the episode that, to me solidified how tight Teen Arrow could be and what a great support they could be if reassembled. Willa,Colton and Bex are great together and in duos. I hope Sin plays a big part in bringing Thea back  and in reestablishing the younger trio.

Speaking of the younger set, I had totally forgotten how brutal the beat down of the slasher was! I had to look away.

 

I must say that the opening shot of the episode was lovely and just the right amount of arty for a noir-ish superhero show. The looking down through the rain  and then swinging down was fun to see.

 

Quentin was shoulder-touched by Oliver! If he can shoulder-touch Mama Lance, he'll have the set, correct?

 

In a show about Laurel trying to prove herself useful as an agent of The Law (and/or an occasional Breaker of the same), she showed she wasn't good at anything other than looking sad and hitting center mass, mostly.

 

Besides the much-talked about white coat, there was:

*Wasting time asking Arrow how much time they had, instead of getting to it!

*Surprise at being outmaneuvered by the guy who killed his own mother; that he was able to beat her to the only evidence that could be costly to his PR efforts.

*Not stopping after seeing signs of a ransacking and immediately hitting 911 or her dad or any of his detective buddies to alert them to a break-in at her apartment. I'm sure glad her father, the career cop, taught her how to protect herself! (Seriously, Laurel needs a new residence. If I was a neighbor, I'd complain to the landlord.)

*From my notes: "If you want to see, Laurel? Take the damn mask off yourself!" If she needs the cathartic release of seeing her kidnapper's face, she needs to do her own business. Either she's a china doll or she's got a core of steel, according to the Show. They say she's so tough, yet she acts like some easily upset-able tween.

 

"The Vigil-auntie"-- I like how Slade says that word. We also got to see Slade as Deathstroke be badass, which is always a treat.

Ivo? My favorite straight-up villain/Flashback!Villain of S2. I'll miss Dylan Neal.

 

Two last notes: A) I hate that Dig's right and meet dislike of Laurel clouds the fact that she's actually right about Blood.

                         B) Felicity's dangly earrings in this episode are super cute! (Felicity was her usual awesome self, imo)

Overall, it's an okay episode, but I would rewatch this for Team Arrow and Teen Arrow interaction and Quentin Lance scenes, primarily.

[icandigit]

Oliver so adorable in the alley with Roy. I kinda love those two.

What's with the attitude Laurel, you're asking for his help. And last time he dealt with you he had people pointing guns at him.I don't like her.

"Your groupie Roy Harper and his girlfriend"Yuck

Sin.Yay!

I will never believe the whole thing with Felicity and the security cameras. Sure that happened.

I think they should just reuse old scenes of break ins at Laurels instead of making new ones.Cuts down on costs.

Thank you Sin for telling Thea.

This is a hot mess.Why am I watching these Laurel scenes?

The Sara and Ivo thing was really well done and sad.Stockholm syndrome freaks me out.Ivo is a good villain.

[apinknightmare]

I also noticed another little thing that just contributes to the perception that Laurel has a sense of entitlement - when Laurel says to Oliver "I could really use a drink of water" and he gets a glass of water for her, while they're in her apartment.  

This didn't really bother me a) because she did ask him if he minded and said please, and b) the writers needed to get him out of the room so he could come back in and be knocked the hell out. Granted there are other ways of doing that, but I can handwave that she was thrown for a loop by Oliver calling her out on her BS and she wanted him to get away from her for a minute or two.

[Starfish35]

This didn't really bother me a) because she did ask him if he minded and said please, and b) the writers needed to get him out of the room so he could come back in and be knocked the hell out. Granted there are other ways of doing that, but I can handwave that she was thrown for a loop by Oliver calling her out on her BS and she wanted him to get away from her for a minute or two.

I agree. This scene, in what I found to otherwise be one of the worst episodes of the season, didn't bother me. I could understand why she needed him to go away for a minute in order to pull herself together.

[tv echo]

Yeah, I might've overreacted to Laurel's line to Oliver about needing a drink of water.  I think it was the dismissive, condescending way in which KC said that line - like how a rich person would talk to a servant.  Though I still think it's strange to expect someone else to get you a glass of water in your own home.

[SmallScreenDiva]

It's also notable because Laurel shoots the cop henchman six times and never suffers any remorse over killing another human being (I'm assuming it's her first kill).

 

tv echo, thanks for pointing that out. I've always thought it was a totally odd that the show never revisited Laurel's killing of Dailey, considering the theme of the season included "no killing" to become a hero. No one even really addressed it, did they? I can't remember if Quentin talked to Laurel about it at the precint. But even if he did, that would have been, what, a 1-minute conversation? Laurel goes on her downward spiral after this but I don't think the killing itself is brought up in connection with it.

Edited July 20, 2014 by SmallScreenDiva

[BkWurm1]

How the hell did they get a search warrant authorized to search Laurel's apartment in the first place and how in the hell did they justify arresting her based on finding a bottle of pills with her FATHER's name on it in? 

 

Not only could a first year law student get possession of a family member's prescription thrown out since it's completely plausible he could have left it there on his own but they could also get the whole search tossed out since they had no valid grounds in the first place. 

[BkWurm1]

Gah!  I'd forgotten that Laurel doesn't just shoot this guy but she pumps like five bullets into him.  The first shot was saving Oliver but she was then steadily advanced on him while he was down on the ground adding bullet after bullet.  I've always given her a pass on this one but I don't think I will in the future.  She was making sure he was D E A D dead and it wasn't because she was freaked out or afraid.  She was on a mission to put him in the ground. 

[tv echo]

211 (Blind Spot) – Oliver Queen’s voiceover intro:
Oliver (voiceover): "My name is Oliver Queen. After five years on a hellish island, I have come home with only one goal-- to save my city. But to do so, I can't be the killer I once was. To honor my friend's memory, I must be someone else. I must be something else."

211 (Blind Spot) – Oliver and Felicity have the bad guy take a polygraph via Bluetooth:
Oliver: "The man in the skull mask. Where is he?"
Crook: "I don't know what you're talking about."
Oliver: "He's been experimenting on people in the Glades. He's leaving a trail of corpses with blood running from their eyes." 
Crook: "No, no, no, no, no. I deal in stolen merchandise. That is it. (Oliver shoots arrow) Ah, ooh, please!" 
Felicity (over comms): "Ask him what color his shoes are." 
Oliver: "What?"
Felicity: "You want this guy to take a polygraph via Bluetooth, cool, but I need to hear him establish a base line. I need to hear him tell the truth just once." 
Oliver: "What color are your shoes?"
Crook: "What? They're blue!"
Felicity (over comms): "He's not lying." 
Crook: "Please." 
Oliver: "He's out there. Somewhere."
Felicity (over comms): "Come home. We can't do any more tonight."

211 (Blind Spot) – Diggle implicitly notes that he and Oliver are not guys who are comfortable discussing their feelings:
Felicity: "Has Roy mentioned anything about the man in the skull mask who injected him?"
Oliver (sighing): "Roy is not the kind of guy who is comfortable discussing his feelings."
Diggle: "Not like you and me."
Felicity: "Don't yell at me, but I really think we need a new plan on how to find this creepy mask guy. Scaring the crap out of low-lifes isn't yielding results."
Oliver: "Felicity, I am open to any and all suggestions."
Diggle: "Oliver, maybe we're overthinking this. What if the mask simply got wind that you were after him and decided to skip town?"
Oliver: "He didn't go to all the trouble of recreating the serum and testing it on people just to walk away. He is still out there, and we need to locate him."

211 (Blind Spot) – Felicity’s research supports Laurel’s intel, but Diggle is suspicious of Laurel’s motives:
Felicity: "Laurel was right. I hacked Blood's cell phone records. The Alderman and Gold have stayed buddies since Zandia Orphanage."
Diggle: "So what? They kept in touch. Doesn't exactly mean that Sebastian Blood is the man in the skull mask."
Felicity: "His last name is Blood. That can't be a good sign." 
Diggle: "Felicity, he's dedicated his life, risked his life to help the people of the Glades. And in his spare time, he's a murderer? Trying to create an army of human weapons?"
Felicity: "You're a personal bodyguard who fights crime at night with his billionaire boss. Not a lot of people show their real face in public." 
Diggle: "Oliver, what are you thinking?" 
Oliver: "Laurel gave me a case number to start with. We need to know if Sebastian really killed his father. Then we figure out if there's a chance he has the Mirakuru formula."
Felicity: "I'm on it."
Diggle: "And what if this is just another trap, set by Laurel? She could be setting you up and this time you wouldn't have Sara to save you."

211 (Blind Spot) – Felicity gives Oliver good news and bad news:
Felicity: "I have good news. And bad news. I suggest the good news first - it tends to soften the blow of the bad news. (Oliver just looks at her) Okay, dealer's choice. Good news is, we found the case file on Sebastian's dad's murder."
Oliver: "Anything in it to suggest he killed him?"
Felicity: "Oliver, meet bad news."
Diggle: "That file was sealed years ago."
Felicity: "And since the file is over 27 years old, there is no digital copy for me to hack. The only hard copy is stored the old-fashioned way in the city archives."
Oliver: "So I go in and take it - the old fashioned way."
Felicity: "Except security in the file room is so old school, you need a key card to get in, which, even if you had, you wouldn't know where to start looking for the file."
Oliver: "An Assistant D.A. would."

211 (Blind Spot) – In a flashback scene, Sara tells Oliver about what Laurel did to sabotage Sara’s chances with him:
Sara: "Last time I trusted you was right before the Gambit went down."
Oliver: "I haven't gotten a chance to say this - I'm sorry. I know this is my fault. And none of this would have happened if I hadn't invited you on the boat with me."
Sara: "That's not exactly true. I mean, I was the one who said yes. And it was only half because of your charm."
Oliver: "And the other half?"
Sara: "Do you remember when you spilled that beer on me at Tommy's party?"
Oliver: "No. But I never left one of Tommy's parties with my memory intact."
Sara: "Well, I wasn't even supposed to go. But I snuck out of the house because I knew you were going to be there. And I had this (laughs) - I had this embarrassing crush on you. And Laurel, she knew it. And that's why the party got broken up by the cops. She tipped off our dad. Then I was grounded for a month, and the next thing I knew, you and Laurel were together.”
Oliver: "You think she did all that on purpose?"
Sara: "Not everybody's what they seem."

211 (Blind Spot) – Original Team Arrow discuss the erased file on Sebastian Blood’s dad’s murder:
Felicity: "We tried going through all the security footage at the city archives to see if anyone swiped the file over the last few days."
Oliver: "Did you see anyone?"
Felicity: "Just this. It's all been erased." 
Oliver: "So what happened when you reversed the footprint to see who hacked in before you?" 
Felicity: "I struck out again. It must have been an inside job." 
Oliver: "Meaning?" 
Felicity: "As a city alderman, Blood would have had access to the files." 
Diggle: "Oliver, anyone on city payroll could have done this."
Oliver: "He's running for mayor. One hint that he killed his father, and his political future is dead in the water." 
Diggle: "Wait, I thought you two were supposed to be friends. Don't you think you ought to give him the benefit of the doubt?" 
Oliver: "Please keep digging into Blood's past and see if there's anything that could help us." 
Diggle: "Where you going?"
Oliver: "To give a friend the benefit of the doubt."

211 (Blind Spot) – Oliver finally acknowledges that he has a blind spot when it comes to Laurel:
Felicity: "Did Laurel really shoot him?"
Oliver: "She saved my life."
Felicity: "That's a good thing, Oliver. 
Diggle: "You okay?" 
Oliver: "She really had me believing that Sebastian Blood was a criminal mastermind, and the only reason that I nearly believed her was because it was Laurel. I do have a blind spot where she's concerned. Not anymore."
Felicity: "Certainly know how to talk yourself out of a victory."
Oliver: "It's a gift." 
Diggle: "Take the win, man. Daily's dead, you destroyed the serum. It's over."
Oliver (exhaling): "No, it isn't." (Looks at video surveillance of Roy Harper working at Verdant)

Edited February 13, 2020 by tv echo