S01:E23: Sacrifice

[MostlyC]

Oliver and Diggle race to stop the Dark Archer from unleashing his vengeance on The Glades. However, they run into a roadblock after Detective Lance picks up Felicity for questioning. Tommy and Oliver’s already tumultuous relationship takes a turn for the worse after Oliver makes a confession about Laurel. After hearing of the danger in The Glades, Thea races to find Roy, inadvertently putting herself directly in the line of fire for Malcolm’s devious plan. On the island, Oliver, Slade and Shado are locked in a life-or-death struggle against Fyers as his missiles lock on a full Ferris Air jetliner.

[MsSchadenfreude]

"You may be younger and stronger, but you won't beat me because you don't know in your heart what you're fighting for and I do."  Malcolm may be batshit crazy, but you can't say he lacks conviction for his cause.  

 

Oliver climbing up the chains and then letting himself fall to get free will never not be badass.  

 

Poor Tommy…first Oliver, then his own dad screws him over.  But no matter how much I hate what Oliver did to his best friend with the Laurel crap (and not for anything Oliver, but would it have killed you to let Tommy get one punch in instead of moving so he falls on his ass) the final Oliver/Tommy scene will always get to me. "It should have been me." "Open your eyes, Tommy."  Bye, Tommy. :(  I didn't realize how much I liked you until you were gone. And in the end you were the real hero. 

 

John Diggle, you are awesome.  "A soldier never lets a brother going into to battle alone."  "I only have one bow."  "That's okay.  I got my gun." Not to mention dragging himself up to the roof with an arrow in his leg and saving Oliver from one of Malcolm's thugs.

 

Felicity... you were pretty awesome, too.  "I guess that leaves me to diffuse the bomb."  "This place is going to be ground zero. I want you out of here."  "If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving."  Stays in the Glades to help Quentin diffuse the earthquake machine.

 

Of course Malcolm had a redundancy plan.  So long, people in the east end of the Glades.  Sorry, you had to die, but Malcolm holds a grudge for a long time apparently.

Edited August 23, 2014 by MsSchadenfreude

[wingster55]

Tommy :(  

Well acted scene from Katie Cassidy at the end I think.

 

"I guess I got wicked aim" 

[NumberCruncher]

I did like Katie in her final scene, wingster55.

I loved this episode all around--the acting, the character interactions, the suspense. In fact, I think I might actually rank it above the S2 finale. Don't get me wrong--I hated that Tommy died, but the unexpectedness of the Glades being destroyed and watching entire city blocks collapsing was one of those genuine "OMG" television moments for me.

[catrox14]

YUP. I was legit shocked that that they actually showed the city being destroyed. That was a jaw dropper.

Edited August 30, 2014 by catrox14

[Guest]

I remember being surprised by this episode because I honestly didn't think the city would end up destroyed. It reminded me of earlier in the season when I assumed that Walter would be a bad guy but they subverted my expectations completely. Arrow is good like that sometimes. I like being shocked.

[quarks]

I finished up this season one rewatch right before my Arrow season 2 Blu-Rays appeared, yay!  And then the internet promptly lost my first post about it here on this forum, less yay!  Though most of my comments about this episode probably belong in the relationships or bitterness thread anyway, or can be summed up as "wow, Laurel sucks."

 

To be fair, Laurel is at a major disadvantage here. First, her major scene with Oliver has the unenviable position of appearing right after Oliver's major, game changing scene with Moira - the scene that convinces Moira to hold her press conference and reveal the Undertaking. It's also the scene where Moira tells Oliver that Malcolm has upped his timetable - meaning that Oliver now has only hours to stop Malcolm or thousands of people will be dead, and the audience knows this.  Any time that he spends with Laurel is time not spent trying to save the city - which in the case of this episode puts people at genuine risk. And yet, he stops to chat with her. No wonder viewers auughed.

 

In the contrasting scene from season two, the script at least acknowledges that stopping to have a lovely chat about your relationship in a nice mansion when the city is falling apart is not really awesome timing.  Unfortunately, since Laurel still doesn't know what's going on, and Oliver doesn't tell her, this scene can't make the same point, which makes it more difficult to sympathize with either person here.

 

Second, the Laurel/Oliver scene is the only scene in the finale that could easily be cut with no effect on the plot; I'd even argue that cutting that scene and adding more of the island stuff would have been more effective, given that the final island scene is critical to Oliver's journey and

this one turns out not to be

.  Or, for that matter, cutting this scene, but leaving in the deleted scene where Laurel explains exactly just why she's decided to risk the lives of all of her coworkers just to save some files would have been better for Laurel's journey. After all, the episode  already told us that Laurel and Oliver are back together and Tommy is upset about this, which is the only plot implication of this scene.  There is a character thing, where Oliver is now telling us that he hasn't actually changed from the guy he was before the island, but that a) is completely contradicted by the rest of the episode, and specifically the island stuff where island Oliver kills someone, and b) also goes against the "My name is Oliver Queen....I can't be the man I once was." heard in every single episode.  So it's the sort of character thing that might have been better left out entirely.

 

Third, this scene is immediately followed by Malcolm's How Much Scenery Can I Chew Here, and then by Moira's press conference and the reaction shots of all of the major characters - all of whom have a greater reason to be horrified or pissed off than Laurel does. This is exactly what happens, and Cassidy actually does play this correctly - but it means we get a relatively calm reaction from her in direct contrast to everyone else's horrified/infuriated ones, putting her at a disadvantage again.

 

This all said, and with the acknowledgement that Cassidy's pretty good during the Tommy death scene, wow, does Laurel suck:

 

Number of times Laurel fails as an attorney this episode, one, but it's so huge it remains her major failure of the series, not scanning in her clients files and uploading them to a cloud drive or easily removable external hard drive. And while yes, you can argue that Laurel couldn't possibly have anticipated that her ex-boyfriend's father was going to set off an earthquake device to bring down the Glades since that's as silly as, say, sending off a missile against a commercial airliner to crash China's economy, Laurel knows and has explicitly said on screen that the people her clients are going against are dangerous people who will stop at nothing which includes stealing and destroying files, Laurel, so, what is this?  

 

(The deleted scene doesn't help, in part because Laurel tries to tell us that when the Glades fall the CRNI clients will have lost houses, family, property but yay they will still have the hope of CRNI like LAUREL, if it's a choice between me winning a court case and my family still being alive, I'm going with my family being alive. Geesh.)

 

Number of times Laurel fails as a human being this episode: 1, ignoring Oliver's warning to get out of the Glades. Laurel. You had one job.  2, ignoring Moira's warning to get out of the Glades. Laurel! One job! 3, standing in her office while Quentin is telling her to get out NOW while not even warning her coworkers....LAUREL!  ONE JOB! 4, as pretty much everyone on TWOP immediately noted, being the only major character, other than Fyers and I suppose Quentin's boss and Joanna, to do absolutely nothing heroic during the episode. In the end Laurel DOESN'T EVEN SAVE THE FILES - she's still carrying some as she's rushing out and the building falls on her and then she just leaves them there. I'm assuming there's more since they were still packing up files when Quentin called. 

 

....and then Tommy dies.

 

Yeah.

 

Meanwhile, Felicity, after her firm "If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving," helps take down at least one of the earthquake devices. If the writers seem to have a favorite here, I don't think it's Laurel.

 

Oh, and, yeah, the rest of the episode!  A laughably fake looking missile turns JUST AT THE LAST MINUTE and blows up everything on evil island, like, Slade has a point here, island Oliver. Island Oliver learns to kill! Thea throws bottles! Moira Queen remains the single most commanding and fascinating character on the show.  

Since you are resurrecting everybody anyway, show, maybe you can bring Moira back?  

Diggle won't let Oliver go off alone!  (Awwwww.)  Felicity won't leave!  (Also awwwwwwwwwwww.)  The last thing that Quentin wants to do before he dies is talk to Laurel (aw - waaaaaaaaaait!)  Malcolm has learned a thing or two about redundancy!

 

I got hooked, anyway.

[wingster55]

Number of times Laurel fails as a human being this episode: 1, ignoring Oliver's warning to get out of the Glades. Laurel. You had one job.  2, ignoring Moira's warning to get out of the Glades. Laurel! One job! 3, standing in her office while Quentin is telling her to get out NOW while not even warning her coworkers....LAUREL!  ONE JOB!

 

Leaving the Glades was something that numerous characters should have done.

Also..as evidenced recently...putting things in the cloud doesn't make them safe. 

 

The Laurel/Oliver scene at the beginning was a welcome character scene in the midst of all the plot/danger I think.

A la Roy Thea in the s2 finale

Edited September 17, 2014 by wingster55

[Chaser]

I loved the Team Arrow moment in this episode.

 

That scene with O/L was the biggest WTF for two reasons: denying he was a changed man and the super awkward kiss. I can't get over the body language. Which was weird since they had already kissed a few times and had a brief love scene.

Edited September 17, 2014 by 10Eleven12

[quarks]

Wingster55, putting things in the cloud might not have made them safe, but the point is, they had no other backups.  Which is why they had to risk their lives packing and carrying files out the door during a riot scene. 

 

Admittedly, I'm probably a bit oversensitive here because I've worked in a hurricane evacuation zone. There are things you do on a daily/regular basis just in case a hurricane warning gets posted (which it often does) so that you do not have to try to move large amounts of important things in the short time before the hurricane hits and can instead focus your attention on sending employees home to board up/prepare for a hurricane or evacuate if necessary. And I'm used to newscasters reminding everyone to only take necessary items when leaving an evacuation zone - pets, medications, a few changes of clothing, so on. Your life isn't worth a few pieces of paper. I saw Moira's warning as sort of the same thing. 

 

Regarding the nice character moment at the beginning - I also have to disagree here. First, this scene wasn't at the beginning - it's about 14 minutes in. Second, it's blocked by two very strong character scenes - Moira and Oliver on one side, and Tommy and Malcolm on the other side. Those aren't fight scenes, but they are powerful and push forward the plot.  The Laurel/Oliver scene wasn't particularly powerful, and didn't push forward the plot - it was a repeat of what we'd already seen in the previous episode.

 

With the Roy/Thea season 2 scene - I agree completely that this was a lovely character moment that was a nice break from the action, but, and I think this is important - that was also a very important scene for Thea's character development, and important for the plot - it leads directly to Thea's breaking point which leads her back to Malcolm.  The Laurel/Oliver scene doesn't do that. 

[wingster55]

Ok so 1/4 into the ep. My point is, not everything needs to push the plot forward...I value character stuff more...and yes the two scenes were great ones between characters..but it wasn't about the characters so much (though Tommy/Malcolm was close enough)

 

I could say the same about the first Tommy/Oliver scene. It had nothing to do with the Undertaking really..a brief mention of Malcolm but the scene wasn't about that at all. Just two characters dealing with their own issues. 

Edited September 17, 2014 by wingster55

[willpwr]

I think the Tommy/Oliver scene had a lot to do with Oliver's S2 journey.

[Orion]

Ok so 1/4 into the ep. My point is, not everything needs to push the plot forward...I value character stuff more...and yes the two scenes were great ones between characters..but it wasn't about the characters so much (though Tommy/Malcolm was close enough)

 

I could say the same about the first Tommy/Oliver scene. It had nothing to do with the Undertaking really..a brief mention of Malcolm but the scene wasn't about that at all. Just two characters dealing with their own issues. 

 

I think you're getting confused about the term moving the plot forward? Each episode needs to have a character arc, a beginning, middle and the end. That arc should propel the character towards the climax and at the end have that character learn something new.  A writer can do that in a lot of different ways, through action that impacts the character or through character moments where they talk to another character and change because of it. A writer should be creating a literal arch for the character, where they start, the climax that changes them and where they end up at the conclusion of the story. The character moments vs actions moments are not mutually exclusive, you can have one or the other or you can have both. Both is better.

 

The Tommy/Oliver scene is the beginning of the arc that gets Tommy to tell Merlyn about what Oliver told him about the undertaking, the climax is when he sees his father as a villain but still can't bring himself to shoot Malcom, the conclusion is Tommy sacrificing himself for Laurel.

 

I think what @Quarks is saying (and please forgive me if I'm wrong Quarks) is that Laurel has no clear arc. The scene in the mansion is completely irrelevant to the story. Laurel is left to flounder around admit her story. Her arc starts out with confronting Oliver and asking him to explain why he left. That plot is dropped and never picked back up again. Her next arc is having to rescue the files from CNRI, which isn't an arc it is a plot device. She's assigned the role of gathering up the MacGuffin (the files), except we are never told why they are important or why no one backed them up. Even in the deleted scene where they explain why they are not backed up they don't explain why a law firm would have files that could not be found in other places. This was not a police station that would have had evidence. This is a law firm that has phone records and bank statements for up coming cases. Call the phone company or the banks and ask them to please send the files again.  Laurel's sole purpose in this episode is to be at X location so Tommy can save her and tell her he loves her. The climax is Tommy's death but with no build up before that of Laurel and Tommy's relationship within the episode. She doesn't mention him when she's with Oliver at all and as far as we know she doesn't think about him until he shows up to save her. And there is no conclusion to that scene.

 

There are quite a few good character moments in this episode. It's just outside of Laurel they are used to further the plot (Diggle not letting Oliver go after Merlyn alone, Felicity determined to stay and help, Quentin working with the vigilante).

[quarks]

I have to agree with willpwr here.  

The Tommy/Oliver scene contains the bit where Tommy says that Oliver is a killer - on the last day of Tommy's life. This directly leads to Oliver's belief in the second season that his best friend died believing he's a murderer - which in turn leads to his no kill policy. Because of this, it's arguably one of the most important scenes of the entire first season.  The Laurel/Oliver thing, though, about how Laurel has always seen the real Oliver, gets completely dropped until The Man Under the Hood and City of Blood, and isn't necessary for those scenes either. 

 

Orion, yes, that was what I was getting at, except that you phrased it better. The basic thing is, the Laurel/Oliver mansion scene could easily be cut without affecting the rest of the episode at all or the following season. That can't be said for any other scene in the episode.

[wingster55]

The scene in the mansion is completely irrelevant to the story.

 

No, as the Oliver/Laurel romance is part of the story. There's more to the show and episode than action.

Tommy calling Oliver a murderer was just rehashing an old argument (and Tommy recanted that before dying)

[willpwr]

No, as the Oliver/Laurel romance is part of the story. There's more to the show and episode than action.

Tommy calling Oliver a murderer was just rehashing an old argument (and Tommy recanted that before dying)

Just out of curiosity, how did the scene in the mansion advance the story especially taking into consideration the status of their relationship in S2? How did that scene in the mansion help develop Oliver's journey? It feels to me like it was stuck there because of canon and no other real reason. I'm trying to be open minded and understand different perspectives.

[wingster55]

Continuation of 1.22. It advanced Oliver's story..a glimpse/hope of a happy relationship in the future. Also irony...that hope was crushed the moment Tommy died. 

[willpwr]

If the hope was crushed by Tommy and not Laurel then how is Tommy's scene irrelevant? The scene in the mansion showed me a relationship built on lies and ideas of what could be while he still hid his true self, I view it as a setback to his journey, not advancement.

 

When Oliver is with Laurel, he's "Ollie". Ollie was a little boy and Oliver is a man. This show makes a great distinction on names and how they're important to signify the phase the person is in. In order for him to be Oliver, he needs to leave Ollie behind because that's no longer who he is. To me, Laurel represents who he was.

Edited September 17, 2014 by willpwr

[wingster55]

If the hope was crushed by Tommy and not Laurel then how is Tommy's scene irrelevant?

 

When did I say it was irrelevant?

 

Thea calls him Ollie too I believe (here and there)

[Chaser]

People who were close pre-island (Thea, Tommy, Sara, Laurel) all call him Ollie and people he meet post-island (Diggle, Felicity) all call him Oliver.

 

I always loved that they did that. And I would hate for Felicity or Diggle to call him Ollie.

[statsgirl]

Continuation of 1.22. It advanced Oliver's story..a glimpse/hope of a happy relationship in the future. Also irony...that hope was crushed the moment Tommy died. 

Ironically, one of the reasons his hope was crushed was because Laurel refused to listen to Oliver, and Moira, and Quentin, and stayed at CNRI to collect papers.  If she had just stayed away, as they all told her to, then she would still have been alive.  It's never not funny that all of Tommy, Quentin and Oliver all knew that she would be there.

 

Although I would argue that it was crushed as soon as he slept with Laurel because I don't think Tommy would ever have got over that and so Oliver could have had Laurel but he would have lost Tommy.

 

I don't remember who said it at TWoP but it was brilliant ....  as they were pushing Windows 8 so hard, this would have been the perfect episode to promote the could and point out that Felicity  had uploaded all their files on to the cloud so it didn't matter if the lair computers were destroyed in quake.

 

 

The basic thing is, the Laurel/Oliver mansion scene could easily be cut without affecting the rest of the episode at all or the following season. That can't be said for any other scene in the episode.

If it had been cut, we wouldn't have had Oliver tell Laurel that she is the only person who knew what he was really like, and how the island stripped away all the extraneous stuff and brought the man she saw. Since the whole season has been telling us that Laurel hasn't got a clue about who Oliver really is and that he was fundamentally changed on that island in a way he wouldn't have been if he hadn't gone there, cutting that line would have made both Oliver and Laurel look better.  With it in, they both look delusional.

 

The only thing that scene showed, beyond Oliver thinking he could have a life with Laurel only if there were no Hood activities, is that when Oliver is doing his Hood activities, unlike Diggle, Felicity and Tommy (who hid the basement lair from the inspectors and Lance) all of whom help him with them, Laurel holds him back. 

Edited September 17, 2014 by statsgirl

[Hook75]

The only thing I would have changed is killing Laurel at the end instead of Tommy and make S2 about friends turning enemies (just like the FB) with Tommy going dark and blaming Oliver/The Arrow for his father and Laurel's death.

 

It could've also fixed the Fakanary fiasco we are getting now.

[bijoux]

Aside from the side plot with Laurel, this remains the strongest of the show's finales. At least she had her hair working for her. I think it was the best it ever has been during the show.

 

But having supposedly beaten the big bad and to have the team's plans foiled after that was a great twist. Oliver and Tommy's last scene remains gut wrenching (possibly SA's best dramatic work of the season) and then to conclude everything with the shot of the Glades fallen was so damn effective, underlining how even when you win, you lose. The finale is a pretty perfect embodiement of how different the show was at that point than it is now. 

[kismet]

I really did love S1's happy but not happy ending. They wrap everything up too nicely in a bow in later seasons. I actually think it's part of the reason they have problems pacing & writing out their seasons. They spend so much time thinking about the ending & wrapping it up, that they forget all the important steps in the middle that get that outcome. So instead they just throw some stuff together or twist the characters to force the plot steps necessary to get their chosen ending. They claim to want things to be organic, but their process is very inorganic. Hence their characters often take the hit.

[bijoux]

Ooh, another thing, the flashback also ended the season satisfactorily, with Fyers, the sick bastard, being Oliver's first kill and Oliver demonstrating his new skill. 

[Wayward Son]

• Tommy Nooooooooo!  That entire scene was heartbreaking. Amell, Cassidy and Donnell all played out their parts wonderfully! 

• Moira yasssssssss go momma Queen! She’s officially won me over with the press conference and announcing Malcolm’s plans to the world. 

 

Overall, a fantastic finale to the first season in my opinion. There was plenty of action, suspense and most importantly of all emotion. I’m really looking forward to seeing the aftermath in season two :)

Edited March 27, 2018 by Wayward Son

[BkWurm1]

5 hours ago, Wayward Son said:

• Tommy Nooooooooo!  That entire scene was heartbreaking. Amell, Cassidy and Donnell all played out their parts wonderfully! 

• Moira yasssssssss go momma Queen! She’s officially won me over with the press conference and announcing Malcolm’s plans to the world. 

 

Overall, a fantastic finale to the first season in my opinion. There was plenty of action, suspense and most importantly of all emotion. I’m really looking forward to seeing the aftermath in season two :)

Yeah, Moira was the most unexpected character of the show.  

Tommy turned out to be the true hero.  His scene with Oliver breaks my heart.  

But what happened with Laurel just pissed me off.  Maybe if she'd listened to her say one of half dozen people that told her to get out of there, Tommy wouldn't have come looking for her and died.  Not her fault that he died because he didn't have to come to try and save the woman he loved, but she foolishly and for no great reason put herself at risk by not listening to the people that were in the know and thereby set in motion the situation that brought Tommy into mortal danger.  She didn't get him killed but she sure didn't do anything that helped keep him alive.   

[tv echo]

123 (Sacrifice) – Oliver Queen’s voiceover intro:
None.

123 (Sacrifice) – After his fight with Malcolm, Oliver is helped by the Arrowcave by Diggle, while Felicity is picked up for questioning by Quentin:
Oliver: “I take back every joke I made about you sticking a tracking device in your boot.”
Diggle: “Felicity's at Queen Consolidated. She's still going through the data she pulled off Merlyn's network.” 
Oliver: “Did she find anything?” 
Diggle: “Yeah, the design schematics of the earthquake generator. So we can shut it down. Assuming we find it in time.” 
(Cell phone rings.)
Diggle (on phone): “Yeah, Felicity, I got him.” 
Felicity (on phone): “Thank God. Is he okay?” 
Diggle (on phone): “Mostly.” 
Felicity (on phone): “Ok. I'm on my way.” 
Quentin: “Miss Smoak. Where are you off to in such a hurry?” 
*  *  *
Quentin: “Please. Take a seat.” 
Felicity: “You know, I think I'd rather stand.” 
Quentin: “You're not exactly a hardened criminal, are you?” 
Felicity: “No, I'm not any kind of criminal.”
Quentin: “What do you call computer hacking?”
Felicity: “A hobby… that I do not engage in.” 
Quentin: “Hey, I got a whole mess of computer gobbledy gook that I don't understand, but it says otherwise. I had my tech guys go through your computer at Queen Consolidated. You used it to hack into Blackhawk Squad Security to research arrows shipped to a company called Sagittarius and to analyze a water sample to tie back to a Vertigo drug lab. These are all cases involving the Hood. Tell me, Felicity. What am I thinking? (Cell phone rings) Saved by the bell. Excuse me.” 
Oliver (on phone, with voice distortion): “Hello, Detective.”
Quentin: “It's funny you should call. I got your trusty sidekick sitting right in front of me.”
Oliver (on phone): “I don't have a sidekick. When I need help, I call you. Malcolm Merlyn plans to level the Glades with a manmade earthquake using technology from Unidac Industries.”
Quentin (on phone): “What? (Chuckles) Now you're just trying to have some fun with me.” 
Oliver (on phone): “I don't know what Merlyn's timetable is, so you need to evacuate the Glades immediately. Get as many people to safety as you can. Whatever you think of me, Detective, please believe this.” 
Felicity: “Sounds like you have bigger problems than me.” 
Quentin: “Don't leave town.” 
Felicity: “You know, I used to think the Vigilante was a criminal, too. But, it seems to me he's willing to sacrifice an awful lot to help the people of city. That kind of makes him a hero, doesn't it?”

123 (Sacrifice) - DELETED SCENE: Oliver calls Laurel after their night together:
(Oliver and Diggle descend the stairs into the Arrow Cave.)
Diggle: "Felicity's at Queen Consolidated. She's still going through the data she pulled off Merlyn's network."
Oliver: "She find anything?"
Diggle: "Yeah. The design schematics of the earthquake generator, so we can shut it down, assuming we find it in time."
Oliver: "Diggle. You need to call Carly. Tell her to take Andy Junior and take him as far away from the Glades as possible."
Diggle: "I did that, Oliver. The moment we found out Merlyn's plan."
Oliver: "Good." 
(Oliver calls Laurel.)
Laurel (on phone): "Oliver, are you okay? I woke up and you were gone."
Oliver: "Yeah, Laurel, I'm sorry. I should've left a note or called. Can I call you in a little bit?"
Laurel (on phone): "Sure. I'm here if you need me."
Oliver: "I know that."
(Laurel ends call.)
Diggle: "You know, Oliver, I know you never wanted her to know the truth. But with all this going on, maybe it's time. (His phone rings, and he answers it) Yeah, Felicity, I got him."
Felicity (on phone, walking along street): "Thank God. Is he okay?"
Diggle: "Mostly."
Felicity (on phone): "Okay. I'm on my way."
Quentin (coming up): "Ms. Smoak! Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

123 (Sacrifice) – Felicity locates the earthquake device:
Oliver: “The Undertaking is happening tonight.” 
Diggle: “Oliver, Felicity may have found something.” 
Felicity: “This symbol is a map of the old subway tunnel system.” 
Oliver: “That's what got us thinking the Undertaking is connected to the Glades.” 
Felicity: “What if it's more specific than that?” 
Oliver: “What do you mean?” 
Felicity: “If I had a machine that could trigger an earthquake in an otherwise geologically stable area, where would I position it?”
Oliver: “Underground.”
Felicity: “Yeah. This is a U. S. geological survey of the tectonic plates running underneath Starling City. This red line here is a known fault that runs right below the Glades.” 
Diggle: “About a mile, the fault runs underneath the old Tenth Street subway line. Dollars to donuts, the seismic device is somewhere along there.” 
Oliver: “I know where it is.”

123 (Sacrifice) – After Moira’s press conference confession, Original Team Arrow plans to find the earthquake device and stop it:
Felicity: “Oliver, I'm sorry.”
Oliver: “Don't be. She gave those people a chance.” 
Diggle: ““I thought Merlyn broke your bow.” 
Oliver: “I have another.” 
Felicity: “I was going over the device schematics. The device can be set for a timed detonation or can be remote activated by a mobile transmitter.” 
Oliver: “Something Merlyn could have on him.”
Diggle: “Listen, Oliver, if we can just get our hands on this transmitter, maybe we don't need to track down the device.” 
Oliver: “It's too big of an ‘if,’ Diggle. I need you in the subway. Find the device, disarm it.” 
Diggle: “So you can take on Merlyn by yourself?” 
Oliver: “I have to.” 
Diggle: “Oh, he'll kill you, Oliver.” 
Oliver: “I know. He's beaten me twice. And I don't know how to stop him.” 
Diggle: “Okay. Well, how about this time, you bring along something you didn't have the last time you two fought… me.” 
Oliver: “I can't let you.”
Diggle: “I can't let you do this by yourself, man. Oliver, you are not alone, not since you brought me into this. Us into this. Besides, army regulations-- a soldier never lets a brother go into battle alone.”
Oliver: “I'm out of bows.” 
Diggle: “I got my gun.”
Felicity: “I guess it's up to me to do the dismantling.”
Oliver: “This whole area is ground zero. I want you out of here.”
Felicity: “If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving. Besides, if I don't deactivate the device, who will?”
(Cell phone rings.)
Quentin (on phone): “You were right.”
Oliver (on phone): “I need one more thing from you.”
Quentin (on phone): “Yeah? What do I got left to give?”
Oliver (on phone): “I know where Merlyn is keeping the device. It's in an abandoned subway station near Papt Street.”
Quentin (on phone): “How do you know?”
Oliver (on phone): “That's where his wife was murdered. I need someone I can trust to deactivate the device. We have a mutual friend that I think could talk you through it.”
Quentin (on phone): “She says you care about the people of this city, that it needs you.”
Oliver (on phone): “Right now, Detective It needs you.”

123 (Sacrifice) – Felicity helps Quentin dismantle the device:
Felicity: “You found it yet, Detective?”
Quentin: “Not exactly sure what I'm looking for.” 
Felicity: “Do you want me to describe it to you?”
Quentin: “No, I've got it.” 
*  *  *
Felicity: “You should see something that looks like a circuit board. Pull it out. Do you see a timer?”
Quentin: “Seven minutes.”
Felicity: “Okay. Well, the good news is, this is going to be a paperweight in three.”

123 (Sacrifice) – The second earthquake device goes off:
Felicity (over comms): “Merlyn had a second device!”
*  *  *
Felicity (over comms): “Oliver?”
Oliver (over comms): “Are you okay?”
Felicity (over comms): “Yeah… The damage seems to be contained on the East Side – past Wells Street.”
Oliver (over comms): “Laurel.”

123 (Sacrifice) – Tommy dies to save Laurel:
(Laurel is trapped under large pieces of rubble at CNRI.)
Laurel (tearfully): “Uhhhh-uhh-uhh. Please help me!”
(Tommy appears and starts to free her.)
Laurel: “Tommy! What are you doing here?”
Tommy: “I kind of figured that you might come back to CNRI.”
Laurel: “You came here for me?”
Tommy: “I love you. Get up. Go. Go. I'm right behind you.”
(Laurel is freed and she runs outside the building.)
Quentin: “Laurel! Laurel!”
Laurel: “Dad. Dad.”
Quentin: “Oh, sweetie.”
(Another explosion and building collapses.)
Laurel: “No. No. Tommy!”
Quentin: “No. Laurel. Laurel. No, you can't. You can't.” (Holds her back)
Laurel: “I love him! Let go of me.”
Quentin: “It's too late. It's too late, it's too late. I'm sorry.”
Laurel: “Tommy! Please! Someone help him!”
(A helmeted Oliver parks his motorcycle and runs into the building, where he finds Tommy trapped under large pieces of rubble.)
Tommy: “Get it off.”
(Oliver starts removing rubble.)
Oliver: “Okay. You're gonna be fine.”
Tommy: “Another thing, unh, we've got to disagree on.”
(Oliver sees that Tommy has a large metal stake stuck in his chest.)
Oliver: “Tommy.”
Tommy: “ls – is Laurel safe? Is Laurel safe? I tried to get her out of here.”
Oliver: “Yeah, yeah, you did. You saved her. All right, let me get you out of here. You're gonna be fine.”
Tommy: “Oliver, stop. I'm sorry.”
Oliver: “No. Don't apologize.”
Tommy: “I was angry. And I was jealous. I - I am my father.”
Oliver: “No. No, you're not.”
Tommy: “Did - did you kill him?”
Oliver: “No.”
Tommy: “Thank you.” (Dies)
Oliver: “No, no. (Crying) Tommy. It should have been me. Open your eyes, Tommy! Open your eyes.”

 

Edited February 11, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

123 (Sacrifice) - DELETED SCENE: Laurel frantically tries to save all files at CNRI:
Laurel: "Okay, I want to start with the computers, the hard drives, and then move on to the paper filing. We need to get everything out of here."
Joanna: "I picked a hell of a week to come back."
Laurel: "Jo, we need to get everything out of here. All of our case files, our depositions, claims, evidence in hundreds of cases. If this building is destroyed, then those cases disappear forever."
Joanna: "Laurel, it is like Judgment Day out there."
Laurel: "I know. Our clients are about to lose their homes, their jobs, their lives. But at least we can save their hope."

Edited February 10, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

An addition to my above transcriptions (per MG tweet yesterday)...

123 (Sacrifice) – CUT SCENE: Original scripted opening (cut for time, but same idea was used eight years later for start of second act of 810 series finale):

Edited March 28, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Another addition to my above transcriptions for this episode (per MG tweet yesterday)...

123 (Sacrifice) – FAKE ENDING: Fake script pages for the ending of this episode were published to keep Tommy’s death a secret (per fake script):

Edited March 29, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

123 (Sacrifice) - DELETED SCENE: Oliver calls Laurel after their night together:

(hovergrl)

123 (Sacrifice) - DELETED SCENE: Laurel frantically tries to save all files at CNRI:

(hovergrl)

[tv echo]

Another 123 deleted scene...

Arrow 1x23 Deleted Scene - Thea searches Roy

(Hermandat)

Edited August 28, 2020 by tv echo

[MissL]

Oh! Those cut lines would have made Laurel seem so much better! As it was I was thinking why the hell are these people risking their lives for PAPERWORK?! I thought she looked ridiculous hanging back and then running through a burning Crumbling building with a stack of files and I got mad all over again that Tommy died for that stupidity. Got in the mood for some season 1 arrow recently....

[Featherhat]

11 hours ago, MissL said:

Oh! Those cut lines would have made Laurel seem so much better! As it was I was thinking why the hell are these people risking their lives for PAPERWORK?! I thought she looked ridiculous hanging back and then running through a burning Crumbling building with a stack of files and I got mad all over again that Tommy died for that stupidity. Got in the mood for some season 1 arrow recently....

I get what they were going for with "we can save their hope" and Laurel's character, I do. But really? Again they don't have digital back ups in 2013? And as Joanna says people's homes are collapsing and they're fleeing for their lives. Their case against their slum landlord is the least of their problems at the moment and the city isn't going to be hearing those trials probably ever with everything going on. There are other fish to fry.

 To me it doesn't justify Laurel ignoring three warnings to get out of the Glades now. They'd have been better off having her trying to help a client she knows is disabled or something rather than any sort of paper work if they were determined to have her in the Glades - like Thea rescuing Roy. Even though it was stupid to do people understood why and she even gets a win with the beer bottle throw. 

Add to that CNRI is gone by next season, never to return so it felt like it couldn't have been that important and their need for hope and change was on a different scale in S2 with Blood.

With that phone call, geez, Oliver can you sound a little less enthusiastic? Even with Tommy and everything going on?

Edited September 5, 2020 by Featherhat