S04.E15: Taken

[Sasha]

Samantha (to William) - "I'm sorry I told you your daddy was some unknown random I picked up in a bar. I'm sorry I never taught you about stranger danger. I'm sorry I dropped you on your head and now you are a little slow. I'm sorry I never let you play with other children and now dolls are your only friends." Edited March 2, 2016 by Sasha

[doesntworkonwood]

Question: Does William also think Malcolm is a friend of his mothers? If I recall correctly it was Malcolm that kidnapped the kid (from his bedroom, whilst his mom was downstairs cooking dinner), but how did he do that?

[Sasha]

Question: Does William also think Malcolm is a friend of his mothers? If I recall correctly it was Malcolm that kidnapped the kid (from his bedroom, whilst his mom was downstairs cooking dinner), but how did he do that?

I really wish there had been a scene of Malcolm climbing a ladder with one arm and knocking on William's window. Let me in little boy and I'll take you to see the Flash. Maybe he climbed down the roof and scratched on the glass with a Flash puppet attached to his stump! Or maybe he wore a Flash costume. The possibilities are endless.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Sasha

[AyChihuahua]

Okay, so, IRL I would never ever make fun of a kid, but this ongoing theme of Spawn's utter stupidity, especially coupled with his daddy's stupidity, is CRACKING ME UP.

 

Felicity, seriously, when the time comes: SPERM DONOR.

[Sasha]

Okay, so, IRL I would never ever make fun of a kid, but this ongoing theme of Spawn's utter stupidity, especially coupled with his daddy's stupidity, is CRACKING ME UP.

 

Felicity, seriously, when the time comes: SPERM DONOR.

I agree, IRL I do research in child development so I would never make fun of a child but this is Arrow and I blame the writers. I do have to say that in our research we have found that people tend to marry those with similar IQ's. That might put a kibosh on an Olicity wedding! There have been a few like Felicity married to someone that might be really attractive like Oliver. I did say "tend" to so please don't hate on me!

[BkWurm1]

Did Barry know who Oliver's son was?  He knew Oliver had a son, but I thought he didn't know who he was.  He only approached Samantha after Felicity called him.

 

He would have been in Earth 2 when William got taken, and shortly after returning ARGUS brought him in to help them, so there's the possibility he had no idea about it.

No, Barry had to have approached Samantha long before Felicity tried calling him because before she got a hold of Barry, BM showed up and revealed she'd been told to contact Oliver.  That was what, 6 hours on the train?  Also in the Flash episode only the very beginning would have happened the prior week, then they said weeks went by before the Shark King showed up.  So I'm pretty sure that Barry and Cisco and Co came back from E2 and had been home and back to their normal lives and jobs in time for William's kidnapping.  It makes Barry asking about how Felicity was and wondering why she hadn't returned his calls make sense.  Even if she wasn't upset at Barry for knowing, it's hard to have to talk to everyone after a break up.

 

I was up in the air as to if Barry knew William's details but it seems unlikely that he just happened to remember what some random kid his friend bumped into looked like months later.  He had to know his name at least. 

 

 

I figured that at the very end of the show, Oliver and Felicity would have a kid because they always talk about how Oliver is like Diggle, but a few years off.  I figured their end goal would be for Oliver to balance a family and kids and superheroing.

I think what makes William's situation so hard is that while Diggle knows where Sara is every second and is there to protect her and keeps her close, Oliver would never have that option with William.  At best he'd only have joint custody and so half the time William would always be at risk. 

 

Still, it's insane that he wouldn't talk to Felicity about this, for all the reasons stated before and because Felicity just a couple weeks ago had her father show up back in her life and tell her that he'd abandoned her for her own good. But Oliver didn't think she had a relevant viewpoint to share?????

 

It kills me that they had these deep parallels in their storytelling and chose to ignore them. 

Edited March 3, 2016 by BkWurm1

[ElleMo]

I think the slaves would have been on the island even if Oliver had never landed there. So I can't blame him for that.  (What I wonder about is how Fyers & Co. missed seeing them for all that time, or did Shadowspire seize the moment when Fyers got blowed up?)

 

There is lots to blame Oliver for in this episode though. Right now, it's that he listened to Vixen, who he knows for all of a few minutes, over Diggle who has been his staunch partner for 3 1/2 years, or Felicity who he's going to marry and who knows what it's like to grow up without a father.  The two situations, Vixen's and William's aren't even comparable because there is no magic in William as there is in Mari.

 

But then again, Oliver listened to Samantha and that's why he's in this mess with Felicity at all.

 

 

How did Malcolm know about William then?  Unless he had Oliver followed even way back then (and why would he since they were on the same side?) how did he know that Oliver visited William?

I am pretty sure he knw from Ollie's mom back when she paid off Samantha.

[bijoux]

I am pretty sure he knw from Ollie's mom back when she paid off Samantha.

Do you think Moira would have told him? He certainly hadn't killed Robert and Oliver at that point and she didn't know about the Undertaking, but I really doubt he was her confidant then. Keeping Thea's parentage secret for a decade would preclude her confiding in him in my book. I have no reason to believe she ever even told Robert about paying off Samantha. And Malcolm obviously wasn't paying that much attention to the Queens since he didn't know about Thea until season 2.

[dtissagirl]

Malcolm said he knows because he's Ra's al Ghul [LOL], so I assume he didn't know before he was Ra's al Ghul.

The fugly ring told him, probably.

[ComicFan777]

...maybe Malcolm hired the Calculator to find out...he's supposed to be an information broker, so Malcolm could have hired him for nefarious purposes like stealing the PT power cell and to dig up dirt on Oliver to be able to manipulate him later.

[AyChihuahua]

Malcolm could have found out from Moira back in the day, bc that was before Moira knew Malcolm was evil. BUT, Malcolm wouldn't have expected OLIVER to know from back then, bc the whole point was that Moira was hiding the kid from Oliver. So obviously, Malcolm couldn't have expected successfully to intimidate Oliver with the name William, bc he wouldn't have had reason to know Oliver knew who the hell William was. MM didn't just know about the kid, he knew that OLIVER knew about the kid. So he has much more recent knowledge.

 

I'm quite comfortable that MM knew bc Oliver the idiot was traveling back and forth to CC to see the dumb kid. MM is the kind of guy who'd keep tabs on both his enemies and his frenemies.

[kismet]

I'm gonna go with MM found out after he became Ra's. Because there are two things I know for sure about who "Ra's" is from s3 ~ 1. He is an amazing interior designer and 2. He's an excellent gossip. So with the ring comes great responsibility to up hold the thread count and divulge/discover the juiciest of gossip.

[statsgirl]

I don't know if Moira found out about the Undertaking before or after the Samantha bombshell but if she withheld Thea's parentage from Malcolm, that argues that she didn't trust him completely.  Besides, why would she tell Malcolm that Oliver had fathered a child and she'd paid off the mother to tell him it had died?  If anyone, she would tell Jean Loring.

 

It makes more sense to me that now that Malcolm has all those minions as Ra's al Ghul and because Oliver had told him that Vandal Savage was after them, Malcolm had Oliver followed and that's how he found out about William.

[bijoux]

Moira found out about the Undertaking just before Robert and Oliver left on the Gambit. The Samantha thing came before. I still don't think she would have told Malcolm jack shit at that point. She had Thea as the result of their affair. All I see is Moira keeping up a cordial front in the aftermath so as not to raise Malcolm's suspicions. She certainly wouldn't have invited him into family secrets. I'm convinced Robert died without a clue about Samantha.

[kismet]

Just because Moira had an affair with MM does not mean that she trusted him. A lot of people have affairs with people that they don't trust. The fact that she went to such lengths to keep TQ's paternity secret, esp from MM to me indicates that she would not trust him with the casual knowledge that her son impregnated a girl that she then paid off.

 

Plus if there is one thing I know about MQ is that she loved her children and would go to any length to protect them, especially from crazy sociopaths like MM. She would never sell out her son to MM.

[AyChihuahua]

Moira found out about the Undertaking just before Robert and Oliver left on the Gambit. The Samantha thing came before. I still don't think she would have told Malcolm jack shit at that point. She had Thea as the result of their affair. All I see is Moira keeping up a cordial front in the aftermath so as not to raise Malcolm's suspicions. She certainly wouldn't have invited him into family secrets. I'm convinced Robert died without a clue about Samantha.

Oh, I don't think she told Malcolm, either. My point was that he didn't just know, he knew that Oliver knew...otherwise he would have thought that he'd have to explain to Oliver who the heck William was, and THEN threaten him.

 

I'm fine with him just knowing bc he keeps close tabs on everybody. He had access to a lot of henchmen. He was probably having everybody basically followed.

 

I agree re Robert. I bet he would have wanted to keep the spawn in the family.

[catrox14]

Why am I watching this terribad episode again? 

 

Malcolm lives in a constant state of his own revisionist history.

 

He tells Thea "I will always love you because that's what a father does".  Um...really Malcolm...I'm not so sure Tommy would concur given how you treated him much of the time in s1. 

[kismet]

In MM's distorted way, I think he does think that he absolutely loves his children. However, I think the writers used the "I don't want to be a woman you love" on the wrong male from the wrong female. MM may love his children, but that is not the type of love that helps anybody. Anyone related to him should just give a pass to his overtures of love.

[catrox14]

I still can't get over how much it looks like SA just wants to run the fuck away from this episode. LOL

[Thundercatmary]

I still can't get over how much it looks like SA just wants to run the fuck away from this episode. LOL

 

Why do you say that? Not that I disagree just curious. :)

[catrox14]

He just looks like he hates everything about it.

I dunno maybe he was was portraying Oliver hating everything about his life. But I like my version better.

every scene in the lair with BM and Laurel...I dunno he just looks like he'd rather poke his eye out with a spork than do this episode.

[thegirlsleuth]

Why ARE you watching this terribad episode again? :-) Amell was weirdly subdued playing a guy whose son had been kidnapped, but he has made some strange acting choices throughout the babymama story--I'm thinking of the cuddling after lying in 4x08.

[catrox14]

Because it was on before Supernatural and I was too fucking lazy to find the remote

[thegirlsleuth]

Because it was on before Supernatural and I was too fucking lazy to find the remote

That is the only acceptable answer.

[tv echo]

Reminding people of the horrible BMD - which no one liked - one week before Arrow returns with new episodes, coupled with the lack of promotion for next week... it's almost like they want to drive down ratings. (puzzled)

Edited April 22, 2016 by tv echo

[lemotomato]

moved

Edited April 22, 2016 by lemotomato

[Mellowyellow]

OMFG I'm choking my way through this episode now. 

VILE VILE VILE 

I don't even have the words. I'm on a rampage right now. 

He has the gall to introduce Felicity as a fan to the lying hag.  

How did Felicity stay so calm and polite and helped them.  I would have torched them all!!!!!

[BkWurm1]

I know you aren't really looking for an answer but I think for people like Felicity that generally are very friendly and polite to everyone, it's easier to treat people well than be upset and hold them accountable.  It's just the fall back behavior while unless you know someone well, it's really hard to be rude to someone's face, or at least that's been my experience.  I can be a bitch to friends and family but strangers that have done me wrong...well, they would have to be at Ra's or Malcolm levels of evil before the worst they would get is cautious but polite reserve.   

Edited May 28, 2016 by BkWurm1

[Password]

On 26/05/2016 at 0:39 PM, Mellowyellow said:

OMFG I'm choking my way through this episode now. 

VILE VILE VILE 

I don't even have the words. I'm on a rampage right now. 

He has the gall to introduce Felicity as a fan to the lying hag.  

How did Felicity stay so calm and polite and helped them.  I would have torched them all!!!!!

I have to say I sort of look forward to reading your reactions to the episodes. They make me LOL so much. 

[tv echo]

One of the most painful and aggravating episodes to watch (and one that I never want to re-watch again)...

415 (Taken) – Oliver Queen’s voiceover intro.

415 (Taken) – Felicity has her first physical therapy session after her biostimulant implant surgery:
(Felicity is doing physical therapy with the help of Oliver and Paul, Curtis' husband and her physical therapist.)
Felicity: "I can do this. I can do this. I can so totally do this."
Oliver: "Yes, you can, but either way, we've got you."
Paul: "It's no pressure here, Miss Smoak. Curtis' implant is the longest of long shots."
Felicity: "I was expecting a little more encouragement from the husband of the genius who invented the thing."
Paul: "My man works miracles with technology, but the human body doesn't play by the same rules."
Felicity: "Well, here we go. Here we go. Here we go, here we go. Yeah. We're going. Ooh! Ow!" (She falls)
Oliver: "Ohh! Okay. It's okay. Got you, got you, got you."
(Oliver and Paul help her back into her wheelchair, and Oliver kisses the top of her head.)
Felicity: "Well, that went nowhere."
Paul: "Curtis ever tell you how we met?"
Felicity: "Uh-uh."
Paul: "He came in with Achilles tendonitis. He was training to qualify for the Olympics, so all he cared about was results. Took me weeks just to get him focused on what really mattered."
Felicity: "How handsome his therapist was?"
Paul: "Healing. Got to be patient with yourself. These things take time."
(Oliver kisses the top of Felicity's head and rubs her back.)

415 (Taken) – Felicity finds out about Oliver's secret son:
(Oliver and Felicity are walking through an underground parking lot.)
Felicity: "You okay?"
Oliver: "Me?"
Felicity: "I knew you were gonna ask me, so I thought I'd beat you to the punch."
Oliver (chuckling): "Are you okay?"
Felicity: "A guy - a brilliant guy - says he can put a microchip in my spine and I will walk again. I'm enough of a geek to know science fiction when I see it."
Oliver: "But you're still disappointed?"
Felicity: "Yeah. You know... it's stupid."
Oliver: "Talk to me."
Felicity: "I wanted to be able to walk down the aisle on our wedding day. Hmph."
(Slow clapping sounds.  They turn to see Damien Darhk.)
Darhk: "Aw, you two just melt my stone-cold heart. You almost make me believe in love again. Nice to see you, Mr. Queen. How was your Christmas?"
Oliver: "Son of a bi -" (Darhk freezes him in place)
Darhk: "You're so brave for a political candidate and reformed party boy. Oh. Sorry about the limo, love the wheelchair. Might I suggest motorized." (Releases Oliver)
Oliver: "Unh!"
Felicity: "We have extremely powerful friends. You do not know who you're messing with."
Darhk: "If it makes you happy, the messing ends today. I tried to bring you into the fold, Mr. Queen, I tried to kidnap your nearest and dearest, I tried to kill you, but none of that took."
Oliver: "Well, like she said, you don't know who you're messing with."
Darhk: "I suspect that is true, but as they say - well, or should - the fourth time is the charm. (Oliver's cell phone rings) Go ahead. Take a look. I'll wait. (Oliver sees William on his cell phone) William thinks that I'm friends with his mother. Funny... Anyhoo, 6:00 on Friday, you're gonna hold a press conference and drop out of the mayoral race. Oh, that's 6 pm, by the way. I will be at home watching you from my brand-new television." (Leaves)
Felicity: "What did he show you on your phone? Who's William?"
Oliver: "He's my son."

415 (Taken) – The rest of Team Arrow finds out about Oliver's secret son, and Felicity finds out that Thea, Barry and Malcolm already knew about William:
(Oliver and Felicity enter the Arrow Bunker.)
Oliver: "Please say something. Look, Felicity, I can explain -"
Felicity: "Stop. I cannot hear another lie."
Oliver: "You know, it's - it's more complicated than that."
Felicity: "God, Oliver, you're the only person on the planet that considers the truth complicated. Just to be clear, I don't care that you have a child. I can't believe that you have a child that you didn't tell me about. What does it say about our relationship if your first instinct is to always hide the truth?"
Oliver: "William's mother made a condition that the only way I would be allowed to meet my son is if I agreed to keep him secret - even from you."
Felicity: "Who even makes that kind of ultimatum?"
Oliver: "Just a - a mother who's trying to protect her son, and she thought that the best thing for him was to keep his world separate from mine. After everything that has happened, can you really say that she was wrong?"
Felicity: "Well, it didn't work, did it? Somehow, Darhk still found out."
Laurel (entering with Diggle and Thea): "Hey. We got your 911."
Felicity: "Darhk paid us a visit. He's holding a 10-year-old boy hostage, says that he will release him if Oliver drops out of the mayoral race."
Oliver: "Let's get in touch with Alex, have him schedule a press conference for Friday at 6 pm."
Diggle: "You're not actually going for this, are you?"
Oliver: "The boy Darhk has - William - he's my son."
Felicity: "Yeah. I just found out, too. Apparently, the only two people that knew about William were Oliver and Darhk."
Thea: "Actually, I found out, too."
Laurel: "Um, what's our next plan?"
Felicity: "William lives in Central City, right?"
Oliver: "Yep."
Felicity: "I will call Barry, see what CCPD can do. Is it okay if I tell Barry that William's your - (Oliver looks at her) Barry knows, too."
Oliver: "Let's also get in touch with Malcolm. He has an ax to grind after what happened with the League and, um, Malcolm knows, as well."
Felicity: "Maybe it would be easier to list the people who don't know about your son."
Oliver (answering his cell phone): "Samantha's here."
Diggle: "Who's Samantha?"
Oliver: "It's William's mother."

415 (Taken) – Oliver brings his son's mother, Samantha Clayton, into the Arrow Bunker and introduces her to Team Arrow:
Samantha: "This doesn't make any sense."
Oliver: "Well, like I said, I'm not the person that I used to be. Samantha, these are my friends. They're gonna help us find William. You probably remember -"
Samantha: "Laurel Lance."
Laurel: "I am so sorry that you're going through this, Samantha. We will help you get William back."
Samantha: "Look, Laurel. It was one time, and I knew that you and Oliver were together, but I was young and stupid and selfish, and I should have been honest with you."
Laurel: "No. Oliver should have been. Come on."
Oliver: "Does CCPD have anything?"
Felicity: "No. It was a clean grab."
Thea: "Do we have any other angles we can work, other than Malcolm?"
Diggle: "Finding William isn't the problem. Beating Damien Darhk is. Every time we've faced him, we have been beaten thoroughly."
Thea: "That's because we can't go against his magic."
Oliver: "We just need to fight harder. We need to fight smarter."
Felicity: "No, Oliver. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We need a new strategy."
Diggle: "What about Constantine?"
Oliver: "He's in Hell."
Thea: "Really? What's going on?"
Oliver: "I mean, he's actually literally in Hell."
Thea: "Oh."
Oliver: "But I might know someone else. Her name is Mari McCabe. She possesses a totem which is powered by magic. She calls herself Vixen."

415 (Taken) – We meet Mari McCabe, a/k/a Vixen:
(Two bad guys are being chased by Vixen.)
Bad Guy: "What the hell was that thing? Cerico doesn't pay us enough to find out!"
(Bird screeches.)
Bad Guy: "Quick!"
(Gunfire. Lion roars.)
Bad Guy: "Aah! [Roar] Come on out."
Other Bad Guy: "Face us like a man!"
Mari: "I've got a better idea. How about I kick your ass like a woman instead?"
(Oliver shoots an arrow at bad guy sneaking up behind her.)
Mari: "I had that under control."
Oliver: "I know."
Mari: "What? Not enough in Star City to keep you busy?"
Oliver: "I need your help."

415 (Taken) – Oliver introduces Mari to the rest of his team:
Mari (entering the Arrow Bunker): "I have got to get me one of these."
Laurel: "Mari." (Hugs her)
Mari: "Laurel, hey."
Laurel: "Good to see you."
Mari: "You, too."
Oliver: "Mari, this is John Diggle and my sister Thea."
Diggle: "Pleasure."
Thea: "It's nice to meet you. Sorry it's under such horrible circumstances."
Oliver: "You spoke to Felicity on the phone."
Felicity: "Hey."
Mari: "Hey."
Oliver: "And this is Samantha, William's mother."
Laurel: "She's a friend, a hero in Detroit they call Vixen."
Oliver: "Mari and I had an animated encounter last year, and we've stayed in touch ever since."
Samantha: "How are you gonna help me find my son?"
Mari: "With magic."
Samantha: "Magic."
Mari: "Yeah. It's a long story, but the short version is that this totem gives me the ability to channel the 'ashe' - or the spirit - of any animal. Do you have anything of William's with you?"
Samantha: "Yes, I do. Just this. It's his favorite." (Hand her Flash action figure.)
Mari (sniffing Flash action figure, to Oliver): "Don't you dare tell Barry about this. (Sniffing) Ahh. He's in the city. I think I can find him."
Oliver: "Okay. Good. Dig and I will cover you. Laurel, get in touch with your father. We're gonna loop in the S.C.P.D. Felicity, I need you to... (She looks at him) Would it be all right if you sat with Samantha?"
Felicity: "Working up a search profile. Sure."
Oliver: "Thank you. Thea."
Thea: "Yeah. Malcolm's coming over. I'll go talk to him."
Oliver (to Samantha): "We're gonna find him. He's gonna be okay."
Samantha: "Okay."

415 (Taken) – Samantha tells Felicity that she was the one who made the ultimatum to Oliver:
Samantha: "He was wearing a blue hoodie, plaid shirt, gray corduroys, and, um, a diamonds baseball cap. He's a big fan."
Felicity: "Oliver likes baseball, too. Here's hoping that the innate fatherly influence stops there. Um, does he have any distinguishing features, freckles, birthmarks, anything like that?"
Samantha: "Oliver told me that there was someone in his life, someone special, and her name was Felicity. He wanted to tell you, and I wouldn't let him. I didn't know who he was now, I didn't know what kind of person he was."
Felicity: "That's going around."
Samantha: "Jut try and remember that I was the one that made him choose between you and knowing his son."

415 (Taken) – Darhk moves up the timetable for Oliver to drop out of the mayoral race:
Samantha: "Where's William? What happened?"
Laurel: "We had a small setback, but we are not giving up."
Samantha: "Setback? What do you mean?"
Felicity: "Hey. Blocked I.D."
Oliver: "Hello?"
Darhk (on phone): "Oh. Hi, Oliver. How is your evening going? Mine somewhat eventful. Some of your friends stopped by my place earlier completely unannounced. Very rude."
Oliver: "I want to talk to my son, Darhk. I want to know that he's safe."
Darhk (on phone): "Oh, this must be the first time your son's been kidnapped because clearly you don't understand how these things work. I make the demands."
Oliver: "Well, you've made them, and I've agreed. Friday night, I'm dropping out of the race."
Darhk (on phone): "Why wait? Give your green friend less time to botch things up. So go find yourself a television camera."
Oliver: "I want to know that my son is safe!"
Darhk (on phone): "Oh, and by the way, you're going to completely endorse Ruvé Adams. Save us all the trouble of those pesky little write-in ballots." (Hangs up)
Oliver: "He moved up the timetable. Wants me to drop out of the race tonight. Thea, let Alex know."
Mari: "I am so sorry. I know you brought me here to fight magic with magic, but -"
Oliver: "Mari, this is not on you. There is still so much that we don't know about Darhk's power. We - we don't - we don't even know what the source of it is."
Mari: "Wait. I get my powers from this necklace. Without it, I'm just a wannabe fashion designer who lives at home with her foster dad. So up to now, everyone I've gone up against with mystical powers has had some sort of totem like mine. What if Darhk has an object that helps him with his magic?"
Quentin: "I think he does. I walked in on him once or twice in front of this cabinet thing, and inside, there's some kind of, I don't know, idol."
Mari: "Can you draw it for me?"
Quentin: "Yeah. I'll give it a whirl." (He leaves with Mari)
Diggle: "Okay, Oliver. What if this little art project doesn't yield any results?"
Oliver: "Well -"
Laurel: "And what if it takes too long?"
Oliver: "Mari and Captain Lance are working on a way to eventually stop Darhk. Right now, I have to save William."

415 (Taken) – Mari identifies Darhk's totem as a Khushu idol:
(Oliver enters his mayoral campaign office, where Alex is packing up boxes.)
Alex: "New numbers are out. You're leading by 16 points."
Oliver: "Alex, I'm sorry. I know that you put your heart and soul into this campaign, and -"
Alex: "And your days of speech-making are now behind you. Look, man. I don't want sorry. I just want an explanation."
Oliver: "That's why I'm sorry." (Shakes hands with him, and Alex leaves)
Felicity (entering): "Sucks when you can't tell the truth. Samantha told me about her ultimatum."
Oliver: "I just figured that eventually she'd trust me."
Felicity: "Yeah. You'd work your Oliver Queen charm."
Oliver: "I didn't want to be a part of William's life without the opportunity for you to be a part of his life. John's made it pretty clear that, uh, I should have made more of an effort to be a part of William's life and that the best way to keep him safe would have been to keep him close, even with all of this."
Felicity: "Your resignation's all over the news. Have you heard from Darhk?"
Oliver: "Not yet" (His cell phone rings)
Felicity: "Speak of the devil. Literally."
Oliver: "It's not Darhk. It's Mari. She has something."
(Cut to Arrow Bunker.)
Mari: "I e-mailed Captain Lance's drawing of Darhk's idol to a friend of mine at Detroit University." 
Thea: "And did he recognize it?" 
Mari: "It's a Khushu idol, very rare, very powerful, but its power requires a constant connection to one of the earth's ley lines."
Felicity: "I never thought I'd say this, but - huh?" 
Mari: "Okay. Think Wi-Fi for magic, and the idol is his Internet connection. If Professor Macalester's theory is correct and this map is accurate -"
Diggle: "Then Darhk must be holed up near one of these ley lines in order for him to get the strongest signal."
Felicity: "I'll start cross-referencing all the locations that we've encountered Darhk." 
Samantha: "You pulled out of the race. Why isn't this man giving me my son back?" 
Oliver: "He will, and everything will be fine."
Samantha: "You keep saying that, but it hasn't been yet."

415 (Taken) – Darhk promises to release William; and Felicity finds a possible location for Darhk's compound:
Mari: "You're doing everything you possibly can. You can't beat yourself up about it."
Oliver: "Well, you don't know me very well, do you? Just before Christmas, Darhk took Thea, Felicity, John, held them captive. We agreed that I would trade myself for them. I did, and Darhk did not live up to his end of the bargain."
Mari: "So you're worried that's playing itself out again now. We're gonna get William back, Oliver, but when we do, I think you should consider that... maybe letting him go isn't such a bad thing."
Oliver: "What do you mean?"
Mari: "Well, I heard what you told Felicity about keeping him close. Owl ears. Uh, I never knew my real parents. I grew up in foster home, and my whole life, I wondered, 'Who am I? Where did I come from? Why didn't my real parents want me?'"
Oliver: "A boy should know who his father is."
Mari: "He should, and he will. But knowing what William's going through right now, I realize that I wasn't ready for the answers. Learning about my heritage, my powers, the evil my mother fled our homeland to protect me from, no child should have to carry that burden. I mean, look around you. Oliver, the best gift you can give him is his childhood. Keep him as far away from your world for as long as possible. (Sighs) I can't imagine a greater sacrifice. Isn't that what parenthood is?"
Thea (entering with the others): "Hey, guys. I think we found something."
Felicity: "Darhk moves his idol around, which makes sense, but -"
Diggle: "It makes him a whole lot harder to track."
Felicity: "Right, but after referencing a butt-load of satellite feeds, thermal imaging data, and the ley line map, I think Darhk is located out on a compound in Sky Woods."
Oliver (answering his cell phone): "Hello?"
Darhk (on phone): "Very good speech. You look great on television. Nelson Plaza, three hours. William will be there." (Hangs up)
Oliver: "Darhk says he's gonna release William three hours from now at Nelson Plaza."
Laurel: "There's no guarantee with Darhk. This could be a trap."
Thea: "And now we have a chance to take out his power idol thingy. Ollie, without his magic, he won't be able to do this to anybody ever again. It - it will be game over."
Oliver: "Samantha... he's your son. It is your call."
Samantha: "He's your son, too, Oliver. Get him back and take this son of a bitch Darhk out."

415 (Taken) – Team Arrow and Vixen attack Darhk’s compound, destroy Darhk’s idol, and rescue William:
Mari (over comms): "I count 17 Ghosts."
Oliver (over comms): "Copy. Black Canary?"
Laurel (over comms): "Ready."
Felicity (over comms): "Spartan?"
Diggle (over comms): "I'm set."
Felicity (over comms): "Let's do this."
(Team Arrow with Vixen attack Darhk's compound.)
Oliver (over comms): "Vixen, you're up."
Mari (to Darhk): "I'm guessing your insurance won't pay for that."
Darhk: "Cute. Bye-bye. (Magically throws her across the room) When you're dead, I'll make sure that totem gets put to better use."
Mari: "Took the words right out of my mouth." (Grabs Darhk's idol off table and leaps out)
Darhk: "Well, that happened."
(Cut to outside the compound.)
Diggle (over comms): "Speedy, Canary, I can't get a clear shot. Where are you?"
Laurel (over comms): "On our way."
Oliver (to Thea and Laurel): "You find William. I'll take care of Darhk."
Darhk (exiting house into front yard): "I'm sorry. I can't hear you with your throats closing up like that. Steady." (Chokes Laurel, Thea and Oliver)
(Cut to Mari and Diggle.)
Mari (over comms): "I've got the totem. Has it had any effect?"
Felicity (over comms): "Separating it from Darhk didn't do anything. Go to plan 'B.'"
Diggle: "What's plan 'B'?"
(Mari uses her animal strength to try to smash the idol against a rock.)
William (exiting the house): "Please don't hurt them."
Oliver: "William."
(Mari manages to smash the idol and Darhk's power is cut off. Oliver fights Darhk and knocks him unconscious. )
Oliver: "Get out of here!"
(Laurel and Thea take off on the motorcycle. Then Oliver leaves just as police and ambulances arrive at the compound.)

415 (Taken) – Oliver records a video message for William; and Felicity breaks up with him:
Oliver (to laptop): "Hi, William. I hope you're well, and I hope you're safe. There's something that I - I want to tell you. I wanted to tell you before, but - but this is better. I'm your father. Biologically, that is. As far as really being your father goes, I haven't earned that yet. A father should be there for his child every day, no matter what, to make sure that they feel loved, that they feel safe, and a child should be able to rely on their father and go to him for - for guidance and reassurance. I have failed to do that for you.  And now I'm - I'm gonna tell you why. I'm the Green Arrow, and my life is very dangerous, which is why... we decided to keep you out of it for all these years. What happened to you in Star City, that was my fault, and I can't allow anything like that to happen ever again. And that's why I've asked your mother to move you far away... and to not tell anyone where she's taking you. Including me. It's also why I asked her to wait to show you this message until after your 18th birthday. I wanted to give you a real childhood. I wanted to give you that gift. Good-bye, son. I sure hope it's not forever. (Sees Felicity, who's entered the loft) How much of that did you hear?"
Felicity: "Enough. (Oliver sighs) Oliver, we need to talk."
Oliver: "About a number of things, I suspect."
Felicity (taking off her engagement ring): "Let's start with... (Puts ring down on the table in front of him) I can't do this. When your son was in danger, I had to table what I was feeling... about everything. But now that I've had some space, I realize I need space."
Oliver: "Felicity."
Felicity: "I know the position Samantha put you in. I know it was an impossible decision. But you were right. You should have told me. Marriage is about inclusion. It's about leaning on your partner when things get complicated. I don't think that you know how to do that."
Oliver: "I'm - I'm trying."
Felicity: "And now you're sending William away, and I understand why. You know that I do. But once again, you have left me out of the decision."
(Felicity's foot moves, and they both stare at it.)
Oliver: "Felicity?"
Felicity (slowly stands up): "Oh, my God."
(She gets out of her wheelchair, slowly walks to the door and leaves.)

Edited April 18, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Yesterday MG tweeted three script pages for this episode, which I've added to my above transcriptions.

[tv echo]

415 deleted scene...

Arrow 4x15 Deleted Scene - Oliver decides to leave the candidacy

(Hermandat)