S07.E05: The Demon

[TrueMyth]

So someone on my Tumblr feed just posted a gif series of the nightstick beat down that Oliver gets for staying behind and guarding Talia's escape, and I just have to laugh because the sticks are obviously hitting each other at first and Stephen doesn't flinch at the right time and even the overhead doesn't look like they are really connecting with Oliver. I didn't linger on it during the show because it was cut quickly and I wanted to see where the whole Level Two storyline played out, but I have to say, bad fight choreography. Maybe not quite as bad as the occasional punch that obviously never lands, but also not Arrow's best moment, you know?

[AudienceofOne]

Maybe I'm just tired of the stupid but I actually thought this episode was pretty solid. I wasn't bored - unless not throwing things at the TV every three minutes is somehow boring. I admit I didn't yell at the screen, throw things or binge drink so maybe it was an underwhelming episode. 

[Delphi]

Please don't wish Curtis for the waverider, I'm going through a lot and don't need that kind of negativity in my life right now. 

[tv echo]

705 (The Demon) – Oliver Queen’s voiceover intro:
Oliver (voiceover): "My name is Oliver Queen. After six years of being a vigilante, the only way to achieve my goal and save my city was to confess to being the Green Arrow. Now my family and friends must carry on my mission without me. I am no longer a hero. I am Inmate 4587."

705 (The Demon) – Felicity explains her tracking program for the Silencer to E2 Laurel:
Felicity: "The tracker is now paired with a facial recognition program, targeting all CCTV and traffic cameras within a five-mile radius of the Silencer's location, updating in real time."
E2 Laurel: "So when the Silencer finally finds Diaz, we'll get an immediate alert."
Felicity: "Yeah, as long as you don't adjust any of the inputs, change any of the settings, or click any buttons. I mean, basically, don't touch anything. And, yeah, we will be - we will be - we will be just fine."
E2 Laurel: "I'm not sure I needed an in-person tutorial on how to watch a blinking dot blink."
Felicity: "Sorry. I'm just really anxious, you know? We're so close to getting Diaz, and the last time I saw Oliver was a while ago, and it didn't end so well."
E2 Laurel: "Relax. Visiting your husband is not gonna cause our operation to fall apart. (Laptop beeps) Although, when the blinking dot disappears, that's not good, is it?"
Felicity: "Crap!"
E2 Laurel: "Hey, I want it noted for the record, I did not touch anything. Is the signal dead?"
Felicity: "No. It's just faint. It's still pinging, but I'm gonna need to boost the signal to get a secure lock on her exact location, which may take a while. So maybe I should stay here, keep an eye on the program, you know, just -"
E2 Laurel: "You can keep an eye on the program from the road."
Felicity: "Okay. But the moment -"
E2 Laurel: "The signal comes back online, you want me to call you."
Felicity: "Yes. Look at us, you know, finishing each other's sentences, really -"
E2 Laurel: "Go."
Felicity: "Mm-hmm." (Leaves)
E2 Laurel: "If not for Oliver's sake, at least for my own."

705 (The Demon) – Felicity finds out that Oliver has been sent to Level Two from prison inmate Stanley Dover:
Felicity: "Uh, excuse me. My husband is Oliver Queen, and as your colleagues have already triple-checked, I am definitely on his visitor's list. It's been 20 minutes, and he's not here."
Prison Guard: "Inmate 4587 has had his visitation privileges revoked."
Felicity: "What? What happened? What are you talking about?"
Prison Guard: "I'm not at liberty to say, ma'am."
Felicity: "I'm his wife. I have a right to see my husband."
Prison Guard: "I'm afraid you don't." (Walks away)
(Stanley, who just finished seeing his visitor, spies Felicity and waves her over to his window. He gestures for her to pick up the visitor's phone.)
Stanley: "You're Oliver's wife."
Felicity: "Yeah."
Stanley: "I recognize you from the picture he looks at all the time."
Felicity: "You know Oliver?"
Stanley: "I'm kind of his sidekick in here."
Felicity: "Can you give him a message for me? Can you tell him that I have a lead on Diaz. He'll know what it means."
Stanley: "I know what that means. He'll be so excited. But I can't give him that message."
Felicity: "Why not?"
Stanley: "Because he got sent down to Level Two."
Felicity: "What's Level Two?"
Stanley: "It's bad, it's really bad. It's where they send the worst of the worst."
Felicity: "But Oliver isn't the worst of the worst."
Stanley: "It's kind of a long story, but he got set up. And then he had to stab a guard. Or two. It all kinda happened fast, and there was a lot of blood."
Felicity: "No. Oliver - Oliver would never - he would never do something like that."
Stanley: "I don't know if you've noticed, but the guards aren't exactly on the side of good in here. I should go."
Felicity: "Wait. Just one second."
Stanley: "Sorry about your husband. He's the best."

705 (The Demon) – Felicity tries to find out more about Level Two:
E2 Laurel (on the phone): "That doesn't make any sense. Mr. Queen has two hours of visitation left this month, so I suggest you get it straightened out, or I will have the U.S. Attorney so far up your ass that you'll have to turn your head to the left and cough." (Hangs up)
Felicity: "Whew! I mean, no offense to Black Siren, but I actually think you're scarier as an attorney."
E2 Laurel: "Black Siren gets results. All the D.A. got was stonewalled. Prison authorities insisted that Oliver already maxed his visitation allowances this month."
Felicity: "How? I've only been there once. I - something's wrong."
E2 Laurel: "Obviously. Sorry. Empathy's a word I'm learning. It's a work in progress."
Felicity: "The prisoner that knew Oliver said they took him somewhere called Level Two. We need to figure out what that is."
E2 Laurel: "We?"
Felicity: "Consider it a lesson in empathy. Okay, I'm accessing the federal Slabside records - employment, inmate sentencing, infrastructure."
E2 Laurel: "I don't know what's more amusing - the fact that you just broke six laws in front of me, or that you're forcing me to feel empathetic about it. What? What's wrong?"
(Laptop screen shows "No results found" from Felicity's search of the Slabside records.)
Felicity: "Wherever they took Oliver is completely off the books. There's no record of anything at Slabside called Level Two."

705 (The Demon) – Felicity and E2 Laurel ask Dinah for help in investigating the prison psychiatrist, Dr. Jarrett Parker:
E2 Laurel: "Hey, Dinah. Do you have a sec?"
Dinah: "Yeah. Uh, is this about the Hudson case? Because I would like to get three counts if we can."
Felicity: "Hi, Dinah."
Dinah: "Hi. Wow. Okay. Since when are you two friends?"
Felicity: "Well, we decided to start a support group for women who've been attacked by Diaz."
E2 Laurel: "Or his assassins. Do you care to join?"
Dinah: "Uh, thanks, I'll pass. But, hey, maybe you should get back to witness protection. And you should head on back to Earth-2 before you both remember you hate each other."
Felicity: "Okay. Real talk. We're working together and we need your help."
Dinah: "'We'?"
E2 Laurel: "It's called empathy, Dinah."
Dinah: "I'm about 100% sure that's not what we're dealing with here, but what is going on?"
E2 Laurel: "Slabside is denying Felicity access to Oliver."
Felicity: "They're keeping him somewhere called Level Two, but there's no record of anything at Slabside called Level Two. So we dove into the employee records, and we found something."
E2 Laurel: "Yes. A psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Jarrett Parker with a 'P.'"
Felicity: "We need you to check to see if there were any complaints made to the S.C.P.D. about Parker during his private practice."
Dinah: "Surprised you didn't just hack into S.C.P.D. yourself."
Felicity: "Oh, I did. There was just nothing in the digital records. I was hoping we could do this the old-fashioned way and go through the hard copies in the S.C.P.D. archive."
Dinah: "Okay. But what makes us believe this Parker guy is shady?"
E2 Laurel: "Slabside doesn't have a psychiatric program for their inmates."
Felicity: "Whatever Parker is doing is not being reported. Please. If Oliver is in trouble, we have to help him."

705 (The Demon) – Felicity, Dinah and E2 Laurel search through boxes of documents in the S.C.P.D. archive room:
Felicity: "Why is an arrest report from 1985 in the same box as an employee file from 2002? It doesn't make any sense!"
Dinah: "I know. After the department switched to computerized files, they just stopped taking care of this place."
E2 Laurel: "You mean, the S.C.P.D. is late to the digital party? Wow! Shocking."
Dinah: "Felicity, there may be some other options. Now, I still have friends in the FBI. I can call -"
E2 Laurel: "Because the FBI is known for their speed and efficiency?"
Dinah: "Do you have a better idea?"
E2 Laurel: "Yes. I asked the U.S. Attorney to file a motion compelling Slabside to release all their records."
Dinah: "Oh, and you think my way is slow? That could take weeks. Months."
Felicity: "Oliver may not have weeks! He may not have months! He may not even have days! We don't know where he is. I had no idea what his life had become in there, the things that he's had to do."
E2 Laurel: "Felicity, you've been focused on catching a homicidal maniac. If anybody understands that, it's Oliver."
Dinah: "And Oliver's the one who decided to go to prison. This isn't on you."
Felicity: "And I was pissed about that decision. I should have visited him more. I should have been able to prevent this."
Dinah: "Hey, hey, hey, hey. Look. I get it, okay? But trust me, there is nothing you could have done. You have to stop blaming yourself."
Felicity: "I thought that the worst thing that could happen was me losing my husband to prison. Well, what if I lose him permanently?"

705 (The Demon) – Felicity discovers malpractice cases involving Dr. Parker’s private practice and what Oliver may be facing in prison:
Dinah: "Ugh. Yeah. Felicity, I hate to say it, but I think we might need to try a different approach here."
E2 Laurel: "It's not that we're giving up. It's just that we need to figure out another way to -"
Felicity: "Found him. During Parker's private practice, he was also a defendant in three malpractice cases, all settled out of court."
Dinah: "Check this out. Robert Goodman. It's one of his patients."
Felicity: "22-year-old male referred to Parker back in 2015 after experiencing several violent outbursts. Parker promised the parents he could make their son docile. Instead, Goodman began suffering spontaneous bouts of amnesia."
Dinah: "What the hell was this guy doing to these people?"
Felicity: "It's not clear. Some sort of experimental treatment."
E2 Laurel: "Looks like Parker's making a career out of it, because I am looking at about eight different cases that are exactly like Goodman."
Felicity: "Oh, my God!"
Dinah: "Felicity, what is it?"
Felicity: "'As Goodman's amnesia became more frequent, he eventually lost all sense of identity and was' - this is what they're gonna do to Oliver. They're going to erase him."

705 (The Demon) – Felicity, Dinah and E2 Laurel realize that they can use the Slabside prisoner abuse scandal to appeal Oliver’s conviction:
TV News Anchor (on screen): "Despite the official denial of prisoner abuse at Slabside Penitentiary, documents provided by S.C.P.D. detailing the cruel and unusual practices by Dr. Jarrett Parker, a suspect in the cold case death of Robert Goodman, appear to connect the controversial therapist to the prison, bringing those denials into question..."
Felicity: "Whoo! One for Team Felicity. I'm still workshopping the name."
Dinah: "Question is, which guardian angel do we have to thank for this little baby?" (Holds the flash drive that Oliver had asked Talia to give to Felicity)
Felicity: "Oh, don't know, don't care. Oliver is back, sleeping soundly in his regular maximum security prison cell, with no evil scientists trying to fry his brain."
E2 Laurel (taking the flash drive): "This, plus what we got from the records room, is enough to earn Dr. Parker his own cozy little prison cell."
Dinah: "You know, Slabside's got a real PR nightmare on their hands right now. What if we could use that for more than just shutting down Level Two?"
E2 Laurel: "We can use this to appeal Oliver's conviction."
Felicity: "We can use it to get Oliver out of prison."

705 (The Demon) – Stanley is able to give Felicity’s message to Oliver:
Stanley: "Guess the morgue isn't the only way out of Level Two, after all."
Oliver: "I'm just glad I made it out of there,"
Stanley: "Felicity will be, too."
Oliver: "What do you mean?"
Stanley: "She came looking for you in visitation. I told her about Level Two."
Oliver: "Was she okay?"
Stanley: "Yeah. She asked me to give you a message."
Oliver: "What message?"
Stanley: "She's got a lead on Diaz. She's close to getting him. That's good news, right?"

705 (The Demon) – Felicity tracks the Silencer to Moscow:
E2 Laurel: "Well, all this saving of your husband crap has - well, it's made me very hungry. So I'm gonna go get a pizza."
Felicity: "Okay."
E2 Laurel: "If you want to come, or if you're hungry - I don't know."
Felicity: "Are you asking me out on a friend date?"
E2 Laurel: "No."
(Device beeps)
Felicity: "Power boost is complete, which means we have a signal."
E2 Laurel: "What's the Silencer doing there?"
(Cut to Moscow, where the Silencer approaches Diaz, who is gripping Anatoly by his throat.)

Edited March 22, 2020 by tv echo