Arrow 1.20, "Home Invasion" Review

rating: 4.5

Once again Arrow has returned from a three week hiatus to deliver another chapter in the life of Oliver McQueen, and his travails against the bad guys that infest Starling City. This episode, "Home Invasion", features the on-going issues between Oliver and Tommy Merlyn, who has quit working with Oliver at the Nightclub and gone to work with his father, after Tommy discovered that Oliver was the Green Arrow. Other parts of this episode once again take us to the Island, where Shado continues to teach Oliver the skills of archery, with Oliver seemingly caught between his affection for Laurel and his feelings for Shado. Finally, Roy Harper seems infatuated with tracking down the Hood, and leads himself into trouble trying to do so. Since Tommy discovered that Oliver was the Green Arrow, it has been a source of tension between the two which has been escalating, which will probably lead to Tommy becoming his father's heir in regards to the Black Archer character. The tension is increased in this episode by the positioning of Laurel, Tommy's girlfriend and Oliver's ex-girlfriend, who many believe he still has feelings for. While Oliver continues to be friends with Laurel and goes to meet up with her for dinner, Oliver is wrapped in Laurels work once again after he meets her clients who are going after a corrupt business man Edward Rasmus, who they invested their savings with, however, after the family is killed by a hit-man hired by Rasmus, Laurel agrees to take their son, the only survivor of the hit. Oliver then arrives at Laurel and Tommy's apartment just in time as the killer has tracked them down in a hope to kill the last remaining person who can identify him as the hit-man responsible for killing Laurel's clients. Despite Oliver's timely arrival, the hit-man manages to escape, fleeing in the hope of regrouping, while Laurel, Tommy and the child realize that Laurel's apartment isn't safe and Tommy suggests, reluctantly, that they should stay at Oliver's house, saying that they have 24 hour security there. Matters are made worse after Oliver is force to chose between going after Deadshot, with Diggle, or continuing Laurel's work and confronting Rasmus. Oliver chooses to confront Rasmus, forcing him to confess to hiring the hit-man after another one of Oliver's infamous "arrow-side" conversations, while Diggle is left to face Deadshot alone, however, Deadshot realizes he's being lead into a trap and instead stakes up a position in a nearby building taking out several ARGUS agents who were preparing to arrest Deadshot in the sting. In the aftermath, Diggle confronts Oliver about abandoning him when he had promised that they would go after Deadshot together, instead choosing to help Laurel, and confronts Oliver about admitting that he still had feelings for Laurel. The fight saw Diggle leave Oliver and walking out on the operation, leaving just Felicity and Oliver behind in his "bat cave". This is used to contrast against Tommy, who leaves Laurel after realizing that if Oliver still has feelings for Laurel, and if Laurel were to find out that Oliver was the Hood, he could not compete against him. This seems to continue the development of Tommy's character closer to his father, as Tommy pushes further away from Oliver and Laurel and closer to his father who Laurel doesn't get along with after he tries to shut down Tommy's mothers medical clinic in the Glades. The episode also has several flashbacks to the Island, largely involving Oliver and his growing relationship with Shado, who seems to teach Oliver how to use the bow that has become such a large part of Oliver's Green Arrow character. As Shado, Oliver and Slade prepare for an assault of Fyre's camp, Oliver is taught by Shado how to use the bow so that he can cover Shado and Slade as they attack the camp. Throughout the flashbacks, there clearly seems to be an escalation in the sexual tension between Oliver and Shado, ending with them kissing. As the trio returns back to the camp, Yao Fei enters the wreckage of the plane where Slade, Oliver and now Shado have been camped, leading the others to stare at him in disbelief asking him how he managed to escape captivity from Fyers. However, it turns out he did not escape and instead he has lead Fyer's men straight to where they were camping, betraying Oliver and Slade. At the close of the episode Yao Fei informs Oliver that his time on the Island "is up".