Arrowphone

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Oliver is maintaining his shirtless workout regimen, but he's lost his ability to shoot tennis balls out of the air. Diggle thinks that's because Oliver's been feeling fear ever since he almost got killed by the mysterious Black Arrow. Whatever the reason, people are starting to notice the lack of vigilante activity.

In other news, there are a lot of fires in Starling City. And sometimes firefighters die, but now they're being murdered by someone who apparently likes to hang out inside burning buildings. The first firefighter this happens to is the brother of Joanna, Laurel Lance's coworker who usually gets one line per episode. So Laurel is invested in the issue, but her father says the police don't normally get involved with internal Fire Department issues. Does that make sense to you? Well, it makes sense to everyone else, so obviously Laurel has no choice but to steal the phone that Oliver gave to Detective Lance so she can beg the vigilante to investigate the situation.

Diggle finally makes himself useful and discovers that there was a pickup truck near the last fire. And now it's across the street from another fire! So Oliver has to rush over there, but he's too late to save another firefighter. He spots a firefly tattoo on the bad guy's hand, though, so it's not a total waste. It turns out that three people with firefly tattoos have died mysteriously in the middle of fires (well okay… not that mysteriously) in the last six weeks. And the culprit is pretty clearly the other guy on the firefly team, Garfield Lynns, who died two years earlier.

At the end of the episode, there's a big firefighter benefit gala at the Arrowlair, because Tommy Merlyn has to do something with his time. And Garfield Lynns shows up and sets the whole place on fire because he's mad that the fire chief left him to die two years earlier. Diggle hustles everybody out and Oliver saves the day by shooting a Zippo lighter out of the air. Then Garfield walks into the fire. The public opinion is starting to consider the Starling Vigilante a good guy, which I think is a good idea, dramatically speaking. And Detective Lance puts a bug on the Arrowphone before giving it back to Laurel.

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There's a fire! And explosions! But everything's under control, because the fire department is on the case. One fireman is walking around inside the flaming building, which appears to be a warehouse of some sort. There's another one in there, and he's in a neat all-black fireman outfit that covers his face. He walks up to the regular-looking fireman and sprays him down with something. We don't get told what it is, but it must be pretty flammable because he goes up like a torch. The black-clad fireman strolls away.

With that out of the way, Oliver does that "move the bar up the notches" thing, then wrestles himself around so the camera can linger on his muscly shirtlessness. Finally, he throws a tennis ball into the air and completely misses it with an arrow. That used to be his signature move! Diggle comes in to tell him that there's no news on Walter's disappearance six weeks earlier. He even works in the part about it being six weeks, which is a good job of exposition. I guess you'd expect Diggle to be good at that, since it's pretty much his only job. Oliver says that his contacts in the Bratva don't have any leads. So he's definitely a real captain in the Bratva. I'd like to see that get explored a little more. But Diggle wants him to get back on the job with the revenge list.

Back to Flashback Island! Remember that scene where Oliver ran away while Deathstroke and Yao Fe fought? Well, here it is again. Enjoy it!

CNRI. That's the legal aid place where Laurel Lance works. They should consider giving that place a real name because we still don't know what "CNRI" stands for. The Internet claims that it's "City Necessary Resources Initiative," which does not really roll off the tongue. Laurel is talking to her friend and coworker Joanna. Detective Lance interrupts their conversation to tell Joanna that brother Danny was killed on duty last night. I guess he was that fireman. Her response is to repeat "No!" a lot while Laurel hugs her. Even when she's part of the plot, Joanna hardly gets any dialogue.

Castle Queen. Moira sadly looks at a picture of herself and Walter until Oliver comes in to bother her. He would like the family to eat Big Belly Burgers while watching a DVD. That's pretty vague. And they're billionaires who live in a giant castle, so you'd think they'd have a chef on the staff. They could certainly do better than takeout hamburgers that have been driven here from the city. Moira doesn't want to participate.

Downstairs, Oliver tries to wring some comedy out of the idea that he can't pronounce "Zach Galifianakis" because he was gone for five years. Listen, man, the Comedians of Comedy show was seven years ago. If you don't keep up with the alt-comedy scene, that's on you. Anyway, Thea should be picking the movie, shouldn't she? Part of her job should be making sure Oliver gets caught up on the important pop-culture experiences of the last five years. Thea says that Moira became a shut-in after the shipwreck, and only Walter saved her. She has a theory that Walter's having a mid-life crisis instead of having been abducted.

And then! The television news (which has been on while they settle on a DVD) claims that the Starling Vigilante had been causing murders to drop 16 percent. I don't believe that. He was mostly dealing with white-collar criminals, and at least some of the murders were his fault. I guess the episodes where the Triads and the mob lost members probably had some effect. Thea comments, "Looks like everyone's disappeared." Everyone on this show acts like they know Oliver is the vigilante, but I don't think any of them are supposed to.

Laurel comes home to find Tommy. He has a note with "Reasons I deserve the drawer," but that discussion is immediately cut short by Joanna. She's at the door and she thinks Danny might have been murdered. Laurel says that when her sister Sarah died (on that boat with Oliver and his father, remember?), she researched the boat to try to prove it was sunk. But unlike Laurel, who was just grasping at straws, Joanna has actual evidence that shows her brother burning hotter than the actual fire. Of course, the shipwreck was also a setup, so Laurel doesn't seem like she's very good at research. She didn't even notice the boat being brought back to Starling City!

At the police station, Laurel tries to convince her father that there's a series of murders targeting firefighters. Her evidence is that there are traces of turpentine and ignition points higher than the fire. Detective Lance says the firefighters have their own internal processes, so he can't get involved. With alleged murder? Really? That seems odd. The police and fire departments should get on the same page. An officer brings over the phone that Oliver gave Detective Lance. It's allegedly clean of fingerprints and "the tech inside are military-grade." It's an iPhone! The police can't even trace the manufacturer, which seems really unlikely. I mean, considering that it's clearly an iPhone. But even if it weren't, is this something Oliver learned to make on the island? Laurel is left alone with the phone.

In the scene (which is technically how almost every paragraph in a recap could begin), Oliver answers his phone but does not speak. Laurel has her father's phone and is saying, "Hello? I need your help." Clearly, this is the Arrowphone, the new way that people contact the vigilante.

The lights go off in Laurel's place, and Oliver walks in as the Hood. He has a thing in his hand that I think masks his voice. Either that or he's doing this stupid voice on his own. I'm not sure which explanation would be more embarrassing. He whines about that time she said he was a killer without remorse. But now she wants the killer of Danny de la Vega.

At the Arrowlair, Diggle beats up a wooden fighting dummy. No, not Oliver. (Hold for laughs) Oliver tells him to use his hips. Because even though Diggle is a highly skilled combat veteran, there's nothing he can do that Oliver can't do better. Until now! Because Dig has a contact in the Fire Investigation Unit, and Oliver wants him to send the information to the police. Diggle objects to this as being insufficiently vigilante-like. He would prefer to exact some street justice! And then! There's noise from upstairs. Oliver goes up, slips through a secret door and finds Tommy. He's been yelling at contractors (as represented by an arm) and wants to do a fundraiser for the fire department. It's nice that their plan to turn the warehouse into a club is progressing a tiny amount, although I still think it's a mistake to set the Arrowlair to a place you want to be busy.

Laurel wants Joanna to take some time off. She will not. Then Detective Lance comes in to demand the Arrowphone back. Laurel doesn't seem to understand that you're not supposed to steal evidence. She claims to have given it back to the Hood, which is almost certainly inappropriate. You're a lawyer! And your father is a police officer! Please do not steal evidence and give it back to the murderous vigilante!

Moira is meeting with someone. She wants to step back and let someone else run Queen Consolidated, and this guy is concerned about how often the CEO vanishes mysteriously. This guy is Ned Foster, the COO. He wants Moira to be CEO to help settle the board. But she wants to be at home "for my family." Nobody buys that. Oliver tries to talk her into doing it for the company, which is hypocritical from someone who refused to even take a job for Queen Consolidated.

Diggle comes in to pull Oliver out of the conversation. His contacts have reported that there was a pickup truck at the last fire, and now it's across the street from a new fire. Right now! Oliver wants to notify the police, but there's no time. Diggle tells him, "They need the man in the hood." They have the license plate of the guy who's been killing firefighters? That seems like a pretty solid clue.

On the island, Oliver comes up from underwater and sees the soldier dead on a rock. So I guess Oliver fell in the river but the soldier hit a rock instead. How convenient! This will simplify everything!

Moira looks through photos and reflects that they should be scanned in. Thea tells her the two of them are going out of the house. Moira says she's tired, and Thea points out that she's been in bed all day. And she's touchy because she has to take care of her mother instead of getting to grieve. She's mad that no one's making her do her homework or get home at a decent hour. She's not dealing well with having a depressed mother.

Oliver's doing computer research in the Arrowlair. Dig comes in so they can have a heart-to-heart about stuff. Oliver says that the other archer made him fear death only because he thought about all the people he's let into his life. "And in the first time for so long, I had something to lose." Dig thinks he should stare down death with something to live for. Anyway, all the men in the Firefly unit had an alibi for Danny's murder. And the man he saw had burns. So what if he was Garfield Lynns, who somehow survived that fire two years ago? I thought that was pretty clear already, wasn't it?

Horrible dance music plays at the Firefighter Gala. Do firefighters really want to hang out in an abandoned warehouse that's not up to code yet? Seems weird. In fact, Tommy tells Laurel that if they get any more people in there, they'll violate the fire code. Oliver peels off Laurel (thanks for being in the show this week, Tommy!) and goes to the Fire Chief. Oliver wants to talk about Garfield Lynns, whose coat was found. But that's all they found. The chief says Garfield was inside the building, calling for backup. He didn't send a unit back in, and he left him to burn. Oliver says he's back. We see a fireman walking through the crowd. Oliver seems to imply that the power of revenge kept him alive. Does that work?

The chief says, "You're insane. Gar did not make it out of that building." And the mysterious black-clad fireman is right there! He says, "Just like you won't make it out of this one." Firebomb! Fire everywhere! Garfield takes off his hat, and he has some burns on his face. People run around in panic. Diggle knows where the exit is (it's that big door at the front of the building that everyone came in through) and gets them going in the right direction. Garfield points his sprayer at Oliver, and Oliver tells Laurel to run. After Garfield sprays the chief (with what I guess is turpentine), Oliver goes to his secret door, runs down the stairs, and grabs his bow. Tommy and Laurel find each other and a beam falls somewhere near them. They're in danger!

Garfield complains about his skin melting in that fire. Oh, get over it. The chief says, "I told you to get out of there." "And I told you we could save the building." He was pulled out and listed as a John Doe. He was in a coma for nine months. And then he was crazy with revenge. So he pulls out a Zippo. Eventually, he throws the Zippo at the chief. And then! Oliver shows up and shoots the lighter out of the air! That's great, but most of the building is already on fire, so it's not like it would be difficult to find a way to ignite the turpentine-soaked chief. Garfield says he's not afraid to die. Oliver answers, "I know. You're afraid to live." Oliver wants to get him home. Garfield appears to consider it. Then he says, "Thanks. But I'm already burned." He walks into the flames. The tanks on his back don't explode. But he does burn to death.

Well, this fire is going to be a problem for the Arrowlair. Even if the building isn't damaged, and even if no firefighters make it down to the secret floor, there's going to be a lot of water shooting around, which isn't good for the computer lab. On the plus side, there's probably a fire truck parked out front. Not that I'm saying that firefighters always drive fire trucks; it's just that you'd think a firefighter's fundraising gala would probably have some firefighting stuff around the place to keep it on theme.

Castle Queen. The television news is now calling the vigilante a hero because people saw him. This is a good shift! It's important to have your hero do some heroic stuff occasionally. Thea asks why Oliver's so smiley, what with his under-construction club catching fire. Apparently it's just "more" under construction now. That could mean a new set! Moira comes out to announce that she's going to go be CEO after all, because Thea convinced her. Off she goes! Depressed Moira Plot: RESOLVED!

CNRI. Joanna is taking a few months off to be with her mother. She has her brother's badge, which she would like Laurel to get to "him." She says, "I don't care what anyone has to say. He really is a guardian angel." See, it's more interesting when people start liking him. Detective Lance comes in and says that maybe it's a good thing that Laurel got "The Hood" involved. She gives him back the phone. Then he hands it back! He says, "I may not like the guy's methods, but whoever this guy is, he's got a habit of putting himself between danger and you. And that's not something I can argue with." Then he returns to the police station. That seems like a weird move. I know I was just saying they needed to get people on Oliver's side, but the police officer who's determined to track down the vigilante hero is a standard element of these things.

Back at the police station, a tech tells Detective Lance, "I got a strong signal from the crystal VHF transmitter you hid in the speaker, and it can't be backtraced." So they've got a bug on the phone. And it uses both crystal radio and the VHF frequency. I guess broadcast television isn't using that bandwidth anymore. The tech thinks it's "stone cold" to use your daughter as bait. Ah, much better.

Arrowlair. Oliver shadowboxes while hanging upside down. And he's shirtless. Back on other island, he pulls supplies off the dead soldier and finds useful things like keys and a map. Diggle comments, "Good thing the fire didn't spread down here." It certainly is! Oliver thanks Diggle for getting him back in the game. Back to the book! I like Oliver more when he's dealing with murderers than when he's carrying out revenge against people whose crimes have never been clearly defined.

Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.