‘Arrow’ Season 6 Episode 8: “Thanksgiving” Recap With Spoilers

“Thanksgiving” starts off with Oliver and William working a stand at a Star City food drive. He looks over to see Felicity being questioned by a member of the press and leaves to break up the conversation.

Oliver goes back to the food drive tent and addresses the volunteers, showing his excitement for the city’s new cop precinct building. Agent Sharp shows up with a pair of FBI agents and arrests Oliver for murder, assault, and other charges for his time allegedly spent as the Green Arrow.

Oliver is booked into jail, and Sharp begins questioning him. She reveals that she knows that Oliver instructed Roy Harper to wear the hood, and has since instructed John Diggle to do the same. He tells Sharp he won’t cooperate until he’s able to talk to William.

She brings William in and leaves the two alone, and Oliver reassures his son that he’s not acting as the Green Arrow.

At the Arrow bunker, Curtis has been working on a prototype to help Diggle get rid of his tremors. Curtis injects Diggle with the solution when Rene and Dinah walk in, telling them the FBI has arrested Oliver.

Elsewhere, Cayden James has sent Black Siren and a crew of henchmen on a mission. They enter a secured server room and quickly subdue the guards. Black Siren uses her scream to break into a safe and steal the nanothermite Cayden wanted.

They’ve transferred Oliver to a regular jail cell, and Dinah approaches him to talk. She mentions that she can get him out, but Oliver wants to go through the process the right way.

Back at the bunker, Curtis tells Diggle about Black Siren’s break-in the previous night. Curtis explains the process behind turning nanothermite into a weapon, and the two call Felicity to ask what they could be using it for. She’s rushed and hangs up because she walks into the courtroom for Oliver’s initial appearance.

Oliver’s attorney motions to dismiss the charges because lack of evidence. The judge doesn’t take the bait, choosing to continue to trial. He set’s Oliver’s bail at $5 million and allows him to post it and leave custody.

Diggle is training at the bunker, Curtis’ fix is apparently working — the tremors are nearly gone. Curtis’ hacker tracker begins beeping, signaling there’s another break-in. This time Black Siren is breaking into Amertek, and Diggle orders Curtis to call the team together.

The team converges on the Amertek facility, breaks in, and starts fighting with the guards. During the fight, Diggle collapses — he’s having an apparent reaction to Curtis’ fix. The rest of the team continues on, leaving Diggle behind. They’re unable to get any closer to Black Siren as she’s begun destroying the scene of the crime. She escapes unscathed.

At Arrow HQ, Rene and Dinah inform Felicity of Diggle’s tremors, and she’s upset Diggle never told her. Elsewhere, Diggle’s been admitted to a hospital, and the doctor informs him that he’s suffering from withdrawals from recently going off the steroid for his tremors.

Felicity calls telling Curtis and Diggle that the most recent item Cayden and Black Siren stole will allow them to create a massive bomb. Curtis get backs to the bunker starts to help Felicity and Rene brainstorm possible locations that Cayden would want to bomb.

Oliver visits Diggle in the hospital and reveals that he knows about Diggle’s nerve damage. He tells Diggle he’s disappointed in his actions, which could have compromised the team. Oliver and Diggle get into a fight, and Oliver leaves Diggle’s room to go visit Thea, who’s still in a coma.

Rene remembers that Billy Joel is playing a concert in town, and Felicity runs some diagnostics that show Cayden has already assumed control over the arena’s security systems. Oliver walks into the bunker and informs the team that he’s going to declare a state of emergency, and the arena will be forced to cancel the concert.

At the arena, Oliver gets into it with the arena’s manager, who refuses to cancel the concert. If Oliver’s unable to provide concrete evidence of an impending terrorist attack, the concert will go on as planned.

Dinah and Lance are talking about Black Siren, Laurel’s evil doppelganger. He’s still questioning his feelings towards the villain.

Oliver returns to the hospital, where Diggle’s getting ready to be discharged. Oliver apologizes for his earlier actions, and the two begin talking about Oliver’s arrest earlier in the day. Diggle tells Oliver his diagnosis; the nerve damage in his arm has traveled to his back. If he continues out in the field, there’s a chance he could end up paralyzed. The two make amends, and Oliver informs Diggle of Cayden’s plans to attack the Billy Joel concert.

Felicity, Rene, Curtis, and Dinah are discussing how to protect the arena from the attack when Oliver walks in, and he says he’s suiting up as the Green Arrow again.

Team Arrow converges on the arena and sets off a fire alarm in an attempt to evacuate the arena. Cops near the entrance try convincing the concert goers that it’s a false alarm until Rene starts shooting guns at the ceiling, inciting a stampede. Felicity finds out that the cops are fake; they’re on the payroll of Cayden James.

Felicity’s able to locate the bomb on cameras, when she realizes it’s a decoy. Oliver makes his way to the decoy, where Cayden is also located. Oliver questions him about the bomb, and Cayden reveals there is no bomb, he just wanted to create a decoy so that Team Arrow would arrive so that he could talk to the Green Arrow.

Cayden reveals that he wants revenge against the Green Arrow because the Green Arrow caused his son’s death. Before he’s able to react, Black Siren walks in and blasts Oliver away, allowing for the safe escape of the bad guys and the bomb decoy.

Back at the bunker, they’re trying to determine what happened to Cayden James’ son. Curtis gets an alert on his tablet and shows the team that they’re trending — videos of the team beating up the fake cops have gone viral. The team agrees it’s no coincidence in timing with the vigilante referendum rapidly approaching.

The next day, Oliver’s speaking with reporters on the steps of city hall, where he reveals that the referendum — which puts stricter laws in place to combat vigilantism — passed very easily.

They’re back visiting with Diggle, who’s ready to leave, and a doctor walks in to get Oliver’s attention — his sister has awoken from a coma.

The rest of the team arrive at Thea’s room and have a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner at her bedside.