‘Arrow’: “Unmasked” Has a Surprising Tie to Season One

Do not adjust your television set. Tonight’s episode of Arrow is not a repeat, and a minor character who appeared in one episode of the show’s first season is indeed back.

That would be Max Fuller (Marcus Rosner), formerly the owner of a club called Poison, who welcomed Oliver Queen and others into a new club in this week’s episode. Their first meetup after Oliver got out of prison actually went much better than their previous encounter, when Fuller attacked Oliver and Tommy.

If you’ll remember, Fuller previously appeared in the episode “Lone Gunmen,” and revealed that Oliver Queen had slept with his wife. He sent muscle after Oliver and Tommy when he saw them at the club, but Laurel interceded on their behalf, embarrassing Fuller and getting all three of them banned from the club for life.

Spoilers ahead for tonight’s episode of Arrow, titled “Unmasked.”

In “Unmasked,” which airs tonight, Fuller reappears, and there is a recurring line about how people change. Fuller says it, Oliver says it and Oliver also expressly rejects it at one point. It is also a theme of the episode.

Which makes for an interesting line when Fuller escalates from privileged douchebag to full-on villain, contracting a Green Arrow copycat to kill some rivals and pin the blame on the New Green Arrow (whose shocking identity was also revealed in this week’s episode).

After Oliver figures out that Fuller is bankrolling the copycat, the police want to storm Max’s new club — but there is heavy security working for Fuller, he seems likely to be connected to the Triad, and so it was not safe for the club full of people who were possible hostages if the police stormed the place.

Instead, Oliver suited up as Green Arrow — minus the mask — and went in as the advance man for the cops. Finally, he ended up face to face with Fuller, who threatened to kill a hostage before Oliver disarmed him.”

“Hiring killers is easy. Taking the shot yourself isn’t,” Oliver says, before turning Fuller over to Captain Lance to be arrested.

This ties into his original characterization, which was as somebody who ran when things got difficult…and seems to confirm Oliver’s opinion that people don’t always change that much.

Somebody who has changed? Felicity Smoak, who even refers back to “Lone Gunmen,” her first appearance on Arrow, in tonight’s episode.

Arrow airs on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, before episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.