Arrow Recap With Spoilers: Code of Silence

The episode opens as Oliver and Thea prep for the mayoral debate.His opponent -- Damien Darhk's [...]

By Russ Burlingame

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(Photo: WB/CW)

The episode opens as Oliver and Thea prep for the mayoral debate.

His opponent -- Damien Darhk's wife, operating under the name of Ruve Adams -- arrives, and Oliver peppers her with questions and implications, but she isn't ruffled.

After she leaves, Felicity comes to ask him for help with their wedding invites -- which Donna has filled with glitter bombs.

Team Arrow preps to follow Adams, in the hopes she'll bring them to Darhk. She loses them under a bridge, but then she finds him. She has men waiting to gun Oliver down, in part becuase he skipped out on his meeting with Damien. Team Arrow arrives and they help Oliver fight off the Ghosts, but by the time they're done, Adams is gone.

At the Lair, Oliver knows there's more to what HIVE is doing than getting Adams elected. He just can't figure out what, just yet.

At HIVE headquarters, Darhk tells Adams he's reconsidering their plan to just kill Oliver in favor of using the "early birthday present" Merlyn gave him.

He enters a room where there's a table full of men -- including Merlyn -- and a number of other HIVE operatives on computer monitors. When one of the men on a monitor questions Adams's political acumen, Darhk uses his mind/powers to strangle the man. The table questions what to do about Lance, and Darhk says he's going to have it taken care of.

At Lance's office, Katie arrives to tell Lance he's worried about him. He's not worried, thinking the police department insulates him from an attack, but gets a call and heads out to take care of it. She invites herself along to his dinner with Donna.

At Oliver's apartment, Donna is decorating for an engagement party when Thea comes to steal Oliver for campaign stuff. Apparently, during a tax audit in 2013, it came up that Moira Queen had written a million-dollar check to Samantha Clayton. Thea asks whether she should look into it, but Oliver says not to, and downplays concerns that it could be relevant to his campaign.

On Lian Yu, Reiter brings Oliver to a room where men arebreaking rocks, saying that they have much to accomplish together. One of the men there is furious with Oliver for killing Vlad and for being Reiter's pet. He asks the guards, who still hold a grudge against Oliver for what he did to Conklin, to leave them alone, and they do.

In his car, Lance is being grilled by Laurel: why is a captain being called in to assist on a breaking and entering? He reiterates previous remarks that they're short-handed, and that it's not a job for Black Canary, but she's concerned. He heads into a building with his gun drawn, but just as he's satisfied there's nobody there, part of the building collapses on him. Laurel, who had been watching, grabs him to get him out of the building, but it continues falling apart all around them. They finally make their way out, only to watch the top floors of the building collapsing.

At the Lair, Diggle is patching up Lance, who tells them that he has no idea what happened. Lance wants to go meet Donna, but the team, convinced it's Darhk who's behind it, are going to go check it out. Diggle, saying that Lyla is now the head of ARGUS, offers to use their resources to look into it while Oliver excuses himself for "debate prep."

Taiana and Oliver plead to the other prisoners for his life. They offer to spare him if he agrees to kill Conklin. Taiana pulls him aside, and asks whether he's killed before, aside from her brother. He says yes -- that he's worried killing again will turn him into a monster like when he tortured the man in Hong Kong. She tells him good -- it takes a monster to fight monsters.

At the campaign office, Donna comes to see Lance. He tells her that they need to take a break, because being with him is too dangerous, but she's not hearing it. He tells her it's more complicated than she thinks, and she tells him that she doesn't want to take a break, but wants to break up altogether if he won't tell her the truth about what's going on. She storms out, passing Felicity, who comes to talk to him. She says she found something: the Star City Police Department was hacked, and the breaking and entering call actually came from the hackers, not from the police band.

As Team Arrow goes looking for them at a location Felicity provides from an IP trace, a group of villains are plotting. A man with a crowbar starts beating Diggle with it, and a woman starts firing a high-powered nail gun at those around her. When they get away from Team Arrow, they start to demolish the factory behind them. Thea heads back in to get their laptop while the rest of Team Arrow makes their break. She's nearly caught in the building as it collapses and explodes, but manages to get away with the computer.

At the Lair, Diggle says Andy identifies their attackers as the Demolition team. Felicity is trying to recover data from the badly-damaged hard drive. Felicity gets a 911 text from her mother, and Oliver asks Lance why. Lance says he's lucky he's with somebody he doesn't have to keep secrets from.

Reiter summons Oliver, saying he was able to use Oliver's survey maps to decipher the stone Oliver provided last episode. It says the quest to find ultimate power on the island requires one who has been granted passage by the gods, according to the inscription on the rock. Conklin starts looking at one of the parchments, and Oliver grabs at him; the two prepare to fight.

At Oliver and Felicity's apartment, Donna sobs that she thought she had found somebody who wouldn't lie to her. She apologizes for going crazy about the engagement party planning, but that she's been living vicariously through Oliver and Felicity, who are "one of those couples that everyone believes in." She says she just wants to make herself part of something that beautiful. Felicity tells her that maybe Lance is hiding things from her becuase he loves her, and she needs to return that love with a little bit of trust.

At the campaign office, Thea is preparing Oliver for the debate. Before he leaves, Thea asks him why he didn't tell the truth about going to college with Samantha. Thea, who's done her homework, has already figured out that William is Oliver's son, and that's what distracted him in Central City. Olvier tells Thea that Samantha forced him to promise not to say anything to anyone. He's worried that he can't marry Felicity if there's a lie between them.

Thea tells Oliver that Samantha is right -- that his life is dangerous, and keeping William at arm's length and keeping it a secret is the best thing he can do. When she says that "keeping William a secret is keeping him safe," Oliver gets a call from Diggle. The Demolition Team uses a specific acid to weaken building structures, and there's a warehouse in town where it's stored. The pair arrive, only to find that the acid is already gone -- enough to do some huge damage.

At Palmer Tech, Felicity wheels in on Curtis, asking him to help with the laptop. He has her face on his screensaver, and he tells her it's for a wedding surprise. She says it had better be good and he promises that it will be.

At the campaign office, Lance comes to see Oliver, and they talk about how not keeping so many secrets has helped Oliver be happier. Oliver tells him that he knows Lance is lying to protect Donna.

After a scuffle, Oliver kills Conklin, whose dying words are that Reiter is going to kill everyone regardless.

Before the debate, Thea is trying to prep Oliver. They meet Felicity and Donna; Donna excuses herself, and Felicity gets a call from Curtis: the building the Demolition Team is planning to take down is the one they're in.

After a quick talk, Thea pulls the fire alarm to evacuate the building. Ruve calls the Demolition Team to tell them not to let Oliver leave the building alive. Outside, Donna wants to head back in to look for Oliver and Thea, but she's stopped by Lance, who does it himself instead.

Inside, Team Arrow is looking around the building, trying to figure out how to take out the numerous charges. While they're trying to deactivate them, one of the Demolition Team attacks Diggle, and a charge goes of near Speedy and Black Canary. With Speedy dangling from a chain off a great height, Canary takes a few nails and starts bleeding.

After a long fight between the two teams, the explosives are all deactivated. Lance sends Oliver back to prepare for the debate.

Getting re-dressed and pretending he needed a bathroom break, Oliver gets ready for the debate. Felicity encourages her mom to go talk to Lance once he's done booking the bad guys.

Before the debate, Oliver shakes Ruve's hand and reveals he knows she was the one who tried to destroy the building.

After the debate, the press anoints Oliver the winner, but he's still concerned.

Reiter throws Oliver in a cell, telling him that if he continues to be a problem, there are "different forms of alive" he can keep Ollie. Oliver tells Taiana they doin't have much time to save the prisoners.

At the engagement party, Oliver pawns their Ivy Town neighbor off on Diggle. It doesn't quite work, but Donna calls them away -- then Lance comes in and asks to talk to Donna. He tells her that he lied to her because HIVE is trying to kill him because he stopped working with them. She ultimately understands and they kiss.

Curtis comes to see Felicity, bringing her an "implantable bio-stimulator" that he hopes can help her walk. The power cell they've been working on is the only thing he's yet found that could power it. Oliver and Felicity are delighted.

At home, Damien Darhk brings William to introduce to his daughter, saying that his mother asked Darhk to look atfter him for a while.

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