BWW Recap: Season 2 Big Bad is Revealed on the CW's ARROW

Previously on the CW's ARROW: We were introduced to the fresh-faced Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) the crime scene investigator who turned out to be just a an assistant in search of answers to the Supernatural occurrences surrounding his mother's murder. Someone in Starling City is injecting people with the miracle, super human serum that killed Slade back on the island. And Oliver went to confront one of the super humans and got himself into a load of trouble that not even Felicity could get him out of, so she called (or Drugged and kidnapped) the one person who can save Oliver: Barry Allen.

We pick up directly where we left off: Barry is trying to decide on a diagnosis for Oliver, who is not doing so hot. Barry grabs some rat poison and injects it into Oliver's blood stream (because that will apparently make his blood stop being the consistency of maple syrup). Meanwhile, Oliver is so close to death that he is imagining Shado, who urges him to let go and stay with her (where exactly he would be joining her, we're not entirely sure but our instincts are telling us it's probably not good).

Oliver wakes up and is pissed off that his secret identity has been revealed (again). At what number of people in the know, is your secret identity not really a secret identity anymore? Oliver berates Felicity for making a tough choice and trusting Barry when his true identity wasn't her secret to tell. To be fair, when Oliver says he doesn't trust Barry, he does have some good reasons-the kid did lie to him and Felicity and a host of other people but Oliver is also King (or Queen) of lies and come on Oliver, give Felicity a break, she made a tough call (which ended up saving Oliver's life). Barry steps in and stands up for Felicity and Oliver backs off and heads home because he's got bigger fish to fry.

At the Queen mansion, Thea has locked herself in her room but don't worry, it's more than just teenage angst that's hiding out behind the door-Roy has been shot in the leg with an Arrow and of course they all think it was the Arrow that did it. Roy won't go to the hospital because he doesn't want to get the Cops involved so Oliver dumps some alcohol on the wound and pulls the Arrow out with his bare hands. He warns them that maybe the Arrow shot Roy because he was trying to keep Roy out of trouble.

Shado is back to warn Oliver that he can't fight what's coming so he should stop fighting. Except it turns out she's not actually there, she's just a figment of his imagination. Maybe it's the rat poison that's making him see possibly prophetic images?

FLASHBACK

Ivo has found the Mirakuru, or "Miracle" serum, which is what he came to the island for. So it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume he'd get back on his ship and sail away. Except Ivo is a severely Twisted man, so instead he marches them out, and makes Oliver choose between Sarah and Shado. Oliver begs him to reconsider but there's no reasoning with Ivo, at the last second Oliver jumps in front of Sarah, which Ivo takes as his decision, and the bastard shoots Shado in the head. Characters do have a way of coming back on this show but we have a feelings the only time Shado is coming back is in Oliver's hallucinations.

END FLASHBACK

Diggle's investigation into the man did not exactly go swimmingly-the man basically picked him up and shook him around like he was a rag doll, so on to plan B: Oliver calls in his (or rather the Arrow's) ally-Officer Lance-up to a rooftop to talk business. He warns him that this man is dangerous and he shouldn't hesitate to kill him.

Laurel is back! Sin and Thea are at the station to ask if Laurel will look into Sin's friend Max that went missing. They don't believe he actually died from an overdose considering he was giving blood at the time. Laurel looks into it and finds that it's true that Max was a donor and that all the blood donors were subjected to a Psych evaluation. Unfortunately, that means there's no way to find out if Max was using or not without a warrant.

In the Arrow cave, Barry is calling Felicity on her BS; she told him she didn't have a ginormous crush on Oliver but he says he would totally understand the "why" if she did. He's a billionaire, a hero and oh so dreamy, Barry gushes. Okay we made up that last one. But he might as well have said it. Felicity thinks so too when she throws back, "It sounds like you want to date him." Well, we would certainly not be opposed to that. But Barry's not actually in love with Oliver, he just understands what it's like to like someone who doesn't return your feelings.

Oliver kicks Felicity and Barry out of the Arrow cave because he feels like he's losing his mind and needs to indulge in some alone time, which for him means target practice. But his hallucinations are back with a vengeance, this time in the form of Slade. Fake Slade goads Oliver, taunting him with the knowledge that this whole vigilante crusade is only a way for Oliver to make up for his own his sins. Oliver's hallucinations are just a tad more aggressive than normal, not to mention emotionally cruel. His hallucinations want him dead, they want him to give up. This one even battles him in hand-to-hand combat in an attempt to end his life. But if these are just hallucinations then they are just spewing thoughts that are running inside Oliver's head. He's the one that thinks he's not good enough, who thinks he'd be better off dead.

Laurel is on a secret date with Sebastian Blood who has a secret of his own. Sebastian is actually the evil mastermind behind the mass-production of the super human serum. Why did Laurel have to get involved with him? Why can't Laurel ever know anything about what's actually going on around her? It's like she exists only to be lied to. Anyway, Laurel is called away because her father has been rushed to the ICU thanks to Mr. Super human (and by extension her boyfriend). Mr. Lance, at Oliver's request, had lead a team to confront Cyrus Gold, the super human. The arrest attempt did not go well and ended with Officer Lance's partner dead and him in the hospital.

Roy breaks into the hospital to steal Max's file, which reads "Mirakuru" but as he tries to escape, he's taken prisoner in super human headquarters, tied to a chair, and injected with the serum. Enter: the Arrow, who arrives alone but is quickly plagued by more hallucinations, which have followed him even to this place. This time Oliver hallucinates Tommy, who turns out to be a much nice hallucination than Slade or even Shado. He calls Oliver a hero and tells him to get up and fight. And it seems Tommy's acceptance was the only drug Oliver needed as he finally puts in a good fight, killing Gold and then saving Roy through what appears to be sheer force of will but was maybe also the chest compressions.

Sebastian Blood, who has announced his campaign to run for mayor, is not actually at the top of the ladder. He has been taking orders from none other than....Slade! Who is back from the dead and has a master plan to kill everything Oliver loves. Dun dun dun. It was an awesome reveal but I'm not sure we totally buy his motivations. Revenge for Shado's death? The unrequited feelings Slade had for Shado seemed kind of tacked on and not all that deep. Then again, island time is weird and who knows how long the two of them were alone together. Considering the circumstances maybe it was enough time for Slade's love for her to grow so strong that he would seek absurd levels of Revenge for her death (even though Ivo is the one who killed her).

The Arrow has finally graduated to a true superhero with his mask (green of course, to match the rest of his outfit), thanks to Barry! Speaking of Barry, he is back in Central City and after plucking up the courage to ask Felicity out, he sits down to watch the particle accelerator get turned on because he's a giant science nerd and we love it (and Felicity would probably love it too if she ever stopped pining for Oliver). He was too late to make it to see the accelerator turned on in person, which turns out to be a blessing in disguise since the particle accelerator blows up because of the raging storm. But Barry doesn't escape completely unscathed; as he looks up at the ceiling, he is struck down by some lighting that sends him flying across the room. We're left with Barry passed out on the floor, his body surging with power. And hello, Flash pilot!

Will Diggle ever have his own storyline again? Will Felicity's heart eyes over Oliver ever turn into something more? Is everyone liking Grant Gustin's geeky Barry Allen as much as we are? ARROWis back with all new episodes Jan. 15th at 8/7c on the CW.

Photo Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW

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