Aww, woe as Thea!! Arrow S1 Ep. 12 Recap!!

*SPOILERS AHEAD!!*

During the five year span that her brother and father went missing, Thea has taken a path down a dark road. She lived the life of a typical out of control teen—partying all hours of the night, drinking and experimenting with drugs. This path has also taken to door of the Starling City police. Luckily, her records were “lost” courtesy of Queen Corp. lawyers. Sadly, such luck doesn’t last long. Her past caught up with her last week and threaten to bury her last night. The judge is quick to make an example of Thea following her charges of drug related DUI. Her attorney tries for a plea bargain but the judge quickly refuses. Moira is more than upset at her daughter’s actions. Their relationship was on the rocks before but this latest incident just may tear them even further apart. Oliver is once again caught in the middle the mother-daughter bout and must take on the roles of “peacemaker” and “problem solver”. The judge is set to take the matter to trial where, if convicted, Thea will be sent to prison. The strain between her and her mother is so great that this doesn’t seem to affect her. She merely sees this as a chance to ruin her mother’s life, feeling that the same was done to her via Moira’s infidelity. Oliver disagrees with Thea’s rash decision to allow herself to be sent to prison. He tells his sister that it was their father who cheated on Moira, not the other way. Thea immediately denounces this, believing her father could never cheat as she still has high praise for him.

Finding no easy solution to the situation, Oliver seeks help from an unlikely source—Det. Lance. With a request from Oliver, Laurel asks her father to help out with Thea. However, Det. Lance still holds resentment against Oliver whom he blames for the death of his eldest daughter Sarah. Laurel reminds her father that her sister had record and has done things the same as Thea. Lance knows this to be true yet he doesn’t want to acknowledge it, stating that Sarah would be alive if she had gone to jail instead of going on Oliver’s boat. A final plea from Laurel makes Det. Lance reconsider refusing her request.

While dealing with his sister’s predicament, Oliver must also deal with the person responsible for putting the drug Vertigo in Thea’s hands. As Arrow, he hunts for clues that eventually lead him to a man called the Count. Oliver arranges to meet with the Count using nefarious channels—namely the Russian Mafia. Before this can happen, Oliver is put to the test to see just how far he’ll go to help his sister. He has to kill a man who apparently owes the Russians money. Oliver seemingly does so only to afterward reveal to Diggle alone, who came with him, that he had simply incapacitated the man. After proving his worth (by tricking the Russians), the meeting is set where Oliver pretends to be a buyer. The deal is nearly closed when the police arrive with Det. Lance present. The Count uses the distraction to escape but not before injecting Oliver with Vertigo.

Now if tensions between Det. Lance and the Queen family weren’t high enough, then this will surely put it into orbit. Lance shows up later at the Queen household to tell Oliver that he saw him with the Count, which Oliver denies until McKenna Hall, an old friend of Oliver who now works as a vice detective, confirms it. Hiding his true intensions, Oliver tells everyone that he was trying to ID the Count with the intent of providing the information to Lance, who now thinks even less of Oliver than before. Moira disapproves of her son’s actions. She tells Thea about the importance of preserving her father’s memory which seems to have an effect on her. Later, Thea shows up at Laurel’s office accepting the offer of community service working as an intern.

Of course, the Lances weren’t the only people whom were sought out to help Oliver. Felicity has become very useful in helping him with his nightly cases as Arrow while keeping her under the impression that she is doing extra work for her employer. Eventually, she may catch on to what’s really going on. She is asked to analyze a sample of Vertigo and later she sends her findings to Diggle. With Felicity’s help, Oliver is able to stop the Count from distributing Vertigo into the water system. Her worth (and importance) is proved later when she meets with Oliver to hand him a book similar to his father’s except this one belongs to Moira which was found by her current husband Walter prior to his disappearance.

With this revelation, will Oliver discover that he is not the only one with a secret second life? It would be interesting to see how this will affect not only him but the seemingly good relationship between them. Plus, I have a feeling that Felicity will become curious enough to begin her own investigation into what it is Oliver is really doing.