The Geekcap: Arrow "Beacon of Hope"

At Iron Heights prison, Brie Larvan AKA the Bug-Eyed Bandit hacks into the prison system to change her release date. When a guard tries to spot what she’s doing, she quickly switches to research on bees, stating that she likes bees. Meanwhile, the rest of Team Arrow train hard with Oliver beating Thea, Laurel, and Diggle to an exhausted pile. Oliver insists they train again, but everyone is exhausted and Thea’s running out of excuses for her bruises at work. Laurel states that this training is excessive since the streets are clear after Dahrk’s takedown, but Oliver says they must prepare for whatever HIVE has planned next. Thea then informs the group that Alex has been offered a job on Ruve Adams’ campaign since Oliver refuses to go back into politics after dropping out in the first place. Laurel awkwardly hints that Palmer Tech is looking for a new head of public relations without personally saying Felicity’s name. Oliver reminds them that she’s not Voldemort, and they can talk about Felicity without worrying about his feelings. Diggle and Thea, however, are more surprised that he’s heard of Harry Potter.

Oliver surrenders himself to Reiter, but Taiana quickly shows up with their weapons to challenge him. Reiter demands for the idol, but Taiana responds by shooting him repeatedly. Unfortunately, none of her shots seem to faze the man who is more determined to see the idol returned to him.

Felicity and Curtis analyze the biochip that they have implanted in Felicity’s spine. Felicity is disappointed in the expensive cost to recreate the technology, preventing them from properly marketing the product to other victims of spinal injuries. Curtis attempts to help the situation, but his current cold keeps interrupting him. Felicity tries to send him home while she deals with the next board meeting for the microchip, but both are interrupted by an impromptu visit by Donna Smoak. Curtis is pleasantly charmed by Donna who came to visit her daughter following the breakup with Oliver, but eventually leaves to nurse his illness. However, the two are later interrupted by Thea who came to ask Thea about Alex’s possible position.

Malcolm visits Damian Dahrk in prison where the man is handcuffed to a table. While he’s curious as to how and why Malcolm Merlyn came to visit him, Dahrk is more curious as to where his followers and resources have gone. Malcolm reminds him that this is what happens when he’s more known for choking and killing people on a whim. His friends at HIVE are glad that he is now locked up in a prison.

Oliver continues to train on his own before he’s stopped by Laurel. From her personal experiences, Laurel understands that he loves people intensely and, despite their history, helps him work through a loss of a love. She then reassures him that she will be there for him.

The board for Palmer Tech waits for Felicity. Suddenly, a board member convulses and falls to the ground dead with hundreds of bees flying out of his wounds. Brie Larvan then appears to the surprise of the board with an army of thousands of bees. Using her own technology, she holds the board and the building hostage for the microchip in the possession of Felicity Smoak allowing her to walk. Unfortunately, this also includes Thea, Donna, and Felicity herself. While Felicity recognizes Larvan from their fight in Central City, she believes that Larvan does not recognize her and merely wants the biochip in the base of her spine. Still, Thea and Felicity are unable to get a signal out of the building thanks to the bees.

Larvan: “You’ll have to excuse my little friends. Their…bee-havior can be appalling sometimes.”

Curtis spots the bees surrounding the building on the news and, despite Paul’s insistence, searches for a way to help Felicity escape. Team Arrow also witness this attack on Palmer Tech on the building when Lance comes to inform them on the details. He informs them on Donna’s presence in the building since he dropped her off and warns the team that not even the police’s Kevlar could protect themselves from the swarm. The team still traces the bee problem back to Brie Larvan using mechanical bees but are unable to come up with a solution on how to stop them.

Time begins running out for the hostages where the women try to find a way out the office. Felicity, fortunately, comes up with a way through the air vents since the bees tracked them down the halls. Using a phone that the team gave him to look for Ray Palmer, Curtis finds the bunker just as the team is prepared to rescue the hostages. From the excitement of discovering the identities behind the Green Arrow and his team, Curtis faints.

Dahrk continues his life in prison when a group of prisoners, including Murmur, gang up on the famous criminal. To prove who’s really in charge, the men beat Dahrk until the guards call them off.

Felicity, Thea, and Donna sneak through a back room while trying to come up with another plan. Since Felicity is away from a computer, she is unable to hack into the bees like last time. Suddenly, the group hears the buzzing of bees, and they sprint down hallways to find a safe spot.

The team wake Curtis up, only to find him still excited to meeting the team and exploring the bunker. Oliver tries to keep Curtis focused in finding out why he’s here. Curtis explains that he wanted to help Felicity and explores her computers to catch up to speed. He then offers himself to hack into the bees and help the team rescue the hostages. Although Oliver is less enthusiastic about having Curtis here, the team needs his knowledge with the absence of Felicity.

Reiter says that he has gained power since killing the men and continues to grow strong off the dead’s life forces. He plans to continue this system through the use of the idol and orders Oliver to hand it to him. When Oliver refuses, Reiter utilizes magic to throw Taiana against the cave wall.

Felicity, Thea, and Donna hide in a utility closet while Curtis attempts to hack the bees after a false start in shutting down the power. He then successfully hacks into a bee and communicates with Felicity that snuck through the closet door. He also informs them that the team is on their way and will meet them at the west exit with the rest of the bees deactivated. When they’re about to meet up, however, Brie Larvan takes control back and forms the bees into a man-sized warrior and stings Oliver.

The team rush Oliver back to the lair while the women remain trapped at Palmer Tech. Oliver begins convulsing as the bees begin to multiple inside him. The women return to the utility closet and begin boarding up the door. Donna starts panicking as Larvan was able to take out the Green Arrow, but Felicity states that they need to trust that he’s okay. Larvan then returns to the screen to inform her that Felicity has only five minutes before she starts taking out board members, making a casual threat to Oliver in the meantime. Thea states to Felicity she cannot turn herself in, but Felicity deduces that if Larvan is in her office, the board members are out of her sight, leaving them open for rescue. Donna interrupts trying to find out what has happened between Felicity and Oliver, but Felicity refuses to talk about it.

Donna: “From now on, I’m wearing flats. These assaults are weekly, it’s ridiculous.”

Curtis tries to devise a way to shut down the bees inside Oliver despite his own sense of panic. He believes that if they could generate a sonic-signal they could damage the frequency of the bees, a technology that is used in Laurel’s Canary Cry. She lets out a powerful scream which disrupts the bees and saves Oliver’s life.

Oliver fights Reiter, but Reiter easily takes him down thanks to his new power. Reiter exclaims that this power is just from one man. With more, he will soon become a god. When he tries to kill Oliver, however, his power begins to wane, giving Oliver the opportunity to fight back.

Thea sneaks supplies from Curtis’ office while Felicity unlocks a secret elevator. Felicity plans to rescue the board members by sneaking them through the old lair. They make through the elevator just before they are caught by the bees. They take the elevator up to the board room, but since the elevator technically doesn’t exist, they stop at a concrete wall. Felicity then uses Curtis’ old T-spheres to cause an explosion into the conference room. The women shove the board members into the elevator before being confronted by Brie Larvan herself. Felicity shoves her mother into the elevator before it closes, leaving her and Thea to confront Larvan on their own.

At gunpoint, Larvan forces Felicity and Thea back into Felicity’s office. Larvan admits her love of bees which Thea and Felicity ridicule before Larvan convulses in pain. She then reveals that there is a tumor wrapped around her spinal cord and, without the biochip, would end up paralyzed. Thea states that having a sob story doesn’t give an excuse for killing people, but once Larvan turns the gun on Thea, Felicity offers the biochip blueprints.

Curtis examines the remaining mechanical bee in the bunker. Since Larvan has discovered Curtis’ hacking, she will undoubtedly be prepared for the next time. Fortunately, Curtis says, they defeated a horde of mechanical bees and the board members are safe. Oliver, however, berates Curtis since Felicity and Thea are still in danger with the city in peril. In a private conversation, Laurel says that Oliver cannot take his anger out on Curtis. Oliver reveals that he simple wants Curtis to see that this life is not good, that he would walk away from it if he could and only returned for Felicity. Laurel reminds Oliver that he only lost Felicity because of his own choices, not because of the Green Arrow, and that life will not be fair. Still, they have saved the city every night and remain a beacon of hope to people because of that.

Dahrk sits in his prison cell where the same prisoners come to finish their goal. Before they can make their move, Murmur then slashes his own partner on Dahrk’s orders. According to Dahrk’s account, the former HIVE leader had threatened Murmur with the death of his grandmother in order to gain some compliance. Now Dahrk retains control of the prison.

Felicity begins to hack back into the system to assure the board members’ safety, all the while bemoaning putting more people in danger. Thea remarks that the team has to push back worrying about things and people to be a beacon of hope for the people since no one else will. Felicity still refuses to rejoin the team since observing the danger from a different perspective, especially since they are now in a Die Hard movie with bees.

Oliver attempts to apologize to Curtis, but Curtis has discovered a virus to upload into the bee system. If Oliver can fire an arrow virus into one of Brie Larvan’s minions, he can probably shut down all of the bees. Oliver congratulates Curtis, but Curtis says not to say anything until it works. Felicity makes her way onto the Internet to see that the rest have gotten to safety when Larvan reenters her office. While she has received the blueprints, she states that she recognizes the coding behind the system as the same one that sent her to prison and now plans to take revenge on Felicity.

Team Arrow returns to Palmer Tech to fight Larvan with Diggle and Laurel blasting the bees surrounding the building while Oliver works his way to Felicity. Felicity’s nearly cornered by another swarm, but Oliver comes in the nick of time. Back at the bunker, Curtis attempts to hack into the new firewall system. Oliver fires the virus arrow but has to wait until Curtis can successfully attack the system. The bee minion knocks Thea aside while Oliver fights back. Curtis nearly controls the bees until the one in the bunker returns to life and attacks Curtis and Lance. Finally, Felicity uses a lamp to attack and short out the bee minion. Lance squashes the bee in the bunker, and Curtis regains control just as Larvan is about to shoot Oliver.

Once the fight is over, the team returns to the bunker where Oliver actually thanks Curtis for a job well done. Laurel remarks on Oliver’s change in tone when he responds that he simply wants to be the beacon of hope that Laurel described. Laurel informs the team that Larvan has suffered from the bee toxin and is now in a coma, preventing her from endangering anyone else. Cutis returns home with Oliver stating that he is welcomed back any time.

Oliver moves to Taiana who remains alive but spots that Reiter has escaped. Oliver says that this is the time to save her friends from Reiter’s prison. When Taiana argues that they would have to face Reiter’s men in order to save her friends, Oliver replies that they will kill them.

Curtis makes his way back home to Paul who’s anxious to know where Curtis has been all day. Curtis informs him that he was chasing a crazy dream of helping the police in a crazy and scary adventure. He states that he believes that his place is with Paul, and he will never go off on crazy adventures again. Back at Felicity’s office, Felicity and Thea clean up the area where Thea asks Felicity if she truly misses the adventure. Felicity admits that she misses helping people and being the beacon of hope that the team provides, yet she refuses to rejoin the team. Instead, she plans to revitalize Palmer Tech to provide the same life-saving technology that saved her to the masses.  

Finally, Malcolm meets up with a new agent who connects him to HIVE: Andy Diggle.

Arrow Notes

• Lots of movie references in this one episode including but not limited to Aliens, Die Hard, Star Trek, Panic Room, My Girl, and Independence Day.
• We see the return of Michael Amar AKA Murmur in the release of Damian Dahrk, but what exactly is Monument Point?
• Curtis may be out of the hero business for now, but do you think he can return for his Terrific destiny?
• Feel free to visit christopherreeve.org to learn more about how to help real-life fights against paralysis for the world today.