Arrow Episode Guide: “Three Ghosts” (Season 2, Episode 9)

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Original Airdate: 12/11/2013
Story by: Greg Berlanti & Andrew Kreisberg
Teleplay by: Ben Sokolowski & Geoff Johns
Directed by: John Behring

Starring: Stephen Amell (as Oliver Queen/Arrow), Katie Cassidy (as Laurel Lance), David Ramsey (as John Diggle), Willa Holland (as Thea Queen), Emily Bett Rickards (as Felicity Smoak), Colton Haynes (as Roy Harper), Manu Bennett (as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke), Susanna Thompson (as Moira Queen), Paul Blackthorne (as Quentin Lance)

Guest Stars: Grant Gustin (as Barry Allen), Kevin Alejandro (as Sebastian Blood), Celina Jade (as Shado), Caity Lotz (as Black Canary/Sara Lance), Roger Cross (as Detective Hilton), Bex Taylor-Klaus (as Sin), Jesse Hutch (as Officer Daily), Dylan Neal (as Dr. Anthony Ivo), Graham Shiels (as Cyrus Gold), Colin Donnell (as Tommy Merlyn)

Trivia:

– This episode marks the first appearance of Colin Donnell on Arrow since Tommy Merlyn’s death in the Season 1 finale.
– This episode also contains the first time that we see Slade Wilson in the present day.
– Solomon Grundy is a character from DC Comics.
– “Linda Park” is a character known from the Flash mythos as the eventual wife of Wally West.
– Barry Allen – and Grant Gustin, playing him – will be back in a Flash pilot that could hopefully lead into a series in 2014. David Nutter is directing the pilot.
– This episode marks the debut of Oliver’s mask.

Summary:

On the island, Ivo’s men take Oliver, Shado, and Sara into the forest and order Oliver to choose which of the women will die. After unsuccessfully pleading with the men, Oliver rushes to protect Sara. Shado is shot. Slade awakens, and when he finds the others, he knocks out Ivo’s men and grieves Shado’s death.

An unconscious Oliver hallucinates Shado asking him not to fight. When Oliver jolts awake from Barry’s injection of rat poison, he’s furious that Barry knows his identity. Barry offers more assistance, identifying the attacker by fingerprints, and asks a lot of questions, like why Oliver wears makeup, not a mask. After Diggle narrowly escapes death by Gold, Arrow brings Lance into the case and hallucinates Slade. Lance, Hilton, and Daily swarm Gold’s place, where Hilton is killed and Lance is sent into ICU. Arrow visits Lance and receives Gold’s key, which Felicity tracks to the Glades.

Thea, with Sin, hides a wounded Roy in her room, but allows Oliver to enter and call Diggle for medical aid. Thea and Sin ask Laurel for help uncovering the truth behind their friend’s murder, but the only thing Laurel uncovers is that the donors were subject to psych evals. As Roy sneaks through patient files, he finds his friend’s photo marked with “Mirakuru.” Roy is captured and injected with the serum. Oliver hallucinates Tommy telling him to fight, so he takes out Blood’s men and brings Roy back to life.

Blood announces his run for mayor, then Slade agrees to provide another sample of his blood, but Blood can’t go near the vigilante. Oliver warns his team that a war is coming. He opens a present from Barry to discover a green mask. Back in Central City, the particle accelerator malfunctions, causing a lightning bolt to strike Barry.

Quotes:

Thea: Mom actually likes Roy, but something tells me she’d revoke his tree-trimming invitation if she found out he was messing around with the Hood.

Felicity: You’re hallucinating? What are you seeing?
Oliver: A girl named Shado that was with me on the island.
Felicity: Shado. Sara. How many women were you marooned with? Sure this wasn’t Fantasy Island?

Barry: Why no mask? Not to tell you how to do your vigilante-ing, but the grease paint thing, it’s a poor identity concealer.
Oliver: So find me a mask that conforms perfectly to my face and doesn’t affect my ability to aim while I’m on the hunt.
Barry: You should look into a compressible micro fabric. It could be great.

Slade (to Oliver): You told everyone when you started this crusade that it was about making up for your father’s sins. That was a lie. This charade is to atone for your sins.

Tommy: Get up. Get up, Oliver. You’re not going to die down here.
Oliver: Tommy, I’m sorry. I let you die.
Tommy: You didn’t let me die, Ollie. You fought to save me because that’s what you do. What you have always done. You fight to survive. I know I called you a murderer, but you are not. You are a hero. You beat the island. You beat my father. So fight, Oliver. Get up and fight back.

Blood: You know who he is under that hood, don’t you?
Slade: I know exactly who he is. He is my friend. … Death would be a release from this life and his sentence has yet to be carried out. I am going to tear everything he cares about away from him. Destroy those who choose to follow him. Corrupt those he loves. Once he has lost everyone and everything he values, I will drive an arrow through his eye.

Episode Guide entry by Stephanie Hall

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