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The What Ifs – Recapping Arrow 3.11: 'Midnight City'

By Rich Epstein

What if Oliver (Stephen Amell) had never left Starling City to fight Ra's al Ghul? What if he had professed his love for Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) instead? Midnight City begins with a dream sequence that seems like we may get our answer. Felicity asks Oliver not to go, just like in real life, only this time he agrees. As he is professing his love for her, she screams, and steps back as blood begins to flow from Oliver's mouth and we see a sword through his midsection. So much for the happy what if.

Oliver awakens to find Maseo (Karl Yune) working out in the yard. An awkward conversation with Tatsu (Rila Fukushima) is interrupted when Maseo enters cabin. Maseo still does not like Oliver very much, and is not in regular contact with Maseo. Oliver is worried that Ra's will kill Maseo when he finds out, but Maseo tells Oliver that he should be worrying about what Starling City has become without the Arrow. Huh? How long has Oliver been gone? As of last episode, it was three days. What are we, up to a week now? Two? First, nobody knows that he's gone. Second, that seems like a really short time for Brick to (1) come up with a plan, (2) organize all of his people, and (3) execute it to the point where news of Starling City is already reaching Maseo. Luckily, the action moves fast so there isn't too much time to dwell on those troubling plot issues.

Our first shot of Starling City is a woman being chased down an alley by a man with a gun. Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) appears in her Black Canary garb, and tells the woman to run while she begins spinning her staff. She is able to knock the man's gun aside, but she's no match for him in a fight and quickly finds herself in a bad way. Luckily for her, Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) happened to be nearby. He quickly immobilizes the assailant, before telling Laurel that they need to talk.

At the Arrowcave, Roy patches up Laurel and begins to tell her that she is going to get herself killed, when John Diggle (David Ramsey) walks in and begins to berate her. Laurel doesn't listen, and takes back her mask on the way out.

Meanwhile, Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) shows up at the office to find Felicity sitting at her desk. Felicity mentions that Ray is early, and he tells her that his meeting was moved up so that he could help the city with the crime problem. He again asks for her help with the suit, and she refuses and gets ready to leave for the meeting. What kind of hours does Felicity work? He is in three hours early and she is already waiting for him? And what does she actually do?

Thea Queen (Willa Holland) arrives at verdant to find her dj, Chase (Austin Butler), packing up his gear. With Brick running the city, he doesn't want to leave his gear anywhere it can get stolen. Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) shows up and berates Thea for not being ready to leave the city. She refuses, demanding that he tell her the truth, which he won't do. Roy gets there just in time to see Merlyn drive away.

Laurel and her father, Captain Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) are at a meeting to determine what to do about Brick. Ray and Felicity walk in, and Ray offers a donation to the police. Just then, the meeting is interrupted by gunfire as Brick and a lot of armed men barge in. Brick takes the mayor and aldermen, and orders his men to kill everyone else. Ray tries to fight one off but gets his butt kicked when Quentin saves him and incapacitates the guy. Laurel takes on the other one, and is on the losing end again when she pulls a weapon from her shoe and stabs the guy's hand to the wall. They get the mayor back, but not the aldermen. By the way, we learn during this scene that Brick has been around for a week. In one week, he has completely unravelled the city. The same city that faced an army of super soldiers the year before.

Oliver tells Tatsu that they can't let Maseo return to the League of Assassins. She tells Oliver that Maseo still blames himself for what happened in Hong Kong, which leads into our first flashback of the episode. Oliver's tracker leads him and Maseo to a club in Hong Kong. They are quickly made, disarmed and taken back to China White. She asks him for the item, and he says he wants to see his wife first, at which point Tatsu is escorted in by two guards. Wow, I wasn't expecting that. It makes sense…Maseo was only training Oliver because Waller was threatening his family, why wouldn't he betray Waller (and Oliver) to save Tatsu?

Back in present day, Quentin asks Felicity why the Arrow didn't show up; she tells him the Arrow is gone. Some police officer, complaining that a vigilante didn't save him from the bad guys. Quentin tells Felicity that Sara is back, and she looks directly at Laurel. Obviously she knows who is behind the mask now.

Felicity tends to Ray's wounds, and he tells her that the A.T.O.M. project is no longer about avenging his finance, it has become about protecting the people he cares about, namely Felicity.

Laurel gets Brick's location from the man they caught. She insists on going and Diggle stays behind to monitor them and help from the Arrowcave. Roy imobilizes the van that Brick is using and Laurel goes to free the aldermen from the back. Brick catches Laurel, but refuses to hit a girl. Instead he gets in the back of the van as it drives away. Roy manages to shoot him with an arrow, so Brick kills an alderman in return. Sucks to be Roy right about now. And Laurel. But I'll get to that later.

Brick calls the mayor, who is watching cell phone footage of the fight between Brick and Roy/Laurel, with Quentin, Laurel, Ray Palmer and some other people. Why is Palmer there? I mean, Quentin is a cop, Laurel is a district attorney, but Ray is a private business man. He just hangs out with the mayor during a crisis? Anyway, Brick demands that the mayor meet him in person in an hour or he will kill another alderman.

Malcolm apologizes to Thea, and tells her that he is running from Ra's al Ghul. He says that he joined up with al Ghul after the death of his wife, and left because of the undertaking that killed his son.

Felicity talks to Laurel, who is dealing with the death of the alderman, and her role in it. Laurel says she won't be putting on the mask again, she isn't strong enough to put on the mask for Sara. Felicity tells Laurel that they can't fight for the people who are gone, they have to fight for those that are still living. It looks like Felicity will be back at the Arrowcave soon enough.

The mayor meets with Brick (with Palmer in tow for some reason) with a lot of police backup. He demands that the police evacuate the Glades in exchange for the two remaining aldermen. They let Brick go. Yeah, the hostages will probably die if they take him in. So? They have no plan for getting the hostages back, Brick has already killed a lot of people. The alderman, the people at the meeting when he abducted them, etc. At this point, don't you have to take him down and take your chances on getting the aldermen back? Hope Brick's people will return them in exchange for a deal once Brick is gone? Or are you going to let a lot more people die when Brick knows he can get whatever he wants just by taking hostages? And how does Quentin Lance still have a job? If his police are so friggin impotent against Brick, maybe someone else should be in charge.

In the cabin, Oliver begs Maseo not to leave. Tatsu tells him that she loves him, and before he can decide whether to stay, the League shows up. Maseo and Tatsu take out the three assassins and we get another flashback. China White tests the serum that Maseo gives her and learns it's a fake. Olive, Maseo and Tatsu fight their way out. So, quick question, where is Maseo's son? I mean in the present day. I'm guessing that's why Maseo is courting death, and why he and Tatsu are not together. I kind of don't want to see the next flashback.

Roy is blaming himself for the death of the Alderman, when Diggle pours a drink for each of them and tells Roy not to blame himself. Roy tells Diggle that Felicity was right, they can't do it without Oliver. Felicity and Laurel walk in, and Felicity tells them that she was wrong. It's no longer just Oliver's mission, it's all of theirs, and it is their city under attack. Laurel says that the mayor is going to cave and cede control of the Glades to Brick.

Laurel calls her dad, and Felicity uses a program to make it sound like Sara. Um, doesn't the guy deserve to know what happened to his daughter at some point? It's been months. His heart will take it. People with heart conditions get bad news. It happens. Anyway, Laurel gets enough info so that they can track down Brick. Felicity goes to see Ray and asks for his helicopter so that Diggle can fly himself, Roy and Laurel to the warehouse where Brick is. Yeah. All of the sudden they need a helicopter to get there in time.

Laurel and Ray fight their way to the hostages, with Laurel saving Ray along the way. Brick comes out and traps Laurel. She manages to fight him off long enough to jump out the window onto the ladder of the helicopter. I guess that's why they needed a helicopter this time.

Maseo is still insisting on going back to Ra's. He cuts his own neck and plans to tell Ra's that Oliver did it during the escape. Oliver tells Maseo he can come back to Starling City instead, but he leaves. He insists on going back to Ra's, telling him that Oliver escaped, and Oliver is going to go right back to Starling City. And what is going to stop Ra's from going to Starling City to finish the job? Did Maseo save Oliver just to get him killed again?

Flashback, and luckily the boy is still alive. Phew. Oliver is pissed that Maseo didn't tell him about the fake vial, only Maseo didn't know it was a fake. He meant to betray Oliver and Waller in order to save his family, but Waller probably knew that and switched the vials before Maseo could steal it.

Laurel, dressed as the Canary, goes to see her father. He tells her she did good, but that the mayor is still pulling the police out of the Glades. Brick has the home address of every city councilman and threatened to go after their families. Huh? They can move. They can stay at hotels. Call the National Guard to protect them. I really hope the mayor is on the take, because otherwise she is the worst mayor in the history of television. Including the one that turned into a demon and tried to eat the graduating class on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Thea wants to know why they are running from Ra's instead of staying and fighting. He taught her how to stand her ground and not be afraid, and they shouldn't run from anyone.

Felicity returns the keys to the helicopter, and the working chip for the A.T.O.M. suit.

Chase shows up at Verdant, and finds out that Thea isn't leaving. He calls Maseo, and in a foreign language, informs him that Merlyn isn't leaving town. Maseo promises to tell Ra's al Ghul. Another good surprise at the end. Obviously something was up with Chase, but it didn't even occur to me that he would be League of Assassins. I guess they finally figured out who Merlyn's daughter is.

What is it about Laurel Lance? I mean, I know why I hate her character. Everyone hates her. She is stubborn, stupid, and generally useless. What I don't understand is why she is so poorly written. Do the writers hate Katie Cassidy for some reason? I loved Caity Lotz, and I was really upset when Sara Lance was killed off the show. But at the same time, I was looking forward to Laurel becoming the Canary. She has been such a useless character for so long that I was hoping she would become a strong, contributing character on the show. And I appreciate that she isn't fully trained and kicking ass after just a few months, that would be pretty ridiculous. But why does she have to be so stupid about being untrained?

Think about it, Diggle is a former army officer, special ops, with years and years of training. Roy Harper has been fighting criminals for about a year and a half. Laurel for roughly two days. And yet, when they go out to face Brick and try to rescue the aldermen, it's Laurel and Roy who go, with Diggle back at the Arrowcave. Because Laurel insists on going. This makes no sense. And worse, Laurel makes the characters around her dumber. Roy and Diggle go along with her. For no reason other than because they are all being stupid. Her stubborness combined with her stupidity brings down the characters around her. Here's an idea, agree to train her.Tell her to stay back and watch them and they will start training her. But in the meantime, let the most experienced person you have go on the mission. If Diggle was there, he could have held off Brick long enough to get the aldermen free. That alderman is dead directly because of Laurel. Because she insisted on doing something she wasn't capable of doing. Not because there was nobody else who could do it, there was.

No, that alderman is dead because Laurel is as stubborn as a three year old. And everyone else went along with it, which was probably the dumbest thing since Oliver let Merlyn go. After two and a half years of watching this show, I can't think of a single thing that Laurel has contributed. Which is a big problem when she is a major character on the show. She is constantly doing stupid things to put herself, and others, in harm. Either that or whining about how miserable she is. Either way, she is nothing but an annoyance. I cannot think of another character I have hated this much on a show that a genuinely enjoy.

Okay, Laurel rant over. The episode itself was so-so. The Oliver-Maseo-Tatsu stuff was interesting with some good surprise moments, but the Starling City plotline just didn't make a whole lot of sense. From Ray suddenly being everywhere with the mayor and police to the mayor agreeing to hand over the city based on a threat to Laurel (no more Laurel rant, I promise) to Brick somehow taking over the city in a week, everything seemed slapped together.

This episode was clearly just a placeholder until Oliver comes back. It was setting up what Starling City needs to be like next week, but it didn't flow very well. Which is a shame since the show had been on a roll lately. I just think that they should have started with Brick's plan a few weeks earlier. Show him setting things up. Let Oliver catch a couple of guys that allude to Brick, with Oliver being distracted by Ra's al Ghul before he can catch Brick. Then Brick would feel like a real villain, and there would be a real reason that he was able to take over the moment that Oliver was gone. Instead, we get this major coincidence that Brick chooses the week Oliver is gone to take over the city. And he does it in a week.

It looks like Oliver is coming back to Starling City next week, which is good. I was okay with him being gone last week when Diggle was carrying the load, but good god I don't want another week of Laurel as the focus. I am already dreading her and Oliver fighting next week. Hopefully, the rest of the episode will make up for it.

Rich Epstein writes for Bleeding Cool.  He can be found on twitter at @kaspe_r11. 

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