Vixen Arrives in Our Recap of Arrow Episode 4.15!

Since last week’s episode, Felicity has had Curtis’ chip implanted in her spine and we find her at physical therapy. She tries to make her first step but doesn’t really make it. He therapist, Curtis’ husband, tells her to be patient with her healing. Afterward, Oliver and Felicity walk through the parking deck where she expresses disappointment, as she wanted to walk down the aisle on their wedding day. As if on cue, Damien Darhk appears and goes over all the ways he’s unsucessfully tried to end Oliver; he thinks this one will work though. He shows Oliver a video on his phone of his son, William, and tells him to drop out of the Mayoral race on Friday night if he wants to save him. When Felicity asks who William is, Oliver finally tells her. On the island, Reiter brings Oliver and Taiana out of their cell to see his work come to fruition.

Ollie tries to explain himself to Felicity, but she tells him it doesn’t bother her that he has a kid, what bothers her is that he wouldn’t tell her. Team Arrow assembles and Oliver is forced to fill in the ones that don’t know. Thea cops to already knowing and it comes to light that Barry Allen and Malcolm Merlyn know as well. Felicity is really happy to hear this. William’s mother, Samantha, arrives and Oliver goes to speak to her. She’s naturally worried sick and Oliver promises to get him back. When she questions how he’ll do this, he tells her he’s the Green Arrow. He takes her downstairs to see the Arrow Cave and meet the team and Laurel asks if John Constantine can help them. Unfortunately, Oliver tells us he’s in hell. There’s someone else though, Mari McCabe, the animal-powered Vixen in Detroit.

Oliver recruits Vixen to come with him and brings her back to the cave, making a cheeky-meta reference to her animated series that she debuted in. She explains her powers, that her totem allows her to channel the spirits of any animal, and uses it to find William’s scent (by sniffing his Flash action figure, no less). Back on the island, energy moves out of the hole Reiter has had carved in the building, the lights flicker and then the previously-thought dead Conklin stands in front of them speaking in a dead language. Thea returns to her apartment and naturally finds Malcolm Merlyn waiting for her. She questions him about William but he won’t admit to anything. As Vixen flies around searching for William, John and Oliver have a heart to heart and he tells him not to let this eat at him, but to be a father he has to be there for his son. Samantha and Felicity work on a profile of William and she admits to Felicity that Oliver told her about their relationship and she was the one that forbade him from telling her. Meanwhile, Laurel has a weird come apart about knowing Oliver fathered a kid when they were together. Oliver reaches out and says they’ve found William.

Team Arrow busts into the building and finds Darhk but no William. He had him moved just before they broke in, and he keeps Oliver and Vixen at bay with his powers, Darhk even recognizes Vixen’s powerful totem. Darhk makes his escape, but the worse news is that Vixen has lost William’s scent. Later, Darhk calls Oliver and moves up the time table – drop out of the race tonight and put your support behind Ruve Adams. Vixen comes up with an idea, she has a totem so Darhk must too. Captain Lance reveals he previously saw it and the two get to work on what it looks like. Back on the island, Zombie-Conklin continues to speak another language as bullets pass right through him. Reiter locks Oliver and Taiana in the room with him, but he looks at Oliver and calls him worthy, as the tattoo John Constantine gave him begins to glow. Back in Star City, Oliver calls his press conference, and drops out of the Mayoral race.

The next day, Alex packs up his stuff and asks for an explanation from Oliver. He apologizes, not for wasting his time but because he can’t give him an explanation. Felicity tells Oliver what Samantha confided in her and though she knows Oliver would have told her eventually, she wished he’d made a better effort. Meanwhile, Vixen has figured out that Darhk’s totem is a Khushu idol, powered by ley lines in the world. Essentially magic as wifi signals. Samantha snaps, unsure how this means they’ll find William, but Oliver promises they’ll make it work. Vixen pulls him aside and says maybe giving him up wouldn’t be the worst thing for him, after all, look how she turned out. Just let him have his childhood. The team locates Darhk’s compound, or at least where it likely is, and on cue he calls and tells Oliver to be at Nelson plaza in three hours to receive William. They’ve got other plans though.

The team begins their assault on the compound and Vixen flies in through the roof and attacks Darhk, snatching his totem. Oliver, Laurel and Thea fight off some goons only for Darhk to take all three of them on with his Force choke magic. William even runs out of the house and tells him to stop hurting them. As they cling to life, Vixen tries to smash the totem, eventually channeling a Gorilla and crushing it, leaving Darhk powerless. Finally having the upperhand, Oliver knocks out Darhk and shares eye contact with his son before leaving. At SCPD, William and Samantha are reunited, and she brought his Flash toy, but William has moved on, he wants a Green Arrow toy now. Captain Lance walks over with some news, Damien Darhk didn’t take William, it was a guy missing a hand, Malcolm Merlyn.

On the island Oliver enters the hole and an expansive cavern surrounds him. Oliver says his goodbyes to Vixen and she reminds him the best things her parents ever gave her was her freedom. Thea goes home and speaks to Merlyn, confronting him about taking William. He confesses to doing it, but he did it for their own well being, whatever that means. Thea wonders what Robert Queen would think of all this and wishes she’d never become his daughter. Malcolm gets testy and says if it hadn’t been for him, she’d have died ten times over by now. He turned her into a warrior and all he’s gotten in return is her spite. For a kitty with only one arm, he sure does have claws.

In the loft, Oliver records a video message for William for him to see on his 18th birthday. He tells him not only that he’s his father, but that he’s the Green Arrow, and that he wanted his mother to move them away and not tell anyone in order to protect him. Felicity enters and says the four most dangerous words any person can hear: “We need to talk.” She takes her ring off and puts it down. Marriage is about inclusion and Oliver has shown over the past 24 hours that he doesn’t include her in much at all. In her frustration her leg twitches, and she’s able to stand. She uses her newfound mobility to walk right out the door.

You can watch a preview for the next episode, titled “Broken Hearts” and airing on March 23, using the player below.