‘Arrow’ Season 4 Episode 4 Recap: Beyond Redemption

Arrow Paul Blackthorne Katie Cassidy
Paul Blackthorne and Katie Cassidy in ‘Arrow’ (Photo © 2015 The CW Network, LLC)

The fourth episode of The CW’s Arrow season four was one in which life-altering secrets were revealed. Oliver was filled with righteous indignation, Laurel attempted to reunite her family, and Felicity was confronted with an important decision that had to do with Ray in “Beyond Redemption” airing on October 28, 2015.

Arrow Season Four Episode Four Recap:

A drug deal’s going down when the SCPD special ops team burst in taking everyone out. The team’s surprised by the appearance of two other SCPD officers, killing them and grabbing the drugs and money before taking off.

Thea (Willa Holland) and Laurel (Katie Cassidy) are looking for a new secret lair and Thea’s not impressed with the building they’re checking out. Thea wants to know why they can’t tell Oliver (Stephen Amell) about Sara and Laurel says just a few more days and they can. Diggle (David Ramsey) shows up and he’s not sure why he’s there, except when he saw Oliver he had a big grin on his face. And then in walks Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and Oliver who make the surprise announcement the building’s going to be Oliver’s campaign office because he’s running for mayor. They’re are all speechless until Diggle says, “Oh, you’re serious…” Laurel wants to know about funding, staff, etc. and they all ask about his platform and everything else. Oliver thought they’d be supportive, but the gang just wants to be sure Oliver’s not in over his head.


Oliver and Felicity then show them to a secret elevator in the building and it’s the official new lair for Team Arrow – and it’s spectacular! Cisco and S.T.A.R. Labs helped put it together and it’s completely state-of-the-art. A message pops up on the new monitoring equipment and it’s news about the murder of the cops. Oliver takes off to meet with Lance.

Quintin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) isn’t particularly happy to see him, and Oliver breaks the news he’s running for mayor. Lance laughs, and Oliver asks for his support. “Yeah, sure. With what happened to the last few mayors, I’m hoping you win in a landslide,” says Lance. Lance hands over the evidence from the police shooting.

Flashback to the island, Oliver is telling the female kidnapped victim who’s supposed to be dead how to survive off the island hidden away.

At Palmer Tech, Curtis is trying to guess who the Green Arrow is but he’s not even close. Even if he was, Felicity wouldn’t tell him. Felicity’s still having weird codes sent to her phone and now she thinks Curtis is behind it and that he’s pranking her. Curtis figures out it’s coming from Ray’s old prototype OS. Curtis also says they could hear Ray’s last recorded message before he died, if they had the password. But Felicity isn’t interested in reopening that wound.

At the Team Arrow lair, Oliver gives Felicity the SIM card Lance gave him from the crime scene. Felicity says it’s from a walkie talkie and she figures out where it came from.

Diggle, Thea and Green Arrow head out to a huge warehouse and find a room full of military grade supplies. They also find SCPD uniforms.

Lance meets with Laurel in her basement and shows him Sara who’s chained up and still acting like a wild animal. Obviously, he’s surprised. And, not surprisingly, he wants to know how Sara was brought back. He says, “This isn’t my daughter,” but Laurel keeps saying it is and that they have to be patient. Sara finally talks and Laurel’s happy, that is until Sara tries to strangle her with her chains.

At Team Arrow’s lair, they’re all worried that the police force has been compromised and they don’t know who has turned to the dark side at this point. They do think Captain Lance is still a good guy. The corrupt cops are taking down big drug scores so Oliver wants to trick them by staging a score using Thea’s old drug dealer.

Thea goes to a nightclub to meet with her old drug dealer to buy 80 kilos. Diggle’s along posing as her bodyguard with a briefcase full of cash.

Oliver goes to Lance’s office and tells him about the corrupt cops. Oliver tells him about the armory and that it could be anyone. He also tells him about the drug deal they’re staging and to spread the word – subtly – of its location. Lance wants to be there when it goes down because he wants to personally bust them.

Back on the island, Oliver tells the leader of the bad guys that the woman went through a mine field but she’s dead now. Oliver also said Richards was killed by a land mine, and they’re suspicious. Oliver has to take one of the thugs to see the woman’s dead body.

Thea and Diggle wait on the street outside the club for the drugs and she says it reminds her of being back in high school. Felicity says there’s a SCPD strike vehicle closing in on their location and everyone’s ready, including Black Canary and Captain Lance who complains because he doesn’t have a cool codename. The vehicle pulls up and the shooting starts immediately. One SCPD member grabs Thea while Green Arrow, Diggle, and Black Canary try and get the upper-hand. It’s not working and the good guys are losing. Green Arrow does finally shoot one but it’s in her vest. The crooked cops pull away, but Lance gets a look at one of them. Lance says they were definitely cops.

Lance and Team Arrow return to the lair and Lance is floored by the new layout. Lance thinks everyone has better resources than the police, but Laurel says the dirty cops had equipment that wasn’t standard issue. Lance reveals those weapons were actually specialized anti-vigilante task force gear and that he actually reinstated them last year. There are 40 officers on the task force so they’ll check out those personnel first. Lance heads back to the precinct to dig up records.

The crooked cops check out their haul of 80 kilos and talk about Lance being at the setup and how he had to have pegged them as cops. They argue over whether to kill Lance but the leader tells them no and that they’re doing this for their families. She says he’s not a problem, he’s the solution.

Curtis has been frantically texting Felicity and she finally makes it back to Palmer Tech. Curtis wants to know Ray’s password and Felicity does not want to listen to a recording of her ex-boyfriend’s final moments. Curtis had no idea they were together as a couple, but he says he’d give anything to hear his dead brother’s voice one more time.

Lance meets with Damien Darhk (Neal McDonough) asking for help for his daughter, Sara. Darhk knows about the Lazarus Pit because he was once a member of the League of Assassins. Lance says his daughter’s return doesn’t feel like a miracle and Darhk advises him to put her down. “She may look like your daughter but she doesn’t possess her soul. The most loving act you can commit is to return Sara to her final rest,” says Darhk.

Oliver is shirtless, sweating, and working out. Felicity has found the identity of one of the task force members, Liza Warner (Rutina Wesley), and notes that she was handpicked by Lance. She’s a suspect because she deposited $250,000+ into offshore bank accounts recently. Felicity uses the squad car camera access Lance gave them to track every officer for the past 12 hours. Suddenly, Oliver sees video of Lance meeting with Darhk.

Oliver’s waiting for Lance at his apartment. “For years you’ve looked at me with such contempt, utter disdain, so I’m wondering do I have that same look on my face now?” asks Oliver. Lance pretends not to know what he’s talking about and Oliver says he knows about him and Damien Darhk. Just by Lance’s look, Oliver knows Lance knows what Darhk has done to the city. Oliver thought it was just tonight, but Lance says it’s been more than two months. Lance thought Damien wanted to help the city, and he needed help because Oliver was gone. Lance tells Oliver Darhk threatened Laurel, and Oliver says Laurel can take care of herself. “Stop hiding behind your daughters! They would be ashamed of what you’re doing right now!” yells Oliver, clearly holding himself back from physically harming Lance. Oliver wanted him to see the kind of man he was and that’s why he wanted to run for mayor. Lance asks what he’s going to do with the information and Oliver doesn’t know.

Back on the island Oliver takes one of the bad guys out to see the woman, and the guy recognizes that Oliver is a stone-cold killer even if he didn’t kill the woman. The guy’s not afraid because he’s exactly like Oliver.

Oliver’s in his mayor’s headquarters thinking about what he wants to do. Thea walks in and they recall their childhood, and Oliver doesn’t think the city they grew up in exists anymore. He doesn’t have to run for mayor.

Sara’s looking at photos of her family on the ground where Laurel left them. Lance walks in, pulls his gun, and apologizes as he takes aim. In walks Laurel and she tries to stop him. Lance is losing it, but he’s sure Sara is not his daughter. He drops the gun, breaks down, and then leaves. As he walks out of Laurel’s apartment, the crooked special ops team is there to greet him. They beat him and drag him away but not before Laurel comes out and attacks one and then gets tazed by another.

They take him to the SCPD contraband disposal facility where all the drugs are incinerated. They need him in order to get in the building.

Team Arrow assembles and Laurel says they have to find her father. Felicity determines his ID was used to get into the contraband facility and the team suits up and heads out.

At the warehouse Lance is tied up and Warner tells him by the time he’s rescued, they’ll be long gone. This is their last heist before leaving the city. Team Arrow arrives as they’re loading up, and Black Canary uses her Canary Cry to get one. Thea, Diggle and Green Arrow work on taking out the rest. Green Arrow shoots the restraints off of Lance. This time the good guys seem to be winning when Warner flings a knife at Oliver, hitting him in the side. She puts a wire around his neck but Lance tells her she’s not a criminal and won’t kill him. Lance says they’ve all been made to do desperate, terrible things. He delivers an inspirational speech about saving the city, and the speech works. She lets Oliver go and Lance arrests her.

Oliver is once again waiting at Lance’s place when he gets home. Oliver asks Lance if he believes what he said, and Lance does and will be turning himself in. Oliver says instead they need him to stay on the inside with Darhk.

Back on the island, they check on the woman, still in the cave where Oliver left her. She’s dead…or at least acting like she is. Oliver is told to get rid of the body. After the guy leaves Oliver revives the woman, telling her he learned that trick on the island. Unfortunately, as the guard is heading back to camp he finds Oliver’s bag with the computer.

There’s a bunch of people waiting to work on Oliver’s campaign already assembled when he walks into his new office. He thanks them for being there, pulling Thea aside to find out where they all came from. She says they’re interns and she told them all that Oliver Queen will save the city – that’s what got them to come and work for his campaign. She’s also written a speech announcing his candidacy which he’ll deliver this afternoon.

Oliver’s looking very distinguished as he meets the media to announce his candidacy for mayor. “After five years in hell, I returned home with only one goal. I wanted to save my city,” says Oliver.

As the episode closes out, Lance meets with Darhk, Felicity listens to Ray’s last message, and Laurel goes to feed Sara but she’s gone.

Arrow Season Four Interviews: Stephen Amell / Katie Cassidy / Emily Bett Rickards / John Barrownman / Willa Holland / Paul Blackthorne