Arrow

My name is Oliver Queen.

After five years on a hellish island,

I have come home with only one goal--

to save my city.

But to do so, I can't be the killer I once was.

To honor my friend's memory, I must be someone else.

I must be something else.

Previously on "Arrow"...

Slade!

I need someone qualified to fix this boat.

I sure hope a Mr. Hendrik is there with you.

There's no way in hell I'm going back there.

Please, put the gun down!

You cannot die until you have known

complete despair.

And you will, I promise.

Stay away from Thea. No...I can't!

She's not safe when she's around you.

You love her,

and that's why you're going to do what I'm asking.

It's a dangerous city.

Mr. Wilson?

Call me Slade.

Your mascara is running.

Thank you.

Are you all right?

I don't know.

It's my boyfriend.

Ex-boyfriend now.

He just completely out of nowhere decides to end things.

Heartbreak is something I know all too well.

It's not an easy thing to recover from.

Sometimes you never do.

Um, we're not at--

this isn't my home.

You're not going home, Thea.

Get out.

Get out!

Hello, Thea.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

No time.

You letting the bad guys

stay alive this year

has filled the jails up to capacity.

Yeah.

Ready?

Well, I've been working with Sara,

but I'm not exactly a natural.

Neither was I.

Ok. We have some work to do.

Sorry, I'm just having a hard time keeping

my head in the game today.

Thea?

I just can't stop thinking

what's the worst that can happen

if I just told her the truth?

Well, I told a guy the truth and he got

struck by lightning. To be fair,

probably won't happen again, statistically.

Telling Thea the truth won't make her safer.

Just the opposite.

What we're doing, Roy, it's dangerous.

And anyone that is even in our orbit

can get hurt.

Try again.

This time...

Aim.

What are those?

About a month's worth of phone messages

from Queen Consolidated. Toss them.

That's what I did with last month's phone messages.

With Slade out there, I don't have time for the company.

Well, you have to make time, Oliver.

At least three hours.

The annual board meeting.

There's absolutely zero way that

the CEO can avoid being there.

And I know it's been a while,

so in case you've forgotten, that's you.

Do you remember where you put your business suit?

Or do you keep it in a cool glass case, too?

I'm going to kill all of you!

This is not personal.

Well, maybe a little.

It's not.

This is about survival.

Survival. What a noble word for murder.

Slade gave us no option.

Hendrik for Oliver.

And what gives any of us the right to decide

one's life is more valuable than another?

He is tied up. We are not.

Once he gets the boat working, Slade will have no more need for him.

So let's not kid ourselves. Doing this

is effectively sentencing Hendrik to death.

He would do the same thing to any of us!

In heartbeat!

This is only option.

What if it's also an opportunity?

To do what?

To kill Slade.

I know that I haven't been here in a while,

but you don't look like the entire Board of Directors.

The meeting doesn't start for another half hour.

Really?

I routinely bump all appointments 30 minutes

in anticipation of you being late.

It's good policy.

But, thank you for coming out

of hibernation for this.

Whether you recognize it or not, it's your name on the building,

and no matter how many meetings you miss,

you're still the public face of this company.

Isabel, I realize I have been distracted.

Thank you for picking up the slack.

Ours is an unconventional partnership,

but it's a partnership.

And it's working.

Indeed it is.

Oliver...

Your mother's here.

Family squabble?

And how is Ms. Rochev these days?

Still angry that Dorothy dropped a house on her sister?

Ahem. What are you doing here?

Have you heard from Thea? No.

You haven't returned any of my phone calls,

so I'm left to resort to checking in person

as to whether you're attending the debate tonight.

I told you that I would publicly support your campaign.

Anything else?

It would be embarrassing for us both

if you couldn't at least appear to be my son tonight.

I have gotten pretty good at pretending to be someone I'm not.

I learned it from you.

Oh, excuse me, have you seen Thea Queen?

Ok.

Speedy, it's Ollie, and I'm at the debate,

where I thought you would be.

Listen, I know that you're upset about Roy,

but mom needs both of us here.

So please, just call me back.

You do not look happy. Is everything all right?

Yes. My sister's just a little late.

I'm afraid that's my fault.

SCPD insisted that I arrive with a motorcade.

We tied up traffic all over the city.

I'm sure Thea's probably just fallen victim

to gridlock.

Well, I should probably try her again.

Good luck tonight, Sebastian.

Thank you, sir.

I thought backstage was supposed to be restricted access.

The benefits of having a district attorney's badge, I guess.

You stop by to wish Moira good luck?

I did. But I'm really glad I ran into you.

I owe you an apology.

I accused you of really terrible things.

You were going through a very difficult time.

I'm just happy you're on the mend.

Good luck tonight.

I'm not the one who's going to need it.

Sebastian Blood is not the man you think he is.

He's not going to revive the city with social services.

He's going to bankrupt it with unfunded mandates.

Mrs. Queen's problem with my proposals

is that they will be paid for by the one percent.

It's time that the wealthiest people stop avoiding their responsibility.

But it will limit their abilities to hire people.

All right, that's time, and I will remind the candidates

to please refrain from interrupting.

Now we have the next in our series of video questions

submitted by Starling City voters.

This one comes from... Thea Queen.

Ok, there must be some mistake.

Help!

Help! Somebody help me, please!

He--sla--

Oh, my God!

We're going to find her, Roy. We're going to get her back.

She's a tough girl.

Is she going to be alive when we find her?

You can't think like that.

I can't stop thinking like that.

Mr. Diggle.

Mr. Diggle!

I think I might have found something. I'm working on it.

I am suspending my campaign and devoting its resources

to the safe return of Thea Queen.

Well, the video referenced a demand, but no ransom.

Which means this might not be about money.

We're going to get her back, Moira.

I promise you. Thea's coming home.

Now, can you think of anyone

who might want to get to you through Thea?

No one except for the families

of the 503 people that died last year.

This isn't about the quake.

Well, how can you be so sure?

You just need to find the man in the mask!