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Broken DollsOriginal Airdate: 10/23/2013
Written by: Marc Guggenheim & Keto Shimizu
Directed by: Glen Winter

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: Celina Jade (as Shado), Caity Lotz (as Black Canary), Roger Cross (as Detective Hilton), Bex Taylor-Klaus (as Sin), Michael Eklund (as Barton Mathis/the Dollmaker), Dylan Bruce (as Adam Donner), Teryl Rothery (as Jean Loring)

First Appearance: Black Canary (first full apppearance), Sin, Barton Mathis/the Dollmaker, Jean Loring, Tony Daniel

Trivia: Jean Loring (Moira’s lawyer) is a character from DC Comics. For a while, she was married to Ray Palmer, a.k.a. the Atom. Note her last name has not yet been said on the series, but IMDb lists her as Jean Loring.
– Tony Daniel is the name of the lawyer of the Dollmaker. This is appropriate, considering comic book creator Tony Daniel originated the modern take on the Dollmaker for Detective Comics.
– The boat we see at the end of the episode says “AMAZO” on the back.
– The Black Canary’s sonic scream has a real world application in the Arrow universe.
– A clock tower that housed the Canary and Sin is surely an homage to the Birds of Prey comic books, which are largely featured around a clock tower. Birds of Prey inspired a TV series in 2002.
– Metamorpho Chemical is a reference to the DC Comics character Metamorpho.
– The dark-garbed assassin at episode’s end mentions Ra’s al Ghul. If you’ve seen Batman Begins or are familiar with various Batman stories, you’ll know he is a Very Big Deal.
– Quentin Lance’s middle name is “Larry.” “Larry Lance” is the name of Dinah Laurel Lance’s father in the original comic books.
– The same week as this Quentin-heavy episode aired, Paul Blackthorne’s documentary film This American Journey was released.

Summary:

On the island, Oliver and Slade venture off to find out where the Japanese soldiers came from, leaving Shado to examine the corpse with her pre-med background. The guys climb to higher ground, where they spot the ship offshore. It begins firing onto the island. Oliver is knocked out from an explosion and wakes up in a prison cell on the ship.

Picking up with the Hood surrounded by cops, Black Canary bursts in with a supersonic device. She saves him and disappears. The Hood asks Roy to track her down. Roy finds Sin, one of Black Canary’s associates, who leads him to Black Canary in her clock tower. Thea brings her mom a change of clothes for the pre-trial hearing, where DA Donner reveals he’s seeking the death penalty.

Quentin arrives at the crime scene of a suffocated girl staged like a doll. He recognizes the M.O. as that of Barton Mathis, a man he put away years ago. Detective Hilton warns Quentin to stay away from this case or he’ll be arrested. Using Felicity to get in touch with the Hood, Quentin tells him about Mathis, unaware that Mathis is abducting another girl. After a little coercion, Mathis’ former attorney directs the Hood and Quentin to a room where Quentin receives a call from Mathis as he’s in the middle of murder. They’re unable to save the girl.

Quentin and the Hood find the victims’ connection: a specific skin cream. Felicity offers herself as bait and is almost snatched by Mathis, but he’s scared off. Quentin is arrested for obstruction; Laurel gets the charges dropped. Mathis then abducts both Lances. As Mathis prepares to suffocate Laurel with her father watching, the Hood drops in, followed by Black Canary and her bo staff. The Hood plans to send Mathis to prison, but Black Canary has another plan: death. Laurel admits to her father that she feels guilty for Tommy’s death because he was there trying to save her. Black Canary receives a shrouded visitor who says Ra’s Al Ghul wants her. She declines and kills him.

Quotes:

Laurel: No, dad … Whatever guilt you’re feeling, you’re just using it to justify a vendetta.
Quentin: Well, maybe I’m not the only one

Thea: Are you okay?
Moira: Oh, Thea, you have to stop asking me that every time you come to visit.
Thea: Ah, don’t count on it.
Moira: Well then, I’m afraid you’ll be asking it for the next twenty-five years to life.
Thea: Please, don’t talk like that.
Moira: Thea, there’s not a lot of value in the power of positive thinking when you’re being put on trial for mass murder.

Quentin: Just for the record, I’m not a huge fan of dangling helpless girls in front of psychopaths like meat.
The Hood: She volunteered.
Quentin: She must really believe in you.
The Hood: So did your daughter.

Felicity: Okay, now I’m going to admit to being seriously wigged out right now. False alarm, but next time I offer to be bait for a serial killer please turn me down.

Quentin: Last year you were working with the Arrow. What difference a few months makes.
Laurel: The Arrow?
Quentin: Yeah, it seems more appropriate than the Hood.
Laurel: And now you’re working with him. I guess I’m not the only one in the Lance family that’s done a 180.
Quentin: This city needs help. I just became less particular about where it comes from.

Episode Guide entry by Stephanie Hall

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