WILD DOG’S HISTORY IS REVEALED — A traumatic attack on City Hall triggers painful memories for Rene (Rick Gonzalez) about his family. Flashbacks reveal how Rene went from simple family man to a hero named Wild Dog. Meanwhile, Oliver (Stephen Amell) must deal with the perpetrator behind the attack and realizes the best way to do so is as Mayor Queen instead of the Green Arrow. Tensions run high in the Arrow bunker. Kristin Windell directed the episode written by Marc Guggenheim (513). Original airdate 2/15/2017.
Ep 13:
Man prepares rifles and pistols.
Diggle and Dinah training with bo staffs. Her first undercover assignment was with a street gang that played with them. She goes home. Felicity has been looking for Prometheus' mother. Narrowed it down to Illinois. Curtis is coming in to help. But she's using the Helix drive.
Thea back. Asks Oliver about Susan. Some people vomit a little. He says she's insulting someone he's getting serious about. She does her job, she's good at it, and she's a good person. Thea hugs Quentin. Calls Susan the Dragon Lady. heh. She asks why Rene is there. He's the new Deputy Mayor's Assistant. Quentin has a meeting to go to. Leaves Rene to fill out forms. Quentin gets in the elevator.
Chase wants Oliver to get Susan to back off. You're not much of a politician. Shots fired. Shooter came in on the elevator and is shooting up the floor of the building. He shoots and kills some people. Rene shoots back.
Flashback. Rene's family. He goes to his safe. The wife isn't happy about him taking it out. It stays at home. She says she has a headache. He asks if she's using again.
Oliver gives orders. Has anyone seen my sister! Thea gets to him. They find Adrian bloody. He slumps over. Adrian got shot when shots first hit Oliver's office. Oliver had used the desk for cover, but Adrian didn't get safe in time and was left behind. Chaos happens, but someone with Oliver's experience should be keeping track of the people in the room with him.
Adrian on a stretcher. Shot in the left shoulder. Rene and Thea exchange looks. 5 dead. Rene thinks he winged the shooter. She asks why he had a gun in here? Rene said saving lives.
They brought the gun to the Arrow Cave. It hasn't been used in any crime before. Felicity plays the security footage. Who is he?
Quentin got a look at the shooter and gave a sketch to the police. Rene says it's not your fault. Quentin says you were dishonorably discharged. It's illegal to carry a firearm. Rene says it's pretty easy to buy one, though.
Flashback. Rene and his wife. He doesn't get it. We got out of the Glades and here you are bringing it back into our home. The daughter says we're going to be late for the game. Rene covers. Mom tells her to get her coat. He's throwing the drugs away. When I get home, either there's no more drugs in this house or no more you in this house.
2 more victims passed away at the hospital. Oliver wants phone numbers for the next of kin. Doesn't think this is a one time thing. Adrian getting dressed. Meet my wife Doris. I need to be in the office. Oliver says you need to be in bed. Thea says you look like you're going to pass out. Oliver tells him to take a seat. Adrian wants to know about the shooter. Thinks the Bertinelli's might be behind this. Oliver says listen to your wife and stay here. get better. Fair? Fair. Just stop this guy.
Quentin says the guy isn't in the system. Curtis is anti-gun. Rene says our whole life is violence. Curtis says as a black man I'm 3 times more likely to be shot than you. Quentin says police would be happy if less people had guns. Dinah says not this police. Dinah supports the 2nd Amendment. Curtis and Rene start bickering again. Felicity says stop. Stop as in I have something.
Green Arrow looking for answers with the AR-15. Mobster says we'd be crazy to go after the ACU. Any of my guys that did would be dead. Vigilante kills him. Felicity says I have the name of the shooter. A 40-something analyst with no criminal record. He's nobody.
**An AR-15 is not the exact same as an M16, by the way. It's de-mil, as in not military spec, which goes fully automatic. Full-auto weapons are illegal for everyday citizens to own. AR stands for Armalite Rifle - the company that first invented the AR platform historically. It's not an assault rifle. Assault rifles by definition are select fire and full-auto capable. Anyone that tells you otherwise is misinformed or lying.
James, husband and father of 2 daughters. Edlund lost his whole family. He was a proponent of a city gun registry. After the funeral, he quit his job and his house is in foreclosure. Oliver tells Quentin to give the name to the public.
Rene says if the bad guys have guns, I'm strapping up, too.
Rene and daughter come home and things are in disarray.
Oliver press conference. This office is working with the police to make sure Mr. Edlund is apprehended and swiftly brought to justice. He takes questions. Asked about Edlund's motivations. He's asked about the registry. About gun control. What is your personal opinion? Oliver says it's complicated. Press pushes. Oliver says I owe the response to the wounded, not to any of you.
Oliver doesn't know how to deal with this. 7 people lost. My mission has always been to save this city. First instinct to use violence. We can't dismiss the idea that we're feeding into a vicious cycle. Quentin says this is a problem the Green Arrow can't solve. Thea says he's right. Try again, and try again. No one said being mayor of this city was going to be easy, Oliver. Oliver wants to meet with the previous admin that was involved with the previous ordinance. Thea asks are you sure you want to open that door? Oliver says this is about safety and security, everyone's safety and security, whether they own a gun or not.
Morning. Oliver meets with a councilwoman. You're making an interesting choice. She says it's a terrible thing that happened here. Police haven't found Edlund, yet. He says you killed the ordinance. She's against any registry that gives the gov't power to keep tabs on certain parts of the populace. Oliver says everything in life comes with limitations. We're going to figure out reasonable limitations that respect everyone's rights. Are you hungry? We're going to be here a while.
Diggle trying to find Edlund. Dinah in the van. She admits there was one apartment she liked, but..... It's stupid. They asked questions about the last 3 years. Forget it, it's stupid. Applying for an apartment is something normal people do. I haven't had normal in a very long time. I don't know how I'll be anymore. Diggle says I realized I only have to be me. I had to give myself permission for that. Starts with a small studio apartment with a garden. Let's get out of here.
Felicity and Curtis. She doesn't like arguments that don't accomplish anything. He disagrees. This idea it's not healthy. We used to talk as a society. We'd disagree and still respect each other. Somewhere along the line it became rude. Search brings up a support group. Curtis goes.
Curtis and Rene there. Time's up. They approach the leader. Can we ask you about James Edlund? The man says the group is confidential. I take that seriously. Rene says we just want to find him before anyone else gets hurt. The man says he'll get an address. Rene tells Curtis that guns save lives. Period. If I had my gun, my wife would still be alive. Curtis didn't know he was married. Rene doesn't like to talk about it.
Flashback. A man holds his wife. The dealer owed money. Rene says money is in the safe. $500. No problem. Daughter comes in and there's commotion. The dealer shoots at Rene. Rene gets his gun and shoots him, but the dealer shoots going down. Daughter sees her mother bleeding on the floor.
**Hmm, so where did the daughter go live? Rene must've sent her to family or something. Unless the state did. Either way.
Wild Dog and Mr. terrific at the address. Edlund's family photo. Floor plan of the office. Doesn't match City Hall......aw, damn, I know where he will hit next.
Councilwoman says registries are never simple. Oliver gets a call. Diggle tells him what they found. Oliver says I have to go.
Hospital. Team in place. Overwatch hasn't seen him, yet. Oliver spots him. Don't do this. Edlund says get back. Oliver says you didn't shoot me. You need me to enact the registry. You want to punish the city because we failed to protect your family. Police show up at the other end. Oliver says the man that killed your family acquired those guns illegally. There was nothing we could've done. A registry wouldn't have helped. He knows. I was supposed to protect them. Isn't that what a man should do? Isn't that why we have guns? Oliver understand why he's angry. Edlund says we're all angry all the time. Why shouldn't I put all of us out of our damn misery? Oliver says that's not your call to make. What you're doing is not the answer. The 7 people dead were innocent, too. Edlund agrees. I deserve to be punished. Oliver says James, think of your wife and daughters. I know you want to be with your family again, but if you want them to live on, it has to be through you. Give me the gun. Oliver gets it and police tackle Edlund and take him away.
Councilwoman and Oliver. Edlund is going to plead guilty to everything. Oliver introduces her to Rene. We came up with this. Ordinances. Doesn't block people from owning or buying. She says I'll extract a political price for this one day.
Flashback. Rene on the phone. I messed up. Zoe lost her mother. Unsafe environment? I can get counseling. I just want to see my daughter. Ma'am, please don't hang up on me. Hello, hello. He throws the phone. Sees the news about Darhk's death. The city showing strength in numbers. Rene picks up the hockey mask. Wild Dog is born.
Curtis practicing. Rene comes in. Curtis apologizes. I didn't know about your wife. And your daughter. I may have done a little Googling. Rene says Zoe's in a foster home. She shouldn't be anywhere near me. Curtis says how about we get your daughter back?
Diggle checks on Dinah. She got the apartment. And she is in the ACPD. Diggle congratulates her. She thanks him for the push.
Oliver addresses a rally. Gathered on the steps to honor the lost. It would be easy to become immune or desensitized. It would be human to respond to violence with violence. I remember the choices I was forced to make to tragedies. Hard choices require bravery. We live in the home of the brave. We don't run from hard choices. This afternoon, we passed the Star City firearms freedom act. Shows we can respect our freedom and our lives. We just have to be brave enough to do it.
Next ep - Jail break. Cupid out again. ACU arrests Green Arrow for the murder of Det. Malone.
Guggenheim talked to TVLine about this episode and how it affects the rest of the season:
“One of the things you’ll see in the second half of Season 5 is the gray area becomes a lot more gray,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim says. “We’re really delving into the complexities of Oliver being a killer in a way that we’ve never done on the show before, with a lot more nuance. In the past, it was like, ‘I’m a killer,’ or, ‘I’m not a killer.’ It was very binary. This year… it’s super gray and it’s really messy, and this [episode] is a component of it.”
“In many ways, Oliver killing is the seminal, moral quandary of the show,” the EP continues. “That was something that spoke to us as writers and spoke to the audience back in Season 1. Like, this guy kills people. It was a big part of the original pitch. We said, ‘At the end of Act Two, he’s going to break someone’s neck.’ One of the things we’re doing in the back half of Season 5 is really getting underneath that and what that means, not just in terms of morality, but in terms of psychology, specifically Oliver’s psychology. There are things about Oliver’s killing that you have yet to learn.”
The archer is not the only one who will be tested by the choices that he’s made. Whether he kills or not also has “huge moral implications” for Team Arrow, co-showrunner Wendy Mericle previews. “For the rest of the season, we’ll definitely be exploring the ramifications of that decision… in respect to Felicity and, to some extent, Curtis as well. How do they square their own circles morally with the actions that they’ve taken?”
And if you’re wondering just what kind of middle ground was reached by the new gun control regulations, don’t expect a detailed answer.
“We left that intentionally vague,” Guggenheim explains. “My first gig in the business was on a show called The Practice. [Creator David E. Kelley] always said, ‘I’m not interested in the verdict. I’m just interested in both sides in the case having equal arguments.’ Very intentionally, we didn’t want to provide [an] answer to the problem of gun violence. We wanted to leave that open to the audience as almost like a Rorschach test.”
But will the new laws, whatever they might be, come into conflict with the vigilantes? “Not the regulations, specifically,” Guggenheim says. “In the very next episode, Team Arrow is going to come up against the police for a very different kind of reason.”
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