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Recaps

Arrow Conversations: Tommy, Oliver and Change 

Photo Credit: Cate Cameron/Warner Bros.

Change! Change. Change. Change. Change. Change. People can change.

At least four characters mentioned it so if you missed this point in last night’s episode, you must have been watching under a rock. We noticed it with Oliver on the island (he can draw a bow!). With Detective Lance in the bar (he doesn’t need to drink his problems away!). Again with Oliver in present day at the asylum (he took mercy on the Count!). But my favorite one-on-one of the week that really hammered this theme home happened between Ollie and Tommy.

They had so many compelling (and gut-wrenching) conversations that I hardly know where to start. We haven’t seen any of their friendship before Oliver’s time on the island, but I can only imagine it was filled with bars, booze and recklessness.  After finding out that Tommy paid off a city inspector to turn a blind eye to the club, Oliver clearly doubted Tommy’s involvement in the current Starling City drug epidemic, leading to one of my favorite conversations:

Oliver: Before I left, you played hard. You play with bad people who were in to bad things
Tommy: So did you, Oliver. But I changed, just like you did. Now you put arrows in people who do illegal things. Last time I checked, bribing a city inspector was not legal.
Oliver: Do you actually think I could hurt you?
Tommy: Truth is, I don’t know what you’d do. You are a complete mystery to me.

Ouch! Oliver reveals the truth to Tommy and as a result becomes even more of an enigma…that is not where I saw this going. Granted, Tommy is justified in his confusion and lack of comprehension of Oliver’s mission, but I hardly find it fair that he is asking Oliver to believe in him when he’s not even willing to do the same for Oliver. I was a big fan of the lighthearted Tommy/Ollie friendship that we witnessed earlier this season, but I fear those days may be long gone. This episode saw Tommy quit the bar and deliver a stabbing blow to their friendship as he walked out:

You want me to keep your secret, help you be this thing you’ve become. But you refuse to see me for what I’ve become. I’ve got just a bit too much self-respect for that. I quit.

So Tommy harps and harps about how he’s changed. How he loves nights in with Laurel. How he wasn’t involved in the drug epidemic. And how he helped keep Oliver’s secret by paying off the city inspector. But as we reached the end of the episode and see Tommy approach his father for a job, we were left to wonder, is this change of Tommy’s a good thing or not?

The CW’s Arrow is taking the next two weeks off, so we’ll have to wait until April 24th to find out. But on the upside, it’ll have an uninterrupted run all the way to the finale on May 15.

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