BWW Recap: Count Vertigo Throws Starling City off Balance on the CW's ARROW

This week on the CW's ARROW, Count Vertigo, that zany guy who named his drug dealer alter ego after the drug he was pushing, is back. Last we saw him he had been injected with an overdose of his own drug and had been stuck in a psychiatric hospital. He was one of the ward's patients, along with the Doll Maker, who escaped during the earthquakes that shook the Glades. Now he has returned to ruin some more lives and to make a profit while he's at it. This time his plan is to infect the citizens of Starling City with Vertigo under the guise of giving them their annual flu shots.

Diggle is not feeling too hot so Felicity tells him to go home but when he collapses, it's clear that it's probably a little more serious than the Flu. As suspected, Diggle is not just suffering from a case of your average influenza; he is one of the Count's vertigo victims.

Over at the courthouse, it's finally time for Moira's trial. In case you've forgotten, Moira is being tried as an accomplice to deaths of hundreds of people in The Glades earthquakes. But the trial is interrupted when the DA collapses, having also been exposed to Vertigo.

The attorney is rushed into an ambulance, but who should be at the wheel but good ol' Count Vertigo, who abducts the DA. He then gets himself on screen to tell all of Starling City about this great new drug he has to counteract the Vertigo, using the DA as an example to show that the antidote works wonders. The count's keen business sense has turned the city into junkies. They've got the infection, and he's got the (incredibly addictive) cure. It's straight up supply and demand, with a bit of manipulation on the side.

At the club Thea is having a really bad day and just wants to be left alone, but Roy is having none of that and gives her boxing gloves so she can hit him and turn him into her own person punching bag-literally. Because apparently a regular old punching bag is too good for Ms. Queen?

Laurel, who with her partner incapacitated has been appointed the head of the case, goes to visit Moira in prison because she has found her partner's trump card. She convinces Ms. Queen that she can't the stand because of the evidence she holds. It has come to light that Moira had an affair with Malcolm Merlyn, proving that she did in fact have a hold over him. Since Moira's case is based on the belief that Malcolm was coercing her, things aren't looking too good.

The Count has set up his own little production workshop to create antidotes for an ailing city. The Arrow confronts the Count at his lab, but since he's on a no-killing spree, he spares him and just grabs the DA and runs.

Felicity goes to check out the flu truck because they've figured out that that's where people are being given the Vertigo shots. She finds the Vertigo but also happens to run straight into the Count. We worry about you, Felicity. We know you're the brains of the operation but if you're going to work in such close proximity to the Arrow, you should probably have at least some basic fighting skills.

The Count rings up Oliver while he and Thea are waiting to hear about the verdict of their mother's trial. The Count has got an understandable grudge against Oliver and he's holding captive something Oliver loves: Felicity. When Oliver arrives at Queen Consolidated, he learns that the Count is actually working for another man and was ordered to draw Oliver out. And the Count learns that you don't threaten Felicity if you want to live to a ripe old age. Oliver puts an arrow through the Count that knocks him out the window, which is pretty hard to come back from so it looks like Mr. Vertigo is down for the count.

FLASHBACK

Ivo is looking for an arrowhead at the gravesite that Oliver has brought him to unfortunately for him, it's missing. He tries to make Oliver tell him where his friends are so they can tell him where the arrowhead is, but it turns out they're already there. The two groups are at a standstill-Ivo wants the arrowhead, Oliver's friends want Oliver. Ivo eventually turns Oliver over to his friends and they book it, detonating a bomb to keep anyone from following them. When they stop to take a breath, Shado, who took the arrowhead because it reminded her of her father, turns it over to reveal a sequence of numbers on the back: coordinates to the Japanese submarine. Sequence of numbers, islands, is anyone else having LOST flashbacks?

END FLASHBACK

The jury is back with a decision on Moira's fate. Drum roll! The verdict is: not guilty. We're not entirely sure how that happened and maybe we should be skeptical considering even Oliver can't believe she was let off. But either way, the Queen siblings have their mother back and a non-addictive treatment for Vertigo has been developed, so it looks like all is well in Starling City. For the moment, at least.

Moira wants to go home because it has been a long few months but her driver has been ordered to take a detour. He brings her to an abandoned parking lot where he is subsequently shot by...Malcolm Merlyn AKA the Dark Archer, who we swear we saw die. The episode concludes with a series of plot twists: Malcolm is alive and kicking! And he was the one who acquitted Moira! And (spoiler alert) he's Thea's biological father! Whew. We figured it was best to get all those surprises out all in one go, just like on the show.

Next week on ARROW, a new superhero is in town: The Flash (Grant Gustin)! ARROW airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on the CW.

Photo Credit: Diyah Pera/The CW

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