‘Arrow’s Future Team May Be About to Lose One of Its Own (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 8, Episode 2 of Arrow, “Welcome to Hong Kong.”]
Vigilante business is a dangerous line of work. People get hurt. People die. We’ve seen that since Season 1 on Arrow, and now, the team in the future may be about to learn firsthand what it’s like to lose one of its own.
In “Welcome to Hong Kong,” Mia (Katherine McNamara) and Connor (Joseph David-Jones) continue to clash over what to do about JJ (Charlie Barnett) — but will the latest move from the leader of the Deathstroke Gang get them on the same page? Will they be able to put their differences aside and come together to save one of their own?
Following their encounter with JJ in the premiere, the team regroups in the bunker. “JJ could’ve killed you, and he didn’t,” Connor argues with Mia. They were able to rescue Vasquez, but he’d already given up his access codes to the private vault in his penthouse.
And by the time they got there, it had been trashed and emptied. Mia, Connor, and Zoe (Andrea Sixtos) leave William (Ben Lewis) to fix fried flash storage from the vault’s security mainframe in hopes of determining what he stole while they head to the black market to see if they can find him selling Vasquez’s jewelry.
Connor still thinks his brother and best friend can be saved. “[John and Lyla] spent all their time worrying about me,” he tells Mia. “JJ got shortchanged.” When JJ arrives on scene, he agrees to talk to his brother and reminds Connor he has a place with his gang. He has the mark, after all, Connor and Diggle’s “brilliant plan to save me from the dark side,” JJ calls it. Connor insists he just wants his brother back, and even recalls JJ stepping in when guys tried to get him to run drugs in middle school. As we learn, JJ was held responsible when Connor didn’t listen.
(Sergei Bachlakov/The CW)
Connor thinks that he’s still the same kid who would take on people twice his size for messing with his brother and he’s just covering it up, but as he learns too late, JJ’s not wearing a mask. Furthermore, he knew Zoe would bring them to the only black market she knew. He’s not after the money they thought he needed to take over the city.
“Why cripple the system when you can rip its heart out?” JJ asks. “Once the unification movement is gone, the power vacuum is ours to fill.” And we see that in the bunker, William has accessed the data on the flash drive and found his own name.
When Mia makes a move towards JJ, he stops her, warning her if she touches him, the men storming the bunker at that moment will kill her brother. When she tries to reach him, she can’t. “If you hurt my brother, I swear, I will kill you,” Mia warns JJ.
Arrow‘s not about to kill off William, right? (Furthermore, Arrow‘s not about to have John Diggle’s son kill Oliver Queen’s son, right?)
Arrow, Tuesdays, 9/8c, The CW
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services