This episode begins with Ollie facing two very trying events that are both coming at him at once: the mayoral debate and an engagement party that is being thrown by his future mother-in-law, Donna (Charlotte Ross). Suddenly facing off with the bad guys seems like a walk in the park, right?
A walkthrough of the theater where the mayoral debate will be held allows Ollie and Team Arrow the opportunity to try and track Ruvé Adams (Janet Kidder) back to her husband, Damian Darhk (Neal McDonough). All the Green Arrow is able to do though is walk into a trap Darhk has laid for the Emerald Archer and his compatriots, which they are able to get out of easily enough. But Team Arrow isn’t the only ones in Darhk’s sights at the moment. He is also gunning for Quentin Lance for crossing him and H.I.V.E., and he is almost successful in bringing an entire building down on Lance’s head, and would have succeed if not for some help from Laurel.
Lance accepts Oliver’s advice to lay low for the time being, but he also decides to put some distance between himself and Felicity’s mom. Since he can’t be totally honest with Donna about why she shouldn’t be around him, she gets angry that he won’t tell her the whole truth and breaks up with him. Meanwhile, Felicity has tracked the call that lured Lance to Darhk’s trap. What appeared to be a Star City police dispatch was in reality sent from one of the satellite phones H.I.V.E. uses. Team Arrow goes to the location where the call came from they just barely get out before that building is brought down on their heads by a group called the Demolition Team (Daniel Cudmore as Jackhamer, Rachel Luttrell as Rosie and Marc Trottier as Hardhat), masters of precision demolition that have been recruited by H.I.V.E.
Before the walls come tumbling down, Thea is able to snag a laptop the Demolition Team was using that has blueprints of their next target, but it is damaged in the fight. Felicity is left to try and figure out what was on the laptop as Diggle gets a lead from his brother, Andy. It turns out the Demolition Team uses a special acid and only one manufacturer in Star City sells it. Green Arrow and Spartan go in to the factory and find the D.T. has already struck, leaving dead guards in their wake and taking 100 gallons of the acid for their next target, which appears to be huge.
With some help from Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum), Felicity learns their target is none other than the theater where Oliver and Ruvé are scheduled to have their debate in just a few minutes. Team Arrow is able to evacuate the building and sweep the premise, disarming the bombs set by the Demolition Team, taking down the members of the evil group as they go and foiling the plot by Darhk to kill Oliver and leave his wife as the lone candidate for mayor.
Later, at the engagement party, Lance comes clean with Donna about why he lied to her and the two reconcile. Curtis also presents his wedding gift to Felicity, an implantable bio-stimulant he has been working on that should allow Felicity to walk again in time for her and Oliver’s wedding. Sounds like the perfect way to end this episode, right? It would be, but this is Arrow, so the ending has to be a bit grim and it is. Unable to kill Oliver, Darhk has made his boldest move of all, taking his son, William (Jack Moore). The final scene has the villain introducing the boy to his daughter, Nora (Tuesday Hoffman) and telling her that William’s mother has asked them to look after the boy for a while (and yeah, it sounded as creepy on the show as it reads).
As for the flashback on the island, Oliver is able to kill two birds with one stone by gaining the trust of his fellow prisoners when he kills the one man who wants him dead most of all, Conklin (Ryan Robbins), but neither Ollie, or the viewers, is any closer to learning what Reiter’s (Jimmy Akingbola)’s endgame is. “Code of Silence” is another one of those titles with more than one meaning. On one hand, Lance tries to stay silent about his role with H.I.V.E. and why Donna being around him could prove dangerous to her. On the other hand, it also has to do with Oliver keeping his son, William, a secret. While the former appears to be resolved nicely by episode’s end, the latter may begin unraveling as Darhk now has Oliver’s son and Heaven only know what has happened to his mother.
Truth be told, the storyline with Lance and the final scene when we know Darhk has William are perhaps two of the elements that make this episode worth checking out. Paul Blackthorn and Charlotte Ross both have some nice scenes together and it is good to see the character of Quentin Lance explored a little more. As for the twist with William being held by Darhk, this is a game changer. It clearly puts all the power into Darhk’s hands, but now Oliver will have to come clean about his son with everyone he is close to. Thea figures Oliver’s secret out in this episode, and she understands why her brother is doing what he feels he must, but the big question is how will Felicity handle this bombshell (if you remember her reaction in the episode “Legends of Yesterday,” this revelation went over like a lead balloon). One thing is for sure, things are really getting interesting where Damian Darhk s concerned.
Also in this episode we got to see one of DC’s least impressive supervillain teams ever brought to the small screen, the Demolition Team. I’ve included a panel from one of their comic book stories so you can see just how underwhelming these characters are on the comics page. Honestly, I think their greatest super power was being in a union. At least here their construction worker-themed weapons and m.o. are updated slightly so they appear a little more hardcore. I’ll tell you one thing right now, those DC movies better blow me away since they have taken Grade-A bad guys like Deathstroke and the Suicide Squad off the board and left us with D-listers like these mooks for Arrow to play with.
Finally, I will say I am liking Echo Kellum more and more are Curtis Holt. His gift to Felicity is truly touching, yet I can see he has a playful side too (as can be seen with his screen saver of a big-headed Felicity going “Blah! Blah! Blah!”). Oliver hits it on the head when he says Holt is terrific, I am hoping that is a sign that DC’s next television superhero is ready to suit up soon. So, in the end, “Code of Silence” while not great, has some good moments worth checking out. I give it 2.5 stars.