Seeing Red (Arrow)

"Oliver I know"

- Moira reveals she knows who Oliver really is

"Seeing Red" is the twentieth episode of the second season of Arrow, and the forty-third episode overall. It aired on April 23, 2014.

Synopsis
The Mirakuru sends Roy into an uncontrollable rage and he unleashes on the city. After Roy's deadly fight with a police officer, Oliver realizes the Mirakuru has taken over Roy completely and must figure out a way to stop him. Things get more complicated after Sara declares that Roy is too far gone and the only way to stop him is to kill him. Meanwhile, Thea believes she can break through to Roy so she goes on camera at Moira's campaign rally to lure him to Verdant. Her ploy works but after Roy attacks Thea, Team Arrow unleashes on him.

Plot
The episode opens with Roy on the table in the Arrowcave. Felicity is searching the web for any reports regarding Isabel Rochev's death and she and Diggle are surprised at the total lack of news. Planning to go get dinner, Diggle leaves the room and Roy wakes up. Felicity tries to talk to him, but he destroys her computer desk and knocks Diggle aside while leaving.

Oliver and Sara are in bed together at a hotel room and Oliver suggests they move in together. Their rendezvous is interrupted when Felicity simultaneously calls both of their phones with word of Roy's escape.

Moira does an interview about her campaign. She talks about how being a parent makes her a superior candidate to Sebastian Blood. Thea walks in and tells Moira she will not host her upcoming rally at the club. Moira takes Thea aside and reminds her that she signed a contract and changing the venue the day before isn't an option. Moira's adviser tells her she needs to be "either a mother or a candidate. You cannot split your focus". Moira agrees.

In a flashback to seven years earlier, Oliver and Laurel are together. She asks an obviously perturbed Oliver if everything is okay, to which he responds yes. She leaves and Moira walks in. She realizes something is bugging her son and Oliver reveals that he's gotten a woman pregnant, but it is not Laurel.

In present-day there are numerous assaults by someone wearing a red hoodie. Roy runs into Sin on the street and threatens her. A couple of guys approach Roy and tell him to back off, only for him to mercilessly beat them.

Meanwhile, Diggle has been following Thea. She does not appreciate it and asks Oliver what is going on. He reminds her that Slade is dangerous. A bloodied Sin shows up at the club and tells Sara she ran into Roy. She says he's "comic book strong" and that the drug he was infected with has changed him.

Moira drops by Sebastian's office to say she's dropping out of the race. He asks for an explanation, given she's doing well in the polls. She says it's because Thea and her family need her.

In the flashback, Moira tells Oliver they'll figure everything out and asks, "Are you sure it's yours?" He says he doesn't know what to do.

In present day, Felicity is tracking Roy's movements. Sin calls Sara to say she's found him.

The Arrow and the Canary meet Roy in the clock tower. He easily dispatches Sara and catches one of Oliver's arrows. The Arrow pulls back his hood, as Oliver, pleads with him to fight what's happening, but it doesn't work. Roy slams Oliver into a wall and stomps on his knee, critically injuring it. Out on the street, Roy encounters two police officers and beats up both of them, stabbing and killing one with an arrow, before running off.

Sara brings Oliver to a doctor for an off-the-books treatment. He says all he can give him is a brace, but Oliver is still in tremendous pain. The doctor then reaches in to a cabinet and remarks that for a long time, the Triad would stop shipments of medicines to the hospital, but somebody stopped them (The Arrow). He tells Oliver that he always wanted to thank him.

Diggle reminds Thea that Moira loves her. Thea looks up at the TV and sees a report of Roy beating up the cops and learns one is dead. She is visibly shocked by this.

Sara and Oliver argue over whether they should take out Roy. Oliver thinks they should wait and try to save him, but Sara grabs a gun and walks out.

Thea goes to see Roy. She tells him she is to blame and she deserves to be punished, "permanently". But it is shown that Thea wasn't there. It was a paranoid hallucination Roy is having.

Oliver asks his mother about dropping out of the race. He thinks she's going about her problems with Thea the wrong way. Oliver believes Moira needs to let her daughter see her doing something good for the city. Moira tells Oliver, "I know". She says she couldn't be more proud.

Back in the flashback, Moira meets with the girl Oliver got pregnant. Moira hands her a check for a million dollars, conditional upon her telling Oliver she's lost the baby. She'll give her another million if she never returns.

In present day, Moira gives a speech in front of supporters at Verdant. At the last moment, she changes her mind and does not drop out of the race. Sebastian is visibly shocked by this, as Moira told him she was dropping out. Thea takes the stage afterwards and makes a statement she hopes will draw out Roy.

A limping Oliver asks Felicity for Lidocaine. He injects the full contents of the bottle into his ailing leg and seems to move a little more smoothly and rapidly.

Roy arrives at Verdant and begins taking down everyone who opposes him. Moira is rushed out by her handlers but Thea stays to talk. Within moments Roy lifts Thea in the air by her neck. Sara shows up and shoots him in the leg. Roy asks her to kill him. The Arrow appears and shoots Roy with several arrows filled with viper venom that take him down, but do not kill him.

Later in the lair, as Roy lies bound and sedated on the table, Sara tells Oliver she wanted to kill Roy because "that's who I am". Sara tells Oliver she's stared into the eyes for the Devil for six years and gave him her soul. She says he deserves somebody who can bring out the light that's still inside of him, adding that she cares about him too much to be with him as she leaves. On her way out she runs into Sin and says goodbye, adding that she's going to see an old friend.

In a limo, Thea tells Oliver she now knows he was aware of Roy, which is why he had bodyguards protecting her. For Thea, this is one more instance where her family has lied to her. Moira says she thinks they need to turn a new page. She says her children need to know something about Malcolm. At that very moment the limo is seemingly crashed into, and Oliver blacks out.

He wakes up to see Slade has Thea and Moira tied up. Slade asks him to choose which one to save, similar to how Ivo had done on the island. Slade and Oliver argue about Shado, and Moira realizes Slade was on the island. Oliver asks Slade to kill him and spare his family, but Slade asks Oliver to choose between his mother and half-sister, just as he had to choose between Sara and Shado on the island. Moira turns to Slade and offers her life if it means her children will be spared. Slade states she has much courage, something he wished her son had. He holsters his gun, but immediately pulls out his sword and stabs her through the stomach. Slade then tells Oliver there is one more person who must die "before this can end".

Back in the flashback, Oliver gets off the phone with the woman telling him she's lost the baby. He hangs up and tells Moira. He says he just wasn't ready to be a father. Moira Queen hugs her son and says she'll always be there for him.

Trivia

 * Moira Queen is killed by Slade Wilson, making her the second main character to die, the first one being Tommy.
 * In the DC comics, Oliver illegitimately has a child, Connor Hawke, with a woman named Sandra Moonday Hawke. He would eventually go on to succeed his father as Green Arrow. In Arrow, the woman's name is never revealed. However at the Internet Movie Database; her name is revealed to be Sandra. In Season 4, her actual name was revealed as Samantha Clayton.

Production
Preparation ran from February 24 until March 4, 2014. Shooting ran from March 5 until March 14, 2014.