Darkness on the Edge of Town

"My mom and my best friend's dad are involved in a conspiracy that may have dire consequences for the city. And I'm pretty sure they murdered my father. I'm not planning on using the word 'okay' again any time soon."

—Oliver Queen

"Darkness on the Edge of Town"
Information
Season 1 » Episode 22
Episode number	22 of 170
Original airdate	May 8, 2013
Written by	Drew Z. Greenberg Wendy Mericle
Directed by	John Behring
Chronology
Preceded by	"The Undertaking"
Followed by	"Sacrifice"

"Darkness on the Edge of Town" is the twenty-second episode of the first season of Arrow, and the twenty-second episode overall. It aired on May 8, 2013.

Synopsis

With the Undertaking days away, Malcolm dons his black hood to conclude business with seismologist Dr. Brion Markov and his team. Oliver and Moira entertain a number of surprise – and mostly unwelcome – visitors. Hooded confrontations at home and the Merlyn Global Group reveal dark secrets. Meanwhile, Roy and Thea are still looking out for a hero. Laurel makes a decision after Tommy's revelation. In a flashback to the island, Oliver, Slade and Shado struggle to prevent Fyers from shooting a Ferris Air jet out of the sky.[src]

Cast

Main cast

• Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/The Hood
• Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance
• Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn
• David Ramsey as John Diggle
• Willa Holland as Thea Queen
• Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen
• Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance

Guest starring

• Colin Salmon as Walter Steele
• Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson
• Byron Mann as Yao Fei Gulong
• Celina Jade as Shado
• Sebastian Dunn as Edward Fyers
• Roger Cross as Detective Lucas Hilton
• Jarod Joseph as Alan Durand
• Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak
• Colton Haynes as Roy Harper
• John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn/Dark Archer

Co-starring

• Michasha Armstrong as Merlyn Security #2
• Michael Bean as Secretary
• Gaelan Beatty as Sleazy Businessman
• Sage Brocklebank as Desk Guard
• Bombyx Du Murier as Uniformed Officer
• Tommy Europe as Security Guard
• Eric Floyd as Markov
• Marrett Green as News Reporter
• Christopher Pearce as Merlyn Security #1
• Paul Piaskowski as Male Scientist
• Lee Vincent as Kelton
• Lindsay Winch as Female Scientist

Plot

Malcolm Merlyn, in his Dark Archer costume, goes to Unidac Industries to tie up loose ends by murdering scientists who worked on the seismic device that will be used to level the Glades.

Oliver wants to get information about the Undertaking and decided to get some information from his mom, Felicity told him it's a bad idea as the last time he got shot because of it. Oliver told them it will be a friendly mother-and-son chat. Laurel was at Verdant on Oliver's way out, they had a little chat about the love triangles. Oliver leaves the conversation saying Walter is coming back and he needs to go back.

Later, Walter does come back and the family express their relief. Walter says that after the events, he needed rest, and goes to his room. Thea comments that Walter hasn't been himself, to which Oliver replies that he had gone through a lot. Thea expresses that she is sick of going through a lot.

Flashbacks occur to when on Lian Yu when the trio is bought back to Edward's base. Meanwhile, Roy drove Thea in a "borrowed" car and spotted outside Unidac Industries while the police are investigating.

Oliver and John devise a plan where John dresses as The Hood and kidnaps Oliver and Moira in an attempt to uncover the truth about the Undertaking.

Scene flashes back while Edward reveals to the trio that he plans to cripple the Chinese economy by blowing up an aircraft going into China.

The masquerade works on Moira, who tells "The Hood" what she knows of Malcolm's Undertaking.

Flashback scene Yao Fei sneakily hands Oliver a knife to help them escape and agrees on helping Edward with his "job", it was then hinted the mastermind of this was a woman behind a desk.

Back to the present, due to being unable to hack into Merlyn Global, Felicity states that, unless she can plug into the mainframe, it will be highly impossible to get the information they need. Oliver then tells them they shall do it. Oliver's team starts infiltrating the building. Although there was a staff member who almost got into the way when Oliver and Felicity were in the lift. Oliver hits the man's documents out of the lift (Epic). They successfully got on to the 25th floor via grappling hook and the plan goes on.

Oliver has a meeting with Tommy, where he tells him to return to Laurel. Felicity barely retrieves the information they need in time. Diggle, watching from the security station, calls for Oliver to help extract Felicity, but he is stalled when he runs into Malcolm Merlyn, who offers a friendly chat while escorting him downstairs.

Meanwhile, Felicity is caught by a security guard, but rescued in the nick of time by Diggle, who accuses her of being one of "Merlyn Junior's bimboes." The other guard lets Diggle take her out while Felicity protests how much Tommy loves her, etc.

Down in the lobby, Oliver then runs into Thea, who is there with Roy trying to trace activities of The Hood. Oliver warns them that the vigilante is a dangerous psychopath that they should keep away from. The two return to Roy's house, but he is not deterred from his search.

At the Queen Mansion, Walter reveals that he knew that Moira was part of his kidnapping and gives her divorce papers as a result.

At the police station, Quentin Lance is informed the tech guy couldn't hack into Merlyn Global, but he did trace a prior hacking attempt to Felicity Smoak at Queen Consolidated.

Though Oliver had convinced Tommy to get back together with Laurel, when he learns that he could give up being the Hood if he stops the Undertaking, Oliver decides to reconcile with Laurel himself. At the same time Tommy, who is outside Laurel's apartment, witnesses Oliver and Laurel becoming physically intimate from the window.

In a flashback, Edward shot Yao Fei Gulong, after forcing him to take credit for the attacks via video recording being the scapegoat.

That night, John goes after the device, but Malcolm learns of the system hack and has the device moved. The Hood attempts to kill Malcolm, who reveals to the Hood that he is the other archer, the two fight and Malcolm gets the upper hand, discovering Oliver's secret, however he seems to express regret for beating him up after unmasking him.

Production

Preparation ran from March 18 until March 26, 2013. Shooting ran from March 27 until April 8, 2013.

Trivia

• This is the first time that the twenty-second episode of a season of Arrow shares the same name of a Bruce Springsteen song, the 1978 title track from the album "Darkness on the Edge of Town". This pattern is continued in to later seasons; Season 2's "Streets of Fire", Season 3's "This Is Your Sword" Season 4's "Lost in the Flood", Season 5's "Missing", and Season 6's "The Ties That Bind".
  • "Darkness on the Edge of Town" also marks the first of two penultimate episodes to be named after a song that was taken from the same Springsteen album, the other being "Streets of Fire".
• This is the last appearance of Byron Mann as Yao Fei (not counting the brief appearance of his corpse in the next episode) until Season 5's "Missing", which aired 4 years after this episode, and Season 8's "Purgatory".
• While they meet in Merlyn Global Group, Tommy Merlyn asks Oliver Queen "Why so serious?" This could be a reference to the Joker's line in The Dark Knight.
• While breaking into Merlyn Global Group, when John Diggle saved Felicity Smoak as a security guard taking away one of Tommy Merlyn's "bimbos", he calls her "Barbie" based on Felicity's appearance as a pretty blonde girl.
• The jet liner that Edward Fyers wants to take down belongs to Ferris Airlines. In the DC comics, Carol Ferris is the on/off girlfriend of the Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, and the owner of Ferris Airlines.
• This episode marks the fifth main character to discover Oliver is The Hood, the others being Diggle, Helena Bertinelli, Felicity, and Tommy.
  • Malcolm Merlyn is also the first main antagonist to discover Oliver's secret identity.
• This episode aired on Stephen Amell's birthday.

Goofs

• When Oliver enters the Merlyn Global Group building, he tells the receptionist that he has an 11:30 meeting with Tommy. However, when Oliver approaches Tommy at his office, a digital clock can be viewed on Tommy's desk reading "5:38". In the very next shot of Oliver, the same clock reads "5:35". Later, as Oliver is about to leave, one final shot shows the clock, slightly out-of-focus, reading "5:36". The changing time can be explained as shots from different takes being used in the final version of the episode. The fact that the time is not closer to their meeting time, 11:30, is likely an oversight.
• When discussing the data that Felicity downloaded from Merlyn Global's mainframe, she says "... there's at least a teraflop of data to go through". As an I.T. expert, Felicity would not have made this mistake; a teraflop is a measurement of processing speed, not data quantity (for which the correct term would be terabyte).

Videos

Arrow 1x22 Promo - Darkness On The Edge Of Town HD

Arrow - Darkness on the Edge of Town Preview

Arrow 1x22 Sneak Peek "Darkness On The Edge Of Town"

Arrow 1x22 Sneak Peek 2 Oliver & Felicity

Arrow 1x22 - Oliver confronts Malcolm & Malcolm finds out Oliver is the vigilante "Oh no"