Lone Gunmen

"You've taken lives."

"For the good of others."

—Floyd Lawton to Oliver Queen

"Lone Gunmen"
Information
Season 1 » Episode 3
Episode number	3 of 170
Original airdate	October 24, 2012
Written by	Story by: Greg Berlanti Marc Guggenheim Teleplay by: Andrew Kreisberg Marc Guggenheim
Directed by	Guy Bee
Guest stars
Colin Salmon as Walter Steele Byron Mann as Yao Fei Gulong Roger Cross as Lucas Hilton Annie Ilonzeh as Joanna de la Vega Eugene Lipinski as Alexi Leonov Tobias Slezak as James Holder Michael Rowe as Floyd Lawton/Deadshot Marcus Rosner as Max Fuller
Chronology
Preceded by	"Honor Thy Father"
Followed by	"An Innocent Man"

"Lone Gunmen" is the third episode of the first season of Arrow, and the third episode overall. It aired on October 24, 2012.

Synopsis

Oliver is surprised when someone shoots and kills one of his targets. As his plan is to bring criminals to justice and not outright kill them, Oliver doesn't appreciate the help and searches for the gunman. He soon learns that the man, Deadshot, is taking out businessmen who are scheduled to bid at an auction on an energy company and Walter is one of the bidders. Realizing he can't protect his family and stop Deadshot at the same time, Oliver enlists Sergeant Quentin's help, but his plan has dire consequences. Meanwhile, Laurel and Tommy get caught in an awkward situation with Oliver.

Plot

Oliver tracks down another name on The List, James Holder. However, before he can get the answers he wants, Holder is killed by an assassin known as Deadshot, who uses bullets laced with curare. Initially, the police suspect that The Hood is responsible for the murder, but the evidence begins to prove otherwise. Oliver decides to build a new night club above his hideout to explain where he goes at night. While scoping out the competition with Tommy at Poison, Oliver finds Thea, who reveals that Laurel and Tommy had slept together during his absence. Laurel becomes suspicious when Oliver does not react to the news.

Meanwhile, Oliver uses his contacts in the Solntsevskaya Bratva to learn the assassin's true identity, Floyd Lawton. He is able to track Floyd down, but the latter escapes after a shootout. Oliver retrieves a bullet-ridden laptop from Floyd and takes it to Felicity Smoak, an IT specialist at Queen Consolidated, in hopes she can retrieve information from it. Felicity is able to do so and reveals the laptop is actually owned by Warren Patel and contains blueprints for the Exchange Building, where an auction for a company called Unidac Industries is taking place. Oliver realizes that Deadshot has been hired by Patel to take out the competition for the bidding of Unidac. He enlists Quentin's help to protect the building and stop Deadshot from assassinating more potential buyers.

At the auction, Oliver manages to stop Deadshot by shooting an arrow through his eyepiece, seemingly killing the latter, but his bodyguard John Diggle is shot by one of Deadshot's stray bullets. Oliver is forced to reveal his true identity as the vigilante to John in order to save his life.

In another flashback, it is revealed that the archer who attacked Oliver was actually trying to help him. Oliver understands and escapes, but is pursued by an unknown group of armed men.

Trivia

• This episode marks the first time that a main cast member was not present for the episode. The cast member not present was Colin Donnell (Tommy Merlyn). This leaves only six cast members to appear in every episode: Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), Susanna Thompson (Moira Queen), Willa Holland (Thea Queen), Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance), Paul Blackthorne (Quentin Lance), and David Ramsey (John Diggle).
• The address of the hotel that Deadshot hides in between contracts is 1700 Broadway. The offices of DC Comics are located at 1700 Broadway in New York City.
• At CNRI, Joanna asks Laurel for the depositions in the Jurgens case. This is a reference to Dan Jurgens, an American comic book writer and artist, who is especially well-known for his work on the Superman comics.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Felicity Smoak and was originally meant to be her only appearance. However, positive fan reaction to the chemistry between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards resulted in Felicity being given a recurring role throughout the season and eventually joining the main cast in Season 2.
  • This could be considered the episode when Team Arrow was officially founded, as Diggle discovers Oliver's identity and it introduced future member Felicity.
• Some of the names on Deadshot's chest are crew members of Arrow: Gordon Verheul, Todd Pittson, and Ken Shane. Two other names are from the comics and linked to the kidnapping of Deadshot's son: Wes Anselm and Andy Haskell.
  • Also, the name Andrew Diggle is shown, referring to John Diggle's brother.
• Upon realizing "Oliver's" laptop is associated with Warren Patel, who's competing against the former's stepfather Walter Steele in the auction for Unidac Industries, Felicity tells Oliver she doesn't want to get involved in any "Shakespearean family drama" and elaborates this point by referencing William Shakespeare's play Hamlet and three of its characters: Claudius, Gertrude, and Hamlet (the titular character), whom she connects to Walter, Moira, and Oliver, respectively.

Production

Preparation ran from July 19 until July 27, 2012. Shooting ran from July 30 until August 9, 2012.