Line #37 Recap/ArrowS4E17BeaconOfHope


1	[[Recap/TheFlash2014S1E18AllStarTeamUp Brie Larvan]] breaks out of jail and invades Palmer Tech to demand the bio-chip in Felicity. Oliver needs a special ally to help rescue Felicity and Donna.
2
3	!Tropes
4	* AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade: Donna hugs a plastic WET FLOOR sign as a shield against the bees.
5	* AGodAmI: Reiter makes a speech to this effect while ranting about the power the idol gives him. Or rather, that he'll ''become'' a god after sacrificing more people to it.
6	* AirVentEscape: How Felicity, Donna and Thea escape the office with the bees outside the door.
7	* ArcWords: The episode title itself.
8	* BaitAndSwitch: What appears to be Felicity hacking away is revealed to be Brie.
9	* BeneathTheMask: Curtis is a touch frightened by Oliver's real persona that he hides behind the charming ex-playboy billionaire.
10	* BigBadEnsemble: Now that Darhk's in prison, Malcolm tells him HIVE is content to let him rot. Darhk has no intention of doing so and begins assembling a power base in there. Malcolm's comments make him a WildCard--he's show gloating over Darhk's predicament, but then contacts Andy Diggle on Darhk's behalf. So we have Darhk, the HIVE Council and Malcolm all pursuing their own agendas.
11	* BlatantLies:
12	** Curtis wants everyone to know that he's keeling over because he's got a fever. It's ''not'' because he just walked into the Bunker and discovered that his boss's former fiancé and his sister, ADA Laurel Lance, and whoever that other guy is are all famous vigilantes.
13	** After Curtis returns to his husband and gets an earful for rushing off without explanation, Curtis pretends he was helping the police solve the crisis but--scary and exciting as it was--he now realizes that he belongs back home and there will be no more disappearing acts. Given the enthusiasm with which Curtis worked with Team Arrow, if he's not lying to his husband he's certainly lying to himself.
14	* BodyHorror: Not only is a venom-carrying robotic bee trapped within Oliver, but it actually starts ''replicating itself''. It takes Curtis' ingenuity and Laurel's Canary Cry to neutralize them. [[note]]It is implied the robotic corpses will later exit Oliver's body through his waste.[[/note]]
15	* BreakingTheFellowship: Felicity makes it abundantly clear to Thea that she's never coming back to Team Arrow, saying she can help save people more effectively as the CEO of Palmer Tech.
16	* BreatherEpisode: Everything is quiet on the HIVE front and the VillainOfTheWeek is an over-the-top ''Flash'' supervillain. The following episode is the major death episode that was teased since the season premiere.
17	* TheBusCameBack:
18	** Brie Larvan, last-seen in the ''Series/TheFlash2014'' episode [[Recap/TheFlash2014S1E18AllStarTeamUp "All-Star Team-Up"]] returns.
19	** Darhk encounters Murmur, VillainOfTheWeek from "[[Recap/ArrowS3E16TheOffer The Offer]]", while in prison.
20	** Andy Diggle returns after a ten episode or so absence.
21	* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Felicity's attempts to walk away from Team Arrow don't do much good when Brie attacks Palmer Tech.
22	* CelebrityParadox:
23	** A ''Franchise/StarTrek'' ShoutOut was made by Curtis despite the fact that Creator/SusannaThompson (Moira Queen), Creator/NealMcDonough (Damien Dahrk), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Amanda Waller), Nick Tarabay (Captain Boomerang) and Creator/JeriRyan ([[Recap/ArrowS4E2TheCandidate guest star in Episode 2]]) have all appeared in the franchise either as major or minor characters. For added bonus, the reference made was "[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Borg]]", and Thompson, Ryan and [=McDonough=] played characters who were introduced as or later turned into Borg.
24	** Curtis refers to the Canary Cry as "going Music/MariahCarey". Creator/WentworthMiller, who plays Captain Cold in ''Series/{{The Flash\|2014}}'' and ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI2cwfluyNo in]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0habxsuXW4g two]] of Carey's videos (and funnily enough, the ''Series/{{Supergirl\|2015}}'' [[Recap/Supergirl2015S1E18WorldsFinest episode that aired]] the same week as this one also referenced Carey, along with featuring an appearance from the Flash).
25	* ChekhovsGun: The tattoo he received from John Constantine stops Reiter's attempt at draining him.
26	* CombiningMecha: Brie's robotic bees can combine into a humanoid KillerRobot.
27	* CruelToBeKind: After listening to Curtis' casual remarks and jokes a short while, Oliver chews him out quite nastily, because he doesn't want him to have any positive illusions about what they are doing.
28	* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Darhk instinctively tries to use his defunct telekinesis to kill Malcolm out of pure habit.
29	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: After Darhk's failed attempt to kill him with magic, Malcolm smirks and assures him that such [[TheLoinsSleepTonight performance issues are common at his age]].
30	* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Donna is using her camera phone to do her makeup when Brie appears on both it and the computer monitor on Felicity's desk.
31	* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: Turns out Andy Diggle is one of these for HIVE, and Malcolm is offering him a proposition.
32	* DudeWheresMyReward: Oliver bitterly brings up the fact that he can save the city, but not his relationship with Felicity.
33	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Darhk gets Murmur under his thumb by threatening his grandmother, having him [[ShootYourMate kill his two fellow inmates]] when they try to muscle Darhk a second time.
34	* EvilAllAlong: Turns out Andy Diggle just faked his HeelFaceTurn.
35	* FaintInShock: Though he claims it's due to a fever, it's pretty obvious that Curtis passes out because he's having a {{Fangirl}} moment over his favorite masked vigilantes.
36	* {{Foil}}: Thea who is turned on by the [[BloodKnight thrill of risking her life]], versus Felicity who just wants to save people and can do that just as effectively outside Team Arrow.
37	* GuestStarPartyMember: Curtis is pretty much a stand-in for Felicity in this episode. It's even [[LampshadeHanging mentioned]] by Team Arrow how [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute similar]] they are.
38	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Brie gets taken down by her own bees, once Curtis manages to hack them.
39	* HollywoodHacking: Brie escapes prison by hacking prison records and changing her release date. Using the prison's own computers, no less.
40	* HurricaneOfPuns: There are a ''ton'' of bee puns.
41	* InternalReveal: Curtis finds out the entire Team Arrow's [[SecretIdentity secret identities]].
42	* KickTheDog: Lampshaded when Laurel asks Oliver if he intends to kick any more puppies after barking at Curtis.
43	* LaserGuidedKarma: Darhk's poor treatment of his agents finally comes back to bite him, since HIVE thinks things will run smoother without him.
44	* NeckLift: Reiter shows off his power by doing this to Oliver, but the effort drains him and [[VillainBall he rushes off to find the idol without finishing Oliver or Taiana]].
45	* NotSoAboveItAll:
46	** Quentin makes a ShoutOut (see below), and is offended that everyone is shocked by it.
47	** Oliver makes a bee pun in the end too, when he [[TitleDrop quotes the episode title]].
48	* OhCrap:
49	** Reiter has one when he fails to kill Oliver.
50	** Larvan has one when her bees turn on her.
51	* OffhandBackhand: Lampshaded during the sparring scene.
52	-->'''Oliver:''' You've got to sense my presence even when I'm not in your eyeline.
53	* OneManArmy: In the opening sparring scene, Oliver takes on Diggle, Thea and Laurel at the same time and kicks their collective asses.
54	* PayEvilUntoEvil: Malcolm shows up in Iron Heights to bluntly inform Darhk that HIVE is ''not'' devoting any resources to get him out of there due to his habit of killing operatives and his "hocus pocus" really not benefitting them; as far as they are concerned he can rot in jail, while they proceed with Genesis without him.
55	* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Everyone is bemused that Oliver knows who Harry Potter is (though he's ignorant of how it's a movie franchise as well).
56	* RevengeBeforeReason: Brie has the data on the bio-chip, but discovers that Felicity was the hacker she faced in Central City and goes looking for payback [[VillainBall instead of taking the chance to escape]].
57	* ShoutOut:
58	** When Laurel refers to Felicity as "[[HeWhoMustNotBeNamed someone]]" Oliver says that "she's not [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort]]".
59	** Felicity gripes that Team Arrow are like [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries tribbles]].
60	** Curtis compares the bees' adaptive nature to the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Borg]] and says "Holy [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 frak!"]] on seeing the Bunker.
61	** Felicity directly refers to the events of the episode as "''Film/DieHard'' [[DieHardOnAnX with bees]]", and appears to be quoting ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'' when she starts griping, "Just when I thought I was out..." (they pull me back in)
62	** Quentin compares the plan to take down the bees to ''Film/IndependenceDay''.
63	** Brie threatens to reenact her favorite scene from ''Film/MyGirl'' with Thea (presumably the scene with the bees).
64	** Donna compares her, Felicity and Thea's situation to the ''Film/PanicRoom''.
65	* StateTheSimpleSolution: When Brie explains why she needs the chip, Felicity points out that she could have just asked.
66	* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: Perfectly sums up Curtis's reaction to the InternalReveal.
67	* TheStarscream: It's not exactly clear ''who'' in HIVE is calling the shots now that Darhk's in jail--presumably the other Partners. Oddly Malcolm doesn't seem to have made a power grab......yet.
68	* SwissCheeseSecurity: Curtis stumbles on the lair elevator and just takes it down. Apparently it doesn't even have a swipe card reader or key lock preventing an unauthorized person from using it (this right above an office that used to be full of campaign workers).
69	-->'''Quentin''': [[DeadpanSnarker So, anyone can just walk in.]]
70	* TitleDrop: "Beacon of Hope" has been mentioned at least three times. Once by Thea, twice by Oliver, and thrice by Felicity.
71	* TrainingMontage: The opening sequence.
72	* WeirdnessMagnet: Quentin on having to deal with a swarm of robot bees taking a building hostage: "Yeah, that's my life now."
73	* WeNeedADistraction: Baron Reiter provides one when he goes searching the tunnels for the idol, leaving Flashback-Ollie and Taiana free to rescue the prisoners.
74	* WhamShot: Andy Diggle works for/with Malcolm.
75	* WorkoutFanservice: Downplayed with the sparring scene--probably because there are two women involved, so having Oliver and Diggle shirtless would look strange.
76	* TheWormThatWalks: The bees can group together and form a humanoid shape that's [[SpecialEffectsFailure not at all a man in a leather costume]].
77	* YoureInsane: Oliver to Reiter again.
78	-->'''Reiter:''' Madness is a matter of perspective, Mr. Queen. [[GoodCannotComprehendEvil Your morality blinds you from understanding what I have achieved.]]
79	* YouSeeImDying: Brie reveals she has a tumor in her spine, and if she got it removed she'd be paralyzed, which is why she wants the chip.

Context Recap / ArrowS4E17BeaconOfHope