‘Arrow’ 7×17 recap: Oliver uncovers Emiko’s big secret

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Arrow Season 7 Episode 17 titled “Inheritance”. Please do not read if you have not seen the episode or read ahead at your own risk of being spoiled.

As Arrow‘s season seven finale — and the series finale — draws closer, some old storylines are coming back into the fold; Monday night’s episode saw distrust and one shocking reveal that left Team Arrow stunned.

The episode kicks off with Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Emiko (Sea Shimooka) bonding as Oliver opens up to his half-sister about his past. Emiko, meanwhile, is much more guarded as you’d expect. Evil-but-turning-good Laurel (Katie Cassidy) informs Oliver about Emiko’s shady behavior but he shoots her down, which also shouldn’t surprise anyone. Fans who have watched this show for the past seven seasons know that Oliver is always about family first and foremost.

However, Oliver does take something from what Laurel said; he follows his half-sister and sees her breaking into Palmer Tech with Dante (Adrian Paul). Oliver was not quick enough to stop them as they made off for whatever they’d come for and blew up the lab. But before he left the scene, a scientist informs Oliver that the Ninth Circle must be stopped at all costs.

Team Arrow is informed of this development and is seemingly split; Rene (Rick Gonzalez) doesn’t believe that Emiko is evil, while Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) defends Laurel. Oliver confronts Emiko face-to-face about what he saw that night at the lab. She says Dante took her under his wing and trained her when Robert Queen abandoned her and her mother. See, Emiko is actually trying to manipulate Oliver here and Dante helps her do just that.

During a fight with Team Arrow, Dante attempts to “kill” Emiko but it’s all for show. Oliver finds a bug in the bunker — which shut down Felicity’s ARCHER system — and realized it was Emiko who placed it there. What follows is one of the best fight sequences in the entirety of Arrow‘s run. Amell does a fantastic job portraying throughout how hurt Oliver is over his half-sister’s betrayal since he thought they were actually getting closer.

We get flashbacks in which we see why Emiko became so loyal to Dante and Ninth Circle. It is revealed that she went to Robert (Jamey Sheridan) with the idea for Queen Material Inc. He is supportive of the idea, but cannot back her because Oliver was already in line to take over Queen Consolidated. This hurts Emiko and as revenge, she fails to warn him that Malcolm Merlyn was going to blow up Queen’s Gambit after she received a tip from The Ninth Circle. Hold up — Merlyn blew up Queen’s Gambit? And he’s Thea’s father? What a twisted family tree.

Team Arrow tracks down Emiko, Dante, and the Ninth Circle at an airport hangar, where they are planning to release toxic-gas-carrying-drones over Star City. Dante activates the drones and flees, leaving Team Arrow to fight it out with Emiko. She spares Rene’s life during the fight, showing that deep down she still has some good in her. The team learns that the drone launch was just a weapons demonstration, not the actual attack, so who knows what Dante and the Ninth Circle are planning.

Then the biggest shock comes out as the episode ends as it is revealed that Emiko is the leader of the Ninth Circle and tells Dante their focus is now going to shift to Felicity’s surveillance program.

Episode Notes:

• Emiko released photos of evil-but-turning-kinda good Laurel working with Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo). This is likely not going to end well for her.
• Does anyone think it was weird that Felicity hired Alena (Kacey Rohl) to work with her? Odd.

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!

Arrow airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.