Season 3 Episode 3 Recap/Review 

It’s All About the Girls in This Episode of Arrow Season 3 Episode 3 “Corto Maltese” (Video)

Thea, Laurel and Felicity are the real stars of this episode of Arrow, Season 3 Episode 3 entitled, “Corto Maltese.” Though prepare yourself for a large dose of man on woman violence in this week’s installment, which is the classic “break them down and then build them up stronger” formative episode for many of the female leads.

Is Laurel Becoming The Black Canary Yet? Because I’m Feeling Impatient Here.

Laurel with a black eye and her sister’s jacket. Courtesy of The CW

The featured picture for the episode on my HuluPlus for “Corto Maltese” gave me a shock when I saw it. A picture of Laurel with a black eye and a swollen face. Turns out, she does get beat up, but she doesn’t exactly play the victim.

She is clearly taking many steps closer to becoming a superhero in her own right, in honor of her sister Sara. Many fans, myself included, believe that she is quickly on her way to becoming The Black Canary.

At the end of the episode, Laurel, after trying to beat up an abusive boyfriend for a friend in an act of moral justice, implores Oliver to help her learn to fight.

After he refuses, she has no choice but to go to the hot sweaty boxer man that she met earlier in the episode, Ted Grant (J.R. Ramirez), also known as Wildcat, to learn how to channel her rage.

As someone who didn’t care for Katie Cassidy’s portrayal of the role of Laurel Lance in season one and much of season two, I can see a fire in her and an anger that shows not just the development of her character on the part of the writers, but also a new depth in Cassidy’s performance as well.

Thea, who was tired of all of the secrets and lies, went off with her real father to a big villa on an island off of the tip of South America called Corto Maltese where he is training her how not to feel pain, essentially.

They have a tea ceremony at the start of Thea’s training, and I was fully expecting a Batman-esque: drink the tea, have hallucinations, find spirit animal kinda experience. But instead, it’s a pour the boiling hot tea over your hand to acclimate your body to pain, kinda deal.

When Thea is shocked by her father’s methods, he beats her up pretty hard, up the the point where she is mad enough to fight back. This is the exact reaction that he was looking for.

Felicity is Everybody’s Go-To Girl, But Don’t Ask Her To Go Get Coffee.

Felicity is now working in the office for Palmer, and he is certainly trying to make her feel comfortable. She’s got a huge office and her own personal secretary, and her new boss seems to have more than just respect for her. There may perhaps be a budding romance as well. (Palm-icisty??)

That is, unless Palmer is a “baddie.” I’m not sure what the future of Palmer is, but he definitely saw this episode a glimpse into just what Felicity is capable of.

Also in this episode, Thea gets her haircut, and Oliver proves that he is more than capable of using a gun as well (he just prefers arrows I guess)

Check out the first scene of “Corto Maltese” below, where the team are about to go after Thea to bring her home. But is she even the Thea they know anymore? Be sure to tune into Arrow on The CW Wednesdays at 8 to find out. You can also catch up on Arrow here.

It’s All About the Girls in This Episode of Arrow Season 3 Episode 3 “Corto Maltese” (Video) was last modified: October 23rd, 2014 by

More Dangerous than Dancers – Arrow Season 2 Episode 21 – “City of Blood”

Photos: Stephen Amell at Comic-Con 2014, Nerd HQ

Julie Valento on Seven Months, Was It Worth The Wait? – The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 1 – No Sanctuary

Audrey Surprenant on ShondaLand Thursdays on ABC – is Shonda Rhimes Taking Over Primetime?