Vertigo is back on the streets, and both Quentin and Oliver go to see The Count. He is in a mental institution, and is of no use to either of them. Oliver needs to figure out who is behind the return of Vertigo, and sends Diggle to do a drug deal. They put a tracker in the money so they can see who has brought Vertigo back. Shortly after these visits, The Count escapes from the hospital.
A club patron who was hit by a car while on Vertigo apparently texted Tommy that night. Between this, and $10,000 missing from the company accounts, Quentin is convinced that Tommy is dealing Vertigo out of the club. In reality, he paid of an inspector to give the club a passing inspection.
Felicity is able to track the money to a location, and Oliver goes to investigate. He breaks up a drug deal, but not before some Vertigo is distributed. One homeless man ends up in an aquarium, holding people hostage. Before Oliver can give the man some herbs to counteract the Vertigo, he dies.
While Oliver is at the aquarium, Diggle is giving an old friend of his (who now works for the government) information on the man that is giving Deadshot all of his targets. Diggle ignores a call from Felicity, and was supposed to be Oliver’s backup at the aquarium.
Quentin comes to the club with a search warrant, and wants to search downstairs. The obvious fear is that they will find Oliver’s lab. When Quentin enters the room, it is full of inventory and chairs and supplies. Tommy switched out the room to save Oliver.
Oliver and Tommy fight, as Tommy cannot believe that Oliver would think he was dealing drugs out of the club. Tommy leaves, and Diggle returns. Tommy and Diggle fight about Diggle abandoning him to pursue his personal vendetta.
Felicity is able to find that the Vertigo contains a drug called chlorpromazine, which is found in anti psychotic medication. Oliver concludes that The Count did not escape, and is instead using the hospital to make Vertigo.
Oliver goes back to the hospital, and finds The Count, in a catatonic state, strapped to a chair. An orderly knocks out Oliver, and The Count’s doctor turns out to be the mastermind. He faked The Count’s escape to get the cops away from the hospital.
The doctor was able to take the toxicology report of the drugs in The Count’s kidneys and reverse engineer the drug. He ties Oliver to a chair and pours liquid Vertigo down his throat.
Oliver manages to trigger a bomb in his arrow bag and untie himself from the chair. He is heavily influenced by the Vertigo, but luckily Diggle shows up to save him. Even luckier, Oliver still has the herb antidote for Vertigo, which he administers to himself.
Oliver catches up with the doctor, who tells Oliver he doubts he could aim a single arrow. Oliver aims three arrows, and kills the doctor. Diggle kills the orderly by zapping him with the heart paddles. And yes, after he does, with great comedic timing, he says, “Clear.” Oliver tries to kill The Count, but he is so demented that Oliver cannot do it.
Oliver goes back to the club, and Tommy, like a total baby, quits. Tommy goes to his father, and asks for a job. They hug, and each has a weird creepy smile on their face. Makes sense for Malcolm, but I have no idea why Tommy was smiling like that.
Oliver and Diggle apologize to each other, and Oliver decides that their next target will be Deadshot. While he felt sorry for The Count, Deadshot deserves no mercy.
The flashback scenes in this episode focused on Shadow (Yao Fei’s daughter) training Oliver. She has him slapping at a bowl of water for an extended period of time. By the time he is done “training”, he can draw a bow. They will work on shooting next.
