Laurel brings Sara’s body to Oliver’s hideout. The others walk in to see Sara dead. Oliver is the only one who seems to be holding back his emotions.

Oliver promises Laurel that he’ll find Sara’s killer, and Laurel offers/demands to help. Oliver won’t let her, telling her to take care of her family. Laurel decides to hold off on telling Quentin, as she fears the news may kill him.

Oliver goes to the spot where Sara was killed to try and find some clues. Diggle shows up to let him know he has his back. Felicity calls them to let them know Quentin has called for the Arrow. When Oliver shows up, Quentin informs him of a fake archer that is murdering people in town. Quentin has no idea that his own daughter is one of the victims.

Felicity confronts Ray, who keeps trying to woo her to work for him. He even bought the company that owns the tech store she works at. With his statement that she’ll either work for him at Queen Consolidated or at the tech store, Felicity quits.

Based on some details Oliver strong-armed out of a drug dealer, the team is able to determine that the fake Arrow is a man named Simon Lacroix, AKA Kimodo. They hack Lacroix’s phone and are able to determine his location. Oliver heads there and chases Lacroix away on his motorcycle.

Finally, Arrow is back! After a second season that dragged a bit in the middle, but did a great job of picking up the pace at the end, season three begins at least 9 months after the events that concluded season two ended.

Detective Lance is now Captain, and has been pulled from active duty due to his heart condition. He has also publicly thanked The Arrow, and has decommissioned the anti-vigilante task force. Diggle and Lyla are having a baby, and she is due at any time. Roy has fully embraced his role in the team, and has managed to keep himself under control. Felicity and Oliver’s “relationship” has at least grown to not so obvious flirting, and Oliver and Laurel are working together (“You catch ‘em, I cook ‘em” as she said).

Things are going so well, that Oliver has a lot more free time, and Felicity is helping him prepare a speech for the Board of Queen Consolidated to try and buy the company back. Felicity has picked up a job at a tech shop. Diggle even convinces Oliver to finally take Felicity out on a date.

Arrow chases down a drug dealer and asks him about the man in the skull mask.  He dealer claims to not know him.  Arrow returns to headquarters and tells Diggle that no one on the streets seems to know this man.  Felicity has gone to visit Barry, who is in a coma.

Laurel is still taking random pills, and is now investigating Sebastian Blood.  She gets a weird vibe from him, and has found that he was connected to a psych building that was destroyed by a suspicious fire.  He also has ties to Cyrus Gold, the man who killed several officers and almost killed Quentin.

Oliver hosts a party for Sebastian helping his campaign for mayor.  While at the party, a man in a car spewing anti government rhetoric to himself blows up a building.  Reports are that there was a cleaning crew and some bankers working late still inside.  Arrow goes to help and helps the bankers escape the building.

There is a new threat in Starling City – The Mayor. He is the head of a new gang that emerged after the earthquake, and is in possession of military grade weapons. When one of his men returns after a confrontation with Arrow (without his gun), The Mayor shoots his cousin and fellow gang member. The Mayor tells him to do his family more proud than his cousin did.

Felicity thinks that the lady vigilante is not following Arrow, but rather Laurel. Oliver tests this theory, and finds her outside of Laurel’s apartment. He traps and unmasks her, revealing her to be Laurel’s sister Sara. Yes, the same Sara that Oliver watched die when the boat went down. And also the same Sara whose mother was convinced was still alive.

Oliver confesses to Felicity and Diggle that he saw Sara once a year after he thought she had died. But he reiterates that he thought she was dead. Diggle and Felicity are astounded that he apparently watcher her die…twice! Felicity is furious that he never told Laurel and Quentin that she was alive.

Diggle uses his contact with the FBI to get a GPS tracker that is connected to some military weapons that were hijacked. The GPS has been disabled, but Felicity is able to get it restarted long enough to find the location of The Mayor’s hideout. Arrow gets there, and is able to secure the weapons, but The Mayor escapes.

Arrow is cornered by a SWAT team in Laurel’s office with no means of escape. A lady vigilante swoops in and saves Arrow. She has blond hair. Could it be Felicity?

Barton Mathis, a serial killer that Quentin put away, has escaped from prison following the earthquake. He is known as the Dollmaker, as his M.O. is pouring polymer down his victim’s throat, giving her the appearance of a doll. Quentin is told by order of the Lieutenant not to pursue this case, or he will be arrested.

While Arrow helps Quentin investigate the resurgence in Dollmaker murders, Arrow sends Roy to look into the new lady vigilante. Quentin and Arrow trace down the hotel room that Mathis is staying at, but then they get there the room is empty. A phone rings, and the Dollmaker forces Quentin to listen on the phone while he kills a girl.

The only lead Arrow and Felicity can come up with is that the new victim and one of the old victims use the same brand of skin cream. They determine that the Dollmaker is targeting women who shop at a particular boutique. Only four shops carry this particular skin cream, so Felicity volunteers to go to them all in hopes of drawing out the Dollmaker. During the stakeout, Quentin confides in Arrow that every girl he couldn’t save on the Dollmaker’s first killing spree reminded him of Sarah.

Oliver is set to go after one of the men on his list, but when he arrives at the man’s home, he is gone. A disgruntled government employee, Joseph Falk, is taking revenge on the city. His wife was murdered by gang members, and the killers have not been found or prosecuted.

Joseph is kidnapping those that he feels are no good for The Glades, and murdering them live on an internet feed. He kills a local slumlord, as well as the assistant DA. Felicity tried to track the IP address of Joseph’s video, but it kept moving. Oliver was unable to find him in time to save the DA.

Thea discovers that Roy is going to rob a liquor store, and calls him a waste. Roy tries to talk to her, but ends up being kidnapped by Joseph.

A man is offered a dance at a strip club, and when he gets to the VIP room, the dancer is actually Helena. The man turns out to be her father’s lawyer. He doesn’t know where her father is being held, as he is in protective custody. She believes him, but kills him anyway.

Quentin meets with Laurel, thinking she wants to patch up their differences. He apologizes to her for what he has done, and she apologizes to him. Then her mother (Quentin’s ex wife) arrives. She explains to Quentin and Laurel that she believes Sarah is still alive. She has a picture from one of the random islands near the where the ship wrecked, and the photo resembles Sarah.

Quentin is upset at both of them, insisted that Sarah is dead. He just wants to move on with his life, and leaves. Laurel later visits Quentin at the precinct and convinces him to at least think about looking at the evidence that his ex wife has. Quentin eventually sits down with his ex wife and asks to see the evidence.