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.

Sara is staying with Oliver while she is in town. Oliver is still trying to convince her to let her family know she is alive. As though she’s just going to do it after saying she couldn’t all those other times.

Oliver heads to a meeting with the D.A. regarding Moira’s case. Laurel has been assigned second chair for the case against Moira, despite the 50 different ties she has to the family. A plea bargain of life with the possibility of parole has been offered, and Moira is considering it. Oliver is appalled that Laurel would work on this case, but Laurel reminds him that the only reason there is a plea bargain on the table is because of her.

Oliver returns to the house, and talks with Sara again. She says that the things she had to do offer her no forgiveness. A man dressed in Malcolm’s villain gear attacks Oliver and Sara, but they manage to fight him off, and he flees.

Oliver introduces Sara to Diggle and Felicity, and Sara says that the man was after her, not Oliver. The man is called Al-Owal, and he works for the League of Assassins. Diggle has heard of this league, but thought it was a myth. They are deadly warriors that kill and vanish like ghosts.

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.