'Arrow' Brings Back a Villain

You know when you have that bad, messy relationship and you know that it's not good for you, but you still backslide? Well, this week, Arrow backslid. In "State vs. Queen," Arrow brought back the messiest ex of the series, Count Vertigo. Vertigo. You remember Vertigo, right? The Joker wannabe who plagued Starling City with mad drugs and overacting? Yeah, he's back (and he brought all of the overacting with him).

Really, Count Vertigo is a space filler, something to keep Oliver distracted — but not too distracted — during the final moments of his mother's trial. To sum it up, we learn in a flashback to the day of the earthquake that Count Vertigo broke out of prison, muttering all the way like a crazy homeless man. Cut to the present, when he's wreaking havoc on Starling City. People are getting sick left and right and it's not hard for a discerning viewer to figure out that the flu vaccine everyone who gets sick has taken is involved. Vertigo infects Diggle (sad) and DA Donner (less sad) before Felicity decides to go all super sleuth and gets herself predictably kidnapped. Vertigo figures out Oliver's secret and calls him from Felicity's phone. Naturally, he leaves court while the jury is deliberating to save his girl Friday.

Now, here comes the only part of the Vertigo storyline that matters: When Felicity's life is threatened, Oliver breaks his no killing rule and shoots the count through the chest multiple times, knocking him back through a window to fall to his death. Oliver and Felicity share yet another almost-romantic moment. (Not sure how I feel about this pairing. Felicity is my favorite female character on the show, and, as such, almost too good for wounded playboy Oliver.) But this is sure to complicate their non-relationship. She apologizes for being the reason he broke his rule and he waves it off. It's hard to tell if he's genuinely unaffected by the transgression or if it just hasn't hit him yet.

But seriously, who cares about Count Vertigo? Like I said, his entire purpose was to be a distraction. The real story is back in the courtroom, with Moira's fate. There are three big pieces of information revealed in the storyline that matters:

1. Moira is found innocent.

Yep. Let out your "what?!" and your headache-inducing eye roll now. If you're thinking something is up, it's probably because something is up.

2. Malcolm Merlyn is alive.

Not only is Malcolm alive (he faked his own death because he's apparently traveled to places in the world where "death is an illusion" and learned their ways), he also still has enough pull and power in Starling City to fix a jury verdict in the highest profile case the city has ever seen. Yep, he made sure Moira was acquitted, especially after she leaked the news of their affair.

3. Thea is Malcolm's daughter.

Turns out it's a really good thing Tommy denied Thea's advances last season because she's his half-sister. She's also only Oliver's half-sister. Moira's affair with Malcolm goes back quite some time – at least 18 years.

Which of tonight's revelations shocked you the most?

Image: The CW