‘Arrow’ Season 5 Spoilers: The Recruits Don’t Trust Oliver In Episode 2 [RECAP]

Oliver agreed to build a new team, but he’s in over his head. In “Arrow” Season 5, episode 2, the vigilante started training new heroes. At least he tried to train them. He mostly just irritated the amateurs. Oliver needs to work on his leadership skills.

At the beginning of the episode, Oliver (Stephen Amell) is cautious about the new recruits. He tells Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) they’re both wearing masks because they don’t know these people. Felicity refuses, but she can’t do anything about Oliver’s training methods.

Ollie starts training with Evelyn (Madison McLaughlin), Rene (Rick Gonzalez) and Curtis (Echo Kellum), and as usual, he is far from gentle. He tells them that they just have to get past him and ring a bell. He manages to beat up his trainees before they even get close. “At least he’s not shooting them,” Felicity grimaces.

Meanwhile, Star City still hasn’t kicked him out of office yet, but he’s hardly ever there. Oliver manages to actually attend a meeting and strikes a deal with a company called Amertek to fund a free medical event. He leaves Thea (Willa Holland) with the press work, much to her dismay.

Unfortunately, Amertek is in more trouble than the mayor’s office realizes. Evan (Vincent Dangerfield), one of the guys from Amertek, gives a dollar to the wrong homeless guy. The man in rags attacks Evan, seemingly with the rags he is wearing, and officials say he was suffocated. Amertek suddenly wants to pull out of the city’s event. Oliver promises increased security and indemnity to get them to stick with the deal.

He isn’t bringing the new team, though. They’re still busy getting beaten. “They’re too green,” Oliver says.

“Some could say the same about you,” Felicity says. She’s been waiting a little too long to make that joke.

Oliver decides to let them come to the event, but it still isn’t protected enough. The villain suddenly shows up at the clinic and throws the Amertek leader across the room. Oliver manages his quickest costume change ever and is ready to shoot him. Unfortunately, Rene decides he has to be the hero and tries to push Prometheus down, despite the Green Arrow’s orders not to engage.

When they get back to the Arrow lair, everyone is mad at Wild Dog. Rene is confident, though. He snatched a piece of evidence, but he doesn’t get the chance to tell Oliver that. The Green Arrow comes in and immediately starts berating the team before Felicity pulls him away. “There is having no bedside manner, and then there is being physically and emotionally abusive,” Felicity says.

She tells him that he needs to start actually teaching them and be a little nicer. Felicity explains that Rene got their only piece of evidence, a piece of fabric from the villain. Felicity goes to her new detective boyfriend, Billy Malone (Tyler Ritter), to get him to analyze the fabric. It turns out the rag is over 2,000 years old and radioactive.

All the recruits quit. Oliver tells Curtis that he wanted them to work together, but Curtis says they can’t trust him. He tears people down, and that’s why his first team left. Even Curtis has to leave.

Oliver realizes that he failed as a leader. Felicity notes that he never really planned to be a leader. She says that when she got to know Oliver, she was struck by his passion and focus. However, the recruits have only seen the scary guy in green.

Oliver explains that the Bratva doesn’t use real names. You don’t talk about your past. “Without personal attachment, there can be no loss,” Oliver explains. He was protecting himself by hiding his identity. Felicity notes that the old team trusted Ollie, not the Green Arrow.

Still doing the mayor’s work, Thea goes to the hospital. To her surprise, she finds the Amertek leader conversing with Tobias Church (Chad L. Coleman). They’re selling weapons to the crime boss, so the villain in rags might be a good guy after all.

Oliver stakes out Tobias and the Amertek leader’s meeting, but Ragman interrupts first. Church isn’t worried about saving his business associate. He might save $100 million if she gets killed. Ragman is coming after her because Amertek’s missile is the only one that landed in Havenrock last year. Ragman is the last living soul from Havenrock, and he doesn’t seem to realize that Felicity is the one who diverted the missile to hit the town. Felicity watches the confrontation via security cameras.

Oliver tells Ragman to let the businesswoman go. Ragman reveals himself to be a young man, Rory (Joe Dinicol). His father wrapped him in the special rags on genesis day to protect him. Oliver says his own father wanted him to be better a better man, and he has failed his father. Oliver says they should honor the legacies of their fathers together. It looks like Rory might be a new recruit.

Still, the mayor hasn’t forgotten about Star City’s other amateur heroes. Oliver meets with his recruits again. He takes off the mask and says that he wants to build the trust. They all agree to return.

Elsewhere in this episode:

• Prometheus attacks Church outside of a nightclub. “You almost killed the Green Arrow the other night. If you had you would be dead right now,” Prometheus says. The new archer says the Green Arrow is his personal target.
• Diggle (David Ramsey) is in the Middle East and is running an op to get a nuclear weapon out of enemy hands. Diggle’s crew is actually planning to steal the nuke. They hold him at gunpoint and forge a confession to frame him.
• Diggle also mentions his son, a ramification of the Flashpoint arc on “The Flash” Season 3.
• In Russian flashbacks, Oliver has to ring a bell, but so do a bunch of recruits. They eventually figure out that they have to work together. They don’t all win, though. Ringing the bell means that Oliver is the only one who doesn’t get killed. Anatoly (David Nykl) says that Oliver is smart, and that’s what the Bratva wants. He also notes that the only person Oliver should trust or worry about is himself.
• Thea wants to hire Quentin (Paul Blackthorne), but Oliver confirms that he’s drinking. It was the former detective’s door that the villain came through. Still, Thea really wants to hire him as Deputy Mayor. She thinks maybe this could be his reason to stay sober.

“Arrow” Season 5 airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EDT on The CW.