Arrow 'The Secret Origin Of Felicity Smoak' Recap, S3 EP5, Cyber Attack On Starling City

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After failing to find Sarah's assassin in last weeks episode of "Arrow," this week on "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak," the fifth episode of the action packed third season, Smoak and The Arrow struggle to fight a Cyber bug that has attack Starling City.

Felicity sort of came out of the blue in this weeks all new episode of "Arrow" her mother Donna pays a visit forcing her to relive her darker past.

Thea is looking to get a place of her own and things get a little fishy when she uses Malcolm Merlyn's "estate money" to buy it.

Meanwhile Laurel is still dealing with the death of Sarah and is still looking for a way to get even with her killer once she finds he/she.

The action begins as Oliver and Roy are training and somewhere else so is Laurel and Thea. Oliver senses that Roy is off his game and gains the upper hand. Ted senses that Laurel is fighting with too much aggression.

Felicity gets through her morning exercise and is interrupted by her boss Ray Palmer, who bombards her about brand new technology.

Then when things couldn't get worst for Felicity her mother Donna barges in unannounced and she already begins her flashbacks to her younger years.

She appears as an emo teen in college who is surrounded by two friends who also share the same passion for hacking as she did.

After a bad hack Felicity and her boyfriend get into an argument over why erasing the student loans would be a bad idea.

Meanwhile, Thea signs the lease on a new apartment and Oliver questions where she got the money to do it.

Upon learning that Merlyn was the one who gave her the money for the club and the apartment Oliver is upset.

He tells her that Merlyn will own her as long as he accepts the money and when he pulls her dead brother card, she gives him an ultimatum, either get involved or stay out.

Just then something happens and the entire Starling City goes dark. Transformers begin to blow and things begin to go haywire as the Cyber attack begins on the city.

A voice speaks to the city and says that they are in control now. The resume the light but warn of their takeover.

Already it looks like the cyber attack has something to do with Felicity's past, perhaps her old boyfriend is the one who is responsible?

Felicity brings her mom to the club while she tries to figure out what is going on. Oliver ran into the two and he almost exposes himself until he see's her.

Diggle comes in with his daughter and everything is all out of sync.

Oliver isn't comfortable with having Diggle's daughter in the war-room, so they give the task of babysitting to Felicity's mom.

After the babysitting is sorted out, they begin to try to figure out what is going on and Detective Lance makes sure that they are on it.

Another flashback occurs and Felicity and her boyfriend continue to fight and just when things got better her boyfriend is arrested and taken away from her. The voice of Brother Eye begins speaking again and threatens to wipe out all of the money in banks.

Laurel is now acting District Attorney and issues an ESU. When national bank comes under attack from worried civilians, Oliver and Roy suit up to try and help out with some damage control.

Felicity recognizes the virus as something she wrote five years ago and says that she can't stop it.

Things begin to get a lot clearer upon this realization. It looks like Felicity is indeed meeting up with a love of the past that is now coming back to haunt her in a way she can only understand.

Felicity is clearly shaken up and tells Oliver she didn't think it would be used for something like this. Oliver tries to calm her down and tells her to tell him what happens.

She talks about being a "hacktavist" and how she created the super virus to expose government fraud and more.

She says Myron Forrest was the only one who had access to the virus and when Oliver asks her about her boyfriend, she says that he couldn't have after being detained.

She then flashes back to where she visited her boyfriend in jail. Her boyfriend made her promise that she would not tell the police that she wrote the virus and that he already discussed everythign with Myron.

Meanwhile, Laurel is struggling to handle the riot and sending in a riot squad made things worst.

Her father scolds her for being wreck-less and asks her to tell him what is going on. He urges her to let her secrets out to someone if not him because he sees how bad it's affecting her.

Oliver meets up with Thea because he is worried about her. They talk about what has been going on and Thea says that they are all they have. He asks her not to take the money but he says she needs to be met halfway.

Oliver gets a message and it's time for him to step back in the line of fire.

The Arrow and Roy catch up with Myron and and try to extract information from him. Myron denies being Brother Eye and says that he showed it off to people years ago.

Felicity finally tells Oliver that her boyfriend went to prison and died while in there. He hung himself before sentencing and Oliver may have pushed a little too far causing Felicity's emotions to get the best of her. Ray walks in on Felicity who is crying and he offers her a drink.

She tells him a lie about why she is sad and then asks him for advice, before her mom walks in and demands to talk to her.

Felicity and her mom get into an argument about not having time for each other and as her emotions race Felicity is overwhelmed and said that she is sorry she failed her mom.

Her mother calms her down and tells her that she was afraid that Felicity would leave her. In another emotional twist her mother walks out after baring information that Felicity may not have known.

It turns out that her mother really did care all along and just didn't want to be left alone like they both were by her dad.

This episode is one of the more emotional ones in terms of character development. Apparently Felicity has come a long way from her "Hacktavist" days and is forced to revisit a time she would rather not.

Felicity rejoins Oliver, Diggle and Roy who are all worried about her. Oliver urges her to go talk to her mom and that family is precious. He gives her an hour to leave and gather herself before she comes back to help the team.

Felicity visits her mom and begins to reason with her. Her mother reveals that she had gotten a surprise email before she came to visit her and it all begins to make sense.

Two men barge in and kidnap them both and now they are front and center for Brother Eye.

Felicity faces her first love who now reveals himself to be the hacker.

As predicted earlier, Cooper Seldon is the man behind Brother Eye. For those wondering what Brother Eye originated from, it was said to be the Artificial Intelligence Satellite used by OMAC.

After discovering that Felicity is now working for corporate America he turned away from reaching out to her to help him in his hostile take over. Cooper demands help from Felicity and uses her mother as incentive. When Oliver and the rest of the team can't find Felicity they get worried.

Felicity does exactly what Cooper wants but he tells her to stay put just incase she screwed him over. Ray's watch that was given to Donna begins to go off and Felicity accesses it to send a signal to Oliver.

Just when Cooper is about to shoot Felicity her mother stands up for her and then The Arrow comes in for the rescue. Arrow begins his fight against the motion sensored machine guns and outside Roy and Diggle battle Cooper's goons.

Diggle and Roy clear the front as Oliver continues his onslaught on the inside. Cooper holds Felicity hostage but she fights back and eventually stops him. Felicity shares an embrace with her mother after a moment of triumph.

In the aftermath, Felicity and Oliver talk about everything that went on and she thanks him for pushing her. Oliver gives her more encouraging words and tells her once again how he feels about her.

She agrees with him on loving your family and leaves him. In one final flashback Myron was the first man to lay his eyes on the new Felicity post Cooper's arrest.

Laurel is back in the picture again and opens up to Ted about her sister's death. She tells him that she is the only one who knows she is gone and Ted vows her help her with her anger.

She agrees to follow up on the training and it looks like there is another hero in the making.

Oliver ends up meeting Thea halfway and shows up to Thea's new place with some popcorn. Thea tells Oliver that they should spend more time together and asks him to move in with her.

Thea promises to donate Malcolm's money once the club starts running and Oliver agrees. Meanwhile, perched on a rooftop watching Thea and Oliver bond is Malcolm and he does not look pleased.

The episode ends as Felicity says goodbye to her mom. She tells her that she appreciates everything that her mom did for her and thanks her.

Felicity says that her mom was wrong about her because she gets her toughness from her, and Ray interrupts once again. He just can't seem to find the right moment to approach Felicity about work.

Roy is being haunted by a memory and realizes that he is Sarah's killer!

"The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak" answers a lot of questions when it comes to Felicity's past. She has come a long way from stumbling into Oliver's path on occasion.

Starling City almost loses it to the vicious Cyber attack but once again The Arrow and Felicity manage to save the day.

Is Roy really Sarah's killer or is he being forced to remember something he didn't do? Fans who want to see what happens next will have to tune into "Arrow" Wednesdays on The CW and for those who haven't gotten enough, you can head over to The CW to catch up on all the "Arrow" extras.