With Ra’s al Ghul offering Arrow the position of head of The League of Assassins, the question of this week’s episode is what will his response be?
Fortunately Ra’s doesn’t demand an answer from our hero straight away. If he did that would speed things up a tad. As it stands Team Arrow retreat to Starling City as Oliver contemplates the demon’s offer. Of course Oliver has to say no. The change here would be too radical for this show in its third season. Then again for all I know there’s a rug involved and someone waiting a little down the line to pull it out from under my feet.
Elsewhere Nyssa surprisingly chooses not to exact vengeance on Thea, though a scuffle with Roy and Laurel. Nyssa is unsurprisingly less than pleased with her father’s attempts at making Oliver his heir. A few unexpected twists occur in the process that mean we’ll likely be seeing more of her in the coming weeks. Her scenes with her father are some of the more powerful and bring some good tension. In a good way too, as I feel she’s been humanised considerably after this week.
We also get some much needed insight into Ra’s’ immortality. It’s not so much a pit, more of a water source in general. So there’s a suitable level of mysticism with a semi-rational explanation. More interestingly, we find out that Oliver was not revived by those waters. Whatever Tatsu did, it doesn’t involve Ra’s al Ghul’s Lazarus pit.
In flashbacks we see Oliver becoming more responsible in looking after Maseo’s son. We see shades of the responsible adult figure he will become later. However, the main draw of the flashbacks is a last-minute reveal that raises a whole lot of questions.
Captain Lance is mad at two people this week: Laurel and the Arrow. A heartbreaking scene between father and daughter over her deception could well be one of the most wrenching scenes this season. The shoot-up in the police station is a horrifying scene. Even the well-staged fighting from our heroes (and Nyssa) does nothing to stem the fact that a lot of unnamed people die this week. Oliver might be having a personal crisis, but a lot of the drama here isn’t resolved. We’re not sure if Captain Lance will ever forgive Laurel.
Nyssa is also having fatherly problems this week, and takes Laurel under her wing, presumably with training to follow. I can only assume that Thea will probably get in on this at some point, considering her father is recovering on a sofa in the flat she shares with her brother.
Diggle and Felicty take emotional anchor duties this week. Both get through to Oliver in their own way: one reminds him of who he truly is, and the other gives him the why as to how he continues to be the Arrow and help the people of Starling City. It goes without saying that Oliver as head of the league would be a compelling story. However, that is most definitely not who he is right now. Ra’s doesn’t take it well though, and his actions towards the end of the episode mean that the Arrow’s reputation will be tarnished.
With season 3 rapidly closing in on its final episodes, Arrow needs to stop meandering on sub-plots and start laying groundwork. While there have been bits and pieces, having A.T.O.M and Flash crossovers (I love those) does mean less focus on the show on its own. It feels more like a launch pad for other potential shows which is always awesome, but still feels lacking for it.
How will Oliver deal with Ra’s’ attempts to discredit him? Will Laurel be able to find forgiveness from her father? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
