Catching up
Ra’s al Ghul wants Ollie to become his heir. When he refused, Ra’s, Maseo, and the League of Assassins made it appear that the Arrow had turned his ways and was now killing innocents. The police task force was put back in motion. Ra’s revealed the Arrow’s identity to Laurel’s dad and Ollie eventually turned himself in. Roy then staged it to appear he was actually the Arrow. In prison, he was stabbed by a guard and killed. But it was a part of a plan by Diggle and Felicity to fake his death. Ra’s then stabbed Thea who Ollie managed to rush to the hospital. She was stable but on life support with no hopes of coming out of it. His only choice was to accept his “destiny” to become Ra’s heir. In return, Thea could be saved by being placed in a Lazarus Pit. Ollie now has to fulfill his part of the agreement.
Note: There will be spoilers in the recap and review.
Recap
Ollie goes through intense training and conditioning. When he’s not training, he’s kept locked up and the affects are weighing in on him. It turns out, it’s only been three weeks. He’s being conditioned to accept that “Oliver Queen is only alive in the past.” He is accepting his place as Al Sah-Him. Diggle tries sneaking but is captured. Diggle says they’re lying about him trying to sneak back, he was never allowed to leave. Al Sah-Him doesn’t care. He instructs Diggle’s chains to be removed and a sword given to him because he won’t kill an unarmed man. They fight for a bit and he stabs him. It turns out he was exposed by a rare herb and he was just seeing things. So it looks like Ollie was willing to actually kill Diggle because that’s what he was seeing?
Flashback to the past in Hong Kong and trying to stop the virus.
Ra’s tells Ollie about his time arriving to become the next Ra’s al Ghul. He didn’t succeed in killing another vying for the position and he escaped with some men. Ra’s says Ollie has to eliminate the threat. He even tried purchasing Malcolm Merlyn’s earthquake machine.
Black Canary continues fighting with Nyssa close by. Laurel shares the training by showing Nyssa how they do things in the real world, i.e. shakes and fried foods. Laurel finally tells her that Ollie accepted Ra’s offer. Nyssa is not happy and storms off.
Thea and Felicity have dinner with Diggle and Lyla. Felicity tries convincing Diggle he needs a costume or some sort of concealing outfit if he’s going to keep going out on patrol. Thea’s trying to cope with being resurrected and blames herself for Ollie being gone.
In Hong Kong, it appears that the government is giving a cure to the virus that’s been unleashed. Ollie knows that Waller says there isn’t one. They must be trying to infect even more people. They attack to destroy whatever it is they’re injecting the people with.
Nyssa tells Laurel she needs to leave her side. Now that he’s accepted his position, he’ll be coming after her. Ollie and some men arrive on the rooftop and he says she has to face justice for her betrayal. Nyssa and Laurel go to Felicity and Diggle after Laurel insists. She tries explaining that he is brainwashed and will do what he has to. Thea later goes to Felicity about wanting to take a more active role. Felicity explains that Ollie may be back in town, brainwashed, and going after Nyssa.
Nyssa waits on the rooftop where Sara died. Ollie says he’s there to bring her back to Nanda Parbat. The fight begins. Laruel and Diggle arrive just as Ollie is about to kill her. Laurel unleashes her new Canary blast. Ollie decides to leave. He tells Maseo it’s because Nyssa had friends with her. Thea visits Merlyn and says she has to do something to save her brother. Felicity and Diggle arrive at his place to find the baby left alone. Ollie calls and says he has 30 minutes to bring Nyssa. They have Lyla tied up. Diggle insists to Nyssa that she make the deal. During the exchange, Nyssa refuses to bow to the “true heir.” It was a trapped and they attack the Assassins. Nyssa is taken. Ollie stabs Diggle and is ready to finish him. Diggle tries talking him out of it. Just as Ollie is about to deliver the blow, an arrow pierces his arm. Thea orders him to get away.
Ra’s makes a speech to Nyssa. Ollie is about to kill her when Ra’s stops him. He says Ollie has defeated his rival and there’s no need to spill her blood. Maybe there’s another use for her. He says she is to be Ollie’s wife, the Bride of the Demon. She’s not too happy about it.
Thea is alone thinking things over. Felicity arrives. Thea says he should have let her die. They discuss how they still love him despite what he’s become. She finally tells Thea that Roy is still alive. She can leave and start a new life with him, if she wants it.
Cut to everyone being sad, thinking about the loss of Ollie.
Ra’s tells Ollie his final act in ridding himself of his former life is to unleash the virus (from the past) upon Starling City.
Thoughts
This show is definitely all over the place. That's not necessarily a bad thing. We have discussed, in the past, how this show, in many ways, just doesn't feel like a Green Arrow show. There are so many Batman elements being injected into it. It does provide for some cool moments and visuals. Part of me wonders if we'll ever go back to seeing Arrow, dressed in green, trying to save his city. Ever since Ra's al Ghul became a big part of the plot, the show's been veering away into other territories. The inclusion of an actual Lazarus Pit to save Thea cemented it even further.
Ollie as Al Sah-him could provide an interesting subplot. It'd be great to be able to see him venture off to other areas doing what needs to be done. But because we still have a pretty large cast in Starling City (even though Roy's no longer around), it's clear the show still needs to focus on them as well. Despite all the conditioning and brainwashing, I'm sure we can all agree that Ollie will soon overcome it and return to fight Ra's. The idea of him becoming his heir is just too Batman-ish. The mention of the "Bride of the Demon" makes it even more so.
Stephen Amell is doing a nice job conveying Ollie as being brainwashed and loyal. We can't help but think he's putting on an act for Ra's. It seems the others truly believe Ollie is "gone," especially with the cheesy montage towards the end. We have seen lots of fake outs in the last few episodes. Could this be another one? Is anyone in on Ollie's plan to pretend to truly have accepted his "destiny" or do they all believe he actually has?
Nyssa's actually starting to grow on me. Seeing her trying to adjust to the regular world was entertaining. I know we don't need more members to the cast but we also do need someone to help train Laurel some more. I do have to wonder why wasn’t Lyla gagged when she was captured? She was allowed to talk on and on to Ollie. The flashbacks to Hong Kong felt obtrusive in this episode. Yes, they deal with the virus but they just popped in and interrupted the flow of the show.
We'll have to see how far Ollie will go in proving himself to Ra's al Ghul. He did say he was convinced but he keeps coming up with things for Ollie to do as his puppet.