Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 19 - Canary Cry

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.































Plot

In the wake of Laurel Lance's death, Team Arrow is more broken than ever.  John Diggle in particular is shaken, blaming himself for not seeing his brother Andy's treachery coming. And as a distraught Quentin Lance turns to Nyssa Al'Ghul for some way - any way - to restore his daughter to life, reports come in of a new Black Canary assaulting the corrupt administration of the newly elected Mayor Adams.


Influences

Kevin Smith's Quiver (The vigilante running around when everyone who knows them believes them to be dead plot came from this Green Arrow mini-series, though it had a seemingly back-from-the-dead Green Arrow rather than Black Canary)


Goofs

Curiously, everyone is given a chance to vent about their feelings of guilt over Laurel's death except Thea. While the episode is already top-heavy with grief speeches, you'd think Thea might have been given one as well since her failure to kill Merlyn when he stole Darhk's idol also indirectly led to the events that saw Laurel die.

I've taken the show to task before for how Laurel Lance was fast-tracked from lawyer who had taken a few self-defense classes to vigilante capable of fighting multiple League of Assassins members simultaneously over the course of Season 3. That's nothing compared to how quickly Evelyn Sharp fills Laurel's boots, managing to hack one of Cisco Ramon's weapons, improve upon it and use it to far greater effectiveness than Laurel ever did in a matter of hours! To say nothing of how effective she is planing out her attacks on Mayor Adams and her underlings.

Did anyone ever tell Nyssa that Sara recovered after the events of episode 405? It seems like she still thinks Sara is dead or soulless based on her talk with Quentin.

While the emotion in the scene that follows is honestly played, Stephen Amell and David Ramsey shouting at each other in their Christian Bale Batman voices is just goofy as all hell.

If the goal of this episode was to try and paint a rosier picture of Laurel in death, then the flashbacks have a damn curious way of going about it. Not only are we reminded that Laurel was the sort of person who broke the rules to get ahead in her job (we find out she literally bought her way into the Presidency of her Senior Class), but we find out that she was all but recovered from Tommy Merlyn's death after a week and was putting the moves on Ollie and talking about looking forward to a future together with him.

For that matter, Green Arrow pleading to the fake Canary that she's dishonoring the legacy of the heroine she saw fighting HIVE on the night he failed to save her family REALLY shouldn't work, given that - logically - Evelyn Sharp should be just as pissed at Black Canary leaving her and her family to die as she is Green Arrow.


Performances

Paul Blackthorne's performance in this episode is nothing short of phenomenal. You feel every bit of his pain and his denial is completely understandable, given how purposefully ignorant he's been kept of the strangeness Team Arrow deals with and how much he's learned in spite of that. All things considered, his belief that Laurel is alive somehow isn't nearly as insane as it might seem on the surface. After all, he's lost his other daughter twice before...

David Ramsey is right behind Blackthorne on the Episode MVP list and it's still a close thing. Ramsey usually plays Diggle with restraint and control, as befits his soldier's training. We know from past episodes that when Diggle loses control, things are bad. Yet we've never seen John as bad-off as he is in this episode and an enraged Diggle is something to behold.

Stephen Amell gives Oliver Queen a remarkable level of power in this episode. With everyone else crumbling around him, it is Ollie who has to be the pillar for everyone else.  Ollie's always been the leader of Team Arrow but this is one of the first times we've seen him truly take the mantle on in a capacity outside of the battlefield.

Katrina Law plays Nyssa with her usual level of gravitas, despite not having a lot to do in this episode. Still, she makes the most of what brief scenes she has.

Emily Bett Rickards is just plain scary as Felicity in the final scene in the car with Oliver. You know it's bad when Felicity has gone hard-core.


Artistry

There's some nice parkouring action as Green Arrow chases down the fake Canary.

It's a nice subtle note in the blocking, but none of the police move to obey Mayor Adams' order to arrest The Green Arrow or even bother to shoot at him as he escapes. Apparently they aren't ready to start hunting the local hero down just yet...


Trivia

This episode did not open with the usual "My name is Oliver Queen" intro.

The teenage girl who becomes the new Black Canary is named Evelyn Sharp. She shares a name with two prominent feminist icons - an American aviator who was one of the first female pilots and a British suffragist.


Technobabble

Cisco Ramon keyed the sonic device that provided Laurel with her canary cry to Laurel's vocal chords. This was to prevent anyone else from being able to use it.

A frequent-flyer is a slang-term used by hospital personnel to refer to patients who frequently check themselves into the emergency room. Dr. Schwartz believes one of them may have taken Laurel's choker with the canary cry device.

The fake Canary uses the sonic device at higher decibels than Laurel ever did. She also modified it so that it would overpower the earplugs Team Arrow wore so as not to be affected by the canary cry.


Dialogue Triumphs

(John is on the phone with Lyla, checking on her. He hangs up and looks up to see Oliver standing in front of the case where Laurel kept her costume.)
John: Didn't expect to see you standing there.
Oliver: Where else would I go?

Oliver: Are you worried about your brother?
John: I don't think he'd do anything to hurt my family, but... I don't know. Clearly I never knew him.
Oliver: Alright, John. As the...world's leading expert in blaming yourself, please don't do it.
John: You warned me, Oliver. Straight up, you warned me. If I'd listened to you instead of trusting my brother, Laurel would be alive right now.
Oliver: You can't know that.

(Oliver is sitting at the table in The Bunker. He looks up and is surprised to see Felicity walk in with John and Thea)
Oliver: Hi. I didn't know-
Felicity: You called for the team.

Quentin: Thanks for coming.
Nyssa: I fear I lack the words to convey the true depths of my sympathy. To lose a child once is unimaginable... but for it to be both children...
Quentin: Listen, I know you and I haven't always been on the same side of things, but, uh, Laurel, you know, she thought of you as a friend.
Nyssa: Just as I thought of her. She brought me comfort during a difficult time period. The world will be a darker place without her.
Quentin: Yeah, well, not for long. Okay. I got all of her things. What else do I need?
Nyssa: I'm afraid I don't understand.
Quentin: What else do I have to bring for her when she comes out of this, you know, Lazarus Pit thing?
Nyssa: I would do anything for your daughter, but I destroyed The Pit months ago.
Quentin: Um, ok, well... there's gotta be something else.
Nyssa: I am so very sorry.
Quentin: So you don't want to help me?
(Nyssa just bites her lip and looks conflicted.)
Quentin: Fine. I'll find some other way to bring her back.

Oliver: I tried to do the right thing and i came up short. I came up short for that girl. And for Laurel. Maybe I shouldn't feel responsible, but I do.
Felicity: Yeah. That's going around.
Oliver: You mean John?
Felicity: I mean me. John was looking for someone to absolve him.Reassure him that what happened wasn't his fault. And I couldn't do it. I think, for a second, I let him blame himself, because for a minute it saved me from blaming me. (starting to sob) I should have been there. I wasn't there for the team, in The Bunker. I know I would have just been behind a keyboard. I know it seems like hubris, but I've made a difference before and I can't help but think that maybe if I was there, you know, maybe she'd still be here?!
Oliver: Do you know why I always blame myself in situations like this? Because at least it's an answer. Sometimes we need a reason... when a situation is completely unreasonable.

Oliver: Laurel is gone and there is no bringing her back!
Quentin: No, no, no! To hell with that! And if you don't want to help me, then to hell with you too!
Oliver: I am helping you -
Quentin: No, you're not! Because you know why? Because you do not know what it is like to lose a child! No idea!

Oliver: But I have lost a father! I have lost a mother! And I have lost Laurel! We have lost her!
Quentin: (stopping walking, the fight suddenly seeming to flow out of him) Yeah.  We have. 

Oliver: If there was a way - if there was ANY way to bring her back, I woul find it and I would do it... but there isn't. For either of us.
Quentin: (turning to Oliver) You don't understand! When I lost Sara? When I became a drunk? When no one else believed in me, she did! She's my rock!  I... (quietly) she was my rock.

(Quentin collapses to his knees, sobbing. Oliver puts a hand his shoulder.)

Oliver: I knew Laurel Lance for... almost her entire life. She was my friend. And I loved her. Before she died, I was lucky enough to hear her say that she loved me too. Laurel Lance became a lawyer to help people, who may have appeared helpless. She wanted to give a voice to the silent. But just being a lawyer wasn't enough! She wanted to do more for those people and for this city. Because she loved this city so much. By now, everyone knows that Laurel was killed in the Iron Height's prison riot. And while it's true that she was an assistant District Attorney, that's not what she was doing there that night. Before she died, Laurel told me the truth. Laurel Lance was The Black Canary! In the past few days, I have had to sit and listen to people try to paint the Black Canary as a criminal. She was not a criminal! She was a hero!  She was a hero in every way that a person can be, And if Laurel were here, I know that she would expect all of us to live up the example that she set. She'd want us to save our city.

Oliver: Are you ok?
Felicity: Are you?
Oliver: No.
Felicity: You know what you have to do, right? You have to kill the son of a bitch!
Oliver: I know. (pauses) I don't know how.
Felicity: Because of his magic?
Oliver: It's too strong. I've seen it before. Back on Lian Yu. And it is not just magic. It's darkness. And whenever I have come up against it, I have gone nowhere. He feels unstoppable.
Felicity: I refuse to believe that. And I refuse to let you believe that. If Darhk wins, Laurel died for nothing! I fell in love with you for many reasons and one of those reasons is that you always find a way. And you have to find a way now. For Laurel. For the city. For all of us. 

Dialogue Disasters

(After kissing Ollie a week after Tommy Merlyn's funeral.)
Laurel: I'm really excited about the future, Ollie


Continuity

The Merlyn and Lance families are apparently both Catholic, based on their funerals.

John Diggle refers to his sister-in-law, Carly, and nephew, Andy Jr., not seen since Season One.

Dr. Schwartz, the doctor who handled Laurel in this hospital, is aware of her secret identity and seems to know that Oliver Queen is The Green Arrow.

Evelyn refers to the events of 409 and how Green Arrow and Black Canary left the various people brainwashed by HIVE for dead in Reddington when he was focused on saving John, Felicity and Thea. This is a reference to Reddington Industrial - the building HIVE was using as a base.

Evelyn Sharp is her class President, a gymnast and an academic decathlete. Her parents were found dead of hypoxia, two days after Christmas 2015.

Nyssa seems to be unaware of Sara Lance's recovery, referring to Quentin having lost both his daughters.

Nyssa refers to the destruction of the Lazarus Pit in 403.

Laurel was elected Student Body President of her and Ollie's senior class. She won by exchanging gift-baskets for votes. Ollie says this was Tommy's idea.

Dinah Drake, last seen in 309, is seen at Laurel's funeral.

It is revealed that Oliver returned to Lian Yu in between Season One and Season Two because he feared holding Laurel back in her efforts to save Starling City.

It is also revealed that he left Laurel the picture of her that he carried with him during his give years of exile, along with his Dear John letter.

The flash-forward sequences from 401 and 410 are seen in-whole in the episode's final scene.

Laurel's tombstone has her full name - Dinah Laurel Lance - as well as her codename - The Black Canary - carved into it.


Location

The flashbacks are set in Starling City - May 2013, after the end of Season One.


The Fridge Factor

Averted hard with Evelyn Sharp, who proves to be hyper-competent as the faux-Canary.


The Winick Factor

Laurel is remembered in the flashbacks as the scheming opportunist she was back in Season 2. Some of Laurel's fans on-line may believe this was a disservice to the character. I believe the real disservice was in giving such a despicable character the same name as one of my favorite comic book heroines. I've said it once and I'll say it again - Laurel is Black Canary in name only.


The Bottom Line

Easily the strongest episode of the season to date. Laurel's death, for better or worse, has raised the stakes on this show immeasurably and for the first time in several episodes there is an actual sense of urgency to the plot. The subplot with the Black Canary impersonator is utter nonsense but - much like the better episodes of The Flash this year -  the villain is a brilliant framing device for the short, character-driven scenes and excellent performances that were what made Arrow great before the series began treading water waiting to reach this point. Now that it's here, I am excited about next week's episode in a way I haven't been for some time.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 13 - Sins Of The Father

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

With Thea's bloodlist having sent her into a coma, Oliver is desperate for anything that might cure her condition. Enter Nyssa Al Ghul with a solution and an offer - kill Malcolm Merlyn and the cure for Thea's condition is yours!. But can Ollie easily sell out Merlyn, who - in spite of everything that has passed between them - has proven to be a reliable ally where Thea is concerned? Meanwhile, Felicity tries to mend the bridge between herself and her estranged father, not knowing that he is the murderous master-hacker known as The Calculator.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the flashback sequences on Lian Yu) and Hamlet (Oliver's conflict on whether or not he can justly kill Merlyn mirrors the central conflict of the play.)


Goofs

Again, we have to wonder why Nyssa hasn't killed Laurel, given her role in resurrecting her beloved as a soulless monster. Logically she should hate Laurel second to no one but Merlyn at this point.

Calculator's arrest at the end of the episode was incredibly anti-climactic.


Performances

Katrina Law gives her usual stellar performance as Nyssa.

Charlotte Ross hasn't been given much to do besides play comic relief as Donna Smoak. But she nails the speech where Donna advises Felicity that people don't change. You see that bubbly facade fade away and see the woman who - though she's not too bright - was determined to give it all to provide for her daughter after she was abandoned by the man she loved.

Stephen Amell gives a Shakespearean performance here, really making Oliver's conflict over what he must do in this situation apparent without descending into angst.

While verging into melodrama occasionally, John Barrowman's turn as Malcolm Merlyn in this episode reminds of the vicious insanity of the character, which hasn't been apparent in recent episodes. It isn't subtle but damned if the performance isn't effective.


Artistry

The fight scene in which Team Arrow finds themselves on the streets of Star City, caught between two groups of assassins with innocent people in the crossfire was amazing.

The script for this episode is very well written, with multiple levels and thematic parallels and a lot of witty dialogue. The key question of this episode - Can People Change? - is repeated throughout both storylines and goes to the very core of what Green Arrow is about. Because what is Oliver Queen's story if not that of a man who tries to change himself for the better?


Trivia

The episode's title comes from a phrase repeated throughout The Bible (primarily in the books Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers), regarding the mistakes of one generation passing on to the next.

We're told Felicity had a stuffed toy bear called Mr. Square Bear whens he was a girl. Square Bear was also the name of one of the bears on the classic cartoon Help!... It's The Hair Bear Bunch!

Nyssa and her group of assassins are based in an abandoned complex located at 7th and Rucka. This is a nod to writer Greg Rucka, who co-created the character of  Nyssa.

One of the stores we see in the background during the street fight sequence is called Janson's Collectibles. This is a nod to writer/artist/inker Klaus Janson, who co-created the character of Nyssa.


Technobabble

Felicity describes Curtis Holt's T-Sphere as an autonomous communications device, three generations beyond Bluetooth. There are no seams in the casing, as it was built from a single piece of aluminum. The entire surface connects to an induction charger. Calculator inquires as to how they achieved the heat sink but Felicity doesn't answer him.

Calculator tries to leave an IR burst receiver - an incredibly advanced device that can suck the data out of any room you put it into - in the Palmer Technologies R&D lab.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: If you cared about Thea, then curing her bloodlust wouldn't come with any conditions.
Nyssa: Thea is my sister-in-law. You are my husband.
Oliver: I'm not your husband!
Nyssa: But war does not know family bonds nor friendly sentiments.
Oliver: Who are you at war with?
Nyssa: I just told you I want you to kill Malcolm Merlyn. Try to guess.
Oliver: If you have a problem with Malcolm Merlyn, deal with it yourself! Do not involve me or my sister!
Nyssa: You put the Demon's Head ring on Malcolm's hand! You—
Oliver: You can't defeat him.
Nyssa: But you can. You have!
Oliver: And that was before I knew that he was my sister's father.
Nyssa: So he dies so his child might live. Didn't your father make a similar bargain? I'm sorry, Oliver. I would not resort to this if I had any other choice.
Oliver: Nyssa, my sister is dying because of something that your father did. I think you have every choice.
Nyssa: Thea is dying because of what her father did. I am only following events to their inevitable conclusion.

Calculator: And you know why the police were after me? The type of criminal I was?
Felicity: Mom never went into detail. I assume petty stuff. Anything else requires commitment.

Assassin: We found her (Laurel) at the perimeter. She claims to be a friend.
Nyssa: And she speaks the truth. At least until she defiled my beloved and stood idly by while I was left to rot in a dungeon.

Felicity: Is it possible that he's not the guy we thought he was, that maybe he's better than we thought he was?
Donna Smoak: No. Felicity, I would love to think that your father didn't show up with some ulterior motive in your life right now, but I've been where you are more times than I care to admit, and it always ends the same way. He tells you exactly what you want to hear, and you get sucked in, and the next thing you know, you have no job, no money, and a sweet 7-year-old daughter who needs a new pair of shoes and wants to go to Space Camp. People don't change, even if you want them to.

Nyssa: You come dressed for battle, Al Sa-Her.
Merlyn: Just for the occasion.
(Merlyn slips the Ring of Ra's Al Ghul off his hand and holds it up.) 
Merlyn: In exchange for my daughter's life.
Nyssa: (holding up the bottle of The Lotus) I'm glad you've finally seen reason.
Merlyn: Sadly, the only thing I have seen is your quick and speedy death.
Oliver: Malcolm!
(Merlyn's assassins enter the room.)
Nyssa: I knew you couldn't be trusted!
Merlyn: You knew? And yet you didn't prepare. And here you are out-numbered, out-gunned, out-maneuvered. Per usual.

Oliver: Taiana, I know what you're going through. It's this feeling in the pit of your stomach. It's an emptiness—
Taiana: Don't you dare try to help me mourn my brother that you took from me!
Oliver: Please... just listen...
Taiana: You know nothing about how I feel! A man with a heart as small as yours is incapable of such things!
Oliver: My father sacrificed himself so I could survive. So that I could right his wrongs. He did it by pulling out a gun and shooting himself in the head, not three feet from me. Since that day I have lost four more people that I loved... that I cared so much about. It never gets easier. Ever.
Taiana: I could see it in your eyes. From the moment we first met.
Oliver: That I was good?
Taiana: No. That you were lost, shattered. (Breathes deeply) There is a Russian saying-- "Tot zhe molot chto drobit steklo, kuyet stal." "The same hammer that shatters glass forges steel." If you want to be the man that your father wishes you to be, then this is how you'll get there. You'll save us from Reiter. But you cannot do so shattered.

Oliver: You set a trap for him as a test.
Felicity: Unrestricted access to Palmer Technologies' R&D lab. He flunked with flying colors. I don't even know why I'm surprised.
Oliver: You're surprised because you're hoping that he's the parent you've always wanted him to be... the parent you deserve.
Felicity: In an extremely ironic role reversal, my mother was smarter than me. She said, "People don't change, no matter how much you want them to."
Oliver: Some people don't.
Felicity: Uh-huh.
Oliver: I'd like to think that there's hope for the rest of us. Or I did as far as Malcolm is concerned. John thinks I should kill him.
Felicity: If it'd help save Thea, I agree.
Oliver: Yeah, and I'd agree if he wasn't Thea's father, but he is.
Felicity: We are in this mess because of him on, like, a million different levels. Let's not pretend that this is a typical father-daughter relationship. He brainwashed her into killing a friend!
Oliver: I know all this. I do. And I'm still holding out hope that with--with-- with time and with how much he says that he loves her that maybe they have some chance at some type of normal relationship. If I kill him... my sister never gets that chance.
Felicity: Thea's father is no more likely to change than mine is.

Oliver: Malcolm!
Merlyn: The Lotus effect is wearing off. She will pass by sunrise. I would like to be by her side.
Oliver: This has to end. No more games! You give Nyssa the damn ring!
Merlyn: She was 4 months old when we first met. Your housekeeper... Raisa, I believe, was picking you up from our house with Thea in a stroller. I peeked my head into the bassinette and Thea, all of 16 weeks, she stuck her tongue out at me. I always knew I was connected to her... as if on some primal level I knew I was her father.
Oliver: A real father wouldn't let their child die just to keep his hands on power!
Merlyn: That is not what I am doing. What's unfolding here is larger than I and it is bigger than my daughter. It's not just her life that hangs in the balance, Oliver. For all your dealings with the League, you still remain ignorant to what it is they do for the world.
Oliver:  Enough about the League. You're a group of Assassins!
Merlyn: It is a force of change silently manipulating global events for hundreds of years, and I cannot, I will not put that kind of power into Nyssa Al Ghul's hands! (pauses) Let me ask you something. If Damien Darhk came to you and told you to lay down your bow, let him finish his plan for Star City, would you do it? Even if it meant saving William's life?
(Oliver looks stunned as Merlyn nods in confirmation that he knows.)
Merlyn: I know everything about you, Oliver. I am Ra's Al Ghul. But back to the matter at hand. You will never sacrifice your city to save your son, and believe me when I tell you that I am only making the same choice.
Oliver: I would look for another choice, and I wouldn't stop looking until there was a third option! (pauses) Malcolm, what if... what if you could have the Lotus and keep your ring?
Merlyn: I don't see how. Nyssa's forces are stronger than I care to admit.
Oliver: Not by herself. You challenge her to a trial by combat.
Merlyn: You do realize your plan would end in her death?
Oliver: We're all backed into a corner, Malcolm. Nyssa made her bed.

Merlyn: In deference to good taste, we will forgo the removal of shirts.

Felicity: When I was a girl, I hated myself. I thought I was broken! That no one could or ever would love me! It's the only way a child can grow up when their father abandons them!
Calculator: Felicity...
Felicity: All I ever wanted to know was why. What was so wrong with me that you would leave?
Calculator: There was nothing with you, sweetheart! There was everything wrong with me. The police, the FBI... they were never going to stop looking for me. I realized a life on the run, that wasn't the life that I owed you or your mother. So I disappeared.
Felicity: You thought you were doing the right thing for us.
Calculator: Exactly.
Felicity: I have waited my entire life for that explanation, And the thing is I don't even know if I believe it.
Calculator: It's the truth.
Felicity: There is only one part of your story that I know to be true, and that is that you are wanted by the police.
(Quentin Lance enters the room with a uniformed police officer.)
Calculator: Felicity...
Felicity: I just need you to know one thing. You are wrong. I am nothing like you.
(Felicity turns around and  leaves the office, holding back the tears as Quentin begins to read Calculator his rights.)

Merlyn: I thought of you as a son once, Oliver. I had more in common with you than my own blood. But that's not the reason why I'm not going to kill you. Neither the fact that you are my daughter's brother. The reason you get to live is because death would be a mercy compared to the debt I now owe you!

Darhk: I don't like to be kept waiting.
Merlyn: My apologies. I don't have the resources I once had.
Darhk: Yes. I'm aware of your recent reversal of fortune. I take it that's why you asked for this meeting?
Merlyn: Well, I haven't come empty-handed.
Darhk: So to speak.
Merlyn: I have some information that you might find of particular interest. I know who Oliver Queen cares about more than anyone in the whole world.
Darhk: Yeah, so do I. We did a pretty good number on her over the holidays.
Merlyn: It's not Felicity Smoak.
Darhk: Who?
Merlyn: His son... William.


Continuity

Nyssa refers to Oliver's defeating Merlyn in 123.

The Calculator abandoned Donna and Felicity 18 years earlier.

Calculator figures out that Felicity is Overwatch and reveals himself to her.

Oliver refers to his father's suicide from 101, as well as Tommy's death due to Merlyn's undertaking (123) and Sara's death (301). These are referred to several times by other characters as well.

In the flashback, Taiana gives the stone Oliver got from Shado after his dream vision to Baron Reiter.

Oliver says he mades arrangements with a family friend named Dr. Lamb to have Thea moved. Dr. Lamb was the Doctor who privately examined Oliver at Moira's request in 101,

Felicity had a stuffed animal named Mr. Square Bear when she was four.

Malcom refers to a queen family housekeeper/nanny named Raisa, who appeared in 101,

Malcolm knows about Oliver's son, William.

Oliver cuts off Merlyn's left hand.

Thea is cured of her bloodlust by The Lotus.

Malcolm tells Damian Darhk about William's existence.


The Fridge Factor

The main conflict of the episode is spurred by the fact that - despite being trained from birth in the League of Assassins - Nyssa cannot beat Merlyn in a straight fight and needs Oliver to kill Merlyn for her.


The Bottom Line

A solid script more notable for what it sets up rather than what it offers directly. Nevertheless, some effective performances sell it and the thematic elements - particularly Oliver's rejection of the idea that people cannot change themselves despite all evidence to the contrary - get to the core of everything this show and the character of Green Arrow is about.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 12 - Unchained

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Team Arrow is stunned to find that the new cat burglar who is running them ragged is a familiar face - Roy Harper! But Roy hasn't returned to his criminal ways but has instead been found out and blackmailed by a dangerous mastermind called The Calculator. Meanwhile, as Thea languishes in her sick bed  (her refusal to kill now causing the curse of the Lazarus Pit to drain her own life force), Nyssa Al Ghul escapes from the dungeons of Nanda Parbat and Felicity prepares the presentation that will save or doom Palmer Technologies.


Influences

Green Arrow: Year One (the flashback sequences on Lian Yu), Green Arrow #75 (Roy Harper being forced to act against Oliver Queen), Gail Simone's Birds of Prey (The Calculator vs. Oracle fights mirror Felicity's fight with Calculator) and the Geoff Johns' run on Teen Titans (Calculator had a heroic daughter - Wendy Harris - who was a master hacker and paralyzed in the same fashion as Felicity.)


Goofs

It's a minor point and will probably be explained in later episodes but Calculator doesn't seem to have any motivation for his actions in this episode. More than likely he'll turn out to be a hired gun brought in by Damien Darhk but it's odd he didn't make some reference to it being nothing personal - he's just in it for the money.

Malcolm says that Sara Lance was completely cured of the blood lust brought on by the Lazarus Pit thanks to John Constantine's magical ritual. Yet it's a major plot point of Legends of Tomorrow that Sara is suffering the same problems as Thea.  (Maybe Malcolm is wrong or John Constantine cocked up the ritual?)


Performances

Katrina Law, as usual, steals the show in her brief scenes in this episode.

Colton Haynes often didn't get enough to do on Arrow when he was a series regular. This episode ot only allows him more of a chance to play the smartass Roy from the comics - it gives him a chance to show some true character development. And it's always a treat to watch him and Willa Holland play off of each other.

On the same note, Willa Holland absolutely nails her scenes here playing a slowly dying Thea.

Tom Amandes nails the manic detachment of The Calculator from the comics. He just loves proving his intelligence and revels in the harm he can cause in an intellectual way.


Artistry

All of the action sequences and stunts in this episode are great, even by the standards of this show. This should be the episode submitted for consideration for the technical Emmys this year.


Trivia

The assassin who helps Nyssa escape from her cell and later travels with her to Japan is named Talibah, which means "seeker of knowledge" or "student". She first appeared as a supporting character in the Suicide Squad storyline in the Arrow 2.5 comic book series, where she was a school girl abducted as a child bride by the followers of the terrorist leader Khem-Adam. She was rescued by Sara Lance and Nyssa Al Ghul, and recruited into the League by Nyssa's father after being offered a chance to kill Khem-Adam.  This may be the first instance of a character appearing in the Arrow tie-in comic before being introduced into the TV series.

The first company that Roy Harper robs is Amertek.  In the comics, Amertek is a military industrial firm that employed John Henry Irons - the engineer who became the technological hero Steel.

The second company that Roy Harper robs is Cadmus Tech. In the comics, The Cadmus Project is a government-sponsored group - originally formed as The DNA Project - who engage in genetic research, including cloning and genetic engineering.

Roy Harper says that he build a new life for himself in Hub City.  In the comics, Hub City is the home town of the superhero The Question.

Noah Kuttler, a.k.a. The Calculator first appeared in Detective Comics #463.

In the comics, The Calculator started out as a petty criminal armed with a power suit that allowed him to create hard-light constructs. He fought several members of the Justice League, using his suit's computer and his own genius intelligence to devise ways of overcoming every hero after fighting them once.

Later, The Calculator was revamped into an evil parallel of Oracle. Whereas Oracle offered technical support and information to the superhero community for free, Noah offered advice to super-villains at $1000 per question. He later become part of the inner circle of The Secret Society of Super-Villains during Infinite Crisis and took over leadership of the group afterward.  He was revealed to suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - a condition he normally controlled with medication.

Katana is seen in this episode as the guardian of The Lotus and Nyssa remarks that being a member of The Crescent Order suits her. This is probably not related to The Order Of The Crescent, which - in the comics - is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a foreign citizen by the nation of Kahndaq.  This may have been inspired by a real-world honor created by Sultan Selim III of the Ottoman Empire, exclusively for honoring his non-Muslim allies. The first man so honored was Lord Horatio Nelson.

It's worth noting that it was revealed in the Geoff Johns run of Teen Titans that The Calculator was the father of Wendy Harris - a girl who acted as tech support for the team in a capacity similar to what Felicity does for Team Arrow. Wendy was later paralyzed and sought out by the master hacker Oracle, who decided to mentor the young woman.


Technobabble

The item stolen from Amertek is a network mapper - a piece of tech designed to scan all nearby digital infrastructure for potential vulnerabilities.

Malcolm explains that unless someone restored to life by The Lazarus Pit continues to take lives, their own life force will eventually fade away. This is what is happening to Thea, since she refused to keep killing people.

When asked why Sara Lance has not had the same problems Thea is having now, Malcolm explains that the ritual John Constantine used to restore Sara's soul also restored the balance.

The item stolen from Cadmus Tech is a triode capacitor bomb. Felicity describes it as a tiny device which makes a really huge boom.

Felicity determines that the network mapper and the triode capacitor bomb can be combined to create a web nuke - a device capable of destroying the entire internet. It would need a substantial power source to run it , however - one like the new power cell being developed by Palmer Technologies.

The new Arrowcave contains a Faraday cage - a grounded enclosure used to block electrical fields.

The Calculator equipped Roy with a contact lens in his right eye that acted as a camera/microphone. According to Felicity, it contains more computing power than the average high-end laptop.

Felicity borrows a "battering ram" from Palmer Technologies - a program Ray Palmer developed that can be used to crash through cyber-security.

Palmer Technologies new revolutionary item isThe Power Cell. It is an advanced battery that is 100% recyclable, capable of powering an electric car for thousands of miles as well as an entire high-tech skyscraper like the Palmer Technologies building.

When Thea falls into a coma, her doctor says that she's barely a 3 on The Glasgow Scale, which is used to measure the intensity of comas. A Level-3 coma is marked by opening the eyes in response to verbal stimuli and uttering random words.

The Lotus is an elixir created by the enemies of The League of Assassins to counteract the effects of The Lazarus Pit.


Dialogue Triumphs

Ollie: She told me the blood lust came back two months ago and I didn't even know. I've been focused on the campaign. And I've been running back and forth to Central City....
Felicity: How is it that you always manage to blame yourself for everything?
John: It's his super power. Guilt Arrow.

Roy: I don't want to hurt you.
Curtis: I don't want you to hurt me either!
Roy: Well, I'm going to need to take that. (gestures to the power cell)
Curtis: Oh. I think you might need to hurt me, then.

Roy: Maybe next time we can do something that doesn't involve me getting stabbed or shot at?  Just an idea.
Ollie; I'm sorry that I put you in this position.
Roy: Pretty sure I put myself in this position. I remember you not being all that happy that I faked my death to protect your secret.
Ollie: I never should have let you.
Roy: Do you ever get tired? You know, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders all the time?
Ollie: (laughing) You sound like Feliicty. And Diggle.
Roy: Well, great minds...

Felicity: I found a tiny flaw in the OS Code, I'm pretty sure I can exploit it to open a backdoor into his main computer system.
Ollie: Right, but wouldn't that risk exposing us?
Felicity: (pause) My pride that you understood what I was saying is slightly undercut by your lack of faith in me.
Ollie: I have nothing but faith!  Just do it.
Felicity: (smiling) I already did.

Calculator: Why would I want to take down The Net? Not only is it where I work, I'm addicted to funny cat videos.

Calculator: If you want to make a statement, you don't take down a system - you take down a city.

(As Ollie describes his plan to offer Darhk a favor in exchange for his help saving Thea.)
Thea: Ollie, that's insane!  Not to mention stupid and... I can't let you owe Darhk a favor!
Oliver: And I can't let you die!  I won't.
Thea: That's not up to you. I know how you take everything on... everyone's problems. It's one of the things I love the most about you. But you can't fix this one, Ollie.
Oliver: I have to try.
Thea: No you don't. It's my choice. It's my life.

Malcolm: Oliver, sometimes the greatest act of love is no action at all.

Felicity: I did get a look at his protocols though and if the web nuke goes on-line, he could kill 8,000 people.
Calculator: I'd say that's a conservative estimate. Blowing the gas mains alone would kill 3,000. Just wait until you see what I've got planned for the subway cars!

Arsenal: I'm the one who brought this maniac into your lives. I need to do this! This is my choice! It's my life.

Roy: You know, I thought about staying anyway? For you.
Thea: You know what you could do for me? Go live an amazing life. Get married. Have a couple of kids. Get a minivan. Just go be normal. There's nothing in this world that would make me happier than that.
Roy: You know, if I could do all of this over again, I would do every single one of those things with you.
Thea: Me too.
Roy:  I love you, Thea Queen.
Thea: I love you, Roy Harper.


Continuity

Nyssa Al Ghul appears for the first time since 403.

Malcolm refers to the events of 405 and John Constantine's restoring Sara Lance's soul.

Thea tells Oliver about how Damien Darhk's death-touch in 407 temporarily stopped her blood lust.

Ruve Adams - the new candidate for mayor - is Damien Darhk's wife, last seen in 410.

Roy heard about Felicity's paralysis on the news.

In the flashbacks, Oliver mistakes the Shado in his vision for Mei - the twin sister he met in 318.  The vision Shado tells Oliver that he must learn to forgive himself and fight through his darkness.

Katana appears for the first time since 322.

Roy Harper also appears for the first time since 322.

As the episode ends, Roy goes back into hiding.  Felicity erases all the data Calculator had on Roy's new identity.

In the flashback, Oliver tells Taiana the truth about how he was the one who killed her brother.

It is revealed that The Calculator is Felicity's father.

Thea is hospitalized with a coma.

Nyssa offers to give Oliver the Lotus Elixir that might cure Thea... if he will kill Malcolm Merlyn.


Location

Nanda Parbat and Kyushu, Japan.


Untelevised Adventures

We don't get to see precisely how Nyssa talks down Katana.


The Winick Factor

Ollie's going to go chasing after a burglar in his street clothes seems mindbogglingly stupid, given that he's in the middle of running for mayor.


The Bottom Line

One of the best episodes of the season so far. Everything is firing on all eight cylinders here and the only real weakness to the episode is that you wish they'd had more time to explore certain aspects of the script, like nearly all of Nyssa's subplot. We could have done with more of her and Tatsu and less of Felicity feeling unconfident because of her wheelchair but those scenes aren't bad - just a subplot that could have been scrapped without depriving us of anything.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 21 - Al Sah-Him

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Three weeks have passed and with Oliver now firmly committed to his new role as Heir to the Demon, one task must be taken care of before any other - eliminate Ra's wayward daughter Nyssa Al Ghul! Nyssa is ready to face her fate alone, but Laurel is determined to help her and asks Diggle and Felicity to join in the fight.

Five years ago in Hong Kong, Ollie and The Yamashiros try to slow the spread of the Alpha Omega virus as they race across Hong Kong to retrieve Akio.


Influences

Batman: Son of the Demon (plot involving hero becoming Ra's Al Ghul's heir), Devin Grayson's Titans (mention of Damien Darkh), Gail Simone's Birds of Prey (the relationship between Laurel and Nyssa mirrors that between Dinah Lance and Lady Shiva) and Batman: Contagion (Ra's Al Ghul seeks to destroy a whole city with a plague).


Goofs

Despite the Lazarus Pit resurrection supposedly changing a person, Thea seems remarkably the same after three weeks.

Where did Laurel get a tracking device from?

It's been three weeks since they got back from Nanda Parbat and Felicity doesn't think to tell Thea that Roy is still alive and wants her to be with him in all that time?

Come to think of it, why hasn't Roy called in the past three weeks asking about Thea?

Wouldn't it have been nice if Laurel had used The Canary Cry at any point during the fight with the League of Assassins once Lyla was free?  Like right after Lyla was turning to grab the guns from Felicity and all the assassins were in a nice line in front of her?


Performances

Katrina Law gives a masterful performance and proves to be the best thing about an incredibly weak episode.

Willa Holland, as underutilized as she is in this episode, works miracles with what little she has to work with.

Given how controlled he usually is as John Diggle, it is a thing of wonder to see him lose control and grow truly angry with Laurel and Nyssa after Lyla's kidnapping.


Trivia

The show opens with a special opening, noting Oliver Queen is no longer the Arrow or Oliver Queen.

Ra's Al Ghul makes reference to a former friend turned rival named Damien Darhk, who founded his own organization to compete with The League of Assassins and stole water from The Lazarus Pit. In the comics, Damien Darhk was a criminal mastermind who founded the second incarnation of the criminal group H.I.V.E.  Darhk was a computer genius and also gifted with some form of immortality.


Technobabble

The League of Assassins use an intensive brainwashing technique on some of their new recruits. Part of this includes the use of an herb that causes the conscience of the one who takes it to come to the forefont of their mind - usually their family, friends and mentors. In this case, Oliver hallucinates John Diggle.


Dialogue Triumphs

Oliver: My name was Oliver Queen. For three years I worked to save my city. But to save my sister, I had to become someone else. I had to become... something else.

(After Laurel apologizes for not telling her that Ollie had agreed to become The Demon's Heir)
Nyssa: Were I so inclined, I'd question why your first instinct is to always keep matters secret even after doing so cost you a relationship with your father.

Thea: (walking into Ray's secret lab) Nice secret headquarters upgrade! Does Mr. Palmer know you guys are in here?
Felicity: (flustered) Yes. He's out of town. How did you get in here?
Thea: My dad's a super-villain. And you left your doors unlocked.

(After Thea suggests she help Diggle and Felicity out in the field)
Felicity: Thea, this might actually be the worst week ever for this conversation.

Felicity: It's going to be fine. We're handling it.
Thea: (pause) You are a terrible liar.
Felicity: That is true!

(After Thea says it's one thing for Ollie to sacrifice his life but another to be a killer)
Merlyn: What did you think he would be doing in The League of Assassins?

Lyla: What happened to you?  Johnny told me, but how could you become this?
Al Sah-Him: Quiet. It will be over soon.
Lyla: No. I genuinely want to know. How could the man who stood up at my wedding do this? How could the man who's been like a brother-
Al Sah-Him: Quiet!
Lyla: You know, when John's brother died, a part of him died too. His guilt and the emptiness from the loss outweighed everything. I tried my hardest to help him but no one seemed to be able to comfort him or fill that void.  Until he met you. You gave him hope and purpose again!

(After shooting Al Sah-Him in the arm as he stood over a helpless Diggle)
Thea: (half-growled) Get away from him or the next one goes in your eye!


Dialogue Disasters

Laurel: I know you're furious with Ra's for what he's done to Oliver. We all are. But Nyssa... she saved my sister's life. She gave her a home She's a good person. In spite of everything she grew up with. And the last time I checked, protecting good people is what we do.


Continuity

In universe, three weeks have passed since the end of the last episode and the start of this one.

Ra's Al Ghul says that Damien Darhk was responsible for a number of crimes Oliver Queen or his associates stopped.  He was the one who tried to buy Malcolm Merlyn's spare earthquake generator (212), gave the Afghan drug lord Gholem Qadie safe passage to Markovia (216) and hired Mark Shaw to steal a secret file from ARGUS (303).

Laurel loves black-and-white milkshakes and dipping her fries in them.

Nyssa proved a talented thief as a child.

The League of Assassins came into possession of the Alpha/Omega bio-weapon sometime after it was released in Hong Kong.  Nyssa Al Ghul stole it when she left The League but Ra's recovers it from a hidden compartment in her sword.

Ra's Al Ghul declares that Nyssa shall marry Al Sah-Him as a sign of unity between their families.

In the flashback, Akio Yamashiro shows signs of having the Alpha/Omega virus despite having taking the vaccine.

The final act of ascension before a member of The League of Assasins can become Ra's Al Ghul is for their home city to be destroyed by their hand. In this case, Ra's decrees that the Alpha/Omega virus will be released on Starling City.


Location

Nanda Parbat


The Fridge Factor

Laurel would have been stabbed to death by a random mugger had it not been for Nyssa's timely intervention.

Laurel's idiocy regarding Nyssa Al Ghul being "a good person" beggars belief.  Thank goodness Diggle calls her on it.

Lyla is turned into a damsel in distress for the sake of the plot, though at least she takes Ollie to task while she's being held hostage and acquits herself well in the fight that follows.


The Bottom Line

Quite possibly the single worst episode of the series, redeemed only by the strength of the supporting cast and some good character scenes. The flashback sequences are pointless filler  - well, more so than has usually been the case for this season. Laurel continues to be a puzzle piece that will not fit no matter how they twist her. The only person interested in trying to talk to Oliver without pointing a gun or a bow at him at the same time is Lyla of all people. And the less about the script and how Ra's Al Ghul has shifted gears over the course of one episode the better. Without Stephen Amell at the core of the show, it proves to be as empty and soulless as Al Sah-Him.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 16 - The Offer

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.


Plot

Oliver Queen has been tested by Ra's Al Ghul and been found worthy of becoming his heir and the new leader of The League of Assassins. It is an offer Ollie is reluctant to think about but which he tentatively considers after being told he may reject the offer without penalty and leave Nanda Parbat with his and Merlyn's debts forgiven as a token of good faith.

Upon returning to Starling City, Oliver finds his problems are far from over. The woman he loves is with another man. His closest friends are questioning his actions since Merlyn is still alive. And now his name is mud with Captain Lance, who is nowhere close to forgiving The Arrow or Laurel for lying to him about Sara's death.

Unfortunately, the police will have need of The Arrow's help when a new gang-leader called Murmur comes downtown, armed for bear. And as Oliver and Thea both struggle with issues of identity and who they are, Laurel will find herself being made an offer as well.

In the flashbacks, Oliver and Akio run around Hong Kong, attempting to give the slip to the ARGUS agents trying to kill them, only for Oliver to run into an unexpected familiar face.


Influences

Batman: Son off the Demon (The idea of the League of Assassins adopting non-violent means and the general theme of Ra's Al Ghul giving his empire to a vigilante), Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey (the idea that a young Dinah Lance waited up for her parents as a child when they were at work and a female assassin is impressed by Black Canary and offers to teach her) and the comics of Dennis O'Neil, particularly Daughter of the Demon.


Performances

This season has seen Willa Holland given some of the most challenging material she's ever had to deal with on this show. This episode showcases that she is more than capable of meeting that challenge, as she struggles to figure out who she is in the wake of two failed murder attempts and one attempted suicide ala provoking an assassin into killing her.

Stephen Amell gives a strong performance here, as we are given a rare chance to see Oliver in a moment of emotional vulnerability. Oliver's sanity has been called into question several times in the past few episodes and Amell's performance here is built around the Santayana saying that a fanatic is one who redoubles his efforts while losing sight of their goal. The past few episodes have seen Oliver giving his all only for him now to realize that he has no idea why he is doing what he's doing. His search for answers is a powerful one and Amell nails Ollie's conflict.

As usual, Paul Blackthorne dazzles with every speech he gives. And while Quentin Lance seems to be turning into a more villainous figure, Blackthorne's charisma may leave the audience feeling more sympathy for him than for Oliver and Laurel, no matter how noble their intentions.


Artistry

Thematically, the script is a strong one, with themes regarding identity and father/daughter relationships repeating throughout.

A nice bit of subtlety in the wardrobe for this episode - Felicity is wearing blue, Ray Palmer's color, throughout the episode.  One more dig against Oliver and his bad choices.

The action sequence in the police station is very well handled.


Trivia

Ra's Al Ghul says he seeks a successor because the healing waters he's used to prolong his life are beginning to lose their effectiveness. This is precisely why the comics version of Ra's Al Ghul began seeking out a worthy heir, at first selecting Bruce Wayne aka The Batman in Batman #232.

Ra's Al Ghul's sitting room is decorated with the lost Van Eyck painting The Just Judges, which was stolen in 1934.  According to episode writer Brian Ford Sullivan, the panting is the original in the reality of Arrow and that he thought it would be a fun sight gag and that the painting - which represents Justice - would be the sort of thing Ra's would wish to own.

Michael Amar aka Murmur is based on a villain created during Geoff Johns' run on The Flash. In the original comics, Michael Amar was a surgeon and a serial killer, who cut out his own tongue and sewed his mouth shut. Here he is an ordinary criminal who sewed his mouth shut as part of an effort to focus his mind.

Quentin notes that, as a child, Laurel would wait up for him when he was on duty at night to make sure he got home safe.  During Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey, it was revealed that Dinah Lance did the same thing for both her parents - dad being a beat cop and mom being a superhero, respectively.

Another nod to Gail Simone's Birds of Prey - in that series, Black Canary impressed Lady Shiva - the most powerful member of the League of Assassins - and Shiva offered to make Canary her apprentice and teach her how to be a better fighter. This is precisely what happens between Nyssa and Laurel in this episode.


Technobabble

"Wing ta lao wo chey" means "The tale to be told begins thus" in a long dead dialect.  They are also the first words of Ra's Al Ghul's origin story in Daughter of the Demon.

"Hao Ba" means "okay" in Mandarin Chinese.

We finally learn the secret of Ra's Al Ghul's longevity - some form of magical water. It is not referred to as The Lazarus Pit, though Ra's claims it was first written about by Herodotus (who did write about a magic fountain that prolonged life), that it was described in the Qur'an (where there is an account of the sage Al-Khidr discovering the restorative Water of Life) and that the explorer Ponce De Leon sought it (Ponce DeLeon did seek what he called The Fountain of Youth).

Felicity connects a virtual TCP to an open source sensor in two minutes - a task Ray Palmer couldn't accomplish in two weeks.

According to Felicity, some believe that sewing your mouth shut focuses the mind like meditation.

Diamond-tipped bullets can pass through police body armor.


Dialogue Triumphs

Ra's Al Ghul: Oliver Queen is a man destined to be alone. He loves a woman he knows he cannot have.
Oliver: You don't know me.
Ra's Al Ghul: But I know The Arrow - "Al Sahhim". You will never be anything more than a vigilante for those whose lives you save at the risk of your own. Your city will turn on you. And your cloesest allies within the police department will call you a criminal. You will be scorned. And hunted. And then killed. Dying as you began your crusade. Alone.

Ra's Al Ghul: We are Justice. Isn't that what you've dedicated your life to?  Then why confine your crusade to a single city, when I can give you a whole world to save?

Arrow: You still need training.
Laurel: When are you going to stop telling me that?!
Arrow: When you no longer need training.

Quentin: My whole career, my whole life... Even when I knew nothing, I at least knew right from wrong and I knew vigilantism was wrong! The day we take the law into our own hands is the day that we...  we become outlaws. And that idea - that idea was precious to me. Almost as precious as my little daughters. I threw that all away the day I threw in with you. You know why?  Because I trusted you.  But I see the man under the hood now. He lies. And he keeps secrets. Also, he doesn't have to carry around the weight of his decisions. And I'm done with him.

Merlyn: You asked me to make you strong. To make sure you can't be hurt again. You learned your lessons well.
Thea: I have learned nothing from you. Do you realize that I am so messed up I was willing to die last night? For what you made me do? You know, I didn't think it was possible for me to hurt any worse than I did when I came to you. You proved to me I was wrong. So what was it again that you taught me?

Oliver: What did you do to her?!
Merlyn: I encouraged her to kill me. My version of being a supportive father.

Oliver: You tell me - what have I really accomplished? My mother is dead. Tommy? Sara? Crime's not down and my sister is in ten different kinds of pain right now.
Felicity: So you leave. Then what?  All the people you've lost? All the sacrifices you've made? It all would have been for nothing!
Oliver: ...I don't know why I'm doing this anymore.
Felicity: I can't... answer that for you. Yes, Captain Lance is shutting you out. But I don't believe you're The Arrow so people can say "thank you".  And yes, you and I aren't together but that was your choice. When we thought you were dead, each one of us had to figure out why we were doing all this. Seems like it's your turn.

Quentin: When you were a little girl, you used to wait up for me when I was out nights. You couldn't fall asleep until I walked through that front door.
Laurel: I remember...
Quentin: You were always the protector of this family, of everyone... Laurel Lance. Always trying to save the world...You can't save this.
Laurel: Dad-
Quentin: You don't know how hard I've tried to forgive you for lying to me the way you did. I'm not proud of it. You're my daughter and I'll always love you but I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you.

(After finding The Arrow standing over Murmur)
Quentin: What, are you waiting around for a 'thank you'?
The Arrow: That's not why I do this.

Oliver: I started all of this because of my father... to right his wrongs.  It became something more. But I never stopped to think about it. Or about "why?" until you asked me to.
Felicity: And what was the answer?
Oliver: Tonight at the precinct. The only thing I could think about was those police officers and how their families were counting on me and Roy and Diggle to get them home safe. That's why I'm doing this.


Continuity

Thea lies about how Nyssa escaped her cell in the Arrow Cave, not telling Roy and Laurel that she let Nyssa out.

Thea refers to the events of A314 & A315 and nearly killing both Slade Wilson and Malcolm Merlyn. She also says the only reason she didn't kill Merlyn was because she thought of her mother and how she'd feel about her becoming a killer like him.

Roy and Felicity are apparently officially an item.

There is a prophecy that any man who does not perish on the blade of Ra's Al Ghul in a duel will become the next Ra's Al Ghul.

In the flashback, Oliver runs into a woman who is the spitting image of Shado.

Nyssa has apparently been kicked out of the League of Assassins and offers to train Laurel.

Thea and Roy hook up once again, after a tearful Thea shows up on Roy's doorstep needing someplace else to be.

Ra's Al Ghul, disguised as The Arrow, begins killing random criminals in Starling City.


Location

The opening scenes take place in Nanda Parbat.


The Fridge Factor

Laurel freezes up as a van nearly runs over her and she has to be saved by Oliver.


The Bottom Line

Like The Flash episode Out of Time, this episode starts out as a weak bit of filler with an unmemorable villain, saved only by the charisma of the cast and some brilliant speeches. Then we get to the last ten minutes and the surprises come along, bam, bam, bam.  And it becomes something, if not great, than at least memorable.

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 15 - Nanda Parbat

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Malcolm Merlyn has been captured by the League of Assassins and Oliver is ready to storm the League of Assassin's headquarters at Nanda Parbat to rescue him, though Thea is content to leave her father to face their rough justice. And Ray Palmer readies his ATOM suit for battle, despite Felicity's objections.

Five years ago, Ollie and The Yamashiros are cleared by the US Army to leave Hong Kong. But Amanda Waller doesn't let her pawns go so easily...


Influences

The Fall of Green Arrow (Ollie loses the respect of his family and colleagues due to his lying) and the Batman comics of Dennis O'Neil (Ra's Al Ghul looking for a worthy heir to replace him).


Goofs

While it is high time that somebody took Ollie to task for his manipulative ways, Laurel is absolutely the last person who should be giving anyone lip about lying to someone for their own good. Instead of knocking Oliver down a peg, her confrontation with Oliver only serves to make Laurel look like a complete hypocrite considering her disgraceful behavior towards her father. Frankly, it seems like this scene was added because they needed to give Laurel something else to do in this episode besides fail to ambush Merlyn.  It's the one weak spot in an otherwise strong script.

Nanda Parbat is said to be in the Hindu-Kush mountains, which are located in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet previous episodes have said Nanda Parbat was in Tibet (Possibly the previous information was a ruse?)


Performances

David Ramsey steals every damn scene he's in.  From his subtly telling off Merlyn to his calling Ollie his brother and asking him to be his best man.

Katrina Law plays Nyssa Al'Ghul with just the right combination of menace and sympathy.

Colton Haynes doesn't get much to do as Roy Harper this time around, but his interplay with Willa Holland is wonderful and the scenes where he tries to comfort Thea by showing how he's coping with the blood on his hands are well-played.

Like last week, Willa Holland rocks her brief appearance, truly selling Thea's anguish regarding what she has done.

Finally, Matt Nable perfectly captures the grace and poise of Ra's Al Ghul.


Artistry

The action scenes of Oliver and Diggle fighting the League of Assassins, as well as the flashback sequences of Ollie and the Yamashiros fighting ARGUS are excellent even by the standards of this show's fight scenes.

The scene in which Ray Palmer first dons the ATOM armor and uses it to fly is well-shot and thematically everything comic books (and their adaptations) should be.


Trivia

Ray Palmer wears a red and blue plaid shirt when we first see him in this episode.  Red and Blue are the primary colors of The Atom's costume in the comics.

Roy refers to Mission Impossible when examining the ARGUS-designed security system Diggle installed in Verdant and the laser-grid on the club floor.

Diggle makes reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as he and Oliver face down The League of Assassins.  The movie ended with the titular heroes in a stand-off with no way out.


Technobabble

At the start of the episode, Ray is having trouble getting the gauntlet modulator to interface with the helmet system of the ATOM suit.

Ray uses a subsonic ionizer in building the ATOM suit.  Felicity notes that if you try to use it on quad-band circuitry (as Ray nearly does) it could result in a catalytic reaction that could destroy an entire building.


Dialogue Triumphs

Malcolm: You've spent years preparing to bring a bow and arrow to a sword fight.

Malcolm: John.
Diggle: My friends call me Digg. (beat) You shouldn't even speak to me.

Roy: You know last year when I kinda went off the rails for a bit?
Thea: Yeah?
Roy: I was also under the influence of something. And just like you, I killed someone. A cop.
Thea: Roy...
Roy: They didn't tell me either... and when I found out-
Thea: -you wished that you didn't know?
Roy: Look, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that the feeling ever goes away. But I can tell you that it gets easier, Thea.
Thea: You don't see that cop's family nearly every single day. I can't imagine that it's going to get any easier. And I don't think it should.

Ollie: I told you not to tell anyone!
Thea: I guess I'm just not as good at keeping secrets as you are.

Laurel: No. Oliver...Merlyn murdered my sister and corrupted yours and now you want to save him?!
Ollie: I'm trying to save Thea's soul.
Laurel: You are out of your mind.
Ollie: And you don't need to be here.

Roy: Look, I may not agree with it, but I understand what you're trying to say. You don't want Thea to live with the guilt of getting her own father killed. But how is getting her brother killed any better?
Ollie: I don't plan on dying.
Felicity: (angrily) That's what you said the last time you want to face Ra's and how did that turn out for you?!

Felicity: You have two options, Ray.  Option One: You can find a way to break through the encryption I used to lock up your server, which, by my calculations, will take you roughly 6.25 hours. Or you can use that time to eat a proper meal, take a shower and get no less than five hours of sleep at  the completion of which I will give you the password.
Ray: I see.
Felicity: It's your choice but I highly recommend Option Two.  Because... this whole situation has gone from endearingly eccentric to creepily not okay.
Ray: If I had the energy, I think I'd be getting angry right now. But instead... I'll just take Option Two.
Felicity: That's a wise choice. After your dinner and a shower, I am taking you straight to bed. (look of shock) Putting you. (whispering to herself) Why do I do that?

Ollie: I can't ask you to come with me, Diggle.
John: You didn't ask me, Oliver.  Besides, you don't own a jet anymore.

Ra's Al Ghul (To Malcolm) In 1854, I encountered an illusionist in Vienna. He was dazzling. Magnificent. Powerful.  And then, nearly half a century later, I stumbled upon this man again. He was withered. Broken. Dying. You see, a magician can cheat many things... except one.

Ra's Al Ghul: Al-Saher, face your death with honor. Or at least dignity.

Ollie: Surprise is our own advantage.
(Suddenly, several flaming arrows hit the ground at his and Diggle's feet)
John: I'd say they spotted us.

Ollie: You know, every time I close my eyes, all that I can see...all that I can hear, feel is... just The Fall. I couldn't live like that.  Couldn't live knowing that... there was someone out there that beat me.
John: Yeah.  That makes sense.
Ollie: No!  It's egotistical and insane!
John: So is putting on a mask and jumping off rooftops, Oliver.

Thea: (To Nyssa) There's something that I need to tell you. I can't live without you knowing. The guilt is far worse than anything you can do to me. I lied to you. And you believed it. When I told you that Malcolm killed Sara. He wanted her dead. To put certain things in motion. But I am the one that fired those arrows into her chest. And when I made the deal to give up Malcolm, I promised you your vengeance.
(Thea unlocks Nyssa's cell and holds out a sword)
Thea: So take it.

Ra's Al Ghul: You tasted death. And you wanted more. The truth is... everyone and everything must come to an end. Even for one such as me.
Ollie: Kill me. But spare John Diggle's life. Let him go. I will beg for it.
Ra's Al Ghul: You have shown tremendous strength. Fortitude. Power. No, Mr. Queen.  I don't want to kill you.  I want you to take my place.  I want you to become the next Ra's Al Ghul.


Dialogue Disasters

Laurel: How do you do that?
Ollie: Do what?
Laurel: Lie. Right to my face.


Continuity

Roy Harper refers to how he went "off the rails" for a little bit last year (A220) and tells Thea of how he came to kill a police officer.  He also reveals how he, Diggle and Felicity knew about Thea killing Sara.

Ray refers to Brick's men taking control of part of the city, as seen in A311.

Laurel finds out that Thea killed Sara.

Oliver refers to Laurel's attempts to kill both Malcolm Merlyn (A304) and Simon LaCrois (A302) when explaining why he hid the fact that Thea killed Sara from Laurel.

Ray Palmer has an extensive classic art collection which he cycles between his apartment and the Starling Museum.

Oliver refers to the events of A309 and his defeat by Ra's Al Ghul and how he has nightmares of falling off the mountain.

Roy Harper has been giving financial support to the widow and son of the cop he killed, giving them money and groceries anonymously and even buying the boy a Boba Fett toy at Christmas.


Location

Nanda Parbat, under the Hindu-Kush mountains.


The Fridge Factor

Laurel continues to prove incompetent and terrible in every respect.  Bad enough that she's back to being a total hypocrite regarding Ollie's manipulative behavior but her attempt to kill Merlyn is poorly-planned and idiotic.  The most groan-worthy aspect of this is Laurel's attempt to fight Merlyn hand-to-hand despite having a gun.

It's hard to believe Felicity would ever use "password" as a password, even as a joke.


The Bottom Line

A step down from last week but overall a strong episode. While slow to start, it becomes more thrilling as it progresses and the final ten minutes are some of the best the series has ever offered. And we're left with not one but two cliffhangers!