Showing posts with label League of Assassins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label League of Assassins. Show all posts
Monday, February 27, 2023
Sensei Starman Plays Gotham Knights - Part 59
The double-size action-packed finale of story mode, in which we descend into the bowels of Gotham City to seek out the Lazarus Pit and a final confrontation with what remains of the League of Assassins and Court of Owls!
Friday, February 24, 2023
Sensei Starman Plays Gotham Knights - Part 58
In which Batgirl fights Man-Bats. Yes, Man-Bats. Plural. More than one!
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Sensei Starman Plays Gotham Knights - Part 57
In which we continue exploring the ruins of Arkham Asylum and figure out just what the League of Assassins are doing with Kirk Langtrom's research - something that isn't at all shocking to the comic readers in the audience, but which is majorly annoying to deal with regardless.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Sensei Starman Plays Gotham Knights - Part 56
In which, having closed out Night 30, we start trying to figure out just what Talia and the League of Assassins are up to.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Sensei Starman Plays Gotham Knights - Part 55
In which our efforts to end Barbara's Knighthood quest are curtailed, so that we can save all our allies from the League of Assassins.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Detective Comics #954 - A Review
With The League of Shadows laying waste to Gotham City and all of his operatives abducted, Batman is in little mood to indulge Ra's Al Ghul's desire to talk. Can the two old enemies find common cause against Lady Shiva and her splinter group? Or will "The Detective" have one more enemy to face this night?
Detective Comics #954 is a decidedly average comic. James Tynion IV's writing is in fine form, presenting that rarest of all sighs - an emotionally out-of-control Batman who is off-balance and fighting blind. His take on Ra's Al Ghul is solid too. Unfortunately, the artwork by Marcio Takara is uncharacteristically sloppy and over-inked. It's difficult to follow the action of the issue and the muted palette utilized by Marcelo Maiolo leaves everything looking dull and washed out. Hopefully the art game will be stepped up in two weeks.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Detective Comics #953 - A Review
Lady Shiva and her League of Shadows are laying waste to Gotham. With several of his operatives captured, Batman has most of his rookie recruits hiding out in The Belfry. Yet Cassandra Cain - the heroine now called Orphan - wishes to confront the mother she never knew and seek the answers to questions she can barely understand and remains unable to articulate.
I've never cared much for Cassandra Cain as a character but James Tynion IV's script has - if not made me a fan of the character - enabled me to understand the appeal from the eyes of other people. Cassandra's search for identity is a relatable situation, albeit it one born of unbelievable circumstances. I also like the development given to Clayface in this episode and the odd friendship developing between him and Cassandra. It's these moments that sell the story far better than the action scenes.
Mind you, the action scenes in this comic are good. And both art teams (whom I would credit directly, if I were certain who had handled which pages) do a wonderful job on every aspect of the story - from the quieter moments of conversation to the fight between Shiva and Cassandra, which is presented without backgrounds so as to emphasize the focus of both combatants. There is nothing else - only mother and daughter in conflict. It's a stunning visual and typical of the sights one sees in Detective Comics.
I've never cared much for Cassandra Cain as a character but James Tynion IV's script has - if not made me a fan of the character - enabled me to understand the appeal from the eyes of other people. Cassandra's search for identity is a relatable situation, albeit it one born of unbelievable circumstances. I also like the development given to Clayface in this episode and the odd friendship developing between him and Cassandra. It's these moments that sell the story far better than the action scenes.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Secret Six #13 - A Review
Strix has been recruited by The League of Assassins and her friends in The Secret Six aren't taking it lying down. They're just having a barbecue as they work out what to do next. Meanwhile, Strix is pit against a team of killers modeled upon The Six, told that if she cannot kill them all in under a minute, the corresponding team-mate will die!
I love this book. I was saddened when I learned that it wasn't coming back post-Rebirth. Still, Gail Simone seems determined to make sure this book ends with a bang. And I don't just mean Catman being asked to father Scandal Savage's child. *rimshot*
Tom Derenick's artwork is as fine as ever. Derenick is a gifted fight choreographer with a great eye for detail. And Jason Wright's color art proves perfectly applied.
I love this book. I was saddened when I learned that it wasn't coming back post-Rebirth. Still, Gail Simone seems determined to make sure this book ends with a bang. And I don't just mean Catman being asked to father Scandal Savage's child. *rimshot*
Tom Derenick's artwork is as fine as ever. Derenick is a gifted fight choreographer with a great eye for detail. And Jason Wright's color art proves perfectly applied.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
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.
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.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Arrow Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 9 - The Climb
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
Nyssa Al Ghul returns to Starling City with an ultimatum. Team Arrow has 48 hours in which to bring Sara Lance's killer to justice or the League starts killing civilians. As Laurel Lance receives an unexpected visit from her mother and Ray Palmer gives Felicity an unexpected offer, Oliver will begin a long journey to face Ra's Al Ghul directly.
In the flashbacks, Oliver and Maseo race to beat Chien Na Wei to a deadly bio-weapon called The Omega Virus. But Wa is one step ahead of them and their actions may hold deadly consequences for Maseo's family!
Influences
The Batman and Green Arrow comics of Dennis O'Neil.
Goofs
You'd really think Ollie would be wearing gloves and covering his face if he's going to climb a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm.
Why does Laurel ask Thea not to tell Oliver that Sara is dead? Oliver already knows!
This episode - and indeed much of this past season - have done a real disservice to Quentin Lance's detective skills. Suddenly he can't tell when Laurel is lying to him even when it is blatantly obvious to her mother (Yes, yes - mother's intuition and all that. But the man is a freaking detective!).
Laurel's argument that the news of her sister's death would kill her father has never seemed so ridiculous as when she states it here - first to Thea and then to her own mother. It is the height of arrogance on Laurel's part to assume that her father can't handle this kind of shock and it shows how little the character of Laurel has progressed from the lying drug-addicted opportunist of Season Two. To say nothing of how horrible a person Laurel is for planning to endanger herself as a vigilante in some kind of half-assed attempt to find Sara's killer, not thinking of what it will do to Quentin if Laurel gets killed trying and failing to beat up a mugger.
For that matter, why wasn't Laurel assisting with the investigation at any point in the past year? There's a fair bit she could have done to help Felicity with analyzing the evidence from the D.A.'s office...
Performances
Matt Nable turns in a stately performance as Ra's Al Ghul. Some fans quibbled at this casting, particularly after Liam Neeson said he would have liked to have played Ra's again on the Arrow. Still, Nable has the necessary charisma and gravitas to bring life to one of comics' greatest anti-villains and one can't help but sense that he truly does regret the need to kill Oliver Queen as Ra's, in the comics, might wish to avoid killing "The Detective".
Alex Kingston is honestly wasted in her brief cameo as Dinah Lance. Still, there is a certain fierceness in her performance here that works quite well for the one good line she has.
Artistry
All of the fight scenes are well choreographed, particularly the final one between Ra's Al Ghul and Oliver.
Trivia
Shirtless sword duels are something of a tradition in stories featuring Ra's Al Ghul. The first one occurred at the climax of Ra's first appearance in Batman #252. Written by the legendary Dennis O'Neil (who also revamped Oliver Queen into a social crusader around the same time), this issue was later adapted into an episode of Batman: The Animated Series - The Demon's Quest - by O'Neil himself. A clip of the famous sword fight from that episode may be viewed here.
The snowman ornaments that Thea places on her tree with her and Ollie's name are wearing ribbons of their respective colors - red and green.
Ra's Al Ghul says it has been 67 years since anyone challenged him to a duel. This means he hasn't been challenged since 1947. More, this means that Lazarus Pits must exist in the reality of the DCTVU, since Ra's does not appear to be that old and indeed does not have any of the scars one would expect to see on an experienced warrior.
In the comics, The Lazarus Pits are a naturally-occurring phenomena similar to the legendary Fountain of Youth. Ra's Al Ghul discovered The Pits and their unique alchemical properties as a young healer. The Lazarus Pits can heal any injury and even restore the dead to life. Once a pit is used, it is burned up and exhausted forever, though Ra's daughter Nyssa was said to have discovered a way to use the Pits indefinitely.
Technobabble
The DNA sample on the arrows that killed Sara Lance was taken from perspiration on the arrows. The sample matches 12 of the 13 STR (short tandem repeats) s in Oliver Queen's DNA.
Votura is a plant native to South America, which thrives in Corto Maltese. It can be used to prepare a drug that renders a person suggestible and erases their memory. It is thus drug that is used by Chien Na Wei to control her agents and by Merlyn to brainwash Thea into killing Sara Lance.
Ray Palmer developed a microprocessor with a SPECint score just over 9000.
Dialogue Triumphs
Maseo: One man's agony is not worth the life of an entire city.
(After tossing the pilot through a window)
Pilot: Please! All I do is fly the plane!
The Arrow: Quiet! (holds up a photo of Merlyn) The man in this photo - did you fly him from Corto Maltese to Starling City?
Pilot: (trying hard not to look up) No!
(The Arrow hands the photo to Arsenal and picks the pilot up)
The Arrow: This time...look at the photo!
Oliver; You know I figured, when I spared the life of the man who killed my mother, I would never kill again. (Oliver forces Merlyn down on the bar and begins strangling him) I was wrong.
Merlyn: You might want to reconsider.
Oliver: Why?!
Merlyn: For Thea! (Ollie's phone begins to ring) Check your phone. I can wait.
(Ollie looks at his phone. It plays video footage of Thea killing Sara)
Merlyn: I don't think you want The League to see that. And if you kill me, they will.
Oliver: You've given her a death sentence!
Merlyn: No. What I've done is given you incentive.
Oliver: To do what?
Merlyn: To tell Ra's that you killed Sara Lance. By right you will be given a trial by combat. With Ra's. His death will erase any blood debt from his reign. Including Thea's.
Oliver: And yours.
Merlyn: I have to be honest. It was my concern the whole killing thing would have been a deal-breaker for you. But I'm gratified to see that Thea is still sufficient motivation for you. Don't take too long making up your mind. Ra's isn't known for his patience.
(As Ollie confesses to Sara's murder)
Ra's Al Ghul: I should have Sarab cleave your head from your shoulders. Not for killing my daughter's beloved but for thinking me a fool.
Laurel: Mom, can I tell you something? Whoever killed Sara, I'm going to find them no matter what it takes and I am going to make them pay.
Dinah: Then you make them pay. And you make them suffer.
(Upon being informed of the A.T.O.M. project and Ray's desire for her to help him protect the city.)
Felicity: Why does this keep happening to me?
Oliver: Felicity, I honestly don't know if I'm a killer anymore, but I do know two things. The first is that whoever I am, I'm someone who will do whatever, whatever it takes to save my sister.
Felicity: And the second thing?
Oliver: I love you.
Ra's Al Ghul: I was eleven years old when I killed my first man. I remember the look on his face when the light went out behind his eyes. Such a sudden change. Almost imperceptible. Between Life and Death. And I felt ashamed. I had stolen from that man the most precious gift of all - Life. But I also felt something else - Pride. Because I had taken up arms against someone who sought to do ill against my family. I realized what I had done was necessary. You see, I have replaced Evil with Death. And that is what The League exists to do. And I have killed several thousand more men since then. And the world is better off for it.
Continuity
Maseo is revealed to have joined The League of Assassins. He now uses the name Sarab, which is Arabic for phantom or mirage.
Sarab joined The League of Assassins at the same time as Sara Lance.
The League's traditions demand that they kill 50 people in every city where a murder took place until the killer is brought to justice.
Felicity gets the DNA sample of Sara's killer back from Caitlin Snow, which she originally gave Caitlin in F108.
Felicity matches the DNA sample to the one the police took from Oliver Queen in A105.
Diggle refers to the events of A303 and how Thea and Merlyn were both out of the country when Sara died.
As in A301, Ray Palmer pings Felicity's phone to track her down.
Ray Palmer had a fiance named Anna who was killed during the events of A223.
Tatsu is abducted by Chien Na Wei after the two fight a duel with katanas.
Oliver refers to Slade Wilson killing his mother in A220.
The laws of The League of Assassins allow a confessed murderer the right to trial by combat. This duel must be fought by the current leader of the League of Assassins. If the leader loses this duel, any blood debts owed to the League will be forgiven. The challenger is given 12 hours to settle their affairs and is expected to meet the League's Leader at a predetermined site on consecrated ground.
When they were cchildren Laurel wanted to be a cop. Sara Lance wanted to be a doctor.
Ray Palmer changed the OMAC Project of Queen Consolidated into ATOM - Advanced Technology Operating Mechanism.
When Ollie is saying his farewells, he hugs Roy, shakes hands with Diggle and kisses Felicity on the forehead before telling her he loves her.
It is customary for the duels of the League of Assassins to be fought shirtless.
Ra's Al Ghul was 11 when he killed his first man.
Location
The sacred dueling grounds of The League of Assassins.
The Fridge Factor
We find out Ray Palmer's motivation for his work and wanting to make Starling City a safer place is the death of his fiance, who was killed by Slade Wilson's men.
The Bottom Line
A great episode with a hell of a cliffhanger. January 21st can't come fast enough!
Plot
Nyssa Al Ghul returns to Starling City with an ultimatum. Team Arrow has 48 hours in which to bring Sara Lance's killer to justice or the League starts killing civilians. As Laurel Lance receives an unexpected visit from her mother and Ray Palmer gives Felicity an unexpected offer, Oliver will begin a long journey to face Ra's Al Ghul directly.
In the flashbacks, Oliver and Maseo race to beat Chien Na Wei to a deadly bio-weapon called The Omega Virus. But Wa is one step ahead of them and their actions may hold deadly consequences for Maseo's family!
Influences
The Batman and Green Arrow comics of Dennis O'Neil.
Goofs
You'd really think Ollie would be wearing gloves and covering his face if he's going to climb a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm.
Why does Laurel ask Thea not to tell Oliver that Sara is dead? Oliver already knows!
This episode - and indeed much of this past season - have done a real disservice to Quentin Lance's detective skills. Suddenly he can't tell when Laurel is lying to him even when it is blatantly obvious to her mother (Yes, yes - mother's intuition and all that. But the man is a freaking detective!).
Laurel's argument that the news of her sister's death would kill her father has never seemed so ridiculous as when she states it here - first to Thea and then to her own mother. It is the height of arrogance on Laurel's part to assume that her father can't handle this kind of shock and it shows how little the character of Laurel has progressed from the lying drug-addicted opportunist of Season Two. To say nothing of how horrible a person Laurel is for planning to endanger herself as a vigilante in some kind of half-assed attempt to find Sara's killer, not thinking of what it will do to Quentin if Laurel gets killed trying and failing to beat up a mugger.
For that matter, why wasn't Laurel assisting with the investigation at any point in the past year? There's a fair bit she could have done to help Felicity with analyzing the evidence from the D.A.'s office...
Performances
Matt Nable turns in a stately performance as Ra's Al Ghul. Some fans quibbled at this casting, particularly after Liam Neeson said he would have liked to have played Ra's again on the Arrow. Still, Nable has the necessary charisma and gravitas to bring life to one of comics' greatest anti-villains and one can't help but sense that he truly does regret the need to kill Oliver Queen as Ra's, in the comics, might wish to avoid killing "The Detective".
Alex Kingston is honestly wasted in her brief cameo as Dinah Lance. Still, there is a certain fierceness in her performance here that works quite well for the one good line she has.
Artistry
All of the fight scenes are well choreographed, particularly the final one between Ra's Al Ghul and Oliver.
Trivia
Shirtless sword duels are something of a tradition in stories featuring Ra's Al Ghul. The first one occurred at the climax of Ra's first appearance in Batman #252. Written by the legendary Dennis O'Neil (who also revamped Oliver Queen into a social crusader around the same time), this issue was later adapted into an episode of Batman: The Animated Series - The Demon's Quest - by O'Neil himself. A clip of the famous sword fight from that episode may be viewed here.
The snowman ornaments that Thea places on her tree with her and Ollie's name are wearing ribbons of their respective colors - red and green.
Ra's Al Ghul says it has been 67 years since anyone challenged him to a duel. This means he hasn't been challenged since 1947. More, this means that Lazarus Pits must exist in the reality of the DCTVU, since Ra's does not appear to be that old and indeed does not have any of the scars one would expect to see on an experienced warrior.
In the comics, The Lazarus Pits are a naturally-occurring phenomena similar to the legendary Fountain of Youth. Ra's Al Ghul discovered The Pits and their unique alchemical properties as a young healer. The Lazarus Pits can heal any injury and even restore the dead to life. Once a pit is used, it is burned up and exhausted forever, though Ra's daughter Nyssa was said to have discovered a way to use the Pits indefinitely.
Technobabble
The DNA sample on the arrows that killed Sara Lance was taken from perspiration on the arrows. The sample matches 12 of the 13 STR (short tandem repeats) s in Oliver Queen's DNA.
Votura is a plant native to South America, which thrives in Corto Maltese. It can be used to prepare a drug that renders a person suggestible and erases their memory. It is thus drug that is used by Chien Na Wei to control her agents and by Merlyn to brainwash Thea into killing Sara Lance.
Ray Palmer developed a microprocessor with a SPECint score just over 9000.
Dialogue Triumphs
Maseo: One man's agony is not worth the life of an entire city.
(After tossing the pilot through a window)
Pilot: Please! All I do is fly the plane!
The Arrow: Quiet! (holds up a photo of Merlyn) The man in this photo - did you fly him from Corto Maltese to Starling City?
Pilot: (trying hard not to look up) No!
(The Arrow hands the photo to Arsenal and picks the pilot up)
The Arrow: This time...look at the photo!
Oliver; You know I figured, when I spared the life of the man who killed my mother, I would never kill again. (Oliver forces Merlyn down on the bar and begins strangling him) I was wrong.
Merlyn: You might want to reconsider.
Oliver: Why?!
Merlyn: For Thea! (Ollie's phone begins to ring) Check your phone. I can wait.
(Ollie looks at his phone. It plays video footage of Thea killing Sara)
Merlyn: I don't think you want The League to see that. And if you kill me, they will.
Oliver: You've given her a death sentence!
Merlyn: No. What I've done is given you incentive.
Oliver: To do what?
Merlyn: To tell Ra's that you killed Sara Lance. By right you will be given a trial by combat. With Ra's. His death will erase any blood debt from his reign. Including Thea's.
Oliver: And yours.
Merlyn: I have to be honest. It was my concern the whole killing thing would have been a deal-breaker for you. But I'm gratified to see that Thea is still sufficient motivation for you. Don't take too long making up your mind. Ra's isn't known for his patience.
(As Ollie confesses to Sara's murder)
Ra's Al Ghul: I should have Sarab cleave your head from your shoulders. Not for killing my daughter's beloved but for thinking me a fool.
Laurel: Mom, can I tell you something? Whoever killed Sara, I'm going to find them no matter what it takes and I am going to make them pay.
Dinah: Then you make them pay. And you make them suffer.
(Upon being informed of the A.T.O.M. project and Ray's desire for her to help him protect the city.)
Felicity: Why does this keep happening to me?
Oliver: Felicity, I honestly don't know if I'm a killer anymore, but I do know two things. The first is that whoever I am, I'm someone who will do whatever, whatever it takes to save my sister.
Felicity: And the second thing?
Oliver: I love you.
Ra's Al Ghul: I was eleven years old when I killed my first man. I remember the look on his face when the light went out behind his eyes. Such a sudden change. Almost imperceptible. Between Life and Death. And I felt ashamed. I had stolen from that man the most precious gift of all - Life. But I also felt something else - Pride. Because I had taken up arms against someone who sought to do ill against my family. I realized what I had done was necessary. You see, I have replaced Evil with Death. And that is what The League exists to do. And I have killed several thousand more men since then. And the world is better off for it.
Continuity
Maseo is revealed to have joined The League of Assassins. He now uses the name Sarab, which is Arabic for phantom or mirage.
Sarab joined The League of Assassins at the same time as Sara Lance.
The League's traditions demand that they kill 50 people in every city where a murder took place until the killer is brought to justice.
Felicity gets the DNA sample of Sara's killer back from Caitlin Snow, which she originally gave Caitlin in F108.
Felicity matches the DNA sample to the one the police took from Oliver Queen in A105.
Diggle refers to the events of A303 and how Thea and Merlyn were both out of the country when Sara died.
As in A301, Ray Palmer pings Felicity's phone to track her down.
Ray Palmer had a fiance named Anna who was killed during the events of A223.
Tatsu is abducted by Chien Na Wei after the two fight a duel with katanas.
Oliver refers to Slade Wilson killing his mother in A220.
The laws of The League of Assassins allow a confessed murderer the right to trial by combat. This duel must be fought by the current leader of the League of Assassins. If the leader loses this duel, any blood debts owed to the League will be forgiven. The challenger is given 12 hours to settle their affairs and is expected to meet the League's Leader at a predetermined site on consecrated ground.
When they were cchildren Laurel wanted to be a cop. Sara Lance wanted to be a doctor.
Ray Palmer changed the OMAC Project of Queen Consolidated into ATOM - Advanced Technology Operating Mechanism.
When Ollie is saying his farewells, he hugs Roy, shakes hands with Diggle and kisses Felicity on the forehead before telling her he loves her.
It is customary for the duels of the League of Assassins to be fought shirtless.
Ra's Al Ghul was 11 when he killed his first man.
Location
The sacred dueling grounds of The League of Assassins.
The Fridge Factor
We find out Ray Palmer's motivation for his work and wanting to make Starling City a safer place is the death of his fiance, who was killed by Slade Wilson's men.
The Bottom Line
A great episode with a hell of a cliffhanger. January 21st can't come fast enough!
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Arrow Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 13 - Heir To The Demon
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
Sara Lance returns to Starling City, just in time to save Laurel from dying of an overdose. But there is more than meets the eye and Sara isn't the only member of the League of Assassins in town. Nyssa Al Ghul - daughter of Ra's - has come to collect the wayward Black Canary. But are her motivations entirely business-like?
Meanwhile, Moira Queen prepares to announce her candidacy for Mayor of Starling City. This leaves Ollie in the awkward position of having to abandon his support of his new friend Sebastian Blood. And things become even more awkward when Felicity - following a money trail from Moira's old holdings - uncovers the secret of Thea Queen's parentage.
Influences
Greg Rucka's Detective Comics (the character of Nyssa) and Gail Simone's Birds of Prey (Sara's personality and the plot idea of Black Canary defying the League of Assasins to save her family)
Goofs
Sara's smart-phone looks awfully advanced for a 2007 model.
Performances
I've praised Caity Lotz's performance as Sara Lance before but this episode really brings home what a talented actress she is. Like Stephen Amell, she plays Sara Lance as different characters across a relatively brief period of time and this episode gives us our first chance to see the Sara of the past as she interacted with her family. The flashback sequences - this time focusing on six years ago - give us our first look at the Lance family in happier times and it makes for an interesting counterpoint to all the modern-day scenes where we see a very different Sara who is capable of fighting but is tired of killing.
Artistry
The action sequences in this episode may be the best this show has ever produced. The opening sequence with Nyssa fighting airport security does an effective job of establishing her skill. The chase sequence with Arrow and Canary going after Nyssa's van looks like it came straight from the comic books (except for the fact that Canary always drives the motorcycle) and the final fight between Arrow and Nyssa is the best fight we've seen yet between Ollie and another archer.
Trivia
Nyssa Al Ghul is based on the character of Nyssa Raatko. Created by writer Greg Rucka during his run on Detective Comics, Nyssa was a daughter of Ra's Al Ghul who was born in 19th century Russia. Enthralled by her mother's stories of her dashing father (Nyssa being the result of a brief affair as Ra's was passing through), she sought him out and eventually tracked him to North Africa. Ra's was so impressed by her skill and resourcefulness he let her join him as a trusted lieutenant and even allowed her to use the Lazarus Pits that extended his life. The two eventually had a falling out over Ra's goals and she turned against him and plotted revenge after he allowed her family to die during The Holocaust. The Arrow version of Nyssa seems to be far more loyal to her father and shows no signs of having lived for over a century.
Nyssa Raatko is the name Nyssa uses on her passport.
There is some precedent for Black Canary being bisexual. According to Gail Simone (who has written Black Canary more than any other writer in recent memory), Black Canary is "70% hetero". It's also telling that in one Birds of Prey story, when going into what she thought was her final battle, Black Canary asked for her love to be given to two people - Oliver Queen and Barbara "Oracle" Gordon. While there's never been any confirmation of a romantic/sexual relationship between Oracle and Black Canary in the comics, the two are a frequent target of shipping.
Dialogue Triumphs
Sara: You saw Laurel. Is she going to be okay?
Ollie: You saved her life.
Sara: Hey, thanks for calling me And I never did ask you - how did you find me?
Ollie: ... I wasn't going to lose you again.
(After Felicity tells her she should tell Ollie the truth about Thea's parentage)
Moira: I''m not going to tell my son anything. And neither are you. If you won't keep my secret for Oliver's sake, you should keep it for your own. I see the way you look at him. If you tell him this, you will rip his world apart. And a part of him will always blame you. Oh, he'll hate me for sure. But he will hate you too. We all have to keep secrets, Miss Smoak.
Sebastian Blood: Blood is thicker than politics. And it should be.
(After Sara tells her dad about her relationship with Nyssa)
Sara: Are you upset?
Quentin: Honestly, Sara? To take what you've been through these past six years? The pain? The loneliness? I'm just happy to hear you had someone to care for you.
Moira: I know we need to talk.
Ollie: You need to listen. For the past year, I've stood by your side. And I've fought. Because I wanted to believe that you weren't this... monster. And I needed to believe that I still had a mother.
Moira: You do, Oliver!
(Ollie puts up a hand to stop her as she moves in)
Moira: Oliver, I only lied about Thea to protect her from Malcolm.
Ollie: No. You lied because that's what you do. And that is what you are, Mom. Lies. And now you've made a liar of me. Because Thea can never know the truth about Merlyn. And she can never know the truth about us. Which is that as of right now, we have no relationship. I will keep up appearances for Thea's sake. And publicly I will support your campaign. But privately? You and I are done.
(Sara enters the Arrow Cave, walking in on Ollie practicing with a dummy)
Ollie: You've been crying.
Sara: I was happy to know I still could.
Ollie: Are you okay?
Sara: Laurel wasn't as happy to see me as you thought
Ollie: Give her time.
Sara: I gave her six years. What exactly are you taking out on that dummy?
Ollie: My mother... She's not who I thought she was.
Sara: I guess that's going around.
Ollie: So what now?
Sara: I don't know
Ollie: I don't either.
Sara: I know one thing.
Ollie: What's that?
Sara: I'm home.
Dialogue Disasters
Laurel's entire spiteful, whiny, drunken rant about how Sara is responsible for destroying her life will destroy any bit of sympathy you might have left for Laurel as a character.
Continuity
Sara returns to Starling City for the first time since League of Assassins (205). We find out the person who called Sara "beloved" referred to in that episode was Nyssa Al Ghul and that the two had a romantic relationship.
It is revealed that the man who was watching Laurel at Verdant in Tremors (212) was a League of Assassins member who poisoned her drink with Tibetan Pit Viper venom.
Felicity tracks Moira's holdings in Tempest - the company she first uncovered for Walter in Vendetta (108). She discovers money from this company was directed to Dr. Gill - the doctor who knows that Malcolm Merlyn is Thea's biological father.
Dinah Lance's occupation is uncertain, save that she is "a professional" and works in academia.
Sara Lance did live in Nanda Parbat with other members of the League of Assassins. Nanda Parbat was first mentioned by Malcolm Merlyn in Dead To Rights (116).
Malcolm Merlyn was the first person Ra's Al Ghul allowed to be released from service in the League of Assassins. By the episode's end, Sara Lance becomes the second.
Sara makes use of her electronic Canary Cry for the first time since Crucible (204)
Felicity makes the first reference to her troubled home life. She is vague about her mother but says she remembers little about her father, save how much it hurt when he left abandoned them.
Based on the date on her tombstone, Sara Lance is 26 years old.
Ollie uses his antidote herbs to save Sara, making this the first time he's used them since saving Malcolm Merlyn in Dead To Rights (116).
The Fridge Factor
Averted, for the most part. Laurel continues to be worse than useless and now exists only to hinder the lives of our heroes. And it's a bit jarring to see Alex Kingston play the damsel in distress after years of seeing her as River Song on Doctor Who but it fits her character on this show. Still a shame we didn't get to see the older Dinah kick some ass. Everyone else is awesome though. Felicity is actually shown being as smart as she's supposed to be. Moira is back to being the tough-as-nails manipulator. And Canary... oh, sweet baby Loki... every single moment of Sara/Canary on screen was awesome!
The Winick Factor
Shockingly averted, with Ollie being far more empathic than we've seen in recent memory, immediately noticing something is up with Felicity and taking steps to help her.
The Bottom Line
Darn near flawless in every regard. The fight scenes are fantastic. The script manages several honest surprises that don't seem the least bit forced. Best of all, Starling City has a Black Canary, at last. The only downside? We have to wait three weeks for the next new episode!
Plot
Sara Lance returns to Starling City, just in time to save Laurel from dying of an overdose. But there is more than meets the eye and Sara isn't the only member of the League of Assassins in town. Nyssa Al Ghul - daughter of Ra's - has come to collect the wayward Black Canary. But are her motivations entirely business-like?
Meanwhile, Moira Queen prepares to announce her candidacy for Mayor of Starling City. This leaves Ollie in the awkward position of having to abandon his support of his new friend Sebastian Blood. And things become even more awkward when Felicity - following a money trail from Moira's old holdings - uncovers the secret of Thea Queen's parentage.
Influences
Greg Rucka's Detective Comics (the character of Nyssa) and Gail Simone's Birds of Prey (Sara's personality and the plot idea of Black Canary defying the League of Assasins to save her family)
Goofs
Sara's smart-phone looks awfully advanced for a 2007 model.
Performances
I've praised Caity Lotz's performance as Sara Lance before but this episode really brings home what a talented actress she is. Like Stephen Amell, she plays Sara Lance as different characters across a relatively brief period of time and this episode gives us our first chance to see the Sara of the past as she interacted with her family. The flashback sequences - this time focusing on six years ago - give us our first look at the Lance family in happier times and it makes for an interesting counterpoint to all the modern-day scenes where we see a very different Sara who is capable of fighting but is tired of killing.
Artistry
The action sequences in this episode may be the best this show has ever produced. The opening sequence with Nyssa fighting airport security does an effective job of establishing her skill. The chase sequence with Arrow and Canary going after Nyssa's van looks like it came straight from the comic books (except for the fact that Canary always drives the motorcycle) and the final fight between Arrow and Nyssa is the best fight we've seen yet between Ollie and another archer.
Trivia
Nyssa Al Ghul is based on the character of Nyssa Raatko. Created by writer Greg Rucka during his run on Detective Comics, Nyssa was a daughter of Ra's Al Ghul who was born in 19th century Russia. Enthralled by her mother's stories of her dashing father (Nyssa being the result of a brief affair as Ra's was passing through), she sought him out and eventually tracked him to North Africa. Ra's was so impressed by her skill and resourcefulness he let her join him as a trusted lieutenant and even allowed her to use the Lazarus Pits that extended his life. The two eventually had a falling out over Ra's goals and she turned against him and plotted revenge after he allowed her family to die during The Holocaust. The Arrow version of Nyssa seems to be far more loyal to her father and shows no signs of having lived for over a century.
Nyssa Raatko is the name Nyssa uses on her passport.
There is some precedent for Black Canary being bisexual. According to Gail Simone (who has written Black Canary more than any other writer in recent memory), Black Canary is "70% hetero". It's also telling that in one Birds of Prey story, when going into what she thought was her final battle, Black Canary asked for her love to be given to two people - Oliver Queen and Barbara "Oracle" Gordon. While there's never been any confirmation of a romantic/sexual relationship between Oracle and Black Canary in the comics, the two are a frequent target of shipping.
Dialogue Triumphs
Sara: You saw Laurel. Is she going to be okay?
Ollie: You saved her life.
Sara: Hey, thanks for calling me And I never did ask you - how did you find me?
Ollie: ... I wasn't going to lose you again.
(After Felicity tells her she should tell Ollie the truth about Thea's parentage)
Moira: I''m not going to tell my son anything. And neither are you. If you won't keep my secret for Oliver's sake, you should keep it for your own. I see the way you look at him. If you tell him this, you will rip his world apart. And a part of him will always blame you. Oh, he'll hate me for sure. But he will hate you too. We all have to keep secrets, Miss Smoak.
Sebastian Blood: Blood is thicker than politics. And it should be.
(After Sara tells her dad about her relationship with Nyssa)
Sara: Are you upset?
Quentin: Honestly, Sara? To take what you've been through these past six years? The pain? The loneliness? I'm just happy to hear you had someone to care for you.
Moira: I know we need to talk.
Ollie: You need to listen. For the past year, I've stood by your side. And I've fought. Because I wanted to believe that you weren't this... monster. And I needed to believe that I still had a mother.
Moira: You do, Oliver!
(Ollie puts up a hand to stop her as she moves in)
Moira: Oliver, I only lied about Thea to protect her from Malcolm.
Ollie: No. You lied because that's what you do. And that is what you are, Mom. Lies. And now you've made a liar of me. Because Thea can never know the truth about Merlyn. And she can never know the truth about us. Which is that as of right now, we have no relationship. I will keep up appearances for Thea's sake. And publicly I will support your campaign. But privately? You and I are done.
(Sara enters the Arrow Cave, walking in on Ollie practicing with a dummy)
Ollie: You've been crying.
Sara: I was happy to know I still could.
Ollie: Are you okay?
Sara: Laurel wasn't as happy to see me as you thought
Ollie: Give her time.
Sara: I gave her six years. What exactly are you taking out on that dummy?
Ollie: My mother... She's not who I thought she was.
Sara: I guess that's going around.
Ollie: So what now?
Sara: I don't know
Ollie: I don't either.
Sara: I know one thing.
Ollie: What's that?
Sara: I'm home.
Dialogue Disasters
Laurel's entire spiteful, whiny, drunken rant about how Sara is responsible for destroying her life will destroy any bit of sympathy you might have left for Laurel as a character.
Continuity
Sara returns to Starling City for the first time since League of Assassins (205). We find out the person who called Sara "beloved" referred to in that episode was Nyssa Al Ghul and that the two had a romantic relationship.
It is revealed that the man who was watching Laurel at Verdant in Tremors (212) was a League of Assassins member who poisoned her drink with Tibetan Pit Viper venom.
Felicity tracks Moira's holdings in Tempest - the company she first uncovered for Walter in Vendetta (108). She discovers money from this company was directed to Dr. Gill - the doctor who knows that Malcolm Merlyn is Thea's biological father.
Dinah Lance's occupation is uncertain, save that she is "a professional" and works in academia.
Sara Lance did live in Nanda Parbat with other members of the League of Assassins. Nanda Parbat was first mentioned by Malcolm Merlyn in Dead To Rights (116).
Malcolm Merlyn was the first person Ra's Al Ghul allowed to be released from service in the League of Assassins. By the episode's end, Sara Lance becomes the second.
Sara makes use of her electronic Canary Cry for the first time since Crucible (204)
Felicity makes the first reference to her troubled home life. She is vague about her mother but says she remembers little about her father, save how much it hurt when he left abandoned them.
Based on the date on her tombstone, Sara Lance is 26 years old.
Ollie uses his antidote herbs to save Sara, making this the first time he's used them since saving Malcolm Merlyn in Dead To Rights (116).
The Fridge Factor
Averted, for the most part. Laurel continues to be worse than useless and now exists only to hinder the lives of our heroes. And it's a bit jarring to see Alex Kingston play the damsel in distress after years of seeing her as River Song on Doctor Who but it fits her character on this show. Still a shame we didn't get to see the older Dinah kick some ass. Everyone else is awesome though. Felicity is actually shown being as smart as she's supposed to be. Moira is back to being the tough-as-nails manipulator. And Canary... oh, sweet baby Loki... every single moment of Sara/Canary on screen was awesome!
The Winick Factor
Shockingly averted, with Ollie being far more empathic than we've seen in recent memory, immediately noticing something is up with Felicity and taking steps to help her.
The Bottom Line
Darn near flawless in every regard. The fight scenes are fantastic. The script manages several honest surprises that don't seem the least bit forced. Best of all, Starling City has a Black Canary, at last. The only downside? We have to wait three weeks for the next new episode!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Arrow Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 5 - League of Assassins
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
While curious about how Sara Lance survived her time on The Amazo and how she learned how to fight, Oliver Queen has avoided asking too many questions. Yet he has no choice after a mysterious man in the same black garb Malcolm Merlyn wore attacks the Queen estate while Sara is guesting with him. The truth comes out at last - Sara joined the legendary League of Assassins under the name Canary and her family will die if she does not return.
At the same time, things are heating up in the trial of Moira Queen. With Laurel Lance assigned to act as the District Attorney's second, things are tenser than ever between Ollie and Laurel... especially after Laurel spearheads a plea bargain that will likely see Moira in jail for the rest of her life. That's assuming she takes the deal - a course of action nobody except Moira seems to favor.
The flashbacks this time focus on Sara, showing how she survived the sinking of The Queen's Gambit. They also offer some explanation of how she came to her position on The Amazo when Ollie first found out she was still alive.
Influences
Birds of Prey: Sensei & Student (Canary receiving training under the tutelage of an assassin, having a nickname in a foreign language) and the Black Canary mini-series by Tony Bedard (Black Canary fights the League Of Assassins in order to prevent them from reclaiming one of their trainees - though in the comics the trainee was the young girl she'd adopted rather than Canary herself)
Goofs
Moira's lawyer has a pretty strong point (which D.A. Donner blows off completely) about Laurel serving on the prosecution team being a pretty big conflict of interest given the relationship between Laurel and The Queen family. I'm no legal expert, but I believe it is standard practice for lawyers not to get involved in cases where they personally know the defendant, dated the defendant's son and/or oversaw the defendant's daughter's community service.
Performances
The entire cast is excellent as always, but two performances stand out above all the others simply for the amount of difficult material they had to handle in this episode.
Caity Lotz faced a challenge in being able to sell Sara as a character and as The Canary. She has succeeded. Like Stephen Amell, she must play the character and the character's many faces even as their various personas clash, such as when the common sense of the assassin is overridden by the desires of the daughter to comfort her father and seek his approval.
Paul Blackthorne also has a challenging role in this episode, needing to play Quentin Lance as his usual badass cop persona but also as a vulnerable man whose world has already been broken and reglued too many times. And yet he must cope with yet another tragedy - the knowledge that his daughter is alive and that he cannot share that news with his estranged wife or the daughter who is slowly slipping away from him. You can see the pain in Blackthorne's face, though he says nothing as the episode progresses, as he pieces together everything Sara isn't telling him and realizes the broken home he hoped to save can never be restored.
Artistry
The fight scenes are all incredibly well-shot and amazingly choreographed.
Trivia
The League of Assassins are - as the name would suggest - a guild of professional killers in the DC Comics Universe. Their leader and founder is Ra's Al Ghul, best known to non-comic readers as the main villain in the movie Batman Begins. The group - and Ra's himself - were created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams - the same creative team responsible for the reimagining of Green Arrow as a modern-day Robin Hood figure. The League first appeared in Strange Adventures #215 and quickly became a foil not just for Batman but for all the martial-arts based heroes of the DC Universe.
Professor Anthony Ivo is a long-time nemesis of The Justice League of America. Originally introduced in Brave and the Bold #30, he was a scientist whose fear of death caused him to seek out immortality. He originally sought to do this through the creation of robots that could steal the powers of the most powerful beings on earth (i.e. superheroes) so that he too might become invulnerable to all dangers. Eventually, he sought answers through biological experimentation and found a serum that granted him immortality but also transformed him into a deformed, barely humanoid creature with scaly skin.
The most powerful of Ivo's robots was called Amazo. This is also the name of the ship Sara and Ollie are imprisoned on.
Al-Owal tells Sara "The child of Ra's Al Ghul awaits your return". This could be a reference to Talia Al Ghul. Though she is not Ra's only child, she is the only one who openly ran The League of Assassins for an extended period in the comics.
Before she kills him Al-Owal tells Sara she will not be spared because she is "the beloved". Curiously, "Beloved" was Talia Al Ghul's pet-name for Batman. And in the comics Black Canary did briefly date Ra's Al Ghul, though neither of them was aware of the other's identity at the time. Could it be possible that Ra's has reasons for wanting to see Sara return to him alive beyond wishing to see a skilled assassin return to his employ?
Dialogue Triumphs
Oliver: Who are you?
Al-Owal: Just a warrior... like you
(As Ollie returns from a meeting with his mother and her lawyer)
Diggle: How did it go with your mother?
Ollie: Not well. Have you found someone for me to hit yet?
(As Ollie is stitching a wound on Sara's back)
Felicity: You're not even flinching when he...
Sara: Pain and I came to a little understanding a few years back.
(After Quentin is disarmed by an assassin)
Assassin: Guns are a coward's weapon. What are you without your sidearm?
(Quentin reaches to his side, draws a second gun and shoots the assassin)
Quentin: Got a spare.
(After Sara kills Al-Owal)
Sara: I'm sorry you saw that. I can't imagine what you think of me.
Quentin: I think you're a survivor. I think you're one of the bravest people I've ever known.
Continuity
Like Ollie, Sara has traumatic nightmares regarding the sinking of The Queen's Gambit. Moira is offered a plea bargain for life with a possibility of parole in exchange for a guilty plea. Sara survived the sinking of The Queen's Gambit by clinging to a piece of the wreckage. She saw a canary just before being discovered by The Amazo. The black garb Malcolm Merlyn wore is apparently standard issue for most League of Assassins members. Sara apparently met Shado at some point and she was wearing a green hood when it happened. Al-Owal is Arabic for "The First". Diggle heard rumors of The League of Assassins when he was stationed if Afghanistan. Sara was rescued from The Amazo by a member of The League of Assassins, who took her to Nanda Parbat - the same mystic city Malcolm Merlyn mentioned training at in 116. She joined the group but left it after four years after one assassination where she saw the children of her target discover the body. Sara was imprisoned in the same cells on The Amazo as Ollie. Al-Owal was the man who trained Malcolm Merlyn. Quentin hasn't spoken to Laurel in a week, since 204. Sara can speak Chinese. Quentin figures out that Sara is "the girl in the mask", running through the logic that "Felicity Smoak was sent to warn me about assassins and if Sara knew to send her to deliver a message that means Sara knows The Arrow which means...." Sara is saved from the cells and a probable rape by The Amazo's crew by Dr. Anthony Ivo, who explains that the people in the cages are part of his work and he plans to save the human race. Sara shows Quentin her base in the Clocktower. She says that The League of Assassins makes all their members choose a new name when they are inducted and she chose the Arabic word for canary. Quentin remembers buying her a pet canary whens he was 10. Sara has the tower boob-trapped with snares and trip-wires that shoot crossbow bolts. Sara is referred to as "the beloved" by Al-Owal before she kills him. Moira decides to reject the plea-bargain after being reassured by her children they will love her no matter what comes out in the trial. Sara leaves to go deal with The League of Assassins. Ollie has a bottle of vodka in his trunk that a friend gave him to drink "at the right time". Ollie tells Diggle that he did not spend all of the five years he was gone on the island.
Untelevised Adventures
While we do see how Sara comes to move from the cells of The Amazon to Ivo's lab, we still don't know precisely how she came to be his employ.
The Fridge Factor
Sara Lance spends most of the flashback sequences in her underwear - a retcon from what she was wearing in the Season One flashbacks. There's also a gratuitous shot of her bare back following a sequence where her wounds are being sewn that serves no purpose other than to titillate the audience.
The Bottom Line
Perhaps the strongest episode of the season thus far. The fight scenes are all gorgeous and the story of how Sara came to be where we saw her last week is explained while still leaving plenty of mystery in the flashback sequences to come. Most of the ensemble cast isn't given much to do (indeed, Ollie is a secondary character to the main action) but they shine in what brief moments they have. Caity Lotz and Paul Blackthorne steal the show thanks to some well-written scenes that are well-played.
Plot
While curious about how Sara Lance survived her time on The Amazo and how she learned how to fight, Oliver Queen has avoided asking too many questions. Yet he has no choice after a mysterious man in the same black garb Malcolm Merlyn wore attacks the Queen estate while Sara is guesting with him. The truth comes out at last - Sara joined the legendary League of Assassins under the name Canary and her family will die if she does not return.
At the same time, things are heating up in the trial of Moira Queen. With Laurel Lance assigned to act as the District Attorney's second, things are tenser than ever between Ollie and Laurel... especially after Laurel spearheads a plea bargain that will likely see Moira in jail for the rest of her life. That's assuming she takes the deal - a course of action nobody except Moira seems to favor.
The flashbacks this time focus on Sara, showing how she survived the sinking of The Queen's Gambit. They also offer some explanation of how she came to her position on The Amazo when Ollie first found out she was still alive.
Influences
Birds of Prey: Sensei & Student (Canary receiving training under the tutelage of an assassin, having a nickname in a foreign language) and the Black Canary mini-series by Tony Bedard (Black Canary fights the League Of Assassins in order to prevent them from reclaiming one of their trainees - though in the comics the trainee was the young girl she'd adopted rather than Canary herself)
Goofs
Moira's lawyer has a pretty strong point (which D.A. Donner blows off completely) about Laurel serving on the prosecution team being a pretty big conflict of interest given the relationship between Laurel and The Queen family. I'm no legal expert, but I believe it is standard practice for lawyers not to get involved in cases where they personally know the defendant, dated the defendant's son and/or oversaw the defendant's daughter's community service.
Performances
The entire cast is excellent as always, but two performances stand out above all the others simply for the amount of difficult material they had to handle in this episode.
Caity Lotz faced a challenge in being able to sell Sara as a character and as The Canary. She has succeeded. Like Stephen Amell, she must play the character and the character's many faces even as their various personas clash, such as when the common sense of the assassin is overridden by the desires of the daughter to comfort her father and seek his approval.
Paul Blackthorne also has a challenging role in this episode, needing to play Quentin Lance as his usual badass cop persona but also as a vulnerable man whose world has already been broken and reglued too many times. And yet he must cope with yet another tragedy - the knowledge that his daughter is alive and that he cannot share that news with his estranged wife or the daughter who is slowly slipping away from him. You can see the pain in Blackthorne's face, though he says nothing as the episode progresses, as he pieces together everything Sara isn't telling him and realizes the broken home he hoped to save can never be restored.
Artistry
The fight scenes are all incredibly well-shot and amazingly choreographed.
Trivia
The League of Assassins are - as the name would suggest - a guild of professional killers in the DC Comics Universe. Their leader and founder is Ra's Al Ghul, best known to non-comic readers as the main villain in the movie Batman Begins. The group - and Ra's himself - were created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams - the same creative team responsible for the reimagining of Green Arrow as a modern-day Robin Hood figure. The League first appeared in Strange Adventures #215 and quickly became a foil not just for Batman but for all the martial-arts based heroes of the DC Universe.
Professor Anthony Ivo is a long-time nemesis of The Justice League of America. Originally introduced in Brave and the Bold #30, he was a scientist whose fear of death caused him to seek out immortality. He originally sought to do this through the creation of robots that could steal the powers of the most powerful beings on earth (i.e. superheroes) so that he too might become invulnerable to all dangers. Eventually, he sought answers through biological experimentation and found a serum that granted him immortality but also transformed him into a deformed, barely humanoid creature with scaly skin.
The most powerful of Ivo's robots was called Amazo. This is also the name of the ship Sara and Ollie are imprisoned on.
Al-Owal tells Sara "The child of Ra's Al Ghul awaits your return". This could be a reference to Talia Al Ghul. Though she is not Ra's only child, she is the only one who openly ran The League of Assassins for an extended period in the comics.
Before she kills him Al-Owal tells Sara she will not be spared because she is "the beloved". Curiously, "Beloved" was Talia Al Ghul's pet-name for Batman. And in the comics Black Canary did briefly date Ra's Al Ghul, though neither of them was aware of the other's identity at the time. Could it be possible that Ra's has reasons for wanting to see Sara return to him alive beyond wishing to see a skilled assassin return to his employ?
Dialogue Triumphs
Oliver: Who are you?
Al-Owal: Just a warrior... like you
(As Ollie returns from a meeting with his mother and her lawyer)
Diggle: How did it go with your mother?
Ollie: Not well. Have you found someone for me to hit yet?
(As Ollie is stitching a wound on Sara's back)
Felicity: You're not even flinching when he...
Sara: Pain and I came to a little understanding a few years back.
(After Quentin is disarmed by an assassin)
Assassin: Guns are a coward's weapon. What are you without your sidearm?
(Quentin reaches to his side, draws a second gun and shoots the assassin)
Quentin: Got a spare.
(After Sara kills Al-Owal)
Sara: I'm sorry you saw that. I can't imagine what you think of me.
Quentin: I think you're a survivor. I think you're one of the bravest people I've ever known.
Continuity
Like Ollie, Sara has traumatic nightmares regarding the sinking of The Queen's Gambit. Moira is offered a plea bargain for life with a possibility of parole in exchange for a guilty plea. Sara survived the sinking of The Queen's Gambit by clinging to a piece of the wreckage. She saw a canary just before being discovered by The Amazo. The black garb Malcolm Merlyn wore is apparently standard issue for most League of Assassins members. Sara apparently met Shado at some point and she was wearing a green hood when it happened. Al-Owal is Arabic for "The First". Diggle heard rumors of The League of Assassins when he was stationed if Afghanistan. Sara was rescued from The Amazo by a member of The League of Assassins, who took her to Nanda Parbat - the same mystic city Malcolm Merlyn mentioned training at in 116. She joined the group but left it after four years after one assassination where she saw the children of her target discover the body. Sara was imprisoned in the same cells on The Amazo as Ollie. Al-Owal was the man who trained Malcolm Merlyn. Quentin hasn't spoken to Laurel in a week, since 204. Sara can speak Chinese. Quentin figures out that Sara is "the girl in the mask", running through the logic that "Felicity Smoak was sent to warn me about assassins and if Sara knew to send her to deliver a message that means Sara knows The Arrow which means...." Sara is saved from the cells and a probable rape by The Amazo's crew by Dr. Anthony Ivo, who explains that the people in the cages are part of his work and he plans to save the human race. Sara shows Quentin her base in the Clocktower. She says that The League of Assassins makes all their members choose a new name when they are inducted and she chose the Arabic word for canary. Quentin remembers buying her a pet canary whens he was 10. Sara has the tower boob-trapped with snares and trip-wires that shoot crossbow bolts. Sara is referred to as "the beloved" by Al-Owal before she kills him. Moira decides to reject the plea-bargain after being reassured by her children they will love her no matter what comes out in the trial. Sara leaves to go deal with The League of Assassins. Ollie has a bottle of vodka in his trunk that a friend gave him to drink "at the right time". Ollie tells Diggle that he did not spend all of the five years he was gone on the island.
Untelevised Adventures
While we do see how Sara comes to move from the cells of The Amazon to Ivo's lab, we still don't know precisely how she came to be his employ.
The Fridge Factor
Sara Lance spends most of the flashback sequences in her underwear - a retcon from what she was wearing in the Season One flashbacks. There's also a gratuitous shot of her bare back following a sequence where her wounds are being sewn that serves no purpose other than to titillate the audience.
The Bottom Line
Perhaps the strongest episode of the season thus far. The fight scenes are all gorgeous and the story of how Sara came to be where we saw her last week is explained while still leaving plenty of mystery in the flashback sequences to come. Most of the ensemble cast isn't given much to do (indeed, Ollie is a secondary character to the main action) but they shine in what brief moments they have. Caity Lotz and Paul Blackthorne steal the show thanks to some well-written scenes that are well-played.
Arrow - Season 2, Episode 5 - League Of Assassins - Live Tweet Commentary
Events at work conspired to see me sent home early today. So fortune smiles - I can once again do a live-tweet commentary on League of Assassins before writing the latest entry for the Arrow Episode Guide.
Word of warning - this DOES have SPOILERS! So don't read this until you've seen the episode!
0:02 - I think it's anatomy Ollie knows, not biology.
0:07 - Give Ollie points for asking the question even though it's obvious that no, Laruel is NOT Ok.
0:09 - Ah, the fine
0:09 - Now if only we could see Ollie use a harp and shish kabob skewers...
0:12 - Tradition. Not condition. I'm tired.
0:15 - Waiting for Diggle to remind Ollie about the LAST time he brought a love interest into the Arrow Cave.
0:18 - Retconning this so Sara was abducted in her underwear seems a little exploitative.
0:22 - Damn good fight scene, this.
0:27- Okay, now THAT was just gratuitous! The whole bare back scene!
0:30 - And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Ollie is an awesome character when he lets the good man out.
0:32 - Okay... was not expecting this resolution THAT fast...
0:36 - Nice to see that Quentin thought to mention his wife in all of this.
0:37 - Nice to see Quentin putting those detective skills to work...however painful the final conclusion.
0:40 - No one who says he's out to save the human race EVER has good intentions. Especially when he owns a slave ship.
0:43 - It would be kind of awesome if
0:45 - Very heavy
0:48 - How many of you saw 'Follow Your Arrow' trending and were surprised it had nothing to do with
0:51 - Amazing how very little Ollie has to do in this episode...
0:59 - Well... some answers but still some mystery regarding the past. As it should be. Great episode.
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