Originally Aired: April 22, 2015
Wow this episode was fantastic! Once again Arrow delivers not only action but emotion that is unrivaled in the world of comic book TV shows. This episode was cut pretty evenly in half in terms of past and present. The flashback scenes continues on after last week when Ollie and Maseo found out the US ARMY’s plan to use the virus in the city. These flashbacks this week are were almost all the action is in this episode. Where some of the flashbacks drag in other episodes, this time I was looking forward to the continuation of the story each time a flashback happened! The present day story was slower but in a good way. If you watched last week’s episode “Broken Arrow” you will remember at the end Thea got stabbed in the heart by Ra’s before the credits rolled… Well this week is all about trying to save Thea and bring her back to life. But she’s dead right? Yes, but don’t forget that the Lazarus Pit has been known to bring back the dead, and that is the theme for tonight’s episode.
Emily Bett Rickards and John Barrowman deliver some of their best acting since joining the show. Barrowman not only tugged at my heartstrings but also delivered some excellent action when the story called for it. This episode truly was for people on Team Olicity like me. There is so much chemistry between Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards and the romantic inside me squeed with excitement a few times during “The Fallen”. Overall this was a great episode. With just enough action to make it stay exciting, and drama that felt as heavy as a later episode in a Game of Thrones season. This episode felt epic in a lot of different ways. In my personal contest I hold each week between Arrow and The Flash, Arrow wins this week by a mile!
WARNING: SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW AFTER THE JUMP!
So I was pretty surprised when this episode started and Thea wasn’t just stone cold dead. To be honest this episode was much different than anything I had expected, but I’m so glad it went the way it did. This episode was theme on saving Thea and they did just that. While it was almost unbelievable that Thea made it to the hospital “alive”, they brought back the realism by saying they did everything they could… Sorry. This puts Oliver back into Ra’s plan, because he knew Oliver would want to trade his life for Thea’s and become the new heir to the demon. What Ra’s didn’t expect is that Felicity is still the only one fighting in the war against The League.
Felicity was tremendous this episode. Sadly her and Ray seemingly “break up”, and she charges up to Ra’s alone in defiance of him. He tells her a story about how he wishes he could have told his past love how he felt one more time before he became Ra’s and suggests she do that too. I liked this scene because it humanized Ra’s a bit. So Felicity takes his advice finally gets to tell Oliver she loves him and they get down and dirty… Finally! After three seasons of wanting that to happen, the show runners finally gave us what we want! Hell they could of ended the episode then and I would have been excited. Nevertheless, Felicity does something much unexpected and takes charge of everything afterward. She drugs Oliver to try and get him out of Nanda Parbat, but sadly that fails.
Diggle does get a whole lot of screen time, but the scene between him and Maseo was tremendous! Diggle really is a man with great courage and willpower… some might say he should be worthy of a certain ring because of it! This prompts Maseo to finally reveal his former self and attempt to help the team sneak the drugged Oliver out of the city, but when this fails he confesses and turns back into his League self. This doesn’t mean Maseo is dead. He’s still going to be around for Oliver’s transformation into the new Ra’s, so maybe he’ll help out in the end?
Finally, Oliver does fall right into Ra’s trap this episode. I would fault him for it if he didn’t know that he was as well. He knew the game was over and resigned himself to becoming Ra’s if it saves the one’s he loves lives. He wakes up from his drug induced sleep to save Felicity and crew, and escorts them to safety. I loved these good-bye scenes as they were bittersweet, but we also got a little bit more Olicity that made me happy. Oliver is beginning down a path that will change him permanently. I’m not sure what’s going to happen really. This episode ends almost like a season finale. In fact I had to go look to make sure there were three episodes left. Oliver becomes a member of the league, but the show has to continue being about his transformation into the Green Arrow. So eventually he will have to conclude his story with Ra’s and get back to work. Something drastic will need to happen in the last three episodes to stop The League of Assassin and Ra’s al Ghul but what?
