Arrow, Season 3, Episode 21: Al Sah-Him
Well, they finally did the big plot development twist that Oliver Queen has totally joined the League of Assassins! And that plot twist would be completely meaningless if Oliver didn't do something evil, so we have this episode. Honestly this string of episodes really feels like it's only going through the motions of this big plot twist that everyone saw coming that Oliver ends up joining the League, and it's going through the motions until Oliver either breaks free, or is just acting all along because no way in hell is the main lead going to stay a villain. Also Team Arrow is all about the drama, especially Felicity who's getting increasingly annoying, although we know they'll totally stand up for Oliver and be all 'this is our Oliver' sometime near the finale. And he won't do anything particularly damning so unless she gets killed in the ensuing combat I really didn't feel any threat for Lyla.
So overall all this episode accomplishes is make Oliver look like a colossal dick. But hey, we got to see Thea in the Speedy costume (well, a form-fitting League of Assassins costume, but still) which is something.
Still, despite my criticisms for the plot twists not being surprising and it just going through the motions with a generic hero-turns-evil plot, it's still kind of interesting to watch. Really the big glaring question on why the fuck Ra's Al Ghul wants to push Oliver to become his heir so badly still isn't answered beyond vague prophecy stuff, and a good reason seems to be Ra's doing it more to spite his daughter for being a woman and/or a lesbian which would be a daring topic for Arrow to tackle properly... but no. The big overreaching plot of Ra's Al Ghul wanting a successor and being so fixated on Oliver is easily the weakest point of the plot, which is a shame since Ra's Al Ghul himself is extremely interesting and played by a great actor.
And really once you think about it Ra's is holding to the idiot ball quite well, isn't he? The big plot of this episode is Oliver having gone through some hallucinogenic drugs to kill a random mook who his mind portrays as Diggle-captured-by-the-League, showing how far and brainwashed Oliver has fallen, and he's sent to Starling City to take down his rival, Nyssa. On the way, he kidnaps Lyla to use as a hostage, putting him at odds with his old team and forcing them to hand over Nyssa. Oliver very notably doesn't do anything harmful to his old team and actually doesn't do anything to run the real John Diggle through. So when Oliver returns and is about to totally kill his rival, Nyssa, Ra's stops Oliver and notes how absolute Oliver's brainwashing is. Okay so Oliver is ready to kill his rival who he's only been shown to barely tolerate, but spares his old buddies, but Ra's thinks Oliver's sufficiently brainwashed? What.
We did get a pretty awesome action scene between Oliver's League mooks versus Team Arrow, which is great. Beyond the kidnapping thing (and Diggle plays off the angry-and-betrayed-friend really well) no real bridges are burned. Lyla's awesome. We really could use more of her.
Also, Laurel has apparently bonded so closely with Nyssa that they share milkshake-fries together and Nyssa is kind of ready to choose Nyssa over Lyla. And while an argument could be made about the ethics of handing over Nyssa to be executed, Laurel is still being her usual pig-headed self -- they do have a point, they don't owe Nyssa anything, she is a mass murderer and she's been nothing but trouble to the rest of the cast that isn't Laurel. It is a bit cold handing Nyssa over to be most likely executed, though, and I do like how their argument isn't totally clear cut since Diggle raises some nice questions about the things the League (and Nyssa) has done off-screen. Oliver repeating Nyssa's "vengeance is justice" line is a relatively hilarious comeback, though.
It is nice to see Laurel and Nyssa kind of bond together, though, and I really do like Nyssa trying to hard to be normal and hang out with what she probably sees to be like a surrogate little sister of sorts (also Sara-related stuff I guess) only to find her old life catching up to her.
Also, Laurel totally uses her upgraded Canary Cry! Though like Deathbolt's unexplained appearance in the Flash, we don't even get a cursory 'thanks Cisco for giving me this' throwaway line for those who only watch one show and not the other. I really like the crossovers, but I really wish for the sake of those who only watch one show, or even those who don't keep up weekly -- like me -- they do make things that happen in crossovers clear.
One of the non-action highlights in this episode for me is definitely the short talk between Thea and Felicity about Oliver. Have the two ever had a scene together, just the two of them? And Thea totally gets her super-suit, complete with hood. Which, colours and boob-window aside, is a total ringer for her comic-book Speedy costume, which is awesome. Season three Thea is awesome. For his short scenes, Malcolm also ends up showing a bit of a supportive and proud side, so he's developing nicely into anti-villain territory... though Thea still makes it clear that all this bullshit is his fault, so he isn't entirely forgiven yet. Just because it's more convenient at the moment to use Malcolm.
Oliver himself kind of fell really flat in this episode, really. We know he won't be evil, and as much as the show wants to pretend he is, it isn't even doing a good job at making him seem brainwashed beyond the Diggle stab in the opening.
Meanwhile, Ra's Al Ghul drops the bombshell that his punishment for Nyssa's betrayal is... being married to Oliver and becoming the bride of Ra's Al Ghul? Okay, Ra's, you crazy misogynist. Both Oliver and Nyssa's horrified looks are kind of hilarious, though.
We actually get some nice backstory from Ra's, further divorcing him from the 'ageless immortal leader of an assassin army' from his original Batman roots, and I'm strangely accepting of this portayal of Ra's who, while still really old and still a leader of an assassin army, is firmly established as being only the latest in a series of people to bear that mantle. With the sorta-similar DC villain Vandal Savage showing up in Legends of Tomorrow, I guess they want to play up the 'immortal' angle more with Vandal Savage and the 'assassin leader' angle with Ra's.
Ra's told Oliver about how he himself had been sent to kill a rival to the throne when he himself ascended into the title of Ra's, and when he failed to deliver the killing blow, his rival has been a thorn in his side... and became HIVE. Well, that's kind of an unexpected tie-in to that little HIVE stealth cameo from way back in that Deadshot episode, and with Deadshot killed off I thought HIVE was going to be buried for quite some while, but it seems that they're going to be building up HIVE and its leader, Damien Dahrrk (a relatively obscure Teen Titans villain and leader of HIVE), as the big bad for season four. Ra's also reveals that the various seemingly-random plotlines throughout the second and third seasons are all caused by HIVE -- sending Bronze Tiger to steal Merlyn's earthquake machine from way back in the second season, Gholem Qadir's whole sub-plot in Markovia, also from the second season, and the employer of Mark Shaw's attack from ARGUS earlier in this season. Which is kind of clever, I guess, but it still comes off from nowhere and seems to be pointless foreshadowing for the sake of foreshadowing.
It kind of comes out of nowhere, though, and even if the reason Ra's is so adamant on recruiting Oliver is to help him in his crusade against Dahrrk it kind of makes his crazy troll logic throughout season three somewhat sensible... but I dunno, since Ra's randomly pulls out the Alpha-Omega virus, which Nyssa apparently stole from him before, thus tying this into the otherwise random and distracting Hong Kong flashback arc.
I don't think anything particularly notable happens in the Hong Kong arc, really, beyond Akio apparently being affected by the virus... kid's going to die, Maseo himself pretty much confirms it's the case a while back. So why beat around the bush? Beyond the fact that the flashbacks must last the entire season, I mean? And really, we could've had the Hong Kong stuff end a couple episodes back so it doesn't clog up screentime. Show flashbacks of the League brainwashing Maseo or something, not stretch out the stupid Hong Kong attack for so long for no actual point at all.
Anyway, apparently Ra's wants Oliver to use the Alpha-Omega on Starling City to prove his loyalty because all Ra's Al Ghuls are expected to raze their former hometown. Okay, so I guess that's the plot for the finale. It came out of nowhere (again), but it kinda makes sense so whatever. Attack on the city. Yay.
Overall, despite the obvious plot developments throughout this episode and the insensibility of Ra's agendas, it's still an enjoyable episode with some great emotional moments on the parts of Nyssa, Laurel and Diggle, plus some great action scenes and freaking Speedy.
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