The third season of the critically acclaimed television show "Arrow" can best be described as a series of ups and downs. The season finale managed to encompass all the elements that contributed to both the good and the bad of this season. One thing that can be said is this episode definitely tied up some loose ends.
This won't shock anyone reading this but Team Arrow, Merlyn and Ray Palmer are miraculously not dead after seemingly being killed by the Alpha and Omega bioweapon. We all suspend belief while watching TV shows, but not only was it obvious the group would survive, they flat out spoiled it in the promo at the end of last weeks episode. They have been pretty sloppy with spoilers the last few weeks. If they aren’t killing whatever momentum the previous episode had in a coming up next week promo, they are spoiling what’s going to happen on Arrow during "The Flash". This problem maybe the only downside to having a shared TV universe. At times it doesn’t seem as though one hand knows what the other is doing which leave the viewers wondering if its ok to watch either show without spoiling the other.
This second half of the season has been building up to the rematch between Ra’s al Ghul and Oliver. Not even 10 minutes into the episode we are treated to Ra’s and Oliver back at each other’s throats. Even after Oliver’s treachery has been discovered Ra’s tries to convince Oliver in his best “listen to me, I'm your dad” voice that Oliver's name is Al Sah-him, but Oliver emphatically retorts that his name is Oliver Queen. It’s hard to have not seen this coming (never mind the fact that they also spoiled this powerful moment in every literally before the program ended last week), but the moment was powerful none the less.
As Oliver and Nyssa battle Ra's on his cargo plane Meryln tells the rest of the gang back in Nada Parbat that he saved their lives by groping them while they weren't looking. Ok, that's not what he said but that's essentially what happened. As Felicity wonders aloud how they are going to get out of their chains The Flash swoops in and takes out the remaining guards. It looks like Oliver did call in that favor he mentioned he would need at the end of last weeks episode of "The Flash". But again, we all knew that because they have been promoting all week that Flash would be saving the group.
As usual an appearance by Flash adds some much needed comedy to Arrow. Arrow has always been more "Dark Knight" than "Avengers", but levity adds depth. Hearing Flash remark that it's "nice" that The League of Assassins has a hot tub (he was staring at the Lazurus pit) and chastising Felicity for referring to him as Barry in front of a supervillain, are definitely on the list of highlights for this episode.
When the team makes it back to Starling City (which must be down the road from Nada Parbat) Oliver and Nyssa join them at Palmer Industries. Diggle decided to greet Oliver with a right hook to the face, which is probably the most appropriate response considering all the strife Oliver has caused. Oliver explains the reason he partnered with Merlyn and kept the team in the dark was to make Ra's belief he is come over to the dark side of the force. Though Everyone's anger is justified, it's hard to argue that Oliver was wrong. At the end of the day what matters is the mission. Fences can be mended once the city is saved. Felicity takes issue with Oliver after he announced his grand plan was to crash the plane with Ra's and the Alpha and Omega virus on it, effectively killing everyone on board including himself.
If the person you love stand in front of you and tells you that they were essentially going to commit suicide it would be hard not to be upset. Felicity's reaction, though warranted, is another in a long line of emotional breakdowns by the character. Emily Bett-Rickards run as Felicity has been almost flawless until this season. Its 100% not her fault, she can only use the material she has been given. Hopefully next season she will be treated as less of a nuisance and more of an independent strong woman.
While searching for Ra's they discover that Ra's nemesis Damien Darhk is also in Starling. That means the destruction of Starling City wasn't just to complete Oliver's (or Mr. Al Sah-Him, if you’re nasty) ascension to Ra's al Ghul it was also to take out Damien Darhk. Oliver states they can use this to their advantage. Kidnap Darhk and use him, as a bargaining chip to get Ra's to hand over the virus. This plan received big thumbs up from Meryln.
"We trade Damien for the virus. That is remarkably ruthless and cold blooded. I approve."
The flashbacks in this episode, and in the past few seemed to have more to do with developing the recently deceased Maseo's character than Oliver. They seemed a bit disjointed. The end result of Oliver torturing General Shrieve is that we were treated to Oliver saying that someone has failed a city for the first time (chronologically that is). Even though Oliver didn't kill the General, Maseo could not allow him to continue to draw breath. Tatsu was upset by Maseo's actions but what would any father do in this situation?
Oliver's attempt to kidnap Darhk ends up being a waste of time. Darhk was one step ahead of everyone; Darhk has already left Starling City. At this point there is nothing that can be done to stop Ra's plan. The team splits up to try to stop Ra's agents from disseminating the virus. Ra's sends an emissary to Oliver to challenge him to a duel. Oliver obliges.
As Diggle is tussling with one of Ra's men, Diggle gets taken down and is about to be killed. Before the assassin gets to kill him, a few arrows are shot into his back. Thea makes the save once again (this is the second time in two episodes that Thea has saved Diggle’s life in exactly the same scenario. Difference is this time Thea is wearing and altered version of Roy's old Arsenal costume. Yes, after three seasons Speedy has become Speedy. Just as an aside, Thea looks better than Roy ever did in that getup. Vavavoom!
This leads us to the inevitable rematch between Ra’s and Oliver. The build to their first fight and the fight itself was actually quite epic. We all know that ended with a crushed trachea, a sword to the stomach, and a brogue kick of a mountain for Oliver. That said there was no way Oliver wasn’t going to win this fight. That might have been one of the issues with this finale. As exciting as this episode has been it’s hard not to be able to predict exactly what is going to happen. Even though Oliver ends up in the same position he did before Ra’s almost killed him the last time it was obvious he was setting Ra’s up for the kill. The only real added drama here is that the police were monitoring the battle and had sniper’s set to shoot both Ra’s and Oliver.
In an interesting turn of events Captain Lance calls Felicity to tell her that guns are trained on Oliver and he can’t stop them from firing. Ray is calibrating measures to stop the spread of the virus, so he can’t swoop in and save Oliver. Ray tells Felicity that it’s one mans life over the lives of the entire city. Brandon Routh has managed to turn the Ray Palmer, which has always been a bit one-note in the comics, into an earnest, charming and actually quite interesting character. Routh played this scene perfectly. Regardless of his feelings for Felicity and his jealousy of Oliver it is apparent that his words are not out of hate they are out of truth. What would Oliver do in this situation?
As Oliver delivers the killing blow to Ra’s the snipers open fire and hit Oliver in the chest three to four times, causing Oliver to fall of the overpass and into the waterfall below. Before Oliver hits the water, The Atom swoops in and catches him. When they land, we find that is actually Felicity in The Atom suit. Logistics aside (seriously, how the hell does she fit in the suit and how the hell does she know how to fly in it?) this was a cool moment. Well that is until Felicity tells Oliver she would be kissing him if she weren’t in the suit. There are so many things wrong with that statement, never mind the fact that it was probably the cheesiest line this season.
In the epilogue Oliver tells the team because there is a team there is no need for him to be The Arrow. He goes on to say that when he told Felicity he wasn’t able to be Arrow and be with her he meant it. He chooses Felicity. Diggle walks away in a huff. Oliver follows him and apologizes once again. Diggle is still extremely upset with Oliver, which is totally understandable. Diggle tells Oliver that building back trust takes time. Oliver tells Diggle that if he is going to keep acting as a vigilante he may want to find a way to conceal his identity. Diggle says he with think on that. Diggle finally getting a costume is long overdue. We are all still hoping his full name is John Diggle Stewart, but the likely hood of that is pretty low.
As Oliver says goodbye to Thea, Merlyn appears. Oliver tells him that no matter what just transpired, he will never forgive Merlyn for all that he has done. Oliver hands Merlyn the ring of Ra’s al Ghul and leaves. It seems the reason Merlyn helped Oliver to begin with was to take Ra’s place as the leader of the league of assassins. Next we see Merlyn, he is in Nada Parbat claiming his army. Nyssa returns and tells Merlyn that she will take her revenge for what he did to her beloved Sara. Merlyn tells her he welcomes the challenge, but for the time being, she will kneel to the new Ra’s al Ghul.
Anyone who says they saw this turn of events coming is a liar. Merlyn uses the loophole that he technically survived the blade of Ra’s when he was being tortured by Ra’s months ago. Way to take advantage of a technicality, Merlyn. This could go one of two ways, but in all honesty there is no way this doesn’t go bad in the future for Oliver and his group.
While Oliver and Felicity drive off, he mentions that he is finally happy. Back at Palmer Technologies Ray is working on miniaturization. His test fails, and in the process the entire top floor of the building explodes. At first glance, it looks like there is no way Ray survived, but in classic Arrowverse fashion his fate is revealed via the trailer for the new “Legends of Tomorrow” show. This may seem morbid, but it would have been a welcome change for someone (other than Moria) to get killed and actually stay dead.
Episode Rating: 7.5 out of 10
In the past two seasons the strongest episodes of Arrow ended up being the two season finales. The same cannot be said for season three. There were many bright spots to this episode such as the appearance of Flash and the debut of Thea as Speedy. The issue here was the lack of any real danger in the A story (we knew Oliver would kill Ra’s) and the ease in which the team figured out a way to stop the dispersal of the virus.
It was all way too neat. It may have seemed cheap, but in the battle between Ra’s and Oliver why not have Ra’s gain and unfair advantage of sorts. It’s not Ra’s style, but it would have at least given us the sense Oliver could loose here. We all know Oliver’s happiness will not last, so if anything it will be fun to speculate what tragedy will force Oliver to come back to Starling City and become Arrow once again. Or will it be Green Arrow come this time next year? Subpar finale aside, we will all still wait with baited breath to find out how this will all turn out next season.