Could you turn down taking over the League of Assassins?
What They Say:
The Offer – Oliver learns a new villain and his crew have been terrorizing Starling City; Nyssa and Laurel bond over their issues; Lance shuts out the Arrow and Laurel.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Arrow certainly gave us the kind of cliffhanger that we’re used to when it knows it’s going to take a bit of a break, though there are enough episodes where each week it can go big enough that they all feel like season finales. Putting Diggle and Oliver back together for a mission definitely worked well and it was fun getting them doing a whole “storming the castle” sequence, even if it did feel silly in some ways considering exactly who it was they were storming. Playing that on top of the other elements of the show in play, such as what Quentin’s learned and how he’s pushing Laurel away and getting Thea making her move with Nyssa in order to clear some of the air, it was all fun. Even the kind of awkward stuff with Ray worked better than I thought it might.
With the cold open here, we get right back to where we were as Oliver is pretty much begging for Diggles life over his while Ra’s is making his offer to take over for him. It’s certainly an interesting offer with what it can represent, and in its own way it definitely plays to what Oliver has been like before with his goals. But his goals have changed over the years, yet there’s the potential to use the League for something better than what he thinks its being used for. Ra’s shows him around to show a few things off in a sense, to try and get through to him in a way that the two of them are closer in alignment than Oliver cares to admit, and the relaxed attitude is intriguing because Ra’s certainly knows what kind of person Oliver really is. And the simple words cut through in a sharp way that Oliver definitely has a hard time refuting them.
To balance the dialogue, events back at the Arrow Cave has Nyssa disinterested in what Thea is saying about her role in Sara’s death, since even if it’s true, Malcolm is the one responsible for it all. The two have an interesting little twist of dialogue here before it turns to action, which has the others coming in to take Nyssa down since she’s more unprepared than she probably wants to admit. It’s a fun little moment, that helps to deal with some of the darker themes of the episode. Running that alongside Ra’s showing him the Lazarus Pits, which is done as just pools of water deep in the castle that helps heal people, we also learn that Ra’s himself is reaching the end of his time as the water’s effects are becoming far less effective. Oliver handles it all pretty well, as he talks about the fact that he’s seen things in this world that people wouldn’t believe. A nice little moment to help set the changes that are in play with the growing universe.
Surprisingly, Ra’s lets Oliver leave with Diggle and Malcolm, wiping away the blood debts that are owed in a gesture of good will in his attempt to win him over to the League – a league that Oliver could shape to his own will. Suffice to say, Thea’s not exactly pleased to see Malcolm back, and nowhere in the mind to actually forgive him since she wants him dead, but it’s an interesting dynamic that goes into play here with what Oliver is juggling and trying to get Thea to deal with for the moment since he’s got so many different possibilities going on while also just wanting to get back to what constitutes normal here in Starling City.
In an effort to do that, Oliver puts the team on assignment to deal with a robbery going on in the city after Nyssa is freed and sent back to her father. There’s a lot of dissent in the ranks, but Oliver still has the commanding presence to get things done at the moment and that means the team suits up and heads into action. We haven’t had the trio working together too much, and it shows, but there’s some fun moments with it even if it doesn’t go well. Oliver has a few captured members of the gang to turn over to Quentin, but Quentin isn’t able to handle any of this anymore and he’s refusing to work with the Arrow anymore. While the two have worked well enough overall, the losses he’s taken in the last few episodes pushed him past his limit and his trust is now completely shattered. It’s a solid piece overall that changes the dynamic a bit, though it’s an area that’s been less used as of late for a variety of reasons.
What Oliver discovers, beyond the fact that Felicity and Ray are now a thing when he goes to visit her for information, is that the man running the heist is named Michael Amar and is known as Murmur since he’s got his mouth sewn shut. Oliver’s putting things in motion to try and figure out what to do, but everything that Ra’s talked about is what he sees coming true here, though he’s just putting it into that context himself more than anything else. But as he talks about it with Diggle, who can’t believe that Oliver might be even be considering this, Oliver definitely realizes that there is some real potential there with what Ra’s is offering him. Oliver’s wanting to make a difference in Starling City, but he keeps finding that the people he puts away get out and that maybe becoming Ra’s will allow him to truly accomplish something.
While Oliver has to work through this, taking time to talk with both Malcolm and Felicity separately which provides certainly different views on the offer, figuring out what Murmur is up to starts to take focus again as they realize the heist was to create a weapon that could deal with the police body armor of those that put him in prison the first time. Naturally, they stage an attack on the precinct when Laurel is there trying to get through to her father so they can deal with the lies that were told and the pain that’s been revealed, so there’s at least a fun mix of angst and action here. What provides a fun little twist is that Nyssa is there, having left her father since she’s lost her legacy there, and with Arrow and Arsenal showing up, it’s a pretty full house to try and save things from becoming completely lost. The choreography for it is pretty good as it works with tight spaces and there’s a lot of fun with Nyssa being a part of the mix as well.
In Summary:
While the storyline involving Amar feels like a simple villain of the week piece without any significant sides to it, appropriate for a low level character like him, but it all helps to give Oliver time to think through what he’s doing and why he’s doing it, which has been going since the island adventure began all those years ago. Sometimes the less thinking and more acting helps him to come to terms with events and what it is he really wants to do, what kind of person he wants to be, and with a little nudging from Felicity as well, Oliver makes the expected choice – even if a series following Oliver as head of the League would be pretty interesting. The show has some decent stuff all around while nudging various character interactions and working through some of the issues they’re facing, as well as providing a surprising twist at the end when it comes to the flashback storyline with an unexpected return.
Grade: B
