Arrow won’t be able to play the Lazarus Pit card anymore.

Tonight’s episode, “Restoration,” finally saw the resurrection of Sara Lance (which we all knew was coming ever since the spinoff Legends of Tomorrow was announced with her starring as White Canary), but before The CW drama could make resurrection a lazy trend, the Pit was destroyed once and for all. A risky, yet totally satisfying, move on the part of the writers! Especially since the premiere set up a major character death. When that does come, it will actually have real stakes and ramifications attached to it, since it can’t be reversed. Gulp!

This week’s hour started off with the three “O.G.’s” of Team Arrow finally catching a break by catching a ghost, but before Diggle could get answers out of him, he escaped. Because of course! However, Diggle did manage to get his cyanide capsule tooth before he got away, and Felicity began to analyze it to learn anything they can about the ghosts. It’s also clear that Diggle still hasn’t forgiven Oliver, since he refused to go out for drinks with him and Felicity after. All is not happy on Team Arrow. Poor Felicity just wants to get her drink on with her two best dudes!

When Diggle got home, he’s greeted by an ARGUS agent who finally finished a favor Lyla asked of him seven months ago. He brought Diggle the name of the person who hired Floyd Lawton to kill his brother: Mina Fayad. And as luck would have it, she just flew into Star City to meet with Damien Darhk to bring him a metahuman asset! What perfect timing, huh? Damien hired the metahuman Double Down, who can use his playing card tattoos to kill people, to take out the Green Arrow and all his friends. These cool crossover moments are just the gift that The Flash keeps on giving!

While Diggle tracked Fayad, Oliver and Felicity track what seems to be a break-in. Oliver goes in without backup, thinking he can handle it on his own. But it turned out to be a setup by Double Down, while Diggle himself got made by HIVE and lost his target. These two can’t accomplish their goals alone, and they’re not okay working together … so what can they do?

Thankfully, Felicity got fed up and finally yelled at both of them to resolve their issues or else the team will never work. It was actually really great to see Mama Bear Smoak knock some sense into these two children. They needed to hear it!

Finally having their sorely needed heart-to-heart, Oliver told Diggle he knows that he lost his trust, but Diggle needs to give him a chance to earn it back. And with the revelation that the metahuman Oliver was tracking is connected to Fayad, Diggle took those words to heart and finally revealed to Oliver everything about his investigation into HIVE and its connection with his brother’s death. But it’s terrible timing since Fayad is his only real lead, and Darhk killed Fayad in anger over her metahuman failing to kill Oliver. One step forward and two steps back.

Diggle and Oliver find Fayad’s dead body, and while Diggle almost gives up on his solo investigation right then and there, Oliver gave him a pep talk that basically sums up that he’s going to help Diggle figure out all they can about who from HIVE wanted his brother dead and, together, they’ll be able to take down the whole organization. Is the team finally back together?! Please. Say. Yes.

Felicity took the card Double Down lodged in Oliver’s arm to Palmer Tech to have her new work BFF Curtis analyze it for anything that could be used to take him down. She also tells him her phone has been acting up a lot recently. Which seems kind of random to throw in an episode without any real payoff, so what is going on with that? Before she can figure out what’s up with her phone, they’re tracked down by Double Down! He threatened to kill them if they don’t tell him where to find the Green Arrow, which forces Felicity to reveal to Curtis how she works with the Green Arrow. And his reaction. Is. Perfect! We also have so many questions, dude. But they’ll have to wait.

Felicity took Curtis down a secret elevator – which the Palmer Tech board of directors definitely does not know about – to a secret floor below the basement which acts as the Arrow Lair! Twist! Raise your hand if you loved how the new Arrow Lair has been in Palmer Tech the whole time? Love it. What we do not love is how Double Down found them in the lair and Felicity was forced to open fire with an actual machine gun. Okay, we lied. We totally did love that part. Felicity is badass this season! Gone are her perpetual season three tears. Thank goodness.

After she sent Curtis to the hospital to get checked out, Felicity tracked Double Down as he tried to hightail it back to Central City, and Diggle and Oliver intercept him … but not before Oliver takes a “bullet”, a.k.a. a playing card, for Diggle. Respect earned back! He also revealed to Diggle and Felicity that he has a surprise for them now that Lair 2.0 has been compromised. Is it Lair 3.0?

And finally, it’s time to return to Nanda Parbat! It’s been seven months since we last saw Malcolm as he became the new Ra’s al Ghul, and we caught up with him as he sparred with Nyssa. It’s clear she still isn’t happy with him as her new Ra’s, and that makes their banter all the more amazing and hilarious and intense. Our prediction? One of these two is going to kill the other before the season is up.

Laurel and Thea interrupted their sparring session to waltz into the League’s headquarters to ask Malcolm to bring Sara back to life via the Lazarus Pit, and he outright refused. His reason: Thea wasn’t dead, and Sara is. The Lazarus Pit hasn’t been used on anyone truly dead in ages past, and even then only it was only done in legend. That’s why Nyssa never asked her father to do the same exact thing for Sara immediately following her death.

Laurel didn’t accept Malcolm and Nyssa’s warnings, however, even though she’s seeing how the Pit is affecting Thea negatively and Nyssa told her that Ra’s himself paid a high price for using the Pit as often as he did. But Laurel doesn’t care that Sara might come back a monster: she’s obsessed with bringing her back no matter what. This is not going to turn out well. Girl, turn back now before it’s too late!

And then Malcolm hilariously tried his hand at parenting … by telling Thea to actually give in to her bloodlust. If she does, apparently it will subside … for a time. Obviously, she was not into the idea of going on a killing spree every so often (because she’s really not her father’s daughter), so he lied to her about some cure that will help her. And then he sent League members for her to slaughter, which she did on instinct before realizing what was happening. Father of the year, everyone!

Malcolm then revealed to Thea that her bloodlust can only be cured by killing the one who killed her. Uh-oh … since Ra’s al Ghul is already dead, there is virtually no permanent cure besides keep killing people every few weeks. So, basically not the best news to hear.

When Thea obviously tried to leave after that, Malcolm offered up an apology to ease her conscience: to bring Sara back to life via the Lazarus Pit to prove his sincerity. They lower her body into the Pit and perform the ceremony, while Nyssa looked on in fear. And much to everyone’s surprise, it actually worked! But when the newly resurrected Sara lept out of the Pit, she went straight for Thea and tried to attack her. Will her bloodlust become a threat for Thea, since she was the one who killed her?

Horrified at what just happened, Nyssa got her revenge on Malcolm immediately – she destroyed the Lazarus Pit so it could never be used again. She did it for two reasons: 1) So that its power could never fall into the wrong hands again like it has with Malcolm and Laurel. And 2) When she gets her moment to finally kill Malcolm, there will be no coming back for him. Like we said: one of these two is not making it out of this season alive. Place your bets now in the comments below!

In the flashback storyline this week, we finally learned what the hell the soldiers are making villagers farm on Lian Yu: a hybrid drug plant called Slam which is part heroin, part coca leaf. Basically, a double whammy of a narcotic. And after a woman stole an entire crate of it to give to the other workers for their pain (since the soldiers had been working them all too hard), Oliver stepped in before another soldier could kill her. He promised to make her disappear instead, and helped her escape from the other soldiers. Since she’s a beautiful, strong woman who isn’t afraid to confront Oliver, this is going to make island love interest number three for one Mr. Queen. Clearly, this island is only doing good things for his love life!

What did you think of “Restoration”, Arrow fans? Did Laurel make the right call in bringing Sara back? Are Diggle and Oliver finally back on good terms? What on earth is going on with Felicity’s phone?!

—

Images: The CW

Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.