Whether your father is Ra’s al Ghul, Malcolm Merlyn, The Calculator, or even the Green Arrow, you’re going to be the one to have to pay for his sins. That’s the lesson Arrow tried to teach us tonight in “Sins of the Father.” And it’s a lesson that will stick with everyone for the rest of their lives … no matter how short or long they may be. An awful lot happened! Let’s recap it all, shall we?
One thing that was made painfully clear over and over throughout the entire hour? Nyssa still thinks of Oliver as her husband, so that brings the number of ladies causing trouble in his life to three: a wife, a fiancée, and a baby mama. Yikes! The episode picked up right at the end of last week’s with Nyssa ambushing Oliver in Thea’s hospital room. The “spouses,” a.k.a. Oliver and Nyssa, both blamed different fathers for Thea’s predicament: Oliver blamed Ra’s for killing Thea in the first place, whereas Nyssa blamed Malcolm for putting Thea in Ra’s’ crosshairs to begin with. They’re both right, in some ways, but Oliver didn’t agree with Nyssa’s plan to have him kill Malcolm in exchange for the Lotus elixir that can save Thea’s life and cure her bloodlust.
Instead, Oliver wanted to try diplomacy: convince Malcolm to give up the Ra’s ring to Nyssa, so Nyssa gets control of the League of Assassins, Oliver gets the Lotus elixir for Thea and no one has to die. It’s a win-win-win! But Nyssa agreed to the plan only if Malcolm will, knowing he won’t give up that kind of power so easily. So she warned Laurel that if Oliver doesn’t kill Malcolm, her League followers will wage a war against Malcolm and his loyal followers on the streets of Star City. And no one wants that kind of innocent blood to be spilled.
Oliver got a sample of the Lotus elixir from Nyssa to prove to Malcolm that it would cure Thea, and it worked temporarily. But instead of giving up his Ra’s ring to Nyssa, Malcolm arrived to their meeting with an army, intending to kill her. She escaped, and Oliver, Diggle, and Laurel bought her time by standing up to Malcolm. The sides have been chosen and the lines have been drawn … it’s war.
The League of Assassins civil war already had its first civilian casualties on the streets of Star City, prompting Diggle to advise Oliver to end it by killing Malcolm. Team Arrow knocked out Nyssa during a street fight between her and Malcolm’s men, and put her in the Arrow cave cage, but she refused to give up the Lotus elixir. When Malcolm revealed to Oliver at Thea’s bedside that he knows all about Oliver’s son William (was Felicity not listening in to their conversation?) and that Oliver would never allow Damien Dahrk to destroy Star City just to save William’s life, it gave Oliver an idea. The third option: trial by combat for control of both the League and the elixir, Nyssa against Malcolm, with Team Arrow and the League watching, but not getting involved. Malcolm agreed because he knew he could beat Nyssa, and Oliver convinced Nyssa … by taking her place.
The last minute switcheroo of Oliver fighting in Nyssa’s place was a total shock to Malcolm, since everyone knew that Oliver could potentially beat him whereas Nyssa didn’t stand a chance. When it became clear that Oliver was winning the epic fight, Malcolm dared him to kill him. But instead, Oliver cut off Malcolm’s hand with the Ra’s ring. Oliver then knocked Malcolm out, and traded the ring with Nyssa for the rest of the Lotus elixir, which worked its magic, curing Thea and saving her life.
But there was another twist: Nyssa didn’t become Ra’s al Ghul herself … she melted the ring and disbanded the League of Assassins to free everyone from her late father’s rule. Malcolm vowed to get revenge on Oliver for what he did to him, and he did so immediately: he told Damien Dahrk about the existence of William, Oliver’s son in Central City. Is he going to be the one in the grave in the flash forwards? It’s looking more and more like that will be the case. But the “him” Oliver vowed to kill in revenge for the mysterious death might not be Dahrk … it might be Malcolm after all!
Meanwhile, Felicity’s father confessed all his past work as the Calculator to her now that he knows she’s in the same kind of “vigilante” work as him. During his time battling “Overwatch,” he figured out it was her, and he was impressed. She hoped that maybe her father wasn’t as bad as he used to be, but her mom refused to even entertain that idea. That inspired Felicity to test his trustworthiness by letting him have access to Palmer Tech, and he flunked by trying to steal all her data.
Disappointed that her father turned out to be the same old bad guy he always had been, Felicity had him arrested by the police. When she confessed her remorse over having her father arrested to Oliver later that night, Oliver was so moved that he re-proposed to her (again). He wanted to get married … now. No more waiting. No more stalling. But something tells us he’s going to have his hands full protecting his son, as well as explaining his son’s existence and all his lies to Felicity very soon, so hold off on paying those wedding deposits! Most are nonrefundable.
In the island flashback storyline this week, Taiana was pissed to find out that Oliver killed her brother, so she stole the mysterious stone from him and gave it right to Baron Reiter. But Baron told her that her life is tied to Oliver’s since Baron needs him for something, so she begrudgingly helped him recover from all his injuries. Oliver confessed all he had lost to her, and she revealed she knew he was “lost” and “shattered” from the first time she looked in his eyes. And she said the only way to earn her trust back is to save the two of them from Baron Reiter, especially since he now wants them to dig for something … underneath the prison? What is buried there?
Do you think this is really the end of the League of Assassins? Will Malcolm be the “him” that Oliver vows to kill in the future? Is William destined for the grave in the flash forwards? Tweet me your speculation at @SydneyBucksbaum!
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Images: The CW
Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
