This Arrow winter finale was heartbreaking and totally unexpected… there will be a lot of spoilers…
Ra’s al Ghul and The League of Assassins give Oliver 48 hours to deliver Sara’s killer to them, otherwise they will kill 50 people a day. This puts a rush on team Arrow to find the killer, which they do. The DNA from the arrow matches Oliver’s and this leads him to think that Malcom Merlin set him put. They’re able to find out that Malcom was indeed in town when Sara was killed, but more, he wasn’t alone, Thea was with him. So Oliver asks her about Merlin and she plain out lies to him. So he returns as the Arrow to ask some questions and she fights him and gets away (while defending Merlin). Soon after Merlin seeks out Oliver and shows him a video of Thea murdering Sara, while under the influence of a powerful drug that made her susceptible to suggestion and then she forgot everything. Knowing that the League will hold her guilty (even with the knowledge that Malcolm drugged her), Oliver has no other choice than to take his sister place and reveal himself as Sara’s killer to Ra’s al Ghul, Nyssa and the others and demand a trial by combat, which leaves him with 13 hours to set his affairs in order.
Oliver then says his goodbyes, warning Thea that Malcolm is not to be trusted (which she ignores completely), saying goodbye to Roy and urging him to protect Thea, declining John’s offer to accompanying him and saying goodbye to Felicity, where she asks him to kill Ra’s al Ghul and he tells her that he loves her. He then proceeds to the CLIMB, ultimately arriving to the neutral ground that Ra’s has set for their match… obviously he loses, ending up with a blade through his chest and falling from the top of the mountain…
Everywhere else, Dinah Lance arrives to town and notices right away that something isn’t right, Laurel crumbles and tell her that Sara is dead, promising to make whoever did it pay, to which Dinah is all for. Meanwhile, Ray shows Felicity his plans for the ATOM suit and asks her help to protect the people in the city.
- How could Thea defend Malcolm? No, seriously, she knows what he is and still, when Oliver is warning her she tells him not to make her choose?! WTF Thea?! Between a brother who would die for her or a father that uses her, she would have a problem choosing?!
- Thea is bad for Ollie, right? I mean, here is this guy literally dying for his sister and she, who complained so much about all the lies last year, is lying to his face? This dynamic needs to change.
- Nice tie-in with The Flash.
- Did Ra’s al Ghul just said that no one has challenged him in 67 years? How fu**ing old is he?
- How could Nyssa believe Oliver? Nissa knows him and she knew Sara, how could she ever, for a moment, believe that he would kill her… I wouldn’t find weird that she would ask, he would never do it.
- Laurel is just plain weird, so she keeps secret from dad for months, then in a matter of two days blabs about it to Thea (ironic much) and then to her mother, whom she hardly sees?!
- Oliver and Roy’s hug drove me to tears. This guy is the true Speedy!
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- However, that simple and curt handshake with John Diggle said more than hours of words would.
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- My heart literally broke when Oliver said his last “I love you” to Felicity. It was all calm and certainty and heartbreak… damn you!
- Why is everyone so convinced that Oliver can win in his match with Ra’s is beyond me, first Malcolm Merlyn and then Felicity seem sure that he can win… fools! To Malcolm is good either way, still, it would have been better for Oliver to win.
- Maseo is in the League because something bad happened, right? He would never have join if his wife and son were not dead, so will we be seeing them murdered during the rest of the season? Tatsu can have a swordfight in every episode from now on… I approve!
- Ray is cute and all, but this episode should have been all about Oliver, Felicity and Ray just took up to much time 😦 …
- This… 😥
- What I think will happen next: Maseo will find Oliver still alive and lie to Ra’s al Ghul, saying that he is in fact dead (because let’s not forget that Maseo clearly told him that he wanted him alive and all); the fall wasn’t as high as I originally though (as seen in the preview for the next episode), so this will mean that Ollie is alive (duh!) and he’ll probably be out of commission for a bit, but alive. No I’m gonna go and cry in the corner… January can’t come fast enough…
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