After a wee mini-break, Arrow is back tomorrow night with the first of the final set of episodes of the season.
In “The Return,” Oliver and Thea went back to the island and ended up mano a mano opposite Slade because Malcolm thought that would make things a little livelier on their Vision Quest. They vanquish him and lock him again, but Oliver is backed into a corner when Thea won’t let it go about Sara, and he tells her the truth of what Malcolm programmed her to do.
Interspersed throughout are scenes from Oliver’s driveby into Starling when he lurked around his family and saw Tommy try to be a sister to Thea (sob!) and reach out to Laurel (sob!). We also saw Quentin falling apart. No Moira this trip, though.
At the end of the episode, Laurel finds her dad at Sara’s grave and he essentially breaks up with her, telling her the betrayal of her not telling him was worse than losing Sara because their bond was supposed to be stronger than that — which is what I have been bellowing since the fall. Ahem.
In “Nanda Parbat,” Thea outs Malcolm to the LoA and Nyssa comes calling to fetch him. He’s captured and carted off, and everybody’s on board with his likely demise, except Oliver, who’s determined to keep his sister from signing her father’s fate.
So, he Oliver and Diggle decide to go to Nanda Parbat and get him. Nyssa is locked up in the lair, and she and Laurel bond over memories of Sara. Then Thea comes in and releases Nyssa and tells her that she killed Sara.
Meanwhile, Felicity has passed the point of giving a damn anymore so she goes to break Ray out of ATOM bender. She forces him to shower, shave, eat, and take a break, and he obliges when she locks him out of his computer. And they sleep together. So there’s that. And then he suddenly has a breakthrough on his tech and tries on his machine and flies around the city while Felicity sleeps.
On Nanda Parbat, Diggle and Oliver take out a handful of guards, make their way inside to find a strung up Malcolm, and are promptly captured. Diggle tells Oliver he wants him to be his best man, should they get out of this. Then they’re carted in front of Ra’s, and Oliver begs for Diggle’s life and Ra’s stuns him by instead offering him a job as the new head of LoA.
Laurel keeps trying to reach Quentin and he’s not calling her back. In flashbacks, we find out that Amanda was pissed when Oliver and Maseo were debriefed by the military and she was cut out of their post-mission activities. Her goons fire on them and Tatsu as they’re leaving, and Oliver makes a break for it with their son, so I’m assuming that’s the thing that split them up and sent Maseo to LoA.
So, we have a lot on the table here as Thea attempts suicide by LoA, Oliver can become the thing he most hates (right now), Laurel has probably lost her dad, and Felicity made a choice for herself that wasn’t Oliver.
I know the world melted down about Felicity and Ray but as I said on Twitter — this is Season three. In all likelihood we’re going to get at least seven. There is plenty of time for everybody on this show to date and dump each other and swap. The only relationship I’m concerned about is Quentin and Laurel. I knew this would bite her. I want her to fix it.
In this week’s new episode, “The Offer,” Oliver weighs his choices. Here’s a sneak peek.
And if you’re so inclined, here’s the mega-spoily promo for the rest of the season (that they’ve shot so far — they’re still in production) from PaleyFest this weekend. You can also watch the whole PaleyFest panel here.
Photo and Videos Courtesy of The CW.