Welcome to the Legion!

ras_al_ghul_vs_oliver_queenLegion contributor Andrea Levine is recapping and reviewing Arrow for us this season. Follow her on Twitter @wysefyre!

In an episode full of action and OMG moments, the main thing that stood out in last night’s epic mid-season finale was family and what people will do for those they truly love.

The episode begins with Oliver climbing a mountain. How did he get there? We have to wait to find out because other than seeing him climbing, at night, in the snow, without equipment, we’re given nothing, and are instead taken back 48 hours to Oliver leaves Quentin a little holiday present, a criminal nicely tied up. They exchange pleasantries, and Quentin admits that the Arrow is the closest thing he has to a partner these days. I think he misses walking the streets. After Quentin leaves, Oliver is attacked by the League of Assassins. He’s knocked out and taken someplace more private. When he comes to, Nyssa informs him he has 48 hours to hand over Sara’s murderer, or the League will start kill 50 people a day in Starling City until they are found. The man in charge of the slaughter will be none of that… (Cue dramatic reveal music) Maseo. What? How did he fall in with the league, and what does his new name, Sarab, mean? Oliver tries to reason with Nyssa, saying this isn’t what Sara would want, but Nyssa replies, “Sara is dead. It’s time you remember that.”

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We head over to the cemetery to find Laurel talking to Sara’s grave. Thea shows up, wondering what’s going on, and Laurel tells her the truth. Sara’s dead, but because she was involved with dangerous people, no one can know the truth, not even Oliver. Thea promises to keep it a secret. Even though, she doesn’t know that Oliver knows, it’s still nice to see Thea being clued in to one of the many secrets of the show.

Did you know there was a cafeteria at Palmer Technologies? Ray just found out about it, and needed to tell Felicity about it. Did you notice the cute menorah on her desk? Nice touch. Felicity, still hurt by Ray’s kiss-and-run last week, puts a damper on his discovery, and tries to head out. Ray attempts to explain himself, but Felicity knows what’s up. He kissed her and regretted it. With that, she leaves to go help the other complicated man in her life.

Oliver lets Team Arrow know what the League has planned, and Felicity gets on the phone with Caitlin. Did you know there a yellow blur attacked S.T.A.R. Labs? You can learn more about that here. Caitlin manages to get Felicity the reconstructed DNA, and all signs point to the killer being Oliver. Clearly, he’s been set up. He thinks Malcolm did it. They go back and forth about it because Malcolm was supposed to have been on Corto Maltese during that time. They start digging and discover a flight path coming out of Corto Maltese. It looks suspicious, having landed in Starling the day before Sara’s murder, so Oliver and Roy head out to find the pilot. After some persuading, the pilot admits he flew Malcolm, and there’s security footage. Only problem with the footage is Malcolm wasn’t alone. Thea was with him.

Oliver now knows Thea lied to him about Malcolm. This leads to Diggle making the horrible suggestion that maybe it’s not Oliver’s DNA. Maybe it’s Thea. Oliver won’t hear of it. He goes to confront her about her lie, and she says she just trying to get to know the guy. He tells Team Arrow that he knows Thea’s innocent, but both Diggle and Felicity point out Oliver has a blind spot when it comes to family, and maybe he shouldn’t be the one asking. Oliver suits up, and goes to talk to Thea, and when I say talk, I mean break one of the windows of their apartment and try to intimidate her. Imagine his surprise when Thea starts fighting back, then dives over the balcony. Guess all of her secrets are coming out, including her love of MC Hammer pants.

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While Oliver is dealing with Thea, Felicity is dealing with Ray. He apologizes for his behavior, and clarifies what’s been going on. He didn’t regret kissing Felicity. He felt guilty. During the siege, his fiancée was killed in front of him. She was supposed to be the last woman he ever kissed until Felicity came along. It’s hard to stay angry with a guy when he’s got a story like that. He also clues Felicity in on what he’s been working on. He’s been working on a way to shrink computers, weapons, and other stuff to make them more useful. Then he shows Felicity what we’ve all been waiting for, the Advanced Technology Operating Mechanism, or A.T.O.M for short, exosuit. He wants to use it to help protect the people of Starling and he want Felicity to help him. Poor Felicity, why does this keep happening to her?

Thanks to a heads up from Thea, Malcolm heads over to Verdant to meet with Oliver, and that’s where we find out the truth. Thea is Sara’s killer, BUT she was under the influence of Votura. Malcolm used her as an insurance policy to pit Oliver against Ra’s al Ghul. He seems to believe that Oliver is capable of killing Ra’s, and by doing so will erase all blood debt’s including Thea’s and his. Gotta love Malcolm’s special brand of fatherly love.

Oliver goes to meet with Nyssa and Ra’s. Oliver “confesses” to killing Sara. He challenges Ra’s al Ghul to trial by combat. According to Ra’s, it’s been 67 years since that last happened. 67! The man looks gooood for his age. He accepts. Maseo/Sarab and Oliver get a chance to talk. He knows Oliver didn’t kill Sara, and he doesn’t want to watch Oliver die. Maseo/Sarab gives him the location of where the fight will take place, and now we know why we’ve been watching Oliver climb a mountain throughout the entire episode.

Let’s talk about Maseo for a moment. This week’s Hong Kong flashback starts laying the groundwork for why he joined the League. Oliver returns from his “interrogation,” and Maseo tries to comfort him, while making sure Oliver got the information needed. He did. A super virus named “Omega” was accidentally created, and China White wants it. They go to the biotech company housing it, but when they get there, they find China White had an inside man, and Omega is gone. Oliver and Maseo find the man who took it, but even after a lengthy “interrogation,” the man cannot recall anything about the theft. Maseo mentions a plant called Votura, which can make a person highly suggestible and cause them to lose their memory. He wonders if the man might have been under its influence. They also realize that China White now knows about them and can find them. They race home, only to find that China White and Tatsu had fought, and Tatsu was taken. Luckily, Akio was left unharmed.

And what about Laurel? She spends the episode struggling with keeping Sara’s death a secret. The struggle gets worse because guess who’s home for the holidays? It’s mommy dearest (the nice kind, not the scary Joan Crawford kind). Quentin thought it would be nice to surprise Laurel, but Mama Lance knows something is up. Once she and Laurel are alone, she asks about Sara. Laurel tries to keep pretending, but Dinah’s mother’s intuition is too strong. She knows, so Laurel tells her the truth, including why she hasn’t told Quentin yet. (That’s so going to backfire one day.) They visit Sara’s grave, and Laurel vows to find Sara’s killer. When she does, Dinah wants her to make them suffer. I really like Dinah. She’s such a Mama Bear. Now can we please get her and Malcolm in a room together, preferably with her knowing he’s the reason Sara’s dead?

Back to Oliver, who’s been given 12 hours to settle his affairs. The first person he goes to is Thea. He wants to tell her the truth so badly, but other than giving her a cryptic warning about how Malcolm doesn’t really love her, he lets it go because he promised Thea he wouldn’t make her choose between the two of them. Next, Oliver heads to the Arrow Cave to say goodbye to Team Arrow. Roy promises to look after Thea, Diggle feels odd letting Oliver go alone, and Felicity doesn’t want him to go. She knows she can’t keep him from going, so she asks him to make sure he kills Ra’s al Ghul. She knows Ra’s might use his humanity against him, but she doesn’t have to worry. Oliver knows two things: 1) He’ll do whatever he has to in order to protect Thea. What’s the second? Oh right, he loves her. Did you hear strange screams last night? That was me. Sorry. I’ve been waiting a long time to hear Ollie say that to Felicity.

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Oliver makes it up the mountain. Maseo/Sarab tries to give Oliver one last chance to come clean, but that’s not happening. Oliver picks two swords while Ra’s waxes poetic about his first kill at 11. The fight begins, and it’s clear Ra’s is the more experienced fighter. He draws first blood, but Oliver holds his own, at least for a short while. But Ra’s gets the upper hand, and stabs Oliver straight through the heart. Then he pushes him off the mountain. And that’s the end of Arrow.

Welp, it’s been great doing these recaps. I’ve had a lot of fun, but I guess our time is at an end. But seriously, this was an incredible mid-season end. I applaud the creative team for being willing to kill off its hero. 1) It might give Roy a chance to shine a little more, and 2) Two words: Lazarus Pit. It’s not confirmed, but it seems as good a guess as any. What do you guys think?

Arrow returns January 21st.

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Andrea Levine