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

So…That Happened.

I can’t think of three better words to sum up last night’s Arrow.

The Fallen picks up immediately where last week’s episode left off. Ra’s left Thea bleeding out on the floor of the loft. She’s just barely alive, and somehow, manages to summon just enough strength to try and crawl to the phone. Oliver arrives before she can, and he calls 911. Then in a moment that’s either really smart or stupid, he picks her up instead of waiting for the ambulance.

They arrive at the hospital, and the doctors go to work on Thea. She flatlines, but the doctors bring her back. Just barely. We find out her injuries are too severe, and Oliver might need to start thinking of alternatives to just keeping her alive.

Malcolm arrives, and he breaks down. Twisted as he may be, no one can deny that he genuinely loves Thea. John Barrowman and Stephen Amell deserve serious kudos for their work during these scenes. Their devastation and love for Thea is a thing of beauty.

Later, Diggle and Felicity arrive at the hospital to find Oliver almost catatonic. He tries to explain what happened, but he can barely form full sentences. He glances out a window and sees smoke (the League’s calling card). He goes; ready to kill Maseo, who was waiting for him. Maseo gives him a message: Take his rightful place as the heir to the demon, and Ra’s will bring back Thea. You know what that means. Road trip to Nanda Parbat!

But first, they have to get there. After Diggle, Felicity, and even Malcolm try to talk Oliver out of going to Nanda Parbat, Felicity caves and goes to Ray to borrow his jet. Ray, being the good guy that he is, agrees, but first he and Felicity break up. He finally realized Felicity was not over Oliver. As much of an Olicity ‘shipper as I am, I really loved Ray/Felicity (did they have name?). They were good for each other, and it’s a shame it’s over. Oh well.

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Before they get on the jet, Malcolm tries again to convince Oliver not to use the Lazarus Pit on Thea. He says it will change her in her very soul. Oliver says, “Shut up and get on the plane.”

On the plane, Felicity tries to take care of Oliver a little. He tells her about how he killed Thea’s dealer. We all know how much Oliver loves Thea, but it is nice to see him open up to Felicity.

They arrive at Nanda Parbat, and Ra’s being the showoff that he is, can’t resist on making Oliver’s arrival a big event. The entire League is there to greet Team Arrow (and Malcolm). Ra’s walks to the front, and like the Grandmaster he is, says, “Welcome home, Al Sah-Him.” Can he rub it in any deeper? It’s Ra’s, so yes.

Maseo takes Thea to prepare her for the ceremony, vowing to treat her like his family, but I think Oliver and I were thinking the same thing about how Maseo treated his own family. After that, Maseo takes Diggle to his accommodations, and they have a little chat. Maseo tries to talk about all the luxury Oliver will experience, and Diggle just calls the League out on being a bunch of cowardly men trying to escape the pain in their life. Maseo doesn’t take kindly to that. He confirms what we’ve known for some time, Akio is dead. Diggle uses that to guilt Maseo, asking if Akio would be proud of his father right now?

We head over to the Lazarus Pit, where The Priestess (no name) chants, while the men in Thea’s life and Maseo, guide her down into the pit. After a tense moment or two, Thea emerges, kicking Oliver down, and acting almost feral. They have to subdue her. A little later, Thea comes to, but her brain is jumbled. She calls Malcolm “Dad,” doesn’t remember Moira is dead, and doesn’t remember Oliver.

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Malcolm is still upset about using the Pit on Thea, but it’s done. At what cost? This is when Felicity starts to crack. After declaring how wrong this all is, she storms out, and in one of her finest moments, finds Ra’s and lays into him about how Team Arrow and all their “superfriends” will go to war to save Oliver. Ra’s is so sweet to her. He likes her fire and understands why Oliver loves her. Instead of killing her, he tells her how he came to be Ra’s. He once had a family he loved very much. A man came to him one day and told him he can either leave his family without saying goodbye, or watch them be horribly tortured and killed. Ra’s chose to leave, and it caused him much pain to do. He was now giving Felicity the chance to say goodbye to Oliver, something he never had the opportunity to do.

Felicity goes to Oliver. They talk about identity. Oliver doesn’t know who he is or if what he was doing was worth it, because it all lead up to this moment. Felicity knows who he is, and she knows it was all worth it. Then she says the words so many of us have been waiting to hear – “I love you.” Cue the Marvin Gaye because they finally have sex. Then she spikes his drink, because she can’t, nay, won’t lose him.

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Diggle and Malcolm think she’s nuts to try and break them out, but Felicity doesn’t have time for Malcolm’s yapping. He’s going to show them where the secret passages are, (girl knows her scary movies). They grab Oliver and Thea and make a run for it. Malcolm quickly takes care of any resistance they meet, but Diggle and Felicity get a few shots in. Maseo, moved by his talk with Diggle, even helps them. But they never stood a chance. They make it to the catacombs, but are surrounded. Luckily, Oliver comes to in time to use his position as “Al Sah-Him” to spare his people.

He leads his friends and Malcolm outside. Thea’s been slowly getting her memory back and remembers him, which makes their goodbye a little easier and more painful. He tells Diggle, he’s “the best man I’ve ever known,” and calls him his brother. He and Felicity are always saying goodbye to each other and it stinks. They’re the couple never meant to be, but at least they finally could be open with each other. Oliver tells her to be happy. It’ll be the only thing getting him through this. And with that, she goes, and Oliver heads back to the League.

Team Arrow and Malcolm return to Starling. Thea wakes up in the loft with Malcolm watching over her. She remembers what happened and how much she hates him. He tells her where Oliver is, and begs her to let him take care of her while she recovers. Felicity fills in Laurel, and they share a nice moment as Laurel comforts her. It’s not onscreen, but I think we can safely assume Diggle went back to Lyla, and she comforted him while they played with Sara. Team Arrow is down, but not out.

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Back at Nanda Parbat, Ra’s is not happy Oliver let his friends (and Malcolm) walk when League blood was spilled, but Oliver reminds him that he’s living up to his end of the bargain and that means his people are off-limits. Maseo confesses to helping and offers his life as penance. Ra’s declines, saying it was Maseo, not Sarab that betrayed the League. Besides, he needs Sarab/Maseo to help Oliver with his transformation. But here’s the thing, unless they’re going to show a lot more, it looks like all Oliver’s transformation involves is getting branded with an arrow, a new outfit, one that’s similar to Malcolm’s Dark Archer, and a bunch of words about being cleansed through fire and how there can be no more Oliver, just The Arrow aka Al Sah-him. Not that I want anything bad to happen to Maseo, but how else is he going to guide him? And if anyone has a destiny it’s Maseo. It seems like all he was meant to do was be a guide to Oliver. He never stood a chance at a life of his own, which brings us to this week’s flashback.

In Hong Kong, Oliver, Maseo, and Tatsu locate General Shrieve and see him arm the Alpha/Omega bio-weapon. They can’t attack there, so Oliver “borrows” a car and they follow the weapon. The soldiers on the truck notice their tail and start shooting. Oliver decides the best course of action is to get on the roof of the car, use the rear bumper in a move reminiscent of Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future, and eventually, jump on the truck and start beating the soldiers. Tatsu also joins in the fun, and the soldiers are subdued, but it turns out they were a ruse. The Omega isn’t there. Tatsu gets its location out of one of the men (he can handle death, but not a sword through his junk). They get so close to getting the Omega, but while fighting one of Shrieve’s men, Oliver drops the Omega and the vial break, releasing its deadly contents.

Things are looking worse than usual for Team Arrow. Roy’s still gone, Ray and Felicity broke up, Thea’s alive, but who knows what’s going to happen to her, and Oliver is now a member of the League of Assassins. But, hey, we got an entire episode of Malcolm being shut down, even though he was, surprisingly, the most level headed of the group. That’s always good for a chuckle or two. At least this time they got to say goodbye, and they know Oliver’s alive. That’s good, right? Guess we’ll find out next week. Until then, enjoy Feral Thea. I hope we see more of her. She looks like fun.

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Andrea Levine

Andrea Levine is an East Coast based geek, who has more fandoms than she cares to admit. When she isn't talking about the latest geeky news, she's obsessing over musical theater. Her dream is to successfully bring geekdom and musical theater together (I'm looking at you, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). You can read more of her exploits as Wysefyre over at [insertgeekhere].