Arrow, Season 3, Episode 20: The Fallen
Okay,
that was a weird episode. Some good, some bad. Let’s talk about the bad first
and just how weirdly convoluted season three’s arc has been. Let’s not touch
the whole Malcolm Merlyn drugging Thea to get her to kill Sara to manipulate
Oliver to fight Ra’s to remove both parties from being a thorn in his side,
because if Malcolm’s endgame is to live in peace with Thea, that’s just
monumentally stupid. But just how crazily coincidental that Ra’s Al Ghul knows
just how to stab Thea Queen so that it’s fatal (we see her actually flatlining)
but enough so that when brought to the hospital (he wouldn’t have any idea when
Oliver would get there) she survives… but is in a coma so Oliver will have to
seek the help of the Lazarus Pit? Ra’s has been kind of awesome in forcing
Oliver Queen to take his place as the new Demon’s Head, by forcing his hand
after engineering Captain Lance’s giant manhunt and the subsequent destruction
of Arrow’s reputation in Starling City, but this is just kind of convoluted and
coincidental.
Also while
I do adore the comic-book usage of the Lazarus Pit and Thea Queen jumping out
like a demon possessed, I would’ve liked for Thea to either be psychotic for a
while and not… so specifically amnesiac to forget about Oliver but only until
the end of the episode. What the hell was up with that? That portion is just
weird, especially since Thea regains all her memory by the end. What was all
the talk with ‘she’ll be a changed person’? Granted I would hate for amnesia to be a complication
especially after all of Thea’s growth throughout this season, but this just
seems unnecessary.
The Lazarus
Pit being actually used in a live-action setting just makes me happy, though.
It’s
a good thing we went from Thea being in a coma (not actually dead, mind you)
straight to her resurrection and not beating around the bush about it. We get
some really effective emotional punches in the gut courtesy of Malcolm Merlyn
and Oliver Queen, and then we go straight to Nanda Parbat to dip Thea in the
Lazarus Pit in exchange for Oliver finally joining the League of Assassins.
Malcolm
Merlyn joins Team Arrow in their little run into Nanda Parbat, and is kind of
just taking orders first from Oliver and later from Felicity when she forces
him to help find a way out of Nanda Parbat. Maseo also gets a nice scene with
Diggle, and Maseo confirms that -gasp- Akio is dead. It is a really effective
counter to Diggle’s “you’re a coward you should’ve joined the good guys” speech
because, no, John Diggle, new parent, does not
understand how the death of a child can affect a person. Maseo of course
shows up to help Team Arrow escape in the end, but it’s kind of naught since
Oliver decides to stay anyway.
Maseo
offers his life to Ra’s Al Ghul who is pissed
that three of his men were killed, but the fact that Maseo (or ‘Saraab’) is
willing to offer his life as penance convinces Ra’s that the mistake was because
of ‘Maseo’ and not ‘Saraab’. And I think a theme going forwards with Oliver
being part of the League of Assassins is the separation of identities between ‘Oliver
Queen’ and ‘the Arrow’, or as Ra’s calls him, Al Sah-him. Which is actually a
clever way of having Oliver eventually adopt ‘Green Arrow’ as opposed to just
the Arrow.
Also,
Felicity finally breaks up with Ray Palmer kind of randomly – it’s kind of
poorly handled and rather sudden in my opinion. And Felicity gets into a speech
with Ra’s Al Ghul of all people who tells a story about how he was forced to
leave his wife and two children without saying goodbye when he ascended into
the title a hundred years ago, and how the opportunity he’s given Oliver to say
goodbye to his family and loved ones is a lot better than the ones he didn’t
get. It’s a surprising little backstory we get to this version of Ra’s Al Ghul,
who I’m liking more and more other than his weird chessmastery.
He’s
apparently fathered a son and a daughter with his wife prior to becoming Ra’s
Al Ghul. It may be a reference to
Talia Al Ghul, but considering the fact that Ra’s left them behind and they
most likely didn’t take dips in the Lazarus Pit, I don’t think it’s the case. Or,
well, Ra’s may have fabricated the whole sob story just to make his
machinations feel like a mercy gesture to Felicity and have her come to terms
with it and not pressure Oliver too much.
That said,
while I’ve always disliked the whole ‘Ra’s Al Ghul is immortal because it’s a
name passed down through several powerful men’, I do like that Arrow at the
very least keeps the whole Lazarus Pit thing and he gets to live for a hundred
years, so he is the Ra’s Al Ghul,
even if having precursors is necessary to make sense of the ‘Ra’s wants a heir’
thing.
Felicity,
of course, ends up having a sex scene with Oliver – the first time they do the
deed on-screen, if I’m not mistaken. Though while it’s a nice little romantic
scene, whatever is in that strange drink they found in Ra’s Al Ghul’s room, it
must’ve addled their brains a bit. Really, Felicity, your big plan is to drug
one of your strongest fighters and then expect Diggle and Malcolm to think up
of a plan to get them out of the fortress, carrying one unconscious man and one
amnesiac girl? Whatever the case, Oliver stops them from bringing them away,
gets a sad goodbye scene and dons the kickass League outfit.
It really
would’ve had more impact if the second half of this episode has been about
exploring Oliver’s goodbyes instead of the completely unnecessary ‘let’s kidnap
Oliver and escape with the jet’ sideplot. There’s just been some odd pacing in
this episode, with the Felicity romance being jerked this way and that, Thea
being reduced to a plot device after having a big character presence previously
and some really odd plotting from Ra’s part. But we finally got Oliver into the
black suit, so hopefully we get to see some interesting stuff from it.
Also Oliver
gets branded with the three-pronged arrow that the show’s arrow symbol has
evolved into this season, which is nice in a meta sense.
Oh,
and flashback plot. Right. It’s just a couple of great action scenes as Oliver,
Maseo and Tatsu attack Shrieve’s men. Nice to see Tatsu adopt the whole ‘Katana’
thing and stabbing people left and right, though the ‘if you don’t help other
people you’re just a shell’ thing being repeated for Maseo in the flashabck and
present is kind of on-the-nose. Team Oliver steals the vaccine, though I’m not
sure if they got it to Akio in time. At the end of the episode, the Alpha-Omega
virus canister gets smashed and that’s a big cliffhanger. It’s sorta
interesting and fun to watch, though again the whole Hong Kong plot is just a
big distraction and would’ve worked a lot better as a two-parter or
three-parter of itself.
Eh, overall it's a bit of a toss-up as an episode. I’m
just happy to see the Lazarus Pit used at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment