Arrow Arrow #3.21: “Al Sah-him

[haephestus]

Looking forward to Damien Darhk and Hive next season. I wonder which Spartacus/Doctor who actor will play him?

Lucy Lawless!

http://ausxip.com/xena/images/episo...y_Returns&spgmPic=9&spgmFilters=t#spgmPicture

 

[Mikelus]

Smallville used a wave effect for the canary cry:

[YT]FMged3zFIUA[/YT]



Here's the animated version:

[YT]OeDS35ztSWU[/YT]


Arrow could add some extra effect to make it cooler.

Back on Ra's plan, willing to kill thousands of innocent people, including children, is never acceptable, he's just a delusional sociopath. This Ra's Al Ghul code is laughable, Merlyn can't destroy a quarter because Ra's wasn't involve, but the Demon's Head can destroy an entire city just because he wants to.

It would make more sense if he had a real code against killing the innocent, only targeting the corrupt and corporations he considers a danger to the world. Anyway, like I said, it should be interesting to see how the show ends Ra's arc, will they kill him off or keep him alive to return down the line?

 

[mr. peasant]

Back on Ra's plan, willing to kill thousands of innocent people, including children, is never acceptable, he's just a delusional sociopath. This Ra's Al Ghul code is laughable, Merlyn can't destroy a quarter because Ra's wasn't involve, but the Demon's Head can destroy an entire city just because he wants to.

Not "want", but because he "has" to, thanks to tradition. Ras is okay with Oliver potentially killing thousands/millions because that's what's required of Oliver. Meanwhile, he wasn't okay with Merlyn doing the same because it wasn't Merlyn's place to do so.

 

[haephestus]

Not the worst episode this season. Although, that's not saying much.

Quibbles (both minor and major) include:

- the Canary Cry. It shattered glass, but Oliver and Nyssa seemed barely bothered by it. Also, if you didn't watch the episode of The Flash when Cisco have the collar/choker to Laurel, would anyone know what was going on with the Canary Cry.

- Nyssa was defeated far too easily by Oliver. Sure, Nyssa may be a little distracted after Sara's death, her expulsion from the LOA and her father wanting to kill her, but it was still a laughably short fight for someone who has been trained in various martial arts and weapons since she was a child. Even though she's always written to be an ineffective warrior, Nyssa looks bad-azz in costume and the actor gives the character a spark of danger.

- mind-controlled heir to the demon. Really? Doesn't that kind of nullify some of the cognitive functions that presumably made Oliver such an appealing heir in the first place? Couldn't it theoretically also "remove" or "dull" memories of martial arts skills, weapons training, battle tactics, etc that would be valuable for the heir. Or does it only dull emotional memories/attachments? It seemed a little inconsistent, especially since just last week, Ra's showed apparently genuine emotion when talking about his wife and children. Unless it wasn't used on Ra's when he joined the LOA?

- SPEEDY! A very cool moment for Thea. Not a great costume though. I *think* it's just her knock-off LOA costume that Malcolm gave her though, so hopefully if Thea doesn't run away with Roy, then she'll get upgraded to a better costume if she's going to head into battle on a more frequent basis. Not that I personally want to see Thea suit up as a vigilante as this stage, but if they're going to do it, then give her a cool costume!

- also on the topic of Thea, so that whole coming back from the dead thing seems to have been glossed over with little to no side effects. Then again, Thea apparently trusting Malcolm enough to seek his advice is a pretty clear sign that she is INSANE! FFS, when is Thea or anyone else on Team Arrow going to realise that Malcolm cannot be trusted, cares about no-one but himself and makes for a completely useless and ineffective ally, bodyguard and mentor?

- so, the LOA playbook requires the reigning Ra's to threaten the chosen heir's family to force the heir to join the LOA and then the first order of business is for the heir to kill not only the heir's family, but everyone else in their town/city? That seems a little OTT for an organisation which claims to have honourable goals. Ra's joined the LOA to save his wife and children, but then turned around and killed them and everyone else in his home town. Oliver joined the LOA to save Thea, but is now being required to kill Thea and everyone else in Starling City. Pretty gosh darn bizarre behaviour by the LOA. Especially given that this whole mess started because the LOA was hunting Malcolm because he tried to destroy The Glades without the permission of Ra's!

- forcing a lesbian to marry a heterosexual male to save her life is just inexcusable. Truly terrible writing and plot development by TPTB. They could have reached the same result if Nyssa had at least proactively made the suggestion to save her own life. But, having it forced upon her when she herself declared that she would rather die than marry Oliver is really gross and makes my skin crawl.

- I was really happy to see how well Team Arrow had adjusted to Oliver's departure. Sure, they were a bit of a wreck, but Diggle, Lyla, Felicity and Thea coming together and supporting each other was really nice to see. Sure, it was a little implausible for Diggle to be picking up Oliver's vigilantism with no real support (i.e. Felicity wasn't even available on "comms" during his mission), but it was still good to see them carrying on without Oliver. I do have to wonder how Diggle and Lyla can afford to live since they're both unemployed. Lyla quite ARGUS and Diggle isn't being paid to save Starling City. Maybe Thea is paying Diggle an allowance? Or Lyla got a really nice severance package from ARGUS?

- I'm surprised that at no point during the course of the series, no-one has mentioned the terrorist attack on Hong Kong which killed thousands if not millions of people. I'm also surprised that Oliver has never mentioned his failure to stop the release of the virus as one of the many reasons he feels compelled to fight to save Starling City (because he couldn't save Hong Kong). I'm also surprised that we've never heard anything about China taking any kind of retaliation against the US given that they surely discovered that US soldiers were behind not just the initial release, but the continued spread since they were handing out doses of the virus as a purported vaccine across the city. Maybe that will all be dealt with in future flashbacks, but it seems like a pretty major event to have never been raised on the show.

- Felicity, please stop crying and go back to the bubbly, adorkable and light-hearted character that you were in seasons 1 and 2. Oliver is an incredibly poor choice for a boyfriend given his secretive nature, emotional instability, etc. At some point someone really needs to point this out to Felicity so that she can re-evaluate her past choices and move on with her life.

- Damien Darkh and HIVE for the season 4 villains then. Fair enough. I just hope that they also don't plan on attacking, destroying or otherwise adversely impacting Starling City as their grand master plan! That plot culmination is getting a little stale after three seasons in a row.

- Oliver's haircut was teh s3xy! At least Ra's keeps his heir looking good, unlike the mangled mess that Ra's wears on the top of his head.

- SECRETS! Seriously? Really, truly seriously? STOP keeping secrets from one another Team Arrow (and friends/frenemies). Laurel not telling Nyssa about Oliver joining the LOA as heir to Ra's. Felicity and friends not immediately telling Thea about Roy not being dead. What is wrong with these people! Sometimes they have no-one to blame by themselves the way they go about keeping secrets and deliberately withholding information from one another on the pretence of it being for the other person's own good.

 

[Bats1690]

Smallville used a wave effect for the canary cry:

[YT]FMged3zFIUA[/YT]



Here's the animated version:

[YT]OeDS35ztSWU[/YT]


Arrow could add some extra effect to make it cooler.

Back on Ra's plan, willing to kill thousands of innocent people, including children, is never acceptable, he's just a delusional sociopath. This Ra's Al Ghul code is laughable, Merlyn can't destroy a quarter because Ra's wasn't involve, but the Demon's Head can destroy an entire city just because he wants to.

It would make more sense if he had a real code against killing the innocent, only targeting the corrupt and corporations he considers a danger to the world. Anyway, like I said, it should be interesting to see how the show ends Ra's arc, will they kill him off or keep him alive to return down the line?

Clearly you don't know much about Ra's. Ra's is willing to kill as many innocent people as needed as long as the ends justify the means. He's always been like that, even in the comics.

Either way, Ra's doesn't in anyway want to wipe out Starling City. He's having Oliver do it is because it's something required of every heir in order to complete their ascension to Demon's Head. It's not something he can just ignore. Merlyn on the other hand had no right to try and wipe out the city. It wasn't his place to do so.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

Oliver having to wipe out his city is similar to anakin from star war having to destroy everything in his past to become "Darth Vader" including killing all jedis and his former master and friend

 

[Dark Raven]

Felicity should stick to comedy because whenever she cries or gets emotional and has to do any drama it is utterly cringe worthy and vomit inducing.

 

[Loki882]

Another problem is that this will be the THIRD time in THREE seasons that "trying to destroy the city" is the climax. Change it up a bit writers.

 

[Bats1690]

^Yea that's really the only problem I have with this destroy the city thing. It's the third time in as many seasons that Starling City is facing a terrorist attack. It's ridiculously repetitive at this point.

 

[Loki882]

Why are people even still living there anyway?

-Malcolm Merlyn blows up part of it in Season 1.
-Slade's Mirakuru army go on a rampage in Season 2.
-Brick was wreaking havoc earlier this season.
-And now this.

If I were there, I'd have said "screw it" long ago, packed up, and moved to Canada or something.

 

[luis4u]

Felicity should stick to comedy because whenever she cries or gets emotional and has to do any drama it is utterly cringe worthy and vomit inducing.

More is coming next episode

Spoiler

 

[SpideyVille]

I actually prefer the attack on Starling this time, as long as Oliver stops the threat without it becoming public. Meaning, there is no widespread panic in the city. I'd rather Oliver get snapped out of Ra's brainwashing by remembering the promise he made to his father to fix Starling, as opposed to something like Felicity snapping him out of it with love.

 

[Dark Raven]

More is coming next episode

Spoiler

It's as bad as Laurel face. Thea should be the only one to ever cry because she's the only one who looks and sounds decent when doing it and not the cause of gag reflexes.

 

[Mikelus]

Not "want", but because he "has" to, thanks to tradition. Ras is okay with Oliver potentially killing thousands/millions because that's what's required of Oliver. Meanwhile, he wasn't okay with Merlyn doing the same because it wasn't Merlyn's place to do so.

Is just bad writing, is not coherent, Ra's Al Ghul is the leader and can do whatever he wants with the League. He even told Oliver that the League does as Ra's al Ghul commands, so if he doesn't want more killings, they should obey.

 

[O'Haire]

Felicity should stick to comedy because whenever she cries or gets emotional and has to do any drama it is utterly cringe worthy and vomit inducing.

I always laugh. Because she always does that annoying shaky voice. No matter how big or small the situation is. It's always the exact same. And for all the scenes where she suppose to be all sad and emotional, I don't think I have actually seen her shed a tear.

 

[zenith16]

I actually prefer the attack on Starling this time, as long as Oliver stops the threat without it becoming public. Meaning, there is no widespread panic in the city. I'd rather Oliver get snapped out of Ra's brainwashing by remembering the promise he made to his father to fix Starling, as opposed to something like Felicity snapping him out of it with love.

lol if only that would happen I'm hope it's thea like another poster said. please ether of these two. .

 

[mr. peasant]

Is just bad writing, is not coherent, Ra's Al Ghul is the leader and can do whatever he wants with the League. He even told Oliver that the League does as Ra's al Ghul commands, so if he doesn't want more killings, they should obey.

It's not inconsistent though. While Ra's said that as leader he - and eventually Oliver - can do whatever he pleases with the resources of the League. Yes, that includes stopping the killings. However, he never said that he himself had objections to it. It's Oliver who had issue with the League's activities. As far as it's been established, Ra's couldn't care less whether the people of Starling City die - it's the reason and at whose hand that he's most concerned about. Moreover, I think it can be considered well established that this Ra's is something of a traditionalist; given his penchance for rituals and blood debts.

Another problem is that this will be the THIRD time in THREE seasons that "trying to destroy the city" is the climax. Change it up a bit writers.

Agreed. Incidentally, up to that last second virus reveal, I had thought that this episode would've actually been a good way to end the season; albeit on a downer. Think of it - Oliver is lost to the League, Thea about to take off in search of Roy, Laurel feeling lost and alone, while Diggles and Felicity mourn the loss of Oliver. It would've been a perfect place to do a time skip to Season/Year 4 where the story could have picked up again with the introduction of a new plotline.

lol if only that would happen I'm hope it's thea like another poster said. please ether of these two. .

lol if only that would happen I'm hope it's thea like another poster said. please ether of these two. .

I'm just crossing my fingers, getting greedy, and hoping that we can get both - by having Thea standing defiantly in the way of "Al-Sahim" - bow and arrow in hand - while shouting out, "Oliver, don't you dare fail this city!!" D

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

The producer had said the city will NOT be destroy again so the virus is just misleading or why have it introduce in last two episode? in the present day

 

[zenith16]

Is just bad writing, is not coherent, Ra's Al Ghul is the leader and can do whatever he wants with the League. He even told Oliver that the League does as Ra's al Ghul commands, so if he doesn't want more killings, they should obey.

just remember how he flip flopped on the sara issue about him not giving a damn when Nyssa came to him the first time & then caring when met oliver suddenly . it's like he's arguing with him self .

that said how ever the other poster your taking to is correct though Ra's is known for always wiping out a city to say he's fixing the major problem there when it's a few criminals at fault . the whole city pays for some peoples actions

even though Ra's doesn't live there had to be among the people that live with the issue on a day to day basis. The flip flopping how ever is new & from the writers. that part is not that new it's been done on tv shows and other comic's prior(to tv shows) to this . but this is known as the convolution problem has been bothering comic's & has entered the world tv since early 2000's with the latter of the two of late . north American tv anyway.

 

[Human Torch]

Much like AOS last week,I missed the first 5 minutes here,and I never do a review without seeing the whole thing!So here we are,better late than never.

I generally liked this one.It was a bit of a rise compared to recent episodes.

It was fun seeing Nyssa as "normal" for a change.

I could feel the fanboy rage as Oliver owned Nyssa in battle- yet AGAIN! That's what- 3 out of 4 falls now? Face it,Ollie has her number.t:

I think Digg came across somewhat out of character. I mean,I get his wife was in danger,but he's typically portrayed as the "wisest" person in the room at any given time.

So Ollie & Nyssa. I love it. I was hoping that's where we were going.t:

Don't put the fries down,Laurel. Gawd,her legs are like twigs!

Laurel & Nyssa scenes were good. I could easily see them in a BOP series.

I see the Canary Cry isn't getting rave reviews. Frankly,it's kind of a corny concept to begin with. That's why I wouldn't really care if they included it or not.

I loved "Evil Ollie". Amell looked like he was doing his best Nable impersonation.

Flashbacks were OK. Looks like the Omega thing it going to tie into the present. I can kinda understand it. I mean,you want the stakes to be high for the season-ender.

Speedy!!!!!! It seemed pretty awkward that they didn't tell Thea about Roy until an afterthought. Felicity's like "Oh yeah,Roy? Not dead as it turns out."

It seems like this "Darth Ollie" storyline would've been fun to experience earlier in the season. We already got the "World without Arrow" storyline a few short months ago. They probably should've picked one or the other instead of having both in the same season.

With all the Felicity-shipping this season,the smart money is on Felicity snapping Ollie out of his Al Ghul funk. But I hope it's Diggle.

Diggle: "Ollie,I love you."
Ollie: *Evil grin*
Diggle takes a torch,jams it in Ollies backside.
Diggle "Wake up,Ollie! You're my best friend! Wake up!"
Masau puts a sword to Dig's throat.
Ollie: "Wait! He's mine!"
Ollie: *winks* "I'm alright,Dig."
t:

In all seriousness,it would be refreshing to see Digg or at least Thea be the one.

Anyway,things look to be shaping up for a fun finale.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

Much like AOS last week,I missed the first 5 minutes here,and I never do a review without seeing the whole thing!So here we are,better late than never.

I generally liked this one.It was a bit of a rise compared to recent episodes.

It was fun seeing Nyssa as "normal" for a change.

I could feel the fanboy rage as Oliver owned Nyssa in battle- yet AGAIN! That's what- 3 out of 4 falls now? Face it,Ollie has her number.t:

I think Digg came across somewhat out of character. I mean,I get his wife was in danger,but he's typically portrayed as the "wisest" person in the room at any given time.

So Ollie & Nyssa. I love it. I was hoping that's where we were going.t:

Don't put the fries down,Laurel. Gawd,her legs are like twigs!

Laurel & Nyssa scenes were good. I could easily see them in a BOP series.

I see the Canary Cry isn't getting rave reviews. Frankly,it's kind of a corny concept to begin with. That's why I wouldn't really care if they included it or not.

I loved "Evil Ollie". Amell looked like he was doing his best Nable impersonation.

Flashbacks were OK. Looks like the Omega thing it going to tie into the present. I can kinda understand it. I mean,you want the stakes to be high for the season-ender.

Speedy!!!!!! It seemed pretty awkward that they didn't tell Thea about Roy until an afterthought. Felicity's like "Oh yeah,Roy? Not dead as it turns out."

It seems like this "Darth Ollie" storyline would've been fun to experience earlier in the season. We already got the "World without Arrow" storyline a few short months ago. They probably should've picked one or the other instead of having both in the same season.

With all the Felicity-shipping this season,the smart money is on Felicity snapping Ollie out of his Al Ghul funk. But I hope it's Diggle.

Diggle: "Ollie,I love you."
Ollie: *Evil grin*
Diggle takes a torch,jams it in Ollies backside.
Diggle "Wake up,Ollie! You're my best friend! Wake up!"
Masau puts a sword to Dig's throat.
Ollie: "Wait! He's mine!"
Ollie: *winks* "I'm alright,Dig."
t:

In all seriousness,it would be refreshing to see Digg or at least Thea be the one.

Anyway,things look to be shaping up for a fun finale.

I think you might be right if evil Oliver had happen after episode 9 until like episode 15 where team arrow decide to rescue him unknown he has turn bad...and he returns to Starling City starting to kill again and team arrow trying to save him but he leaves by taking Nyssa. It would actually show how dangerous the league is.

I like that speedy entrance as a potential hero to shooting his brother...that is different than all the other masked heroes that showed up

 

[haephestus]

Why are people even still living there anyway?

Because Ray Palmer promised to make Starling City a better place, even re-naming it Star City. Didn't he? I vaguely recall something about Ray planning on rescuing Starling City when he was first introduced.

Of course, other than building the ATOM suit, I'm not sure what Ray has done for the city in terms of public facilities, infrastructure, public safety, etc. Maybe he gave everyone free wi-fi? Or put fluoride in the drinking water? Or donated huge amounts of money to city government?

 

[Bathead]

Why are people even still living there anyway?

-Malcolm Merlyn blows up part of it in Season 1.
-Slade's Mirakuru army go on a rampage in Season 2.
-Brick was wreaking havoc earlier this season.
-And now this.

If I were there, I'd have said "screw it" long ago, packed up, and moved to Canada or something.

You could say that about Gotham and Metropolis too. A couple of street thugs in one of the Arkham video games were having a discussion, one said he wanted to move to Metropolis to get away from the dump that is Gotham, and the others says something like "Why would you wanna go there? Something blows up there about once a week."

 

[Omegabat]

I highly doubt the city is going to be attack again......I don't really think Nolan batman is the first superhero movie for a city to get destroy......there is more to this than using some virus

No city is as important to the character as Gotham is to Batman, it's a part of his character, even now Oliver Queen resides in Seattle in the comics. The city busting thing is routine in Batman stories(now it's cringe worthy there too),with the city being targeted specifically to harm Batman.
Arrow is just copying Batman's character and stories so these city getting destroyed over and over again stories is just a natural follow up, Oliver Queen and Starling are poor stand ins for Bruce Wayne and Gotham.

 

[Omegabat]

Please, Arrow isn't ripping off Batman. It's ripping off Daredevil right now.

Wouldn't surprise me if they ripped off DD too after it's success but any specific example?

The Batman stealing is rather blatant right now,they've completely transplanted Ra's dynamic with Batman to GA,it's like Lex Luthor showing up on Flash and hating Barry for the same reasons he hates Supes. It's ripping off,there's no question about it,cant believe people even have the nerve to make excuses for Arrow at this point.
This season has been bad,Oliver Queen I sincerely doubt was ever anyone's favourite character. I hate to generalize but from my experience people watch this show precisely due to the elements stolen from Batman mythology,Nolan movies and the villains, then there are people who watch it for Felicity and Olcity,I cant even remember anyone ever discussing Oliver and how much they like him,or even calling him a good character and I'm not just talking about with respect to the source material, Nolan Batman wasn't exactly faithful but Bruce Wayne was a good character,Oliver is one of the worst lead characters on TV,badly written,badly characterized and averagely acted.