The al Ghul family is still causing trouble.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The Arrow writers promised a seismic twist with this week’s episode, and they weren’t lying. All signs pointed to a major character dying as Oliver Queen was forced to do battle with Malcolm Merlyn and Thea’s life hung in the balance. But as it turned out, the real twist was much less predictable and had more far-reaching consequences for the show. This episode as a whole was fairly uneven, but it certainly set the stage for huge things to come.
Thematically, “Sins of the Father” was on very solid footing as it explored the question of whether a person can truly and fundamentally change. That question has been at the heart of several key character arcs this season. Can Ollie be a better and more positive force for good than he used to be? Can Malcolm Merlyn atone for his crimes and lead the League of Assassins into a brighter future? Can Nyssa al Ghul escape her father’s shadow? Just for the heck of it, this episode even explored Felicity’s relationship with her estranged father and whether a master hacker can truly repent.
Of these, Ollie’s struggle was the most compelling. It’s always fascinating when heroes who have made a vow not to kill are forced to make the impossible choice between taking one life to save other lives. The easy solution to his dilemma this week would have been to take Nyssa up on her offer, kill Merlyn, rid the world of the new Ra’s al Ghul and save his sister in the process. Everybody but Malcolm wins, right? Except that isn’t the man Ollie wants to be. And perhaps more importantly, he knows it’s not what Thea would want.
Throughout this episode, Ollie was urged by his friends to compromise his ideals and kill Malcolm for the greater good. This had viewers rooting for Ollie and hoping that he’d find the elusive third answer to his dilemma. At this point he really needed that moral victory. And he got it, even if the solution was oddly simple and even a bit silly.
After all the fuss this episode made about pitting Nyssa and Malcolm against one another in a game of wills, it was odd to see the conflict culminate with exactly what Nyssa was supposedly trying to avoid in the first place – a duel with Malcolm. If she was willing to face him in battle, why go through all this trouble at all? And why did it take Ollie so long to realize that he could end the standoff by wounding Merlyn rather than killing him?
There was something very odd about that clash between Ollie and Malcolm. For one thing, it was short and not particularly exciting, which apparently is par for the course when Ra’s al Ghul fights a one-on-one duel now. It’s hard to imagine the man that nearly killed Ollie in Season 1 could be taken down so easily now. For another, John Barrowman’s delivery was so stilted that it seemed almost certain that he and Ollie were putting on an act to fool Nyssa. So when it turned out that, no, Ollie really did betray Malcolm and steal his ring, the takeaway was more confusion and bewilderment than shock or excitement.
She’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
On the subject of underwhelming fight scenes, “Sins of The Father” of ten struggled in that area. Most of the battles leading up to the final duel were focused on dozens of combatants, leading to a series of muddled scenes where one group of darkly clad ninjas traded blows with another group. The one exception came when the war between Nyssa’s faction and the League spilled into the streets of Star City. Suddenly the action took on a new sense of scope and urgency. Innocent people were dying in the street and Team Arrow were fighting a losing battle to contain the damage. More of that, less of the ninja pillow fights.
While all of this was unfolding, Felicity had the chance to reconnect with her father (who wasted no time in outing himself as the Calculator). This subplot tied in nicely with the larger struggle of the episode. It was especially great to see a different side of Donna as she dropped her ditzy facade and allowed the struggling single mother beneath to show through. It was a little disappointing that the Calculator threat was dealt with so quickly and easily, but there’s no reason he can’t return as Felicity’s recurring nemesis down the road.
The flashbacks ties into the theme of change and redemption as well, with Taiana wrestling with the revelation that Ollie killed her brother. This subplot felt a little rushed, with Taiana transitioning from all-out hatred of Ollie to acceptance in the span of a few brief scenes. But that’s the problem when so little screen time is devoted to the flashback material. At some point that’s going to need to change.
As shaky as this episode was at times, the payoff was well worth it. Ollie received his validation and proved that there’s always a better way. Thea got her cure, and now her murderous blood rage storyline can finally be put to rest. Nyssa got what she wanted, but honored Ollie’s example and put an end to the League once and for all. At this point Arrow really needed to move away from the League anyway.
And most compelling of all, the rivalry between Ollie and Malcolm is back and more heated than ever. Malcolm’s threat to Ollie was nothing if not sinister, and we didn’t have to wait long at all to see him make good on that threat. I assumed Nyssa smelting the ring and destroying the league was the big shocking twist that was promised, but that was nothing compared to Malcolm revealing William’s existence to Damien Darhk. It was a chilling moment, and we may now have a new top candidate for the identity of the dead person Ollie is seen mourning in the flash-forward from the Season 4 premiere. It would be tragic to think that Ollie’s heroic example would cost him so dearly.
It’s also interesting to ponder what impact the League’s dissolution will have on the Flash/Arrow universe. What exactly were they up to when they weren’t skulking about Star City or training in Nanda Parbat? What fallout will there be now that the league is no longer around to affect change in the world? At the very least, there’s one less roadblock standing in the way of Darhk and his master plan.
This week’s Arrow was disappointingly uneven despite the strong thematic story ties and the idea that multiple characters were grappling with change and redemption. Only one of the several action scenes stood out, and the rooftop duel was disappointingly brief and unsatisfying. Luckily, the resolution of this conflict and the major twist that resulted spell good things for the show in the weeks ahead.
