I saw a Facebook posting from a friend of mine that went like this… It’s traumatic being so emotionally attached to fictional characters…. That’s the power of good storytelling. Arrow fits that description. Let’s discuss Wednesday’s mid-season finale, The Climb. Warning spoilers ahead…
After giving Detective Lance a Christmas “gift” of another street thug, Ollie is ambushed by the League of Assassins. He is brought before Nyssa al Ghul. She was sent there by her father, Ra’s al Ghul to deliver Sara’s killer within 48 hours. Failure to do so will cause mayhem in Starling. More specifically, it will be Ollie’s old friend Maseo who will bring that mayhem to the citizens of Starling.
There’s a flashback scene between Ollie and Maseo regarding a shadow organization creating a deadly virus called OMEGA. Together they break into the facility to retrieve the virus but they are too late, someone has beaten them to it. They are able to find the thief and get additional information from him.
Back to the present and at Team Arrow’s lair, Ollie informs the others about the League’s threat and Felicity uncovers the identity of Sara’s killer through the DNA sample and it turns out to be Oliver himself. Of course this isn’t true and Oliver believes Malcolm Merlyn is behind this. The team learns that Malcolm with Thea in tow arrived at Starling City from Corto Maltese prior to Sara’s murder. Oliver had no idea about Thea and the others suspect that she may be more involved in Sara’s death than he’s willing to admit.
At the Police Department, Laurel is reunited with her mother who is visiting. She’s hoping to see Sara as well. Later under great pressure, Laurel tells her that Sara is dead but begs her to keep this a secret from Detective Lance.
After confronting Thea regarding Malcolm, Oliver is no closer to the truth. It is sugguested that perhaps the Arrow could get her to talk. Oliver returns to Thea’s apartment this time as the Arrow. Much to his surprise, Thea fights back using the training she received from Malcolm to flee.
Later, Malcolm confronts Oliver and reveals that it was Thea who killed Sara. He shows him a video confirming the incident. Malcolm had drugged Thea with a substance that made her open to suggestion, a form of mind control. His reason for such an act was to force Oliver to take the fall for Sara’s murder knowing he would do anything to save his sister from Ra’s. Oliver’s only chance of survival would be to defeat Ra’s in a duel.
Oliver meets with Ra’s, Nyssa and members of the League and confesses to Sara’s murder. Oliver challenges Ra’s to combat. Ra’s accepts. From this point on, Oliver has 12 hours to get his affairs in order. He says his goodbyes to Thea, Diggle, Roy and Felicity, telling her that he loves her.
With his personal business taken care of, Oliver travels to Nanda Parbat, a sacred battleground high atop a mountain. There he finds Ra’s waiting. Oliver chooses two swords while Ra’s relies on his superior fighting skills to disarm Oliver of one of his swords. As good as Oliver is, he is no match for Ra’s, who manhandles him. Ra’s stabs Oliver through the chest and as images of his father, mother and sister flash before his eyes, Ra’s kicks Oliver off the edge of the cliff. The Arrow is no more.
There are some interesting side notes to this episode. One deals with the thief who stole the OMEGA drug suggesting that he too was drugged because he has no recollection of the theft. One must wonder if Malcolm had something to do with this. The other side note deals with Ray Palmer showing Felicity his A.T.O.M. shrinking suit and telling her that his fiancé was murdered during Deathstroke’s rampage of a season ago. He tells her he wants to save the people of Starling and asks for her help in doing so. Sound familiar? We’ll see where this takes us when Arrow returns in late January.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
