Al Sah-Him has been training supposedly for weeks now. He’s shutting out everything he once was. His training seems to have made him an even more superior a fighter. More importantly he’s been become less of himself to the point that he willingly killed Diggle without hesitation. Granted it wasn’t actually Diggle, but a drug induced manifestation. However as far as Al Sah-Him was concerned he did kill Diggle. That doesn’t bode well for Oliver’s loved ones.
The status quo in Starling City was interesting. It felt almost homey seeing everyone gathered around in the Diggle home with Sarah, Thea, and Felicity. The only problem is they were all holding a secret and struggling with accepting that things were really going to be changed for them. They were still living in a state in which they believed Oliver was gone, but could still be there. They were holding hope. It was a nice moment before we learned that there really was no hope left for Oliver.
Nyssa bonding with Laurel is strange, but satisfying. Nyssa has led a very different life than most people. It’s a life of a warrior. To date we hadn’t seen Nyssa in anything, but her gear. I’m glad to finally see her in casual clothes. She even cracked a legitimate smile in her fish out of water moment with fries and a milkshake. However it was quickly disrupted when she learned Oliver agreed to take up the role her father proposed. With that she knew he would be coming after her with all the support of the Lague of Assassins. I really wish that we got to see more of Laurel and Nyssa bonding before Laurel decided to risk all of their necks to help her. It’s a big deal, but we really need to feel that connection.
Regardless, much of the tension actually came from Oliver not being himself as he came back to kill Nyssa. The result pulled everyone in. While I was excited to see Laurel use her newly improved Canary Cry. It could have looked a bit cooler. That said, they are dealing with a very different Oliver. It took them time to reconcile this, but when Lyla was abducted she came to that truth. What was a fantastic turn in events was that Thea disobeyed everyone and stopped Oliver from killing one of his former friends. With all that they fought back, it wasn’t enough to save Nyssa. She was taken back to Nanda Parbat, something was taken from her, and she bowed to die with honor. Only she didn’t die. She was instead betrothed to Al Sah-Him.
What did you think of the episode?
So, I pondered... 