Arrow: The Magician
November 1, 2014 2:41 PM - Season 3, Episode 4 - Subscribe

Nyssa al Ghul returns to Starling City looking for Sara. Oliver informs her that Sara was killed; Oliver sends Roy to follow Nyssa after it is clear that she knows more about who could have killed Sara. Nyssa is tracked to Sara's old safe house, where Nyssa reveals to Oliver that Malcolm Merlyn is alive and Sara was sent by the League to confirm his existence. After tracking Malcolm, Oliver agrees to meet him in a public location to discuss Sara's death. Malcolm tells Oliver that he did not kill Sara, but only returned to Starling City to take care of Thea. Nyssa kidnaps Thea in an attempt to draw Malcolm out, but Oliver arrives to rescue Thea. Malcolm arrives shortly after to clear his name and insinuates to Nyssa that it was her father, Ra's al Ghul, that had Sara killed. Nyssa does not believe him, but Oliver does and vows to protect Malcolm for as long as he is in Starling. Nyssa warns Oliver that he has made a serious enemy in the League before leaving and reporting back to her father. In flashbacks, Oliver completes his first assassination, and learns that Amanda Waller was behind Edward Fyers' actions on the island.
posted by Kitteh (13 comments total)
 
For a moment I really thought Laurel was going to accompany Nyssa and join the League.
posted by homunculus at 4:27 PM on November 1, 2014


I do not understand Oliver's compulsive need to lie to Thea nor everyone's need to lie to Sara's dad. Sure he has a heart condition but that is why you have pills and a hospital.

I'm all for Thea and Laurel learning to take care of themselves and becoming "stronger" but some actual muscle would help. Can you paint muscle on actresses?
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 5:08 AM on November 2, 2014


everyone's need to lie to Sara's dad.

This is the thing that's driving me crazy about this season. Poor Quentin. And Thea thinks she has it bad. I hope Alex Kingston shows up as mom and kicks all of their asses for him while he's recovering from that heart attack.

Also I totally believe Nyssa's dad did in Sara now, or someone acting on his behalf. That's going to be brutal at the end of the season.
posted by immlass at 11:10 AM on November 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


'We can never tell about ! He has a heart condition and it might kill him!' Is a comic book trope, but not a great one.

Thea must've come to grips with keeping secrets, because she's sure doing a pretty good job on 'Oh, yeah, I was living with Dad for the last six months' lie. Also, I understand that wearing glasses totally changes your looks to the point that even Lois can't tell that Clark is Kal, but Thea isn't thinking hard enough if she hasn't figured out about Ollie as the Arrow.

posted by Mad_Carew at 8:10 PM on November 2, 2014


Also, I understand that wearing glasses totally changes your looks to the point that even Lois can't tell that Clark is Kal, but Thea isn't thinking hard enough if she hasn't figured out about Ollie as the Arrow.

She knows, because Malcolm has told her already.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:56 PM on November 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


Laurel is starting to scare the bejesus out of me. She is so hellbent on vengeance that she's becoming downright terrifying. Also, I'm-a say it, I think Arsenal/Roy's outfit is just plain goofy as hell. (And no, I don't know why I think Ollie's outfit works. It's the same one, just in green.)

Oh, and Roy? Your fancy flip move was COMPLETELY unnecessary when Nyssa arrived. In fact, it looked funny as shit and was ineffective to boot.
posted by Kitteh at 6:29 AM on November 3, 2014


Laurel is indeed terrifying; the person she had the most common ground with in this episode is Nyssa, who might have murdered even more people than Malcolm Merlyn for all we know.

i wasn't expecting much from this episode, since I knew it would be a Felicity-light episode, and I enjoyed it more than I thought. Probably because there was so much Nyssa, and I love Nyssa so much--the combination of fierceness and vulnerability where Sara is concerned is just beautiful.

I also loved that Ollie had zero support, even from Team Arrow, for his decision to let Malcolm Merlyn live. It's one thing for Nyssa to disagree with it, it's quite another for Ollie's ostensible support system to disagree. We'll see if it's yet another decision that comes around to bite Ollie on the ass.

Keeping Quentin in the dark is so frigging stupid (but it was Laurel's idea, and everything the writers do that involves Laurel is infected with idiot-plot cooties). If you're that concerned about it, call his doctor, and tell him under controlled circumstances. If he finds out another way, you and the doctor may not be there to help. And the cognitive dissonance between Laurel's supposed concern for her Dad's health, and Laurel's determination to go out and be a vigilante like Sara continues to irritate. Plus the phone call at the end was breaking my heart.

Also, I'm not sure where the Hong Kong sequences are going, but they're straining my willful suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. Why send a tall, incredibly-handsome-even-when-scruffy-looking white dude to Hong Kong to carry out your covert assassinations? Amanda Waller is many things, but I didn't think "spectacularly stupid" was one of them.
posted by creepygirl at 8:40 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


[Thea] knows, because Malcolm has told her already.

Not 100% sure of that. He may be holding it back so that he has something shocking to use if she has to choose between the two of them.

OTOH, if she got her stated goal out of Malcolm, "I want to learn how not to be hurt", then she should achieve a state where Malcolm can't hurt her. If they're smart, that'll be a will she/won't she thing for most of the season.
posted by Mad_Carew at 10:36 AM on November 3, 2014


(And no, I don't know why I think Ollie's outfit works. It's the same one, just in green.)

Because operating by night wearing dark green makes sense. Roy's red outfit is a bit obvious to be running round in.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:51 PM on November 3, 2014


Also, I'm not sure where the Hong Kong sequences are going, but they're straining my willful suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. Why send a tall, incredibly-handsome-even-when-scruffy-looking white dude to Hong Kong to carry out your covert assassinations?

Agreed. There's a bunch of expat white dudes in HK, but it's a small population. Doesn't really make sense to use one as an assassin - they would be very memorable.

Also, the HK set is execrable, and has apparently been designed by someone who has only ever seen HK in racist video games or something.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:54 PM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


More Waller idiocy: she says that in Ollie's first year on Lian Yu, she tried to shoot down a plane full of people so she could kill China White. This is same China White that Ollie caught and sent to jail on his own without much fuss or fanfare in Season 2. All the resources Waller has at her fingertips, and "shoot down a plane" is her best option?
posted by creepygirl at 8:27 PM on November 3, 2014


This was a really good episode. It was nearly entirely driven by letting various characters bounce off each other in different ways than they usually do, and it worked really well.

Oliver's uneasy alliance with Nyssa
Oliver allied with Malcom, against Nyssa
Oliver being at odds with Laurel, Diggle, and Roy regarding that choice
Oliver being relatively open with Thea while she keeps secrets from him
Nyssa being friendly with Laurel and civil with Quentin
Roy and Thea figuring out where they stand with each other at this point

All of which was pretty great, and finished off with pointing at a bigger plotline of Oliver versus the League with the introduction of Ra's al Ghul.

The question in my mind is: Does Nyssa consider her father a serious suspect in the death of Sara? She doesn't mention Merlin's accusations, which could have a number of motivations:

1. She doesn't think it's worth mentioning
2. She thinks it might be true, and doesn't want to tip him off that she's considering it
3. She doesn't think it's true, and it might be worth mentioning, but he would react badly to her bringing it up anyway

Probably some other scenarios, but those are the main ones that I can think of.

I did not miss the Queen Consolidated plotline, which has yet to become interesting.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 10:50 PM on November 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


but Thea isn't thinking hard enough if she hasn't figured out about Ollie as the Arrow.

Honestly I just can't worry about this anymore if they're demanding I believe that Quentin Lance has even the slightest doubt that Oliver is the Arrow. My daughter is sleeping and living with Oliver but running around with the Arrow playing superhero at night. I'm going to believe that Oliver, who I once thought was the Arrow, is unaware of this? I'da been cool with the implication that he knew damned well and was playing it close to his chest, but that wouldn't jibe with his actions when being concerned about Laurel.
posted by phearlez at 9:24 AM on November 7, 2014


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