Think what you will of Quentin Lance, but he is by far the best father figure in this show.
To fully recap this episode would be to do it an injustice, as Nyssa and Malcolm repeatedly one-up each other in increasingly complicated ways, and Ollie is caught in the middle of it all not really sure what to do.
And that sums up the premise. Nyssa wants Malcolm dead for apparently endless reasons (the main ones being the death of Sara and his rise to Ra’s), and she asks Ollie, the only man to have defeated Malcolm, to kill him in exchange for an elixir that will save Thea.
Ollie sets up a meeting between the two, where he hopes Malcolm will surrender his position as Ra’s for the Lotus. Obviously that isn’t what happens.
Malcolm brings an army of minions and Nyssa takes off with the Lotus. Malcolm explains to Ollie that the League of Assassins has been ‘manipulating global events’, like, forever, and he won’t leave Nyssa al Ghul with that kind of power just to save his daughter.
He asks Ollie whether he would let Damien Darhk destroy his city if it meant saving his son William, who Malcolm knows about because plot convenience he’s Ra’s al Ghul.
Oliver suggests that Malcolm challenge Nyssa to a trial by combat. Nyssa has no obligation to accept, given that she isn’t Ra’s, but for some reason she does.
They meet atop a building in Star City (where there’s absolutely no chance anyone will see them) because there’s no point them all travelling to the mountains. They even keep their shirts on.
Ollie halts proceedings before the worst trial by combat of all time happens, and he steps in for Nyssa. He is her husband after all (are they gonna, like, get an annulment or something?)
After an earlier talk from Diggle, who told Ollie to ‘let go of his hate’ and kill Malcolm, Ollie makes quick work of Malcolm, but he chops off his hand rather than kills him. And then Ollie claims he is a Jedi and that he won’t turn to the dark side.
Nyssa takes the demon’s head ring for all of a few minutes. She later summons Ollie, Laurel and Malcolm to a meeting, where she burns the ring and disbands the League.
Malcolm is distraught at this, and he promises Ollie a fate worse than death, despite the fact that Ollie just spared his life and saved his daughter’s.
But Malcolm is as bad as his word. He sets up a meeting with Damien Darhk, and he offers him the name of the person Ollie cares about most/has only met once – William.
It doesn’t get any better for sons and daughters in this episode.
Felicity’s dad Noah (aka The Calculator) comes back into her life after way too long to tell her that he recently went up against a formidable adversary, and that her name was Overwatch.
I guess he’s proud or something because he wants to be a part of her life again, and against all advice, she offers him a tour of Palmer Tech, but it’s a trap.
Using a device, she finds that he left a device that sucks data from other devices, and she has Quentin, the one father figure who isn’t a prick, standing by when she tells him of her trickery.
That may be Felicity’s father out of the way, but there’s plenty more Malcolm/Thea, Ollie/William stuff to come this season.
Arrow returns to The CW next Wednesday.
