TV - Arrow Season 3, Episode 22

After asking about his weapon, Steve Taylor-Bryant gets told This Is Your Sword…

“Well, I am better practised in the art of deception. And no offence, none of you are particularly good actors.”

So Maseo gave Ra’s Al Ghul the bio-weapon years ago and now Ra’s and Oliver plan to devastate Starling City with it, and in the meantime Ra’s has a wedding to plan as Nyssa, against her will, must marry Oliver and, like her mother before her, bear children. Whilst Oliver plays along, he still manages to leave the table and go for a walk which actually involves a clandestine meeting with Malcolm Merlyn and their plot to bring down Ra’s from the inside is finally revealed. Unfortunately for the two archers, they are running out of time due to the impending wedding and will need the assistance of TeamArrow, all of whom are convinced that Oliver is a turncoat and not likely to want to be involved. Maseo finds Oliver and he receives the offer from Oliver to be freed if Maseo helps but Maseo is in a period of ‘Woe is me’ at the moment.

Back in Starling, TeamArrow are trying to carry on as usual but it is very hard for them and they seem to lack a purpose, Diggle especially seems to just be a violent rage. Malcolm meets with TeamArrow and explains the plan he and Oliver have been carrying out but they do not like or trust Malcolm, so he has to use Maseo’s estranged wife Tatsu as back up. Eventually the team reluctantly agree to help Malcolm. The team travel, with Tatsu included, to Nanda Parbat and start the almightiest of fights with The League. Felicity tries and fails to blow up the plane that Ra’s has unleashed towards Starling City but A.T.O.M arrives to save her blushes and takes down the plane. Tatsu, somewhat inevitably, is left in a one on one fight with Maseo who she eventually kills. The plane, it turns out, wasn’t carrying the weapon and Ra’s and Oliver arrive in time to capture his former cohorts.

Despite Malcolm trying to turn Ra’s against Oliver, the entire TeamArrow are locked in a sealed cell with a broken vial of the Alpha Omega virus and left to die as Oliver finally marries Nyssa and becomes Ibn al Ghul, Son of the Demon. Elsewhere, Thea finds Roy and, after a night together, he runs away again leaving her the Arsenal suit as he thinks she would suit it more.

What a stunning start to the finale. Backstabbing galore, fantastic choreographed fights, emotions by the bucketload, mainly between Tatsu and Maseo, a team left in peril, a darker Stephen Amell and Malcolm being Malcolm. John Barrowman absolutely steals the show when he is on screen. His comedic timing, use of cutting one liners and very untrustworthy face make for great television and he has now well and truly shrugged off the Captain Jack shackles in my eyes.

Image - IMDb.