Arrow Review, Season 2, Episode 13 – “Heir to the Demon”

If you could sum up “Heir to the Demon” in one theme, it would have to be family. It’s just that the families on “Arrow” happen to be more than a little disfunctional. The Lance family alone is probably due for about 300 hours of psychological counseling, and that was before the events of this episode. Anyway, we got more answers than questions this time out, some good action and several mentions of Ra’s al Ghul, which is always a good thing.

Not So Quick Summary: A mysterious female arrives in Starling City, though she sets off an A.R.G.U.S. security alert. She proves to be a capable combatant when she easily and viciously disposes of about a half-dozen security officers who show up.

Surrounded by her family, Moira Queen talks her upcoming mayoral run with her campaign manager. Felicity calls Walter out of the meeting to let him in on another money transfer from the “Tempest” account to Starling National Bank. He feigns interest and says he’ll look into it, while Oliver is told he needs to end his public support of Sebastian Blood—you know, since his mom is running against him and all.

Officer and Mrs. Lance (I guess she’s still Mrs. even though they’ve split up) visit Laurel in the hospital. Ollie drops by too. Laurel tells her dad she saw Sara, though she must have been hallucinating. That’s crazy, right Dad? “It is crazy.”

Meanwhile, Sara is in the Arrow Lair doing Ollie’s signature upper body workout. She and Oliver argue about her plans to leave Starling City again, but Officer Lance calls and asks to talk to his daughter. They meet up at their tea spot, where Officer Lance pleads with her to stop running so they can face her little League of Assassins problem together.

Seemingly ignoring her dad, Sara goes for a dark, deserted meeting (like there are any other kinds on this show) with the mystery woman, who turns out to be Nyssa al Ghul, daughter of Ra’s and here to bring Sara back to the League. Arrow is watching, and he’s about to fire when to his surprise, Nyssa moves in close and starts making out with Sara! Ollie shakes off his surprise to end this scene by telling Nyssa he won’t allow Sara to leave with her.

Felicity visits Moira to confront her about Tempest. But there’s a bigger bombshell: she knows Malcolm Merlyn is Thea’s real father. Moira suggests that she keep the secret, saying that telling Oliver will result in him hating both of them.

Nyssa and Sara have another heart-to-heart. Sara did love Nyssa, but… maybe not any more. She knows Ra’s released Malcolm Merlyn from the League of Assassins and wants to know why the same couldn’t be done for her. Nyssa sounds like daddy wouldn’t like that much.

Now it’s Ollie’s turn to work out. He wants to know what’s wrong with Felicity, but she simply says she has a lot on her mind. Diggle comes back with news on Laurel: she didn’t OD, she was poisoned with snake venom. Speaking of Laurel, Dinah is visiting her again when she’s taken captive by Nyssa and her henchmen. Arrow and Canary pursue the fleeing van, and thanks to some fancy motorcycle riding to deflect incoming arrows, Canary is able to get onto the van. But she loses focus seeing her mom tied up, and she’s knocked off the vehicle, allowing it to escape.

Sara comes clean with dad about Nyssa and the fact that she’s been given a 24-hour ultimatum to return to the League. Elsewhere, Team Arrow works on the snake venom as a lead, and Blood and Moira have a Richard Sherman-esque trash-talking session. Arrow, Canary and Officer Lance team to defeat an assassin, but he commits suicide before they can get any info form him.

Then it’s time for Moria’s official entry into the mayoral race. Ever the master of bad timing, Felicity talks about how her own dad abandoning her before spilling the beans about Thea right before Oliver is about to speak in support of his mom. After a tense moment, he recovers and introduces her as a worthy candidate.

Team Arrow meets and Ollie reveals he had a tracer planted on Sara. That comes in handy as the Lances exchange Sara for Dinah, but it turns out Sara had no plans to return with Nyssa as she poisoned herself. That causes an angry Nyssa to declare she will kill the Lances, but Arrow is on the scene, and that means… bow fight! Ollie beats Nyssa in hand-to-hand combat and gives Sara his all-purpose antidote (patent pending!). Nyssa releases Sara in the name of Ra’s al Ghul. Oh, and Laurel arrived just in time to see the last part of this, so she knows her sister is alive.

Sadly, the Lance family reunion doesn’t go well, as Laurel blames her sister for everything and tells Sara she wants her out. Things are no better between Oliver and Moira, with our hero telling his mom that while he will continue to support her in public for the sake of appearances, he can’t take the unending lies, and their personal relationship is through.

After Slade chastises Blood for underestimating Moira and telling Sebastian he’ll take care of the situation, we go back to the Arrow Lair one last time. Neither Sara or Oliver know what’s next now that she’s free of the League, but for right now, how about a passionate make-out session? Clothes start coming off as the episode ends.

Meanwhile, NOT on the island: This week’s flashbacks are all about the Lances during the time right before that fateful boat trip. Sara is flat out cold to Laurel when big sis talks about apartment hunting with Ollie, knowng she’s there to steal away with him. And we find out Moira was the one who delivered the bad news to Quentin and Laurel about Sara being on the ship.

All told, good stuff. Despite the fact that the girl-girl-guy love triangle is sure to be the talking point, we got Sara out from the thumb of the League, something that was long overdue. And could the Felicity developments set the stage for the rumored departure of her character to “The Flash” next fall? We’ll see what’s next when “Arrow” returns in a few weeks.